Barracuda Resort - Van's Second Excursion

On Thursday, I rented a car. Why you may ask? I felt confined. Perhaps if I was only in the area for a week or two, I may not have rented it, but since I will be here for 1.5 months, at the two week mark, I decided to expand my horizons. My other colleagues who have traveled from distant lands to be here - as is the case with myself - suggested that I was crazy to try to drive in such a foreign place. To tell you the truth, this is way outside my comfort zone, especially excursions when I am out by myself, as is the case today. The traffic in the cities is a little hectic and the interchanges are not quite what I am used to, but if you pay attention and know where you are trying to get to, you should be fine. Watch the signs and take your exits. A word of warning, most back streets - between the blocks - are one-way and will sometimes take you in directions you don't want to go. Be patient, don't panic and you will be fine.

But, ask yourself, how foreign is it really. It has only been since 1971 since this land was British ruled. Much of the infrastructure stems from that period of time. UAE is growing by leaps and bounds every year and it's infrastructure and urban development reflects that. They drive on the right side of the road. The speed limit is in KPH, but so are the speedometers, so why worry about conversions. The lane markings are relatively the same and people do use blinkers to change lanes. Just keep in mind ... Some people like to drive fast, just get out of their way and you will be fine.

The UAE is very open to foreign investment, including money coming in from tourism. As such, they are surprisingly open to Americans and Europeans. I only needed my passport and my US drivers license to rent a car. No international drivers license required. I am told that even the bordering countries (with the exception of Saudi Arabia) are open to crossings by tourists. These countries include Oman, Qatar, Yemen, etc. I hear the coast of the Indian Ocean is quite beautiful. Perhaps a trip on another weekend.

Today, I have driven 45 minutes northeast of Sharjah to a resort named Barracuda. The interesting thing about this resort, besides being on the water and quite temperate with a nice sea breeze, is it has a liquor store. The resort is in the next emirate to the east from Sharjah and so does not observe the same conservative restrictions as Sharjah emirate - namely the sale of alcohol.

This place is hopping. A friend at the office put me on to this place. He said I could sit at the cafe on the water (an inlet off the Persian Gulf), order a beer and some food, and relax. Something I am taking advantage of at this writing. As far as alcohol purchases in the store are concerned, it is accepted that people will come here to buy alcohol and then carry it back to Sharjah - mainly tourists and ex-pats. They put the purchases in opaque-gray bags, so one can carry the purchases into their residences and hotels. Sharjah is strict about alcohol in public, but relaxed on the law of it being consumed behind closed doors.

Anyway, the land is very flat leading down to the gulf and the gulf does not have many waves. It is kinda reminiscent of my recent trip to Lake Ontario. Not very many waves ... Really a lot like a lake.

I guess I'll be driving back now. The sun is going down and I am not sure about driving at night yet. I am told it "could" be dangerous on a weekend since people usually spend the whole day out and are often tired driving home.

Posted with Blogsy

Hatta Tour

12 Hour Extreme Hatta Safari - One of Van's weekends in the Middle East

10:00a - It was an adventure just getting started this morning to meet up with Butterfly Tours for this 12-hour Extreme Safari tour in the UAE. We left enough time to get to our meet up spot from our hotel in Sharjah, but our driver misunderstood where we actually needed to be. We were dropped off at a place that was 20 minutes or so from the correct location. Taxi drivers in this country, do not know addresses, they know landmarks. That being said, you might be hard-pressed to find an address as it is, so maybe it is good that the drivers go by landmarks. Anyway, we met up with the tour driver and are now en route to meet up with the rest of the tour in Hatta (I assume), 61km away at the time of this writing.

There is a lot of desert out here. Once you get south of the cities on the Persian Gulf - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, etc - there is not much development. None really, but lots and lots of sand. The roads are perfectly smooth with no potholes or unusual roughness. Occasionally, we see other people with recreational vehicles or recreational toys, dirt bikes, dune buggies, etc. This is the perfect area for that kind of play. It is doubtful there is much "private" property out here.

11:00a - First oasis stop - rest rooms, a little shop, some recreation (4x4 motor bikes and camel rides). There were also some falcons that were fun to photograph. I imagine these little oases are nice to have on long drives across the desert.

11:30a - On we go to the next stop. The driver has gathered our passports for the next stop. We are told that they will check our passports 5 times before this trip is over at various different borders.

11:38a - we have now crossed the first border into Oman. No pictures allowed at the border, unfortunately. The driver tells us that the road crosses the border a couple of different times on this trip. Checkpoints are at each one.

Omani mountains

11:48p - gas stop (Shell)

12:00p - past 2nd Omani checkpoint. Here are some hills south of that checkpoint.

12:37p - end of the paved road and a stop

1:00p - No more pavement from here. Woohoo! What they don't tell you is that the reason it's not paved from here on is that it is under construction. Oh well, it is still fun to drive on.

1:15p - Back on the paved road. :-( That didn't take long.

1:30p - Coming into Hatta

Hatta Dam - the dam has been here for 30 years, but for the past 4-5 years it has not rained enough to fill the reservoir.

2:00p - stopped for lunch at a service station. I like the way they spelled teriyaki.

3:00p - Back on the road

3:30p - after two more checkpoints, we are back in the UAE. Passports are back in our possession and in our pockets, so my assumption is that we will not be back in Oman anymore today.

3:40p - reached a big sandy hill ear Lahbab in the UAE. We are stopped right now to deflate the tires a little for sandy driving.

These pics don't do the "dune bashing" experience much justice, but ... Pay attention to the horizon, it will provide evidence to how tilted the truck was on these dunes.

4:30p - Arrived at Tazeem Al Sahara - a tourist destination where we will be served dinner, belly dancing and more importantly, a drink. We have been dry since we arrived in Sharjah.

Waiting for the crowds to arrive.

Finally found a place to get a beer $7 for a beer imported from Mexico. I look a little dazed because I don't know where to look when my picture is being taken with my iPad.

7:00p - dancing started

 

Posted with Blogsy