Al Diar Siji (Deluxe) Fujairah

A city bus supposedly runs every half hour to the airport in Damascus for 50 cents and I was all about that type of deal. So yesterday I wanted to nail down the exact departure point of this bargain bus and I asked three people. Of course three people gave me seven different answers and while wandering around I sort of scoped out these locations. Green city buses with Arabic signs rolled by but if one was the elusive airport bus I will never know. <br><br>Cutting ...

Ajman to Sharjah by minibus, it leaves right in front of the Ajman museum and goes to the Sharjah bus station, very practical for my bus change to the emirate of Fujarah that lies on the east coast of the UAE, so the highway goes across the desert, and ...

Another 2 days weekend, the ONE in this month... you'd think it's a perfect occasion for a big weekend out, but I was absolutely shattered! I needed some sleep. And, I have to admit, not only because of work. The ex-project manager, who had resigned and left just as I arrived, had invited everyone to the Begian Beer Bar on wednesday night... I finished with my good colleague Ivo, belly and brain full of belgian beer, just a few hours before getting up for work with a ...

... of giving me an ice cold wet towel in the car, good service. Then 90 mins drive to the hotel. Good roads, so many speed cameras. And the cars start beeping when going faster then 120 km/h. Strange but effective, because extremely annoying after a short while. Hotel arrival was nice, need to get used to this level service, just doesn't exist in Europe and for sure not in the UK.

... while pulling on lines is not a good combination. Bahrain is a city state centred on the largest Island of an archipelago of about fifty islands. The largest island is also called Bahrain. Like most of the countries in this area, Bahrain was controlled by the British around the eighteen hundreds until the middle of last century. These days it is an absolute monarchy ruled by an Amir. The Amir is a descendant of the strongest family amongst a group of merchant families who ...

... it? I realized I was getting very late for my norning dive, which was another half hour drive up the coast, in KhorFakkhan. I got there in time, the dive center was part of a resort, and two boatful of divers were going out. I got my gear and was teamed up with two French guys, of course one was a director and the other a lawyer. It seems I am the only French engineer in this country, everybody else is a director Finance guy. Manual work is left to the Indians and ...

... my meal of the day was at the "Sahara Cafeteria" usually the food is pretty good and INCREDIBLY cheap) The other guys were not as keen on eating there, so we went over to the Marina. The Marina was a fun experience, because since Fujairah is on the Indian Ocean, a lot of wealthy people leave there boats there or travel through there on there boats. And the Marina was evidently the only place that sold alcohol in the city. So there all of the westerners congregated for a beer and to chat ...

Well, today was the kids' Christmas party at the Hilton in town. Not as good as the Meridien's (coming up in two days) but it was ok. My 10-yr-old daughter got to play with friends she hasn't seen in awhile and there was a small buffet of kids type foods. Also a couple providing music, canned instumentals and a voluptuous ...

... of the sunset here which is very beautiful. I didn't post it up as you'll probably just get sick of sunset shots :) We drop everyone off at home, then head home ourselves for a quick shower. Mark prepares some marinade for the chicken and beef we'll be eating tommorrow during our dinner bbq. We pick up the boys, and Ponjit has backed down on heading down to the York Intl Hotel for drinks. We stumble upon Argentina vs Australia in the Confederation Cup soccer, so hang ...

... out of place in its enviroment at the northern end of the beach, which had a swimming pool and its own private section of the beach for us foreign fatboys to break out our pale bods. At night we headed into town to check out the souqs and grab a meal. The place was pretty lively at night and after a few beers and a waterpipe we hit they hey.