Emirate Hoppin' in UAE (Part 1): The Emirates of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Ras al-Khaimah

Prologue:

- My dad wanted our family to go somewhere for the December holidays and I was surprised when he considered Dubai. Knowing my dad was not usually keen on South- and West-Asian cultures and countries, I told him things that he'd expect, including pungent spiced food common to South- and West-Asian countries. Since half the people I know (and probably some of the people my dad knows) have been to Dubai or were/are planning to go to Dubai, the emirate sparked our curiosity. I have seen plenty of pictures and videos not only about Dubai, but the whole United Arab Emirates (UAE,) but I wanted to experience the Emirati flamboyance myself. After all, I haven't been to any West-Asian country in my life before this trip. After "getting consent" from the rest of the family, we booked a one-week tour of UAE with a few days extension. I normally hate group tours (correction, I ALWAYS hate group tours,) but since my whole family has polar interests, the best way to compromise everyone's wants was to join a tour. Personally, I don't like traveling with a tour group because I don't have control over anything, and I don't get to feel the thrill of meticulously planning anything or experiencing public transportation (i.e. immersing myself in that country/city) since tour groups have everything laid out for you - even the things you really don't like doing or place you don't like visiting. More importantly, I don't have any control of my time, like not getting to stay longer in a place that I'd like to explore more. Anyway, if talking about a family trip, a tour group is still the best way to compromise.

- The United Arab Emirates is mostly known for its modernity such as its countless palatial malls, record-breaking theme parks, and height-competitive skyscrapers, but the history of the region goes way back to early human history. It went through different forms of Islamic rule and European colonization until its independence from Britain in the late 1960s. The six emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharhak, Fujairah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain) united on December 2, 1971, with Ras al-Khaimah joining the year later. By the way, an "emirate" refers to a political territory ruled by an "emir" or "amir." The words "emir" or "amir," however, can be translated to a bunch of things in English, from prince, to commander, to general, to governor. (Quite vague if you ask me.) Consequently, UAE has 7 emirs (one for each emirate,) with the emir of Abu Dhabi, the capital, serving as the president, and the emir of Dubai as the vice president and prime minister of the UAE.

- Today, the UAE is still being developed in larger-than-life ways (i.e. building modern/advanced cities on deserts, etc.), and so there is always something new and something happening in any part of the UAE. Constructions and restorations are happening everywhere, which makes people wonder what the UAE would look like in just the near future. To add more manpower to UAE, the UAE employs millions of  workers from all across the world, making UAE look like a modern Silk Road hub. The Emiratis (i.e. natives of the UAE) make up a mere 10%, roughly, of the total UAE population.



The trip:

- December 24-26, 2016, Saturday to Monday.

- We flew to Dubai via Emirates, and reached around past noon. We went to our hotel, Raintree Deira, which was quite close to the airport. It was a two-minute walk to City Centre Deira (a large mall,) and behind the mall is the City Centre Deira metro station. The main center of Dubai is shaped like an inverted letter "L" with the angle at the top, making the shape of an asymmetric mountain. My hotel and the airport is close to the smaller line of the L, and most of the modern attractions are located along the longer line of the L. Travel time from my part of the city to the main attractions is around 30-minutes to an hour (depending on the location of the attraction.)

- After an hour's rest, we had a short afternoon trip to Sharjah, the cultural center of UAE. Because of this, Sharjah is a bit more conservative than the other flashier emirates like Dubai or Abu Dhabi. They take the Shariah Law more seriously, and so it's a bit quieter and drier (i.e. no alcohol served) than the other emirates. Since our tour started around 3pm, and with a good 30-minute travel time to Sharjah, we were quite skeptical about the coverage of the tour.

- We first visited the cultural roundabout, with the great Quran monument as its centerpiece. The Quran, the holy book of the Muslims, was placed there in place of the original fire monument (with an actual fire) that was placed there in the late 1980s. As the flame was lit near a large gas pipe which of course was a safety hazard, it was eventually replaced with the current monument. Government offices and mosques built in moorish styles surround the roundabout.

The Quran monument.

Cultural centre, and if I were alone I would've gone to see what's inside that building.

UAE flag on one of the government buildings.

Government building.

- After having a 10-minute photostop at the roundabout, we went to Souq al Arsa, which is one of the oldest souqs (marketplace) in the UAE. It is around 200 years old, and inside the small souq are some souvenir shops. I have read in some articles that this souq used to be a lot more vibrant, with actual merchants usually from different parts of West and South Asia. However, I wasn't sure if Souq al Arsa has become a quiet souq, or if I just went there at a bad time. Still, I felt a hint of what it feels like to be in an Arabian-style marketplace.

