Tuesday, January 29: Home Base Dubai...day trip out three of the other Emirates
Today we set out from the futuristic cities of the U.A.E to visit three more of the Emirates. These emirates are smaller, less wealthy and not as developed as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There are no border crossings between each emirate, nor any real recognition that you have crossed from one to the other except that the architecture may change a bit or there are billboards with different Sheiks from the one you just left.
The seven Sheiks form the grand council of the U.A.E. and plan big picture stuff like foreign policy etc. But each Emirate or Sheikdom has diffeent local laws. It gets confusing what you can do and where. The seven Emirates forming the U.A.E are: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Qaiwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Kuhawr Fakkan and Fujairah.
Ajman was our first stop and is the most conservative of all seven as it is influenced a lot by Saudi Arabi. Sharjah is the only Emirate where you can buy alcohol. Ras Al Khaimah is the bread basket of the Emirates and the Hajar mountains border it to the East. We will visit the other three the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is a free day so I am going to the Mall of the Emirates and do some power shopping and then having lunch at the famous, seven star Burj Al Arab. La de dah. You can only get in to the hotel with a room or meal reservation.
In Ras Al Khaimah we climed a ridge to see the Queen of Sheba Palace which is basically a hole in the ground and there is no evidence that the Queen ever set foot on the place. Some didn't do the tough climb so stayed at the bus. When we came down from the ridge there were 6 local kids there (2 Mohammeds, 2 Achmeds, and 2 Hajans - weird) - they were fascinated with us foreigners as this really was a 'goat village' and this Emirate doesn't get a lot of tourists. I came prepared for such a situation and asked "Shikolat mim Canada?, (chocolate from Canada). The response was a hearty na'am (yes). I climbed aboard and emerged with a bag of Coffee Crisp and Smarties. I asked "Mimkin sura, min fadlak?" (Can I take your picture) and they were a bit hesitant but agreed. Maybe my accent was bad and they didn't understand. Anyhoo, one of the Hajan's came complete with a goat stick - very authentic and adorable.
Their English was basic. They asked where I was from and my name. I asked in English why they weren't in school and one of the Mohammeds replied "We pray". Sure enough as we drove away we could hear the Imams calling the prayers from the mosques. The kids weren't exactly high-tailing it to the mosques.
The seven Sheiks form the grand council of the U.A.E. and plan big picture stuff like foreign policy etc. But each Emirate or Sheikdom has diffeent local laws. It gets confusing what you can do and where. The seven Emirates forming the U.A.E are: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Qaiwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Kuhawr Fakkan and Fujairah.
Ajman was our first stop and is the most conservative of all seven as it is influenced a lot by Saudi Arabi. Sharjah is the only Emirate where you can buy alcohol. Ras Al Khaimah is the bread basket of the Emirates and the Hajar mountains border it to the East. We will visit the other three the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is a free day so I am going to the Mall of the Emirates and do some power shopping and then having lunch at the famous, seven star Burj Al Arab. La de dah. You can only get in to the hotel with a room or meal reservation.
In Ras Al Khaimah we climed a ridge to see the Queen of Sheba Palace which is basically a hole in the ground and there is no evidence that the Queen ever set foot on the place. Some didn't do the tough climb so stayed at the bus. When we came down from the ridge there were 6 local kids there (2 Mohammeds, 2 Achmeds, and 2 Hajans - weird) - they were fascinated with us foreigners as this really was a 'goat village' and this Emirate doesn't get a lot of tourists. I came prepared for such a situation and asked "Shikolat mim Canada?, (chocolate from Canada). The response was a hearty na'am (yes). I climbed aboard and emerged with a bag of Coffee Crisp and Smarties. I asked "Mimkin sura, min fadlak?" (Can I take your picture) and they were a bit hesitant but agreed. Maybe my accent was bad and they didn't understand. Anyhoo, one of the Hajan's came complete with a goat stick - very authentic and adorable.
Their English was basic. They asked where I was from and my name. I asked in English why they weren't in school and one of the Mohammeds replied "We pray". Sure enough as we drove away we could hear the Imams calling the prayers from the mosques. The kids weren't exactly high-tailing it to the mosques.
The kids from the small village near the "Sheba site". They were hiding their faces more for fun than anything cultural.
This is probably a good time to discuss the prayer schedule. There are five prayer times. The first call to prayer is at sunrise and you technically have 1 1/2 hours to to your thing for this first one. The prayer times are listed in the paper each day. There are mosques EVERYWHERE. At least every 1/2 km in a town or city so you get it in stereo. The prayers are broadcast from loud speaker from the minuret of the mosques. Each is 'live' so you get this weird mishmash of sound. It's quite nice and I like it. They publish the times because they are linked to sunrise so change a bit each day.
Most mosques are closed to non-muslims. A few larger ones are open to educate non-muslims or for tourism but they are few and far between.
I found my notebook on the bus, so here's what I missed....
In Qatar we visited the Sheiks Equestrian Club and stables. He has 4000 horses worldwide. I had some 'face-time" with his gold medal horse from the Asian Games. The stables are spectacular and immaculate. He even constructed a training pool for the horses. There are some photos on the Bahrain blog post.
About the weddings....the DJ at the women's part of the wedding in enclosed in a room and can't see the female party goers so has no idea what is going on....he just plays the music and hopes for the best.
The Emir of Abu Dhabi has 4 wives and 16 children. The Sheik of Kuwait (or maybe it was his father - this is all a blur and very confusing) has 12 wives and over 300 children. Each wife has their own palace.
Abu Dhabi has 10% of the world's oil. They produce 37 million barrels a day.
Dubai has 25% of the world's cranes working in the city (remember A.D and Dubai are both Emirates and also the name of their capital cities). You have never seen construction like this in your life. Absolutely insane.
The Emirs here in the U.A.E. can make whatever laws they want. (Emir basically means king). One of the Emirs of on of the Emirates lost his son in a car accident. He was hit by a truck. So the Emir banned trucks from the King Faisal Highway on which he was killed.
There are 119 nationalities in Abu Dhabi, 340 religions, but 90% of the population is Muslim.
We drove by the World's 4th largest Mosque in A.D. You aren't supposed to take pictures, but we did. It is still under construction. It has 84 domes, many are solid 24kt gold. It will hold 30,000. The two contractors who were building it got into some sort of dispute and delayed the progress so the Sheik said, "frig yuz" and started his own construction company.
It is mind-boggling when you think there really wasn't much here 30 years ago. Really, not much more than Charlottetown. Now they have these 'space cities' and growth shows no sign of slowing down - If I returned in two years, I am sure I would be amazed.
Dubai is building the largest airport in the world. Five times bigger than Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
All these countries have the largest male to female ratio in the world. 190 men for every 100 women. This is mainly because there are so many foreign construction and service workers, mostly from Asia. There are entire sections of the city that you would swear you were in Delhi or Bangkok.
That's it for today. Looking forward to my free day tomorrow...sleeping in! I have tonnes of pictures to upload but having some issues with the technology, internet, or maybe it is just me. It's a slow process.
Bye for now from this crazy spot. Here are some photos of the UAE.
This is how the guys greet each other in many parts of the region. Rub noses while making kissing sounds. Pretty funny.
We stopped here for the sign only. The actual crossing we used later was seldom used and had no signage.
The lobby of the Burj Al ArabHotel
In the interior of the UAE - near the Hajar Mountains
Camels and their trainers coming back from practice.
posted by Terry at 9:13 AM
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