Temperature at 2:10pm – 39.8*c
These are the last of the two Arabian cities we visited. Abu Dhabi is on the Persian Gulf and Fujairah is on the Gulf of Oman. Though both cites are in the UAE, they have a totally different make up and “flavor.”
I did not take an excursion in Abu Dhabi, but from the ship it looked very similar to the other cities we visited in the Persian Gulf. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, greeted us with tall skyscrapers and a vast number of cranes. This is another old rich region where banking and finance is taking over.
Since I was on my own, I took the ship’s shuttle to the local mall. As in Dubai, Bahrain and Doha, this mall had many high-in shops such as Fendi, Gucci, and Boss to name a few, there was also a Woolworth’s. I walked through the mall and noticed one shop even having a Christmas tree in the window. I thought this odd in a Muslim country. My main object was to find the Carrefour. Since we had had so much fun there in Dubai, I thought I’d see what this Carrefour’s had to offer. This store was smaller with not near the selection as the store in Dubai. I did not leave empty handed though.
[Do take note of the crossing sign above. Though you may think this is a female figure, it is actually a male. Sorry for the lightness of the photo, it’s hard to escape the sun.]
Fujairah, though only an hour’s drive from Dubai, had a totally different feel from the other UAE cities. Since it is on the Gulf of Oman, it was smaller and the smallest populated of the Arabian cites we’ve visited. There weren’t as many tall buildings in the downtown area and just a few cranes, but looked to be an up and coming area.
One thought came to me while riding around in the UAE. There were no statues of people anywhere. We saw very few photos of people, usually only the king, sultan or emir. The reason is that those of the Muslim faith don’t portray images of people. Along the roads or in roundabouts or traffic circles, we only saw statues or bushes cut in the forms of pottery shapes or as in Muscat, we saw sea animals.
While in Fujairah, Crystal went on the Desert Safari excursion and I stayed on the ship. I had read about the Lulu Hypermarket on the Internet prior to leaving home and wanted to visit one. Luck would have it that the ship’s shuttle stopped at the Lulu. This would definitively be more of a grocery store with other small shops of gold, sunglasses and a money exchange booth. There was an upstairs, but I didn’t venture up. I was happy strolling around the grocery area seeing many of the same products we have at home but with labels in Arabic. The produce was interesting with different fruits than at home and wonderful smells, but they also have tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots, just like we do.
From the port area along the water, there are many beach resorts. One interesting thing we saw off the coast of Fujairah was about 100 ships. As we found out, these were oil tankers waiting for the cost of oil to drop and their owners would then contact them and they would go into port and load up with oil to sell wherever their owners wanted.
Next Mumbai, India…..
These are the last of the two Arabian cities we visited. Abu Dhabi is on the Persian Gulf and Fujairah is on the Gulf of Oman. Though both cites are in the UAE, they have a totally different make up and “flavor.”
I did not take an excursion in Abu Dhabi, but from the ship it looked very similar to the other cities we visited in the Persian Gulf. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, greeted us with tall skyscrapers and a vast number of cranes. This is another old rich region where banking and finance is taking over.
Since I was on my own, I took the ship’s shuttle to the local mall. As in Dubai, Bahrain and Doha, this mall had many high-in shops such as Fendi, Gucci, and Boss to name a few, there was also a Woolworth’s. I walked through the mall and noticed one shop even having a Christmas tree in the window. I thought this odd in a Muslim country. My main object was to find the Carrefour. Since we had had so much fun there in Dubai, I thought I’d see what this Carrefour’s had to offer. This store was smaller with not near the selection as the store in Dubai. I did not leave empty handed though.
[Do take note of the crossing sign above. Though you may think this is a female figure, it is actually a male. Sorry for the lightness of the photo, it’s hard to escape the sun.]
Fujairah, though only an hour’s drive from Dubai, had a totally different feel from the other UAE cities. Since it is on the Gulf of Oman, it was smaller and the smallest populated of the Arabian cites we’ve visited. There weren’t as many tall buildings in the downtown area and just a few cranes, but looked to be an up and coming area.
One thought came to me while riding around in the UAE. There were no statues of people anywhere. We saw very few photos of people, usually only the king, sultan or emir. The reason is that those of the Muslim faith don’t portray images of people. Along the roads or in roundabouts or traffic circles, we only saw statues or bushes cut in the forms of pottery shapes or as in Muscat, we saw sea animals.
While in Fujairah, Crystal went on the Desert Safari excursion and I stayed on the ship. I had read about the Lulu Hypermarket on the Internet prior to leaving home and wanted to visit one. Luck would have it that the ship’s shuttle stopped at the Lulu. This would definitively be more of a grocery store with other small shops of gold, sunglasses and a money exchange booth. There was an upstairs, but I didn’t venture up. I was happy strolling around the grocery area seeing many of the same products we have at home but with labels in Arabic. The produce was interesting with different fruits than at home and wonderful smells, but they also have tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots, just like we do.
From the port area along the water, there are many beach resorts. One interesting thing we saw off the coast of Fujairah was about 100 ships. As we found out, these were oil tankers waiting for the cost of oil to drop and their owners would then contact them and they would go into port and load up with oil to sell wherever their owners wanted.
Next Mumbai, India…..
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