- Just like in Spain or Portugal, a lot of these souvenir-store vendors in Souq al Arsa are from South Asia (i.e. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,) and so haggling and communicating with them was less of a problem because I speak Hindi/Urdu. (This is also noticeable in the souqs in Dubai.) Since there are a lot of South Asians in the UAE, it's fairly common to encounter them anywhere, just as common as it is to see Filipinos.

Sharjah Archaeological Museum, which, unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit.

Souq al Arsa.

Inside the souq. Yes, these people were the keffiyeh (head scarf) and kandura/thobe (long robe) casually.

Back part of the souq, not sure if these were just being renovated or what. They were empty.

- Our small tour group of 16 people made of five families was later driven around hastily to some of the other spots in Sharjah (to the point that I wasn't able to take photos of all of them.) We were finally given some time to walk around Al Qasba. I cant find the right words to describe Al Qasba since it's not exactly a shopping place, but rather an open area with some restaurants, a mini-amusement part with the Eye of the Emirates, an art gallery called the Maraya Art Centre, and an area where some events are done. People can also do an abra ride there; the abra is a traditional boat. I honestly felt that we wasted time there as there was nothing to see apart from the golden sunset. I know that sunsets can be nice and all, but hanging out at Al Qasba is probably targeted for people who actually live in Sharjah, and not tourists. Of course, this is just me. Had I more time, I would have wanted to tour more of Sharjah's historical spots - after all, it is the cultural center of UAE.

Passed by this nice mosque.

The Gold Souq of Sharjah.

Al Qasba's Maraya Art Centre.

Eye of the Emirates with the orange sunset.

- Before going back to Dubai, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, which again, is another thing I don't totally like about tour groups. Not that I hate Chinese food (I love Chinese food!!) but since tour groups want to make sure that their customers eat well, they tend to make people eat at restaurants with safer choices, like international buffets or Chinese/Japanese restaurants. Unless you're in China or Japan, it doesn't make sense; I did take the liberty of eating Japanese food in Lisbon (click here) or trying out fast food chains, but normally it's because I have already tasted (or got tired of) the local food. Also, big buffets restaurants anywhere usually try to make their food friendlier to various palates, and so people are not really getting the most authentic preparations of the food (ex. Indian dishes in big buffets aren't as pungent as they're supposed to be.) This is probably fine for those who are traveling to stay in their comfort zones (which by the way doesn't make sense to me,) but for people like me who really like to immerse themselves in the local culture and society, this is a big no no. In UAE, I wanted West-Asian food.

- The following day, Christmas, I thought of dressing nicely by putting on my snow-white Saudi thobe and my red-and-white keffiyeh (headscarf,) fastened by my black agal (it's the black loop that's put on the head like). There are many ways to style the keffiyeh, which is also called a "shemagh" by the way, but I wanted to look formal and respectable so I did the asymmetric style that most Arab teachers or newscasters would do. I thought it looked like how Rapunzel or Frozen's Elsa would let their braided hair down on one shoulder.

Mocking instagram selfie whores. (No I am not one.)

- Our main agenda for Christmas was to visit the capital of UAE - the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi was around an hour's drive from Dubai. and it felt like a quieter but just as flamboyant version of Dubai (and it's because in Dubai, anything goes.)

On the way to Abu Dhabi.

Burj al Khalifa from afar. (More about the Burj later.)

Still in Dubai.

The tallest tower in the world from our coach.

- The first thing we visited in Abu Dhabi was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (or Sheikh Zayed Mosque.) Opened in 2007, this Taj-Mahal-like mosque was initiated by the late UAE president, Sheikh Zayed. Interestingly, he was also buried there. This is the main tourist spot of Abu Dhabi.

- Parts of this mosque looked a bit familiar as the main concept for this mosque was a marriage of different Islamic architectural styles, like moorish, Persian, Mughal (Indian Islamic,) among others. Apart from the Taj Mahal (click here) and its marble-inlay art, the mosque also reminded me of Malaysia's national mosque (click here) in Kuala Lumpur.

It certainly has more bulbs than the Taj Mahal.

My dad took this photo from his phone.

Taj Mahal, is that you?

There were stanchions that blocked the way to the main yard, and so I couldn't have a full body shot.

- Apart from its fusion of architectural styles, the mosque is home to the world's largest hand-woven carpet, a Persian rug covering the whole floor of main prayer hall. Apart from that, it is also home to one of the world's largest chandeliers in a mosque.

Golden pillars. Not sure if they're real gold, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

Marble inlay art, similar to the ones found at the Taj Mahal.

From the side.

That's one large chandelier!! Sia can go sing about it now.

The world's largest carpet.

