High Style in Dubai!

I love the simplicity of camping and soaking up the quiet spaces around me, but I have never been one to say no to a little pampering and bubbly! That is precisely what our good friend, Chet showed us in Dubai. We had our time out on the town looking behind me every so often to see if I would get 'caught' with a beer in my hand out in a public venue. In Dubai the rules are certaintly different than Kuwait. Part of our birthday and Easter celebrations included a brunch at the Fairmont Hotel in the Spectrum on One Restaurant. Here's what one food critic has to say about the brunch selection....

Guide Rating -

The Bottom Line

This is the place to go to make everyone happy. You can have the Thai curry or Indian tandori while your wife has the herb-crusted milk-fed veal medallions or the Irish oysters thermidor, your business partner orders the sushi, and your teenager orders something Chinese. Chances are good that you'll be seated close enough to one of the eight theatre kitchens to watch some of your food being prepared.

Pros

• Variety - eight different kitchens prepare food from Europe, India, China, Japan, Thailand & Arabia
• Quality - the food is not just varied, it is exceptional
• Service - the wait staff is excellent
• the champagne flows freely for 3 hours (my addition)
  

Cons

• The difficulty of making menu selections (you can't try everything
• My turn - This was the most difficult part because everything looked absolutely delicious. I ate as much seafood - raw & cooked - as I could possibly fit into my stomach. Then there was dessert, choices that went on and on with endless yummy possibilities.
  

This brunch is one to remember and is a must if you are in Dubai. I have to thank Chet for indulging us in something we probably never would have found and now can't live without!
Party on in Dubai!!

From the Sharqiya region to Dakhiliya Region

The Hajar mountain range naturally divides into the East and West Hajars. It runs through the country from Ras al Had, down by Sur, in the South East to Musandam in the North at the tip. This range divides the coastal plain from the interior and gets as high as 3000m. 82% of the country is sand and gravel so although we saw plenty of coastline and interior, we were not able to see a huge and vast area of wide of desert. This romantic and classic desert is known as the Empty Quarter and the Wahiba Sands. The South of the country attracts monsoons and gives a whole different climate and feel to the country. People say they absolutely love it down in Salalah, next to the Yemen border and a mere 1200km. away from Muscat. A well paved road will get you there in 12 hours! This is where frankincense grows and is considered the best in the world. I was hoping to get some for my oil collection, but noone in the North seemed to understand what I was asking for.
From Sur we headed North for Nizwa. Nizwas is famous for its fort which the town is centered around. We pulled into town around 5:30pm with lovely soft light bouncing off the large fort walls. This fort took 12 years to build and was completed in 1668. This fort is considered one of the more important historical sites in Oman. A traditional style souk was built inside the fort using the remaining old fort walls and mixing in new sand coloured walls. Everything is inside this souk. We parked at the fish entrance unknowingly and quickly made our way into the center of the souk area. There is a meat and vegetable section, and of course handicraft area where they sell a lot of silver, khanjars (Omani knives), rugs, copper, pottery etc. It was pretty quiet when we strolled through looking for our frankenscence and maybe a khanjar. The vendors were not interested in bartering and didn't seem to concerned about selling anything. We ended up buying some dates and cardamon, nothing we were looking for. The Omani dishdasha is a slightly different style than the Kuwaiti one and Geoff was looking to buy one for himself. We couldn't find any made up and realized after talking to someone that only the tailor's make them up custom to fit you.
We were tired from the long day and decided to find a hotel room and stay in Nizwa as we didn't know how far out of town we'd have to drive before we could stop. As it turned out, all of the 4 hotels in the area were full except for the Falaj Daris, the most expensive one. Oh well, we took it tired and dirty, happy to have a bed to fall into and stretch out on, we plugged in all of our tech stuff to recharge for the night. Oddly enough the movie on TV was an old Russell Crowe made for TV show about a small Northern hockey town, they said was in Alaska, but looked much more like Smithers. We got a hit of B.C.'s densely forested mountainsides, snowy winter, and outdoor pond skating.
The next morning was our last real day to explore as we were bound for Dubai the next day so we headed for Wadi Ghul and Jabel Shams. Wadi Ghul is an incredibly deep canyon in the mountain range where Jabel Shams rises to 3000m. We eventually reached the plateau where you can look down into the canyon 1500m. below. It is quite a site to see in the middle of nowhere. Other sites that come out of nowhere are mountain women with their small children selling slippers and small woven crafts they've made out of goat hair. Goats are a familiar site up here as well and roam freely. I bought a few of the goathair 'keychains' and offered away our few chocolate bars and biscuits we had on hand to the women. They live up on this huge mountain where there is nothing growing except for Acacia trees. It is dirt rubble and more crumbling rock. They walk around in barefeet, their hands are as rough as sandpaper with deep cracks in them, tougher than anything I've ever felt. There are tiny towns off in all directions as we drive up the mountain. It will have a sign that says 1 or 2 km. in a direction pointing towards the village. There is absolutely nothing around. Only a 1/2hour away from these villages are the paved roads and cosmopolitan lives of city folk. What a stark contrast and massive separation between worlds just minutes away from each other. Jabel Shams was beautiful and offered tons of camping, but of course wrong time of day for us so we pushed on towards Al Ain, the border town into the Emirates.

