The real Mid-East

The last adventure I want to share was for my day trip to a mountain town 60 miles SE of Dubai called Hatta. It was 2 hour trip each way on the public bus for about $3 roundtrip. Compare that with my 15 minute cab rides into the city for $10. The buses are segregated with the first few rows reserved for women. Men will sit in them if they are avail, but are required to move for any women that ride. A quick segway - there are rumors the new lightrail system will have cars designated for each sex.

Leaving the city the landscape changes to sand dunes, then red sand dunes, then scrubby bushes and finally high-desert mountains which reminded me a lot of Arizona, but no cacti. There is a Heritage Village in Hatta which was built using traditional methods. It was interesting wandering around the small compound and seeing the traditional ways of life for these people.

In Dubai, English is the official language for business and almost everyone speaks it at least marginally making it is easy to get around. Apparently that is only in the city and not the rest of the country. I went into the town for lunch and stopped at a small cafe where I managed to get a type of chicken burger (it was on the sign) which was quite good. Some young boys came into the shop and got some food and it was pretty obvious they were very curious about me, but I didn't try and talk to them. When I left the shop I walked through the town back down to the bus stop. The local boys school must have just released for the day and there were boys of all ages in the streets heading home. Many of them waved at me and all of the stared. While I don't think tourists are unknown in Hatta, I think a lot of it was because I was a female by myself. And maybe the hot pants I was wearing (just kidding!! I purposely dressed very conservatively that day and was glad I had done so).

More so than any other place, the experience in Hatta really felt I was in the Mid-East and it was exciting and exhilarating! Oh, and I even got to cross off another country from my list because the road cut through a part of Oman.

Final thoughts? I am really, really glad I went. I will probably never travel again to this area of the world and it was an eye-opening experience. Dubai itself is slightly culturally underwhelming, but I made sure to speak with some locals and get out of the city which helped my understanding immensely and would still recommend the trip to anyone else with the money and desire. Assalaamu 'Alaikum.