Abu Dhabi

April 24, Wednesday. NOTE:  This is out of order.  Should have  come before Fujairah.  Today we docked in Abu Dhabi.  I felt sick enough that I decided to stay on board and let John do the tour without me.  On paper it was more of the same--skyline, mosque, historical site, souk, but as it turns out, I missed THE mosque.  I'm sorry now I didn't go, but I really didn't feel up to even sitting on a bus for four hours, much less dragging around in the heat.

Now that we are home, I have managed to lift several shots of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from John's film. The quality isn't great, but it's the best I can do to share what is considered the jewel of Abu Dhabi.  It is the largest mosque in the emirates, the 8th largest in the world, and is approximately the size of five American football fields. It can hold about 40,000 worshippers.  The estimated cost was about $12 million, although no one knows for sure because the sheikh kept the actual figure to himself--his prerogative since it was his money.

A first view of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from the window of the bus

A closer view

And closer still

The entrance and a reflecting pool

There is a famous nighttime view of the mosque all lighted up and reflected in these pools.

A view inside the courtyard through a keyhole arch

The beautiful, lacy dome

One of three enormous chandeliers

The calligraphy in the center says "Allah", and what looks like a doorway
below is the qibla, which tells the faithful the direction of Mecca 

The stand contains the Quran, and I suppose the seat
is for the imam who reads aloud during services.

You can get a little sense of the scale by noting the tiny people at the bottom of this photo

This shows the carpet, the largest in the world

Fujairah and Ras al Khaimah, UAE

April 25, Thursday. Fujairah is the only mountainous member of the United Arab Emirates, and from what we have seen, it is all mountains. Not mountains like we have in green, rainy North Carolina.  These are craggy, arid, utterly devoid of vegetation as we know it, and seem quite inhospitable to us. But to the local people, they seem just right. 

Today's tour was billed as a visit to Fujairah, but it actually included a brief visit to neighboring Ras al Khaimah, the smallest of the emirates.These are our last emirates, and I think I have finally figured out the system here. I had thought of the emirates as seven separate countries just loosely gathered together.  But instead, I think they are more like states in that the benefits and wealth of one are shared at least to some degree by all. Fujairah itself has no oil, but oil money has allowed it to build roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and a future based on business and tourism just as its sister states have done, although Fujairah is clearly lagging in all categories. The largess of the state to its citizens that we saw throughout this region is just the same here.  Each native-born citizen receives $19,000 when he or she marries, land, a house to be built on that land, a stipend on the birth of each child and annually thereafter, free compulsory education through grade twelve, free college education anywhere in the world, free medical care, no taxes, and probably much more. 

An up to date hospital in tiny Ras al Khaimah

Now that most adults are educated, men work in either the family business, for the government, or for some other business. While only about 6% of the workforce is native, all the high paid jobs go to natives, relegating the vast expat work force to jobs that are poorly paid and come with few if any benefits. Nevertheless, these jobs are sought after because they don’t exist in the workers home countries and allow them to send money home to relieve the deeper poverty they have left behind. When they are too old to work, they must return home with no benefits whatsoever. Local men work not for money, but for more money. They are landlords, business owners, government or corporate functionaries.  You never see a local manning a shop, driving a cab, acting as a tour guide, or really doing anything visible that looks productive. But apparently they do have their own version of the rat race because they need enough money to feed, house, bejewel and otherwise indulge the large families they are encouraged to have. Islamic law allows a man to have up to four wives, and a few do, but each wife and her children must be housed, dressed, fed, and so on exactly equally. These costs are high enough to discourage most men from having more than one wife. But even with one wife, the lifestyle for natives is lavish--and expensive.

So what did we do on our tour?  We admired the tall buildings in the small downtown.

This is nothing like Dubai or Doha, but even so, splashy new sky scrapers dominate the Fujairah City skyline.

Architects in all these countries indulge their fantasies

A new mosque completes the picture

We stopped briefly at an oasis near the small town of Bithna to take photos of goats and greenery.

They don't seem to irrigate the real desert, but here where there is a natural water source,
there are fields and crops as well as palm trees. The mountain barrier means Fujairah receives more rainfall than other Emirates.

And there are goats!

The small town of Bithna with new buildings and a mosque

This is really the first natural oasis we have seen.  It is quite charming
and if it is occupied by natives, may very well  provide a
lifestyle that would seem more normal to us.

We drove five miles into neighboring Ral al This was billed as a visit to Fujairah, but it actually included a brief visit to neighboring Ras al Khaimah, the smallest of the emirates. where we paused at "the Grand Canyon" where we could combine views of craggy mountain peaks with a drop into a newly built superhighway in the valley.

We are standing on top looking down toward the valley and its highway

I love this craggy peak.  The people who live in this climate must be this tough and sturdy.

Our guide said this is an effort to control erosion and rock slides.  To me, it is interesting design.

Still in Ras al Khaimah, we stopped at the souk for the Friday Market that now takes place every day.  This souk seemed to specialize in beautiful produce and carpets.

Across the street from where we were standing, a variety of shops beckoned local shoppers

All kinds of household items were available here in the desert

Fruits of all kinds, beautifully displayed, along with toys for the children

Some we recognized, some we did not

Coconut water is very popular in these countries, as well as corn on the cob

Carpets of every description and size

A portrait of the sheikh as well as contemporary and traditional designs

A vendor with inexpensive items for the tourist trade

Driving back to Fujairah, we passed several pottery shops

Back in Fujairah, we stopped at the 300 year old Fujairah Fort that is being renovated.

The remains of a dwelling

Another small structure at the fort

The fort itself

Part of the original wall that surrounded the entire fort area

View of downtown from the fort--surprisingly nearby

We also went to the Fujairah museum with its glimpse of the time before oil.

I am always interested in things that are woven.  I don't know the purpose of these circles, but they are lovely.

Daily life for a wealthy sheik's family

More evidence of relative wealth in the furniture

What's with the "hat"?  Is it a food covering?

A warrior's helmet and weapons.  Click to see more detail in any photo.

What a woman of the time would wear, including the burqa mask, a head covering, and clothing that was probably worn at home and under a black abaya when she was away from home.

I love the caption, and had no idea of the powers of saffron

An old-style souk

I don't know what sort of building would have contained these gorgeous decorations on the ceiling,  It was fascinating to see the variety and exuberance of these designs knowing that no people or animals are ever represented.

This was a wall.  This stunning design was made of silver and glass.

More detail of the ceiling decoration

Outside the museum--arches and cannon

Back on the bus and back to the ship.