Emirates Springs Hotel Fujairah

... going to the airport and I asked if they would like to split a cab. The woman told me, "Under no circumstances. You can pay full price just like we will." I tried to explain that if we split one, we all end up paying less. I was even going to pay for half though we were just three. But alas she wasn't having any of that. <br><br>Her husband told me, "It's nonsense you want to take our money. Americans only want profit and don't speak German. It is for us to speak ...

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 ...

... HUGE hangover. And I had to use my brain that thursday. Painful. Anyway, that plus the fact that I needed to look for a new job in order to keep psychological balance (that worked well as I applied to 15 interesting jobs in just a few hours), made the friday disapear. I had been trying to organize a weekend out to the tip of the peninsula, on a dhow boat: dolphin spotting, snorkeling, and all sorts of great things to do... but that did not work out. Instead, we gathered ...

... 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.

... Qatar about some oil rich islands that they both claim, Bahrain has also suffered the usual religious trouble prevalent in the region. The Shiite Muslims (60% of the population) want the parliament to be re-established and democracy for all but the Amir and his Sunni Muslim buddies (the ruling minority) aren't keen so there is a bit of tension around. About the only thing holding the place together is the fact that the US has made this their main base in the region and so they ...

The next morning I went back into Fujairah to have a look at the old fort and the old dwellings there. At least I had been warned that not much was there to see. It has become fashionable in the UAE to have "heritage areas", where they excavate a few stones and rebuild ancient buildings "as they were". The problem with that, is that these new buildings are... new, and look new! You would even suspect that they used concrete... I have heard that in Abu Dhabi at least, they ...

Even though I had been told that Fujairah was the last place of interest on the coast, I still had decided to stay there because it was a city, and not a small village of Indian workers around a resort. It was a city of Indian workers nevertheless, as anywhere in the Emirates, but still, a real place. After having chosen a seemingly derelict motel, which was in fact just a bit old, I headed into town, to try see what life was like ...

... ever seen any pork product for sale, they were really trying to make the westerners feel at home. We went to the location of where we believed the whippings were to take place, the little english that the man there spoke was enough to tell us that nothing like that took place around there, we were had. Afterwards we walked over to Fujairah International Airport. So your thinking "nobody would fly into Fujairah International Airport" but you'd be surprised to know... that your right, nobody ...

Weekend! Yay. Today, we've planned a trip to the east coast of Dubai, namely to the emirate, Al Fujairah. The morning starts off nice and early.... around 11am. We pick up Rafi, and then Jean from his apartment. We stop by Jean's apartment for a little while because Ponjit had to go into work that morning and we were waiting for him to return. Jean's place is smaller than Mark's, and he showed us his coffee plunger - hmm... it was the Nestle christmas gift that we all got ...

... and hand. I quickly jumped up hopping round the water like an idiot we lyall absoultly ******* himself. Karma. After swimming all day we headed to the bar and the first alcohol that we had come across since Dubai. We sat around outside in the evening sun drinking beers and Pina Coladas like A-class tourists and laid back smoking water pipes in the evening. The next day we headed back to ...