Camping in Oman

I now understand the real value of hiring a guide for camping in the desert and for sleeping in general. We didn't opt for going with a tour company because they are incredibly pricey - roughly between $300-450+ per day/night. The deal that comes with a company is they know where the cool spots to camp are, we don't. That becomes evident every evening as we're wondering where to go. Finding information on campsites is slim and the tourist info we read about camping says there are lots of open camping up on mountaintops and in places along the coastal road from Muscat to Sur. During our 2500kms. of driving we did see some perfect camping locations, but usually during the day when we didn't want to stop for the night.
The 2nd night we found a quiet spot off the road to Yitti on the other side of Muscat. You drive through a narrow section of the town and then suddenly you head up and over this mountain. The roads are quite narrow, no consideration to gradient, just straight up with very sharp U bends. Makes for an exciting drive. After some twists and turns the road levels out towards an open stretch of beach. Just back in from the ocean we find a place to pull off and catch up on some sleep. I'm more confident of this spot after last night's interruptions.
Waking up around 6:30am to the sound of dumptrucks coming past us every minute or so was not my idea of sleeping in. Just down the road there is a big development site with roads being built and a huge billboard sign boasting about the new resort going in. This kind of growth is happening in many places around Oman and will certaintly change the untouched charm it has now.
After lounging in the sun at the Dive Center for the afternoon, we were lured back to the white stretch of sand beach we rested on the day before in our search for the Wadi Shab trail. We headed out with more driving confidence this time up the dried out river bed and onto the plateau. The road had been graded since our previous drive yesterday and was in very good shape. We made our way down to the coastal road and to our all time favorite beachside campsite just before sunset. There were other SUV's parked here as well so we knew this was a tour company favorite. Graced with a full moon, no bugs, lovely temperature we proceeded to enjoy the evening with drinks and curried rice a la frijoles. Truly a quintessential camping experience!
The next day we drove off around 8:30am as the heat was coming up along with the flys and we had a long driving day ahead of us. The coastal road is a real mixture of washed out areas with newly graded fixed up, make shift patches of dirt road that follows the ocean literally. Just off towards the Hajar mountain range is the new, improved 21st century 4 lane blacktop road that we were ushered onto in a couple of places by the road workers where the old road had experienced complete washouts. We were back and forth between the two. I'm so glad we got to drive the original road as it made the trip a lot more exciting and interesting.
We passed Wadi Shab again, 'gorge between cliffs' and headed down to Sur. The road down to Sur takes you through many small local towns where you mostly see goats roaming around the buildings and streets or perched up on a rock cliff. The odd person or child is outside, but we rarely saw people. We reached Sur around lunch, an 'ancient port and seafaring town that was prominent in the country's trade with India and East Africa. It was renowned for building great ocean going boats and still retains vestiges of the industry.' The traditional wooden dhows are still built in the boatyards today tucked away in a sheltered lagoon. Many boats can be seen listing on their sides in various states of disrepair. We tried to find turkish cafe, but instant Nescafe has marketed themselves so heavily in this country, there is nothing else available except for tea. They appear to be big Lipton tea drinkers.

