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Hatta, UAE
Monday, January 22, 2001
We left the city fairly early to make our way east and a bit south to
the oasis town of Hatta for a four wheeling wadi adventure. We
again transited the "scrub" desert; sand interrupted with tufts of
brown, hardy grass, acacia trees and a few other shrubs. As we
drove further the sand began to predominate and soon there are small
dunes with even less grass and shrubs. Along this road, however,
the dunes get really big and there is no vegetation at all. That
was where we found "Big Red".
Climbing Big Red
Desert Expanse from Big Red
Actually Big Red is a popular dune for sand boarding and four
wheeling. It is probably the largest dune in this area, where the
sand has a distinct red hue. Nat challenged us to climb to the
top and we agreed that it would probably be good conditioning for the
xc skiing that we'll be doing in a couple of weeks so we climbed.
We were soon tired and thirsty, plodding through the deep sand.
We could easily imagine ourselves lost in the desert with blistered
skin, parched throats and swollen tongues, dying for a drink.
Actually, as we reached the top a four wheeler showed up with a bunch
of "tourists" and snowboards. We watched as the novice skiers
donned the boards and took off down the 100+ ft tall dune. It
looked like fun ... just that the climb back up would be a bear.
Not to worry! Their driver wheeled their 4X4 around, dove
over the top of the dune and retrieved them.
Snowboarding Big Red
After an easy descent and lots to drink, we resumed our drive. We
soon entered the "rock" desert. This area is just that, an almost
perfectly flat plain of small, sharp rocks populated by acacia trees
and little else. Technically we passed through a small part of
Oman on this part of the road. There are no border checkpoints,
however, and people simply come and go as they please. The rock
desert abruptly turned into the Hajar Mountains. These arid, red
peaks are the same ones that we passed through a couple of days earlier
on our way to the Gulf of Oman. Soon Hatta come into view.
Hajar Mountains
The largest oasis in the emirates, Hatta simply looks like a small
mountain town to the uninitiated. It is well watered, however, by
fifteen or so large wells that are drilled into the pool of water that
collects under the area. Hatta is used as a quiet resort by
Emaraties as an escape from summer heat. We stopped to look over
the one hotel in town. The Fort Hatta Hotel is an upscale, but
not extraordinary, collection of villas with a nice pool and all the
facilities you'd expect. Continuing into town, we stopped at the
new Heritage Museum, but it was closed as Nat says it usually is.
That was a disappointment because, from the gate, the facility looked
inviting.
Continuing through Hatta, we soon came to the end of paved roads.
Suddenly we were driving on gravel through the mountains, dipping down
into and crossing an occasional small wadi. Except for the track
and an occasional road sign, we'd left most of the signs of
civilization behind. This was definitely 4x4 territory, territory
that Nat's Land Rover Discovery was well equipped to handle.
There had been some rain in the area and there was a green haze that
frosted the landscape as grasses and other small green plants raced
evaporation to complete their life cycles. Continuing on for ten
or fifteen kilometers, we had one beautiful view after another of the
red, red mountains and a perfectly blue sky. All this was
punctuated by an occasional palm tree down in a damp area of a wadi.
Wadi Road
Finally, we came to a very large wadi that is a favorite of locals, a
few of whom were camping and picnicking along its course. Because
of the recent rain there was even some running water in the
bottom. It was curious that the water would appear, run for a
while as a stream and then disappear, again, in the gravel. We
picked a shaded spot with some good rocks for our own lunch of veggie
sandwiches in Arabic bread, fruit and yogurt. Later we toured
portions of the nearby wadis looking for the perfect picture of palm
tree, wadi and pool of water. After a few lame attempts, we left
this beautiful area to return to Dubai.
That evening we walked along the beautiful promenade on the Bur Dubai
side of Dubai Creek. The late afternoon skyline was pretty and we
could see the dhow coastal freighters lining the other side of the
creek. We entered Bastakiya, an area where intensive renovation
of a section of old houses in Bur Dubai is taking place. The mud
brick and plaster walls are very graceful and there are many beautiful
architectural features that will make this a real jewel when it is
finished. After a short walk we came to the Dubai Museum.
It is built on the site of Al Fahidi Fort and is unassuming from the
outside. Inside the gates are a series of vignettes that give a
glimpse into what life must have been like. Our surprise was that
the final room gave way to a spiral ramp that led us underground to the
main attraction. The attraction was another series of vignettes
that provided a comprehensive look at life in old the old days.
It was excellent.
Bastakiya in Bur Dubai
Next, we walked through the fabric souk (market place). This was
the first of many souks (rhymes with duke) we'd visit, each very
different from the others. It was several blocks of shop after
shop displaying fabrics of every imaginable style, pattern and
color. The walkways through the souk (actually very narrow
streets) had recently been provided with a beautiful, wood-framed roof
that unified the appearance of the area and made it quite
attractive. Even at this hour of the evening it was bustling with
activity as tailors and manufacturers haggled with shop owners over
prices and delivery of material to manufacture clothes.
Fabric Souk Crowds
We returned to the promenade for a light dinner in the Arabic Restaurant along the creek. The food was excellent, if a bit unfamiliar. For the main course we had chicken shawarma and falafel, wrap type sandwiches of chicken and bean respectively. For sides we had zatar manaeesh (a sort of Arabic pizza), fatoush (salad) and hommos (their spelling) with pita bread. To wash it down we ordered a variety of fresh fruit drinks that are very common here. On the way home we stopped at a Lebanese bakery for a variety of deserts that we sampled before heading off to bed.
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