Go with Henry: Desert Roads and shopping malls

Sunday 17 June 2012

Desert Roads and shopping malls - Fujairah to Dubai

English Teacher in Oman

Exploring Fujairah

16 June 2012

Background

We visited one of Eva's friends in Fujairah, one of the Emirates, just across the border from where we worked in Oman as English teachers during the 2011/2012 academic season.

We drove with Eva's car from the Millennium hotel in A'Musannah, where we lived, to Sohar about one hour away, and then onto the UAE-Oman border.

We stayed for three days at her friend's place, exploring Fujairah and visiting Dubai on our last day.

Desert highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Road trip to Dubai - Stuck in the desert

Five adults and two children squashed into an SUV and began the two-hour drive to Dubai. We wound through the mountainous region of Fujairah until we reached the straight flat road through the desert.

At one point, I as the front seat passenger saw that the radiator meter showed that the car was overheating. It was very hot outside and we were still some distance away from Dubai. We had to stop the car.

Upon inspection, we found that the radiator was empty. I had to run alongside the road begging truck drivers to stop and give us water to refill until we could reach a service station.

I had to repeat the exercise a couple of times in the blazing desert heat. Eventually, a Pakistani truck driver stopped and gave me some water. In the end, we had to leave the car at a service station and take a taxi to Dubai.

Later, after we spent the afternoon in Dubai, we had to take a taxi back to Fujairah.

Desert highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Leaving Fujeirah - Desert highway to Dubai

Desert highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Worker picking up rubbish - Desert highway, Fujairah to Dubai

Desert highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Lonesome tree

Desert lining the highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Stuck on the desert highway - Broken radiator

Stuck with a broken radiator

Desert highway - Fujairah to Dubai

Stuck with a broken radiator

We stopped here to buy water ....for us and the car.
We left the car here and ordered a taxi to take us into Dubai

Dubai

About Dubai

Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and it is located on the south-east coast of the Persian Gulf. It is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the country.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature.

The city of Dubai is located on the emirate's northern coastline and heads the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. It emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East, and is also a major transport hub for passengers and cargo.

By the 1960’s, Dubai's economy was based on revenues from trade and, to a smaller extent, oil exploration concessions, but oil was not discovered until 1966.

Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969. Dubai's oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low: today, less than 5% of the emirate's revenue comes from oil (Wikipedia).