On the way back from Jebel Akhdar to Dubai, we visited the old ruined village of Al Hamra. It was a bit off the main road and the directions took us via very narrow streets through date palm farms. It was a beautiful drive. We arrived on the other side of the museum from our colleagues, so did not know they were there already. So, the four of us toured the ruined village of Al Hamra for a few minutes, before meeting everyone at the Bait Safah Museum. One of the cool things we saw was a public bath-house, a little alcove along the street sitting above the falaj where people can wash themselves in water destined for the farms. Al Hamra is a 400-year-old village near Nizwa and Jebel Shams areas. It has some of ... read more

Everyone knows Dubai. Or even Abu Dhabi. People even refer to them as countries. The country name is United Arab Emirates. And it is made up of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi (the biggest, by a lot), Dubai (the most well known), Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Ajman, and Umm al Quwain. I highly recommend the Etihad Museum in Dubai which gives a nice breakdown of the formation of the country in 1971. But this blog is the first of others around the country that I would like to share. This one will focus on Fujairah. Now, one thing to note is that the borders of each Emirate can be very confusing, as you have multiple enclaves especially in the mountains. The Emirates are formed primarily by the tribal affiliations, not necessarily geography, which also includes Omani ... read more

One of the things I started when I first moved to Dubai in 2012 was to try to do one new thing every week (usually the weekend). It could be something simple, like seeing a new mall or eating at a new restaurant, or a bit more planned like a tourist activity or visiting another emirate. I tried to do the same when I came back in 2018, but with more international travel, I don't always see those weekly new things as write worthy. Every now and then I'll do a hiking post or the Expo or I did one where I discussed life during Covid. So, I thought I would catch up on some of the things I have done and seen over the last year or so. In particular, I did a lot of ... read more

Our next adventure took us about 4 hours to the west to the town of Kharkorin, the location of the former capital established by Chenghis Khan - Karakhorum. Erdene Zuu Monastery Our first stop was the Erdene Zuu Monastery, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery constructed in the late 16th century. We were told we had 90 minutes here, which seemed like a lot, but there was actually quite a bit to see and we wound up a bit rushed, or at least, I was. It was originally intended for the surrounding wall to have 108 stupas, 108 being an important number in Tibetan buddhism, but I did not count. It was also constructed using ruins from the old capital, which did not last long. At its peak, the monastery held 62 temples and housed over 1,000 monks. ... read more

The part I was most looking forward to was our planned hike on the Great Wall that we booked through a local tour operator. I think before Covid, actual camping ON the wall was allowed, but this one only offered to camp next to it - still pretty cool. L set it up. We left our main baggage at the hotel and were picked up right on time at 10am. It would just be us - not a group tour. Yay! And they had a nice fancy volvo car to drive us the 90 minutes near the park entrance, where there is a little cultural center area here and seems to be a stopping point for lunch for many tourists. We had lunch here and there was so much food. Our guide, B, was pretty insistent ... read more