Posted by Kanga.
It is sometimes fun to see what irrelevant items are lumped together in the grocery store.
What constitutes “ethnic foods” in a French supermarket in an Arab country? Japanese, Thai, Mexican, and Russian. I was just glad they had fat-free refried beans. Yeah!
Posted by Kanga.
Why build a twisted skyscraper? Because we can.
One might think there would be little need of “dewatering” in a desert climate, but apparently not.
“Safety is No Accident.” That’s pithy.
What is “sustainable transport” in a desert Opec country? Desperately needed, that’s what.
Hot Bread – Bread Line and Mr. Copy.
Hot Bread’s cupcakes may be the most delicious, but only probably.
Posted by Kanga.
We stopped into The Stables for an afternoon snack.
The second story is a lovely pub decorated in a horse riding motif.
Including booths like horse stalls.
Being Saturday afternoon, there was football (soccer) on the big screen.
DaddyBird was happy to discover that the onion rings were actually made of sliced onions. (There are too many fake onion rings in this town.)
I had an apple rhubarb crumble.
Even the dishes were sad when it was gone.
The prices were quite reasonable. Two beers, onion rings and apple rhubarb crumble came to 70 AED ($19.00 USD)
Posted by Kanga.
Two nights ago we were on our way home from the grocery store and saw something flashing, very bright, lighting up the sky. It was happening so frequently and at such regular intervals, we thought it might be man made. We actually turned around and drove back to investigate.
It turned out to be lightning. There didn’t seem to be thunder, until I realized that there were no individual claps, just a contant rumble. It was quite a light show and then the rain started. Lovely, huge, cold drops.
Posted by Kanga.
Last Tuesday we met friends, old and new, for dinner at Al Fanar Restaurant at Festival City. This is a new restaurant that serves traditional Emirati food.
First came the appetizers – robyan mashwi (prawns), koftat samak, balalit (sweet noodles with omelet) and lovely flat bread.
(I wasn’t going to post this picture, but I figure if you stick your tongue out while someone is taking a picture, all bets are off.)
We had a brief rest between courses.
Then came the main courses – samak magli, saloona samak badaweyah, thereed, and machboos dajaj.
Of course, there were several rounds of tea.
Then came dessert – khanfaroush, asidat bobar, khobar khameer, and leqaimat.
The food, service, and atmosphere were all wonderful. Highly recommended.
Posted by Kanga.
Our local vacation included a visit to the Sharjah Archaeology Museum.
The museum presents the history of Sharjah from the stone age up to 611 A.D. The museum is nicely arranged, fully bilingual, and multi-media. An audio tour is available and worthwhile.
Each time period includes a diorama showing a typical abode.
It is always amazing to see how delicate the gold work was in early times.
In addition to shells and pearls, carnelian was a common component of jewelry.
There are many petroglyphs in the Hajar Mountains. The stones develop a red pateena. Chipping this red layer off is a fairly easy way to leave behind art. The above image is a bull tied to a post under a crescent moon. The crescent moon is a common image in area petroglyphs.
These ancient metal bracelets are very similar to those used not too long ago.
The two parts of this sculpture of a man holding a bird were found on two separate occasions and reunited here.
Mother of Pearl gathered along with pearls was used in these carvings.
These gold decorations were amazingly small.
We recommend the museum. It is very well done, very educational, and well worth your time.
Posted by Kanga.
Oil Discovery and Distribution of Wealth in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (1968)
This is a 52 minute film about Abu Dhabi in 1968, prior to the formation of the United Arab Emirates in 1972. It is a bit blunt about some things. It definitely shows the drastic changes that oil discovery and production caused. The best part is seeing so much footage of Sheikh Zayed in a variety of settings. It is a little melodramatic with some forebodings about the future, but it turned out that Sheikh Zayed was a very wise man.
Posted by Kanga.
Yesterday, we ventured to the Sharjah’s Arabia’s Wildlife Centre. It is located between Sharjah and Dhaid. The centre is part of the Sharjah Desert Park which also includes a children’s farm (we’re assuming this is a petting zoo) and a natural history & botanical museum. Entrance to the park is 15 AED for adults ($4.00 US).
Photography is strictly forbidden in the wildlife center, so all you will get in this post is this picture of camels crossing the road which we encountered on the way there.
We highly recommend the wildlife center. It is very well designed and most of the animals were visible and active. Included are animals of all kinds native to different areas of Arabia, not just the U.A.E. – snakes, geckos, lizards, frogs, mice, rats, gerbils, grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, scorpions, foxes, wolves, wildcats, sand cats, jackals, porcupines, hedgehogs, honey badgers, gazelles, ibexes, oryxes, ostriches, flamingos, pelicans, owls, bats, and so much more. If only I could have used my camera, I would have so many desert hare pictures – bunnies everywhere!
On our way out, we passed the big animal enclosures. Starting with the baboons. It was feeding time, so they were quite busy. The next enclosure had desert wolves, who can look over the pit separating the enclosures and see the baboons. They were pacing up and down undoubtedly thinking “those baboons look tasty.” Next door to the wolves were striped hyenas also pacing up and down looking at the wolves thinking “those wolves look tasty.” Next to them were the cheetahs. If the cheetahs don’t fancy a hyena meal, they can also see an enclosure of gazelles. I’ve never been so close to a cheetah, separated only by glass. And, last, but not least, came the leopard. He, being the king of all, was just chillin’ out.
This is definitely a value deal. Give yourself plenty of time. The exhibits are extensive and you’ll want to stop and watch the active animals. One little Egyptian Spiny Mouse had a grub and was being chased mercilessly by her roommates. I hope she got to eat it in peace, eventually.
Posted by Kanga.
I’m on two weeks vacation now, but we are staying local. We needed to go into Dubai to do some bank business at our original brach, which only took a few minutes, so we had the rest of the day to be tourists.
So, we went to the Dubai Museum, which is in Bur Dubai, the oldest part of town. It is housed in Al Fahidi Fort. Admission is 3 AED ($0.81).
The museum also has an underground section. It is very well designed, providing a recreation of a market and city streets. There are also pearl diving, boat building and fishing displays. The problem is that the museum was set up in one shot and is not being updated or developed. (At the very least, they should dust the stuffed animals.)
We headed over to the Dubai Creek where we met this lovely stray cat. She enjoyed some getting some attention.
We took an abra across the Creek to the Deira side. The price is still 1 AED each ($0.27) There was a parade of tourist buses unloading travelers transferring to the abras.
Then we took a walk down the creekside where boats load cargo. We did this same walk about three and a half years ago. There was significantly less cargo, but that may or may not be a sign of anything.
We road back across the Creek on another abra.
We ate dinner at Bayt Al Wakeel restaurant which has a wooden deck that hangs out over the Creek. It is a nice view, but I cannot recommend the restaurant. The service was not particularly good. The bread was not freshly baked. The meat (both chicken and lamb) was tough. And, worst of all, they chased away the stray cat.
All in all, it was a pleasant day.
To see all pictures from the day – click here.
Living the Travel Channel 