Dubai ~ Oman overland

The kids were not interested in visiting another Middle Eastern country so Geoff and I took the opportunity to see Oman by ourselves backpacker style. A little more lavish than purely trekking around the country on foot, we rented a Pathfinder at the Dubai airport only to be upgraded to a 4x4 Prado SUV with plenty of space and engine power. Happy with the upgrade, but wondering exactly how we were going to sleep in this thing now as it doesn't have fold down seats or the same amount of 'sleeping space' as the Pathfinder. I think we spent more time driving than sleeping so it worked out in the end.
Since we moved over to Kuwait, we dreamed of driving through the mountains of Oman. Spring break provided the perfect timing so we opted for 5 days of driving with 2 days on the end to celebrate with our long time Canadian friend, Chet in Dubai.
The drive goes by quickly from Dubai to Hatta where you cross the border into Oman. Borders seem to be mysterious places and even moreso when you don't understand the language and English is limited. We had to get extra insurance for Oman and pass through about 4 different steps before finally being released into the Sultanate of Oman. We had visions of camping by the oceanside somewhere on our drive down towards Muscat from Sohar where the main coastal highway comes in from Hatta. This major 4 lane, completely lit highway did not follow the coast exactly and was difficult to get off of once you started cruising towards Muscat. We did turn off at one exit to try and find the ocean, but ended up in a small town with the roads getting narrower and narrower until finally there was nowhere to drive. Realizing that we are in with the locals, we decide there is nowhere to sleep and decide to head into Muscat that night.
We arrive around 9:30pm into Muttrah, another capital area next to Muscat 2km. away, considered by many as a twin town. Muttrah has a large fort overlooking the bay that was beautifully lit up at night, a corniche along the harbour and some large boats docked across the bay. A strip of typical 'coffee shop' restaurants that have a few basic tables and chairs outside, some souvenier shops and souk vendors that were just closing up for the evening.
The cleanliness and aesthetic beauty really stand out everywhere we went in Oman. There are flowers, shrubs, and palm trees are flourishing and looking so healthy. The corniches are beautiful with dome areas to sit under and inlaid designs along the walkway. The buildings are all low and every house is some shade of white. Geoff read that the Sultan only allows for 5 colours to be used on buildings in the whole region. Between the forts, the decorated roundabouts, and traditional buidings, it is very pleasing to go anywhere in Oman.
We left our apartment at 6:15am that morning and made it to Muscat 15 hours later. Feeling tired and ready to find a place to settle in for the night, we pulled out our mini size map of Muscat (the only map we could find in all of Kuwait and Dubai!) and proceeded to size up the roads to see which ones took us out of town enough to pull off and not be noticed by anyone.
The great thing about driving around at night is there's no traffic. You can do many circles around town in half the time it would normally take you! We discovered that Oman is full of roundabouts with large, I mean very large, sculptures or domelike structures in the center of them. We saw turkish coffee pots, Khanjars (the Omani knife), books, clock towers, beautiful areas to sit with flowers and trees, and fountains. Directions were often written down according to the different roundabouts, 1 km. from the clock tower roundabout etc. They are very distinctive and make driving a little more interesting in the midst of traffic.
After driving around for 1/2 hour, we pull off a quiet road tucked behind some Acaica trees and tuck ourselves in for the night. I am a little nervous about just pulling off as I've never camped in another country like this and I'm not keen on being visited by curious locals in the middle of the night. No sooner have we both drifted off to sleep when I am woken up by bright lights heading straight at us. I quickly wake up Geoff and tell him to see what they (turns out the Police) want. I don't move from my spot lying down hoping they won't see me, but unfortunately our windows are not tinted at all. The one policeman was convinced Geoff spoke Arabic because he said one Arabic word to them out of politeness. He asked who I was, I guess he saw me under my sleeping bag and was confused as to why tourists would be sleeping out here in a car?! I'm sure he's thinking we have all these beautiful 5 star hotels, why are you out here? They left after 5 minutes, but that was it, I wasn't sleeping now. Not being in a tent, it was easy to drive off and search out another place further out of town. 45 minutes later we were pulling off another road ready to get a few hours sleep before sunrise. Definitely a long day.