Qada Tourist Hotel Khasab

I got up a bit late today but I actually needed it. The heat is even worse than yesterday and I know for a fact that I am going to struggle today.

I wanted to get to the Palm and Atlantis before going to Dubai Ski. Looking at the bus map it didn't as straight forward as I thought it would be. My first stop had to be Gold Souk Station, the traffic was quite bad and it took a while to get there. We drove a very cool area though with loads of little ...

... and headed out. The speedboat was small and had a carpet covering the bottom, with majlis-style cushions around the sides. The only other item was a large cooler, which was filled with ice and sodas. So we got settled and our captain took us out.

Several guidebooks call them fjords, but I came to find out that they are fjord-like, but not fjords. Proper fjords are structures that have been cut from the rock by glaciers, like in ...

... accented and broken English, which had me driving around for a bit until I found it across the street from where I was before. I went up to the little house (it was basically a little trailer like construction companies use) and they told me to go to the place I had thought it might be. I drove across the street and went over to the dhow to meet the contact Vinoey ("Vin-oo-ey"). I was the first one there. They asked if I wanted a snorkel and fins---they cost ...

... passing beach until I finally stopped at one---this one was the biggest, had great sand, and I could drive all the way to the water's edge without getting my tiny car stuck (it was just past the too-expensive-for-me $100/night Golden Tulip Resort). I took a quick dip, but didn’t venture too far out since I was swimming alone and didn’t know what the undertow, shark, etc. situation might be. The water was really warm and just slighter cooler than the air ...

... Travelogue: DAY1 Musandam Peninsula is also termed as the Fjords of Arabia and it is situated at the tip of Arabia. Offering such a pleasurable and beautiful drive once we cross into Oman. The border crossing is at about one and half to two hours from Dubai and the fun starts from here. The road winds right at the coast offering breathtaking views and the scenery keeps changing at turns. This is the first trip of the traveler family in the year ...

... in the 4 wheel drive vehicle were 2 other travellers doing the tour, a Scottish girl working in the English embassy in Dubai and a French man of Algerian birth. We enjoyed conversation of travels and time flew as we sped North towards the Oman border at a casually average speed of 160kms per hour. After about an hour and half we stopped at a seaside resort and picked up another couple. With already 5 of us in the car this was ...

... go hand in hand). All my years traveling I have never seen a border quiet like this. B and I threw ourselves and our passports into the throng of hundreds. There was no order to it, just get in and push! First we had to pay for our exit stamps and fill out the cards, then you needed to "line up" separately to have your stamp issued....in theory it should be easy. Well 2 hours later we were still jammed in ...

... The beach was just there, but the downside was that we would start roasting very early in the morning. So we headed to the mountains. We went up almost 2000m in the dark, following small trails on steep slopes. The rocks there are arid, sharp, unwelcoming, almost lifeless, yet very impressive. The full moon light revealed many details of the landscape, between glittering and dark parts of the valleys. The last bit of trail to reach the "campsite" was quite rough, it was a very ...

... was only a few hours, but passing the border and waiting for a car which had gone to the main part of Oman (which is hundreds of km away) caused some delays. The meeting point in Musandam was the golden tulip resort, where we could enjoy the terrace while craving the clear swimming pools beneath, only imagining how cool they were. At least the air was a bit less hot, compared to the 50degC of the previous week. Even ...

This was our third trip to the Mussandam since moving to Dubai. A very civilised start to the weekend was the initial meeting spot of Starbucks at Uptown Mirdif. The 12 intrepid campers arrived in their various 4WD vehicles ready for a ruggid weekend's camping.........after a grande latte and blueberry muffin that is.... We hit the road at 9am in convoy along the Emirates Road reaching Ras Al Khaimah for a refuelling stop ...