With my mom. She's wearing the churidar kameez I bought her from India. She's also now a pro at wrapping her dupatta (scarf) as a hijab (head cover.) 

Tiled art. Reminded me so much of Portugal's tiles (click here.)

The perfect selfie with the mosque.

Saw this as I was about to leave.

- We headed straight to lunch after our morning visit to the mosque and spent the rest of the afternoon at Ferrari World. Opened in 2010, this is the world's first and so far the only Ferrari-themed theme park. All rides are car-related, and there are rides appropriate for any age group. Its main attraction is Formula Rossa, the world's fastest roller coaster. It goes and comes back in one minute through a gut-turning path; I can say it's gut-turning since the path of the roller coaster is based on military airplane stunts. Since I'm usually too chicken to go on these kinds of rides - and believe me I'm the worst companion to any amusement park - only my daredevil sister from my family got on that high-speed ride. She told us that it was the best roller coaster she's been on, and it wasn't all that surprising since my sister is a fan of speed. Apart from the rides, there is also a mini-museum of some Ferrari cars, and more Ferrari cars for exhibit that are scattered around the theme park.

We're here!!

One of the exhibited cars.

A rather tame Ferrari go-cart for kids.

A virtual tour of where they make Ferrari cars.

Ferrari airplane??

Company logo.

I was puzzled after seeing this as I initially thought it was the final product; luckily it was just a car prototype after all.

A big nope for me. Sorry not sorry. For thrill-seekers, go ahead!!

Merry Christmas!!

Yes, I wore my Arab thobe all day. By the way, by this time I had wrapped my keffiyeh the Emirati style.

With the Camel Company logo. Camel Company is a brand of (rather expensive) UAE-themed souvenirs. It can be seen in malls everywhere.

- After spending the whole afternoon inside Ferrari World, we headed back to Dubai for our Christmas dinner at the Emirates Palace. The Emirates Palace is one of the fanciest hotels in Abu Dhabi, and its main goal was to show the Arab culture. I did not have the opportunity to take a photo of the palace-like facade, but believe me when I tell you that it does look like a grander version of the typical Arab-style palace from the 1800s or further back.

Passed by the Sheikh Zayed Mosque at about sundown.

With the first president of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed.

Inside the Emirates Palace. Merry Christmas!!

- The next day, I was excited to see one of the lesser-visited emirates of UAE - Ras al-Khaimah. Ras al-Khaimah, like Sharjah, has a reputation of being a historic and cultural hub of UAE. I was excited because we were supposed to visit a bunch of places, just like its famous hill-top Dhayah Fort. For unknown reasons, we were only able to visit the Ras al-Khaimah National Museum, which is a smaller fort that used to be the palace of the Al-Qasimi ruling family of this emirate up until the 1960s. Apart from the actual palace/fort, the former rooms have been converted to several small galleries showcasing archaeological and ethnological artifacts from the area

Former palace turned into a museum.

This is how I took that selfie above. My dad is the king of candid shots. He takes better photos when he doesn't intend to take proper photos.

Inside the palace/museum.

Watchtower of the palace.

Sitting area with a mannequin of an Emirati woman wearing an abaya, hijab, and a mask called "batula."

Spices.

Knock knock.

Ancient broken bangles unearthed at the area.

A nicely-done Arabic plate.

Palace wind tower; wind towers help ventilate the area by regulating and rerouting the wind.

Old wooden boats.

Far end of the fort.

Wearing my black kurta, my baju melayu pants, my Hand-of-Fatimah necklace from Cordoba, and my Emirati keffiyeh that my best friend gave me from his previous Dubai trip.

Heyo homie.

Sitting hall of the palace.

Canons outside.

- After going around the museum for an hour we were told that we had to go back to Dubai for our lunch. This frustrated all of us since we drove an hour and a half from Dubai to Ras al-Khaimah just to see one museum. For those who are traveling alone and those who have the luxury of time, I STRONGLY SUGGEST spending at least a whole day at Ras al-Khaimah, especially since I read that it has a lot of other majestic historical sites that have made this emirate earn the reputation of being one of the cultural and historical hubs of UAE.

- Feeling slightly frustrated, I thought back and realized how much my interest in West Asia has escalated greatly due to my first first-hand experiences with UAE. Knowing me, I'm usually the type of person who looks for cultural, traditional, and historical aspects of cities that are usually known for their modern attractions. I did this kind of cultural/historical pilgrimage in cities not usually known for their traiditional aspects, like Hong Kong (click here) or Singapore (click here, here, here, and here.) Well, as we were done with exploring the tip of the iceberg of three of UAE's emirates, all that's left for the remaining days was to discover the charm and flamboyance of none other than the emirate of Dubai!! (Please don't forget to read Part 2 here, and Part 3 here!!)