Hotel Jal Fujairah Resort & Spa

... I saw. They were sprawled across two to three chairs each while the woman were standing. Some even were holding crying babies. Yeah, these jerks had their nasty, filthy bare feet all over the furniture while their wives looked like they could use a seat. So much for manners. Draw your own conclusions as to how women are treated over there in Saudi Arabia. I will keep my mouth shut.

In my gate most of the men were dressed like any of us in the West and ...

After looking at all the rock drawings we could find, we headed back out of the wadi, and along the coast road to Khasab. We passed the swanky-looking Golden Tulip resort, which has a series of small chalets for rent in the area of UAE 1,000 dirhams per night. One of our party was not partial to boat rides, so she elected to stay at the resort and enjoy some refreshments and a book while we continued on.

Khasab is also not a large town ...

... drawings themselves were just lying around -- the guidebook only mentioned two rocks, but a small amount of exploring found several more. One had actually been used to make a shelter for the goats -- someone had added cement and some concrete blocks, then a metal gate with padlock. It was incongruous to see what some would consider an item of archaeological importance commandeered to serve a more modern purpose.

We passed through al-Kharj at night, reaching Haradh and the two-lane highway at sunrise. We stopped for sunrise prayers and to fill the gas tank, then headed off to the east and the rising sun. We stopped at so many rest areas trying to find an omlette paratha, but everywhere was still closed. The best we could do was a hole-in-the-wall place, where my husband got some qeema (Indian-style ground beef) that was literally swimming in oil (uhh, I ...

... travel agency, who provides you with a complete package (required), hotels and all. We didn't need any of that, as we were going to stay with relatives, but we still had to pay for the entire deal.

The application process can take several weeks; we had started over a month ago, before we left for the US. You submit initial paperwork to your travel agent, who then submits your application ...

... do a bit of background reading about a place so I can be a little informative about it when I write home. As far as Fudge-ra (our new nick name for it) goes I can't be bothered. I don't know what it is they mine there, but the slag heaps from it rise thousands of feet into the air all around it and the dirt and dust is enough to kill a swagman. One of the slag heaps near the port was so big they had built a telephone tower on top of the bloody thing. It was forty-eight degrees ...

... 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 ...

... kind of samoussas or nems with nuts or chicken (yum !!!). I went for two of these, asked for not spicy at all. The boss understood well, passed the order onto the guy who was preparing the food in front of everyone. Of course it took me ages to eat the stuff, as it was damn too spicy!!! But it was so gooooood! The little fried things had in fact been half-crushed into a plate with rice and the hot spicy sauce, a delight with ...

... who stopped said his 1993 Mazda would not be able to make it back to Dubai, and we believed him, so he took us to the "taxi station". I think it should be a requirement in ones life to make a pilgrimage to the Fujairah "taxi station". We were dropped off at a vacant lot, that held a couple of run down taxis, a tree and plastic chairs. Two arab men chewing sunflower seeds approach us and tell us it will be 25dirhams to go to Dubai, which is a set price. So we were invited to wait in the ...

... and find another place! The restaurant was attached to some slums, and the alleys to either side of them were very... authentically rubbish. I couldn't bring myself to imagine how they keep/preserve the food in that restaurant. We eventually found a family restaurant run by some egyptians. It was a mixture of indian/arabic food, and the order of the day was the mixed grill (photo 1). We ordered too much, but no one was complaining as the food was excellent, the ...