We hit the road at about 10:00 today, stopped for a few photos on the way out of Musandam, and eventually reached the border by 11:00. It was a simpler affair on the way out: no fees to pay and no forms to fill in.
We continued along route 11, the road that had brought us to Musandam, but this time took route 311 outside of Ras Al Khaimah City. This road isn’t on our map, which is a shame, as we would have got from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah City a lot more quickly on the way in.
Oh well, at least we could now take it on the way out. Thanks to route 311, the trip back in the direction of Dubai was now a piece of cake. Just short of Dubai, we took the route 88 exit and drove into Sharjah, our stop for today.
It was only 13:00 and we had travelled just under 170 km, so we had made very good time, all things considered.
Sharjah is the third largest emirate of the UAE and definitely the strictest. Alcohol is prohibited here and even shisha is banned. This makes it an unattractive stop-off for many westerners, but for us, it’s a plus, as it means that even more places sell even more really great fruit drinks, as otherwise there’d be nothing on the menu but water and soft drinks.
Our hotel room overlooks the Khalid Lagoon, which provided a nice view when we arrived, but offers an even better one now. The skyscrapers on the east side of town are lit up and dots of light cross them at their base, as cars race along the corniche. The mosque is illuminated and the trees in the palm plantation in front of it have beaded lights twirled around their trunk.
After heading into Sharjah, we first got some lunch and then walked around the heritage precinct and looked at the reconstructed buildings. The Souq Al Arsa was open, so we strolled around it, but saw nothing that really took our fancy.
Next, we drove along the corniche to admire the view of the skyline and then doubled back to stop off at the park, so that Eloïse could play. She was in a decidedly whingy mood and only a good forty-five minutes on the steep and fast slides there was likely to provide relief.
After a walk along the lagoon, cut short because of Eloïse’s bad mood, we drove down to the Central Souq, which didn’t disappoint. We spent some time in a nice Persian carpet shop, but had to leave, because Eloïse became inconsolable.
And so we had to cut short our visit to the souq, which is a great shame, because we saw several other very interesting carpet shops that we would have loved to spend some time in, which a very real danger of coming away with yet another piece, although it would have been a much smaller one this time.
We can’t go back tomorrow, either, because it will be Friday, and so the souq won’t open until 16:00, by which time we’ll be in Dubai. Dubai’s only about another 25 km from here, but it would be too inconvenient to come back and would, in any case, take away from our time there.
Tomorrow, we head back to the emirate and city where we started, Dubai, for three final nights. This time, we’ll be staying at the famous Burj Al Arab hotel, a self-professed seven star hotel and the subject of countless television documentaries and travel programmes. If you recall seeing on TV an absurd, sail-shaped building rising an improbably into the sky close to the Palm Jumeirah island project, which built on reclaimed land, this is that same hotel.
It’s supposedly the best hotel in the world with service quite literally second to none, so we’re intrigued to see what kind of reception awaits us. We have little on the agenda for these three days in Dubai, as we want to relax and make the most of our luxurious surroundings in order to justify the extravagance.