.....and I think that may be it as far as Dubai tourism goes. There's really not much else to see in this sandy corner of the world.
The tour today took a different route to the east coast and went through several small villages. They all look pretty much the same......
One thing I have noticed, though, is that no matter now small the village, they have a modern hospital and schools--with schools, it's one for boys and one for girls.
The UAE is pretty progressive in so many ways, but Islam is still the rule. Alcohol is almost completely forbidden and you see women from the most conservative of burkas to girls dressed contemporary but not provocatively. The train I rode yesterday had two cars reserved for women and children but there were also women on all the other cars. Women are allowed to drive here but it's pretty rare. And too, I don't know if they are from the UAE. Up to 80% of the population of Dubai are expatriates. I thought it strange on the boat trip last week that the ads for the trip required a NOC for unaccompanied women. A sign on the boat repeated the requirement. I got to looking around on the Internet and it means "No Objection Certificate." In other words, a single woman has to have a letter of permission from a husband, brother, father or some responsible male.
Today's trip drove through the mountains, not along side them like last week. They are not particularly tall, but very uninhabitable.
Once into the mountains, the only village we saw surrounded an old 16th century Portuguese fort at a place called Hatta.
All that remains of the original fort are two of these watchtowers, but the government has recreated a heritage village where the original structure was. Rather than a true military fort, Hatta was more of a walled compound protecting the sultan's extended families--probably more of a castle than a true fort.
The reconstructed heritage village was interesting:
From Hatta, we continued into Oman--passing through passport control--and drove up the mountains to a dam designed to collect spring and rain water.
The tour today took a different route to the east coast and went through several small villages. They all look pretty much the same......
One thing I have noticed, though, is that no matter now small the village, they have a modern hospital and schools--with schools, it's one for boys and one for girls.
The UAE is pretty progressive in so many ways, but Islam is still the rule. Alcohol is almost completely forbidden and you see women from the most conservative of burkas to girls dressed contemporary but not provocatively. The train I rode yesterday had two cars reserved for women and children but there were also women on all the other cars. Women are allowed to drive here but it's pretty rare. And too, I don't know if they are from the UAE. Up to 80% of the population of Dubai are expatriates. I thought it strange on the boat trip last week that the ads for the trip required a NOC for unaccompanied women. A sign on the boat repeated the requirement. I got to looking around on the Internet and it means "No Objection Certificate." In other words, a single woman has to have a letter of permission from a husband, brother, father or some responsible male.
Today's trip drove through the mountains, not along side them like last week. They are not particularly tall, but very uninhabitable.
Once into the mountains, the only village we saw surrounded an old 16th century Portuguese fort at a place called Hatta.
All that remains of the original fort are two of these watchtowers, but the government has recreated a heritage village where the original structure was. Rather than a true military fort, Hatta was more of a walled compound protecting the sultan's extended families--probably more of a castle than a true fort.
The reconstructed heritage village was interesting:
From Hatta, we continued into Oman--passing through passport control--and drove up the mountains to a dam designed to collect spring and rain water.
It wasn't a hydroelectric dam or anything, just designed to collect water. This area does have springs and also has considerably more rain than Dubai.
From the dam, we drove off-road to an area known as a "wasi" which is a dried lake area and they are located all over this area, but the one we visited wasn't dry--it had considerable spring water and was unusual in that over the centuries the water had created a deep trench.
Tours in the summertime stop and let people swim in the canyon waters but it was far too cold today. In fact, it got down to 57 degrees last night--considered very cold for Dubai.
On the trip back, we had to stop for the obligatory camel photographs. I shot several but this one of a mother nursing it's young was the best.
I'm off tomorrow but it's a holiday and I understand almost everything is closed so I may hang close to the hotel or maybe take in the mall with the ski slopes. Today was a good day, though. I'm not a "city person" and it was good to get away from all the chrome and glass and see some mountains and water.
After tomorrow's day off, I've got four work days and then I'm heading home but I'm watching the situation with the Atlanta airport and the winter weather closely.
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