Changing Lanes

The day started at 7:45am as me and SJ made our way to the other side of town i.e. Barsha to pick up WS, sad and wifey (faz). WS was asleep while the couple was delayed (they were coming from Al Ain) so we detoured to a car wash to clean the dusty X-trail that we’d borrowed from SJ’s uncle the previous night from Abu Dhabi. We headed out at 9am to the Ras Al Khaimah – Musandam border via Emirates road. We got there at 11am after a tedious drive on the supposedly new highway through the desert without getting lost even though we didn’t have a map.

At the UAE side of the border, we were informed that SJ couldn’t travel into Oman because she wasn’t with her sponsor i.e. her dad even though we had a NOC letter just in case such a situation popped up. Slightly dejected, we decided to check out the breakwater near the border because we’d seen relatively large (compared to Dubai) waves crashing into it. We snapped pictures, got wet, relaxed and basically had a nice time on the rocks enjoying the beautiful weather and view.
We left at 1pm after SJ was done chasing a cow and a goat and entered RAK to have lunch i.e. KFC as demanded by everyone because once upon a time my parents used to drive all the way to RAK to have KFC because it was the only one in the UAE or something like that. Unhealthy lunch done with, after a vote between mountains or water with water winning, we drove back towards Dubai via the old more scenic highway looking for a patch of beach to chill on. Instead I decided to look for Jazirat Al Hamra (click here for more information) which I conveniently found. This is supposedly a photographer’s paradise which obviously led to me and SJ going a little mad.
Spent an hour or so there as the others got a little tired of walking around. Back on the highway in search of water, we ended up on the beach right at the border between RAK and Umm Al Quwain. Saved two starfish (hopefully), squished squishy looking watery things, SJ got very wet, took funny pictures, walked some more and made a happy face.
On to the marsh land somewhere near Ajman where a draft of cold wind made it uncomfortable for everyone else (I had my trusted sweater) which left me disappointed as I wanted to stick around there for sunset. Then into Ajman city where being the tourist guide I am, I took the winding city route via the corniche where on the Sharjah side we saw the boats (click here for more information). Weaving through Sharjah traffic on a squealing happy X-trail was a bit of a challenge but we managed to get back to the other side of town to drop the others without much car drama. It was 8pm by then which was earlier then we’d expected so SJ and I decided to drive to Abu Dhabi to give the X-trail back. We got back home at 12pm with me snoozing in the passenger seat. ^_^