the ras al khaimah hilton beach resort

when serge came home today, he regaled us with lovely stories of his day today, including a trip to the dragon mart in dubai. apparently, it is a gigantic chinese market that sells everything. i can't wait to check it out. en route home, he had to stop to let camels cross the highway (nice to know that camels aren't as elusive as stupid moose that we still have never seen in new england or canada, and believe me, we've tried looking). 2 good things. and 1 bad thing (must be the kind of day it is/was) - factory still isn't finished! wow, this is taking forever.

we went out for a driving tour of the parts of ras al khaimah we have not yet seen, including the "old" city. he pointed out several places where he looked at apartments and villas for us and boy am i glad we ended up where we are. it isn't a fancy complex, but it's nice and we have a pool. when i saw some of the areas we could have lived...yikes. and the fancy complexes still have no electricity of water, so no one can live there anyway. 

we were going to have a drink at the al hamra resort, but julian fell asleep in the car, so we ended up coming back into RAK (al hamra is still in the emirate of ras al khaimah, but in the town of al jazeera. each emirate is named after its largest city. al jazeera al hamra is where the factory is located, as is RAK ceramics, which is something i'm looking forward to seeing, as i hear they have tons and tons of beautiful tiles and dishes. hold me back!) to go to the hilton beach resort. 

we stayed at that hilton when we came to check out the place in june. it's so nice - beautiful middle eastern style villas, pools, gardens, the beach...ahhhh. we went up to the bar on the 2nd floor (only 2 floors anyway of the restaurant) where you sit outside in these low built-in benches with cushions. middle eastern lamps hang overhead (even though you're outside) and you see the arabian sea, palm trees and tranquility. julian had a ball checking everything and everyone out, especially the couple who were smoking shisha (some people know this as hookah pipe), which has fruit flavored tobacco. 

we had our cappuccinos and then hurried out as we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos. that and serge had forgotten his jacket and it was quite cold. we talked briefly with the chef (serge has only been here for 4 months and already knows everyone) and then headed home, where tonight we finally braved using the new washing machine that was just hooked up the other night. no flood in the kitchen, no blown fuses. i can hopefully sleep peacefully tonight...