In Feb 2017, I had the opportunity to visit a couple of old friends of mine who at the time lived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After reading a bit about the country, and with a map in front of me, I decided to turn this visit into a road trip through all the seven Emirates: Abu Dhabi (AD), Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain (UAQ). …And since I was going to be in the area, I would also include Oman—both “parts” of it—on the road trip. At the end, I would leave a few days to visit Qatar and Bahrain (by plane).
The Plan
While doing research for this trip, I found out that Oman has a rather interesting exclave on the Musandam Peninsula (separated from the rest of country by territory of the UAE). I also found out that the expression “Going Round the Bend” (meaning going crazy, losing it) is generally believed to have its origins in this area. So, I decided to see if I could go round the bend myself!!! (More on this ahead.)
Done with research, I came up with a rather simple plan for the trip: fly into AD, and spend a few days in town; then, I would hit the road for about a week in a rental car on a loop route through the other Emirates and Oman; then, at the end of the loop, it would be one more night in AD; then by plane, to Qatar and Bahrain, for extremely brief visits there; lastly, I would return to AD for yet one more time, to fly out from there on my way home.
The Trip
Except for one major deviation (more on it ahead), things went pretty much per plan. Some of the highlights of this trip include::
- The Gulf cities. Impressive. I mean really impressive! Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai: it is incredible what has been done in places that were not much more than sand up to rather recently.
- Muscat, Oman. Not as much “over the top” as the cities in the Gulf, but much more “normal.” A bit better balanced between modern and traditional, with its history a bit better preserved.
- Beautiful mosques. Many of them. With a special mention to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE. What a place!
- The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. Memorable. A special mention as well to the National Museum in Bahrain.
- The fjords of Oman’s Musandam. Definitely worth going to Khasab and getting on a dhow to visit them.
- Bahla Fort. Another site in Oman well worth the trip.
- Al Ain. Beautiful oasis, with a palace at each end (both are now museums well worth a visit).
- The Portuguese Forts of Muscat, Oman, and Bahrain. Being Portuguese myself, what did you expect!
On Going Round the Bend
The only “less-standard” item on my original plan for the trip was a ferry ride from Khasab–on the Persian Gulf side of the Musandam Peninsula (i.e., the exclave)—through the Strait of Hormuz, to Muscat, Oman’s capital. This ferry ride was my opportunity to “go round the bend…” Kind of! I explain.
In the second half of the 19th century, the English had a telegraph repeater station on a tiny little island right around the tip of the Musandam Peninsula—island rather appropriately named Telegraph Island. The outpost was a crucial link in the main communication chain between London and its colony in India. Strategic indeed. Despite this, there was no posting place in the whole of the British Empire considered to be worse than Telegraph Island! The list of reasons for this state of affairs was long: the size of the island—smaller than a football field; its remoteness; the hostility of the local tribes on the mainland; the nearly unbearable heat in the region; and lastly, the nature of the outpost itself—rather diminutive in size, and with not much happening in it for the most part of the time. Soon, the mental suffering of staff marooned on the island became legendary. And “going round the bend” on one’s way to a posting on the island become a synonym of going crazy.
My ferry ride would take me from Khasab to Muscat, meaning going round the bend in the “wrong” direction—from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman (i.e., from west to east). In the end, it didn’t matter any way, as the ferry was fully booked on the run that worked for me. I still managed to get my name on the wait list, but no luck. So, I ended up having to drive from Khasab to Muscat, which meant having to cut my stay in the Musandam Peninsula by a day.
Hospitality and Logistics
Not much worth reporting here, as the region is super well developed as far as places to eat and sleep—and this across a wide range of price points. Perhaps just a word about the car rental: picking the car up from Hertz at the AD Int’l Airport was not as straightforward as it normally is in the western world, but it was still far from being complicated. (And yes, I did have an Int’l Driver’s License.) A brief mention as well to border crossing between UAE and Oman on a rental car: no probs whatsoever.
