Hubs & I went to Fujairah earlier this year, just for a weekend break. We stayed at the Al Aqaa resort, which was nice, but ill-disciplined brats creating noisy havoc in restaurants, the adjoining room+balcony & the 'exclusive' lounge really left its mark. So, having the need to get away for a much needed (particularly Hubs) bit of R & R, we decided to give the Hilton Fujairah a try. What a difference! The whole atmosphere of the place was so much friendlier & relaxed. With the exception of two families with spoilt monsters in the restaurant on the morning we left, all other time was spent in calm & tranquil surroundings. Hubs chilled completely - we all did I suppose - as we did little more than eat, drink, read books & sleep.

Grandma was fascinated that there were a couple of Arab men (in thobes) drinking in the bar.....fascinated to the extent we had to tell her to stop catching flies with her open mouth & to please stop gawking! Hubs explained to her that if Muslim men chose to drink, it was up to them & only they could answer to their God if what they were doing was wrong.

There seems to be a building boom going on along the coast of Fujairah - understandably the Emirate wants to generate income from tourism. What I found sad though was that the majestic mountains are being eroded for their solid content. The queues of rock laden trucks stretched for miles, lumbering along at a snails pace, to off-load their loads in another Emirate. I wondered to myself during the journey home, how Fujairah might end up looking in a decade or so.........would it just be another built up Emirate offering exclusive holiday resorts & luxury housing.............with a few rocky outcrops, as opposed to what were once huge mountains? To my mind, it's a distinct possibility. It saddens me to think that Fujairah might end up like Dubai - that the small villages & towns will be wiped out by the need to 'catch up' with the rest of the world - that the 'real' Emirates become blanketed by bling. I guess that's why I love my home continent so much, because no matter where you go, there is still so much that remains undeveloped & is completely natural.

The weather was hot, but not unbearable. I sat out on the little stoep (verandah) for a couple of hours on Friday morning, simply listening to the birds & admiring the various shades of green in the garden. The sweat rolled off me & I had to wipe the 'mist' off my glasses several times, but the air of relaxation was instantaneous......just what I needed to recharge my batteries. Grandma's been taking strain as she's worried about her visa & Hubs has been totally snowed under with his work, so just 2 days of being away from a city & doing absolutely nothing in a peaceful environment has done us all the world of good :-)

Grandma feeling rather regal!
We were tempted to tell her that's

where she would be sleeping at

night, but then realised she'd be too far from a loo................









Smile for the camera!






That's it, I'm outa here...................I gotta phone the building maintenance man again. The newly installed water heater is set to a tepid temperature. The old one was set so hot I could've made coffee with the water. I asked him to make the temperature on the new one a bit lower, so the clever git set it on tepid. If you come across any headlines in the Gulf News about a building maintenance worker suddenly acting in a deranged manner, you'll know I gave him a snot klap* with a monkey wrench..............