Al Hamra Town House Ras Al Khaimah

... swimming and snorkeling alongside their anchored dhows (lots of coral reefs), and we pulled onto a beach for the kids to jump out and walk around a bit. All around these rocks you can find small sandy beaches. Most were empty, but several had campers and tents; larger ones had old villages, still in use as fishing villages but the occupants had left for the holiday season. It is common for them to have a home there and a home, say ...

... through some travel books while hubby did the honors. Surprisingly not many folks crossing the border, we were expecting more because of the holiday. A few expats like ourselves, and a larger number of locals who had a much quicker crossing than we did.

Once through the border post we were almost immediately at the shore, with tall mountains on the right and bright-blue water on the left. The ...

... that for him) and refilled our carafe with tea. Lots of trucks out on the road, but unfortunately not much in the way of early morning refreshments for the drivers.

We sailed along, kids were asleep again, and my husband was getting sleepy as well but we still had a couple of hours to the border. After passing all the agricultural bounties (remember the date farms, dairy farms, etc.) we entered the Empty Quarter -- thankfully this ...

... the Saudi Embassy for initial approval. Once you get that, you then submit your passports, vaccination cards and pictures and wait. We had submitted ours over a week ago; predictions were mixed at the travel agency -- some assured us it would be a week, others said it would be at least two weeks. We decided to take the risk, packed everything and headed to Abu Dhabi hopeful that the passports would ...

... road....70km of desert and camels and after a while we found RAK. 10am and approaching 50degrees C, we stopped off at Manar Mall to buy water! After a bit of circling, we found our new school, shown around the place, met the staff and was taken on the guideed tour of the city by my our head, who's a bit of a character! Our new apartment isn't fully ...

... breakfast to supply me with enough vitamins for the whole day journey through 6 UAE emirates.Next stop is the emirate of Umm al Quwain where all the flags are on halfmast because the people are mourning the death of their ruler.The museum is closed, and I move quickly on to Ajman.

... hour later. At this point a near disaster was averted when we realised that we had left the pillows behind in Dubai (OK, so between grande lattes and pillows maybe its not shaping up to be too ruggid a camping trip....). A quick pit stop at Carrefour and now armed with 40 dirhams worth of vacuum packed pillows (and another grande latte!) we continued on through the UAE/Oman border crossing.
The road to Khasab winds ...

... various techniques were used such as pacing across the table, staring at the inhabitants, and even moping. Once a table was relinquished this was only half the battle. Other team members had their own assignments that were equally important. Typically after a scanner had outted a squatter, other scanners would shift roles and become helpers and help to carry food. Others would be come challengers, and challenge other ...

... in residence (we didn't see him). Next door was.... what would you expect in the dessert? A full scale water park with hotel. OK, Grands. Think about it. In the middle of the desert... not a plant in sight. Suddenly here is this modern city built around a "creek," which is actually a big river. There's bouganvilla, palm trees, flowering bushes, grass, and on and on with planting. All brought in. It's ...

... Yogi said the men drink all day and sleep. The women work. But we saw many men riding their cycles I assume to work. A number of years ago, all industry in Agra was shut down so they could become pollution-free or more environmentally friendly. The fear was the Taj would start to darken from the pollution. There were also parking lots established a distance from the entrance to the Taj, and from there ...