RAK day and UAQ

UAQ is umm al quwain, which is another emirate. we passed through there this afternoon. not much to see, aside from a really old russian plane at the airport, people parachuting (?) for fun, and the dreamland aqua park. not missing much if you don't go there, no offense to them.

the rest of the day was very lovely, including a leisurely lunch at the hilton beach resort. we sat out on the terrace, where it was obvious that we were local (ha!) because we were the only ones in long pants and long sleeved shirts. everyone else was braving the chilly air in their bathing suits and shorts because they're on vacation, of course. julian roamed all over the deck outside, ventured over to the tent with the low seats (it has a name, serge is trying to think of it) and tried to befriend several italian and french children. what a beautiful day to be by the sea and relaxing. 

before our nice lunch, we took a car tour of RAK while serge looked for the scrap garage he sold our prado to. sorry for the dangling preposition. (fast update - he bought a used toyota prado from a family moving back to switzerland, and it turned out the chassis was cracked and the car was unusable. had to sell it for parts. nice, isn't it?) we saw lots of crappy areas and real local style stuff. not because it's dangerous or anything, just crappy because there's garbage around, and junky abodes, and rubble and rocks just around. lots of mud and puddles from the recent rains...

then you go past all of that junk and see the gleaming american school, the fancy shmancy RAK hospital and the tower links golf course. what a contrast. it was good because i got to see how to get to the hospital in case of emergency.

after lunch we drove down the highway to exit 110, a camel hotspot, according to lewellyn. we didn't see any camels. just when we were about to turn around, three were right next to the road, so we stopped and took some pics (i'm downloading pics tomorrow to the blog, have no fear!) and introduced julian to the camels up close. that's when we continued on and ended up in UAQ. 

from there, we came back up the coast and to al jazira al hamra, where the factory is. (which is still not done!) we decided to go to the al hamra fort resort and golf club for cappuccino. that was really nice too - a huge huge terrace overlooking the pools and beach and sea. after cappuccino (which is a better deal than the hilton, who charges a whopping 22 dirhams for a freaking cappuccino - al hamra gives it to you for 15 with free cookies!), we walked down to the beach with julian, who made a new friend, siddharth. they played in the sand for a while and then we left. 

stopped by mitsubishi and honda on the way home (we need a car since the prado is dust). the economy is suffering a bit here too - we found out at the bank today that they have suspended all auto loans and personal loans for a while. car companies are giving promotions like they pay 1 year of insurance, which actually means 13 months. that would be great for us, because they charge 7% of the value of the car for the first "year" for new drivers. but we're NOT new drivers. ahhhhh, we had just renewed NJ driver's license (looks new to them) and/or just gotten UAE driver's license (i haven't yet, but serge, yes) so THAT looks new. also, we're not from here, so we get screwed for a lot of things, including our apartment rent, but that's for another time. where was i? ah, so they give the insurance and a reduced price on the car to get people in the door. by the way, after the first "year", the price of insurance goes down by 50%. 

we LOVED the honda pilot, but they aren't giving them away, so it looks like we'll be getting a mitsubishi. we'll keep you posted. oh, that and no one knows the answer to the question: "what does this car get on gas mileage?" because no one cares here. isn't that lovely? 

think that's it for now. we have a few more trips to dubai planned this week and serge is headed to abu dhabi. should have some fun stuff to report. and PHOTOS! stay tuned....