The last few days have been a little frustrating yesterday I had to go hunt an ATM that would accept my card found one eventually and score some air tickets which wasnt so difficult. However when I made my 3rd attempt to visit the Museum all looked rosey until they locked up about 20 minuts after I arrived and kicked me out. This was followed by a fruitless search for Yemeni horse stamps. So went back to the hotel found a novel in English by the dude who wrote the Horse Whisperer and did not leave the room till I read all 600 pages. This morning I jumped out of bed munched into my free breakfast and headed for the service taxi station to get one to Amran. I got there without difficulty, but thats where ... read more

Getting out of the city this morning to visit some of the villages to the north of the city, cant find anyone to share the cost so going alone, the the driverat the hotel says $16 USD for the day. It wasnt an overly long trip to the first destination, the countryside along the way is barren and rocky except ofcourse for all the qat fields. Havent seen a dog since I have been here but there are heaps running around feral out here, who knows what they eat. The first place we visited was Thilla which turned out to be probably the best preserved of the villages, it is built into the mountain side and is a really pretty town with a stone stairway that leads up the cliff face to a fortress on top. ... read more

There seems to be a mosque behind every hotel and hostel so again no need for my $2 Chinese alarm clock this morning. Breakfast was typically Middle Eastern, flat bread, hommus, tea, cheese triangles and jam, quite satisfying really. Then it was pack up, check out and head for the bus stop out the front. It was hot damn hot and I was sweating buckets long before the bus arrived, a friendly bloke from Gujarat (India) missed a couple of his own buses while he waited to make sure I caught the right one. It was of course packed with Indian expats and space was limited, with a huge pack on my back but eventually I took up a couple of seats for the trip into Deira. It was quite long and I saw a fair ... read more

This has been a long time in coming I know, and yes I am alive and well. Sharjah is the third largest of the Emirates after Dubai and Abu Dhabi and doesnt have the huge oil wealth of these but there are 4 others that are quite poor in comparison, more about them later. I arrived in Sharjah around 7am and alighted from the bus in the middle of town at Rolla Square. I then grabbed a taxi it took a while because I couldnt get the first few drivers to understand me. Finally however I was on my way and searching for the Sharjah Youth Hostel, an hour later I was still searching and beginning to run out of patience so I headed for a cheap central hotel which turned out to be more expensive ... read more

I have prepared a basic itinerary and attached it below, ofcourse these sort of plans go out the window the minute you walk on the plane but it gives an idea of where I would like to go. Only two days to go. Middle East Itinerary Arriving UAE, Sunday April 23, 5.10AM Deira mini bus station - Sharjah every 20 minutes Stay at the Sharjah Youth Hostel (Ph5225070) Pg 325 Visit the Heritage area, Sharjah Archaeological museum, Sharjah Desert Park 9am opening Monday April 24 Full day Dhow tour Musandam Peninsula (Oman) Tuesday April 25 Stay at Dubai Youth Hostel (Ph 2988161/51) Pg 314 Visit the Hatta Heritage Village (open 8.am) - Al-Sabkha bus station Bus No16 every 50 minutes from 6am Khor Dubai, Dubai Museum, Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum House, Jumeira Mosque Visit the Burj al-Arab ... read more