We enjoyed a leisurely morning and hit the road at about 1:00PM. We thought about driving back to the Empty Quarter to take more pictures of the immense beauty of that area, (I have a tripod now and was itching to use it!) but decided to drive along the coast of the Arabian Gulf instead.
So we left Dubai and drove on Highway 11 through Abu Dhabi then Tarif to Ruwais. I was expecting the sights somewhat like the scenic drive on Highway One down the coast of California. Not so much!
We barely even got a glimpse of the water along the way. Once we hit Ruwais we headed south to Ghayathi. Here's what it looked like when we arrived.
Needless to say, not a lot about Ghayathi jumped out at us.
It seemed like a rather barren place right smack dab in the middle of the desert. Duh, I guess that makes sense since it is RIGHT.SMACK.DAB.IN.THE.MIDDLE.OF.THE.DESSERT!
But as we drove around we noticed that the landscaping along the roads was beautiful and well maintained!
We even got up close and personal to some date palms that were heavily loaded with bagged dates!
And then we found the water at long last! It was beautiful until we started to notice that all of the (sad looking) boats were beached. It must have been low tide?
Teddy certainly enjoyed getting out and stretching his legs. But only for a moment cuz it was HOT, HOT, HOT outside!
Then I spotted what looked like a bundle of fishing nets out on a dock. Turns out it was a lone squatting fisherman....
Why he was out there in the blistering heat is beyond me! He was alone -- no one else was anywhere near the water.
We passed by a school complex that looked rather out of place. The schools were bright spanking new and colorful in a unique design.
After passing the schools, we were back in a rather desolate area. See the dotted line south of Ghayathi on the map? Well, we came to that dotted line and it meant only one thing -- it was the end of the road! We really didn't want to backtrack and so when we came across a fairly new road (with not one road sign on it) we decided to hop on it to see where it led!
We went by a huge labor camp....probably the largest we've seen in the UAE. It just seemed strange to be out there in the middle of nowhere! There must be a humongous project being built there, but we don't have a clue as to what it is. It was Friday afternoon (our Saturday), so there were lots of laborers milling around.
We're not sure where they were coming from or where they were going. But they all certainly looked like they were on a mission. It was desolate out there. (Have I mentioned that?) We came to a sad looking roundabout....
and then a bit of a nicer looking one.....
then back to some pretty landscaping along the roadside.
We thought we were outside of Ghayathi when we came upon the hospital sign. So we were still in Ghayathi....and then (yikes) we had to make a decision!
For the rest of the trip, I kid you not, this is what the signs looked like. When we were lucky enough to have signs, that is! We had no clue where we were heading!
We went through a little town/village area where we stopped at a local pharmacy. I stayed in the car and took some pictures of the laborers milling around on their only day off.
I could have sat there and watched for hours. Looks like there was a blue light special somewhere close by!
The little park was literally filled to the brim with laborers enjoying the day.
I even spotted the thinnest black cat I have ever seen. He was enjoying himself as well, hiding in the long grass! (Scho, he reminded me of Magic for a minute...until I noticed he was skinny--sorry Mag!)
As we were leaving the little village, I spotted this Dad with his three children. I couldn't resist....
Then we began our long trip home on the road to..... somewhere! TO BE CONTINUED....
