21 February 2013

Arabian Adventure - Part 2

                           
Day 3


Wife insisted on pic...


Finally on the road                                                                                                                         


Dubai roads.....


lovely surface


Four lane highway each side.....


For hundreds of KMs


Bye bye pointy building


We are headed east


Leaving town


Buildings getting sparce


Did i mention lovely roads




No more buildings



Straight roads



Shrubs still.....






Getting more sandy


There you go .....


The desert proper



Its just us and the road


white line fever


Passing through a town


It was small


Another town...


Also small



Mountains ahead



Camels   yay  :-)



We are headed there


In supreme comfort


Traditional village


Scenery changing


Craggy cliffs


Leaving the sandy desert



Entering the mountanious one


Stark...




But beautiful


Highland village





nice huh


Almost reaching our destination



Hmmmmmmmm  BMW sign



Parking


And what a view


Road to the lobby


Zoom of the view


Not photoshopped at all



Beautiful


Nice room


Nicer balcony


Great room




Views




Sitting in my balcony and taking it in


Zoom....craggy




Arabian lights



Cool huh



Looks small from the outside



Time to explore


More bikes



A lot more


nice grounds


BMW were having an off road course


U.A.E




From here we were taken to the old town


To see the Hatta heritage vilage


Nice door


Tower no 1


Village majlis





Hatta fort




Inside of the fort




old school




Tower no 2


The main building in the fort




Nice huh




Interior of the main building



man toys...




More toys



Nice huh


from the fort we walked around the vilage



Smaller courtyard in a house


Old rooms



Nice kitchen


Another room


And if you mess with his daughter  :-)





Another house courtyard



So different nowadays


Lets go see the tower


One of Alladin's lamps?




Verenda along the way






Walking up


Rugged



sheds for livetock


Old tower


Almost there


Finally


lets look around


Holy hell


We can see the next tower from here


We can see the old village from here



And the mountains - zoom


Shot by shot of the Hajar mountains






Amazing.....


Life in the old days


Back in the hotel..wow


Ride , explore .....and now  :-)


Here...


As we watch the end of a glorious day




Day 4


On the bike


Today we're headed north



Nice huh


Fantastic riding


From UAE into Oman




Oman border post



First ride in Oman


Second country...



Omani village


Hey look...green


Oh well..... 


All we do is ride.....



so cool to be here



So different from Asia


Sights,sounds,smell.......



Signboards,food,people......



Everything !!!    :-)


We entered Oman....


Back into UAE



Thats the Hajar mountain range


Thats also the sea there....


More sea pics soon


Once we were out of the main cities.........


There was hardly any traffic......


All we had to do....


Was take in the views.....


Quaint towns






Straight ahead


With the Goldwing....


we almost didn't have to stop for a break




Our first view of the Gulf of Oman


Almost at a major city in the east coast





We decided to stop and see a local attraction...


Little did we know we would become the attraction


Fujairah fort


Parked the bike and the locals freaked out....


Hmmm i think the attraction is behind   :-)



And here it is.....


Fujairah fort  :-)



On the bike...


Ever north


every where the roads were awesome


UAE and Oman both


grippy and smooth....


Passing a wadi


Curves   :-)






Our destination is Dibba



Which is in Oman



Some of the best roads were here



Passing mountain passes


See how far it goes...


Nice huh


There were mountains on either side but, smog or haze filled the air


Almost at the Oman checkpoint-not border


You dont get your passport stamped like earlier as the hotel is at the end of town.After that is a whole lot of nothing.....


Surrounded by mountains ...


nice design


Mountains behind ,sea infront...


Looking back at UAE


Very nice   :-)


We came from that direction


Mountains start here...


And go all around


See........




Zoomed in at the far side. 4WDs playing in the dune



Hazy mountains. Eat  ,swim, eat some more and zzzzzzzzzzz



Day 5


Good morning Oman


Time to ride


Leaving Oman



Back in the UAE


Still hazy...


Going through one of the smaller emirates -Ras Al Khaimah


Through , not to....



As we are going to ride to the west coast of the UAE......


From there ride deep into Oman this time.


Small village


Sport bike heaven


On a fully laden Goldwing...


I had to keep an eye out for the Speed cameras....



Eventhough the speed limit was up to 140km/h legally...


Speedometer is in miles.Here i'm doing about 120km/h



Us.......    :-)  :-)


Nearby...


Passing a small desert town


I personally prefer to ride alone


Or in very small groups...


But magical places like this....



Have to be seen to be  believed...


The country is harsh....



Stark.....


And rugged...


But that too has its beauty...


The mountains are on our right.....


They were on our left yesterday...


Passed the main town....


We're headed right.....



Want wash car..cheap sir  ,cheap...



Ok. We stamped our passports out of UAE and into Oman...
i have to say the next stretch of road is among one of the most beautiful i've ever seen.Sheer cliffs on your right, the Gulf of Oman on your left for the entire duration.Remember its winter ,so the temp here is about 20C. With the visor open its like an A/C. The road was perfectly smooth and perfectly grippy.I would say-Perfect ride.
The view on film is a bit hazy, but in real life .....Amazing.












Ready  :-)...





Look at that...


Slowing down to just appreciate the awesome spectacle...


We 're going to be riding next to all those cliffs.....



Look at the road surface.....


See how far the road follows the coast...



ALL the frickin way  :-)


Think of this and smile.




This and Phan Thiet in Vietnam....


Are my personal favourites...


Nice huh...


There you go  :-)



Yup we 're following the coast still..all the way there...



Tiny village...


Passing an old fort



If not for the haze..perfect...



Look at that...seriously...


Look at where we're going...


Sheer cliffs.....


Never get tired of this....



This is so out of this world...





Just imagine.....


we are going to come back tomorrow ......



along this same road.....



with the sun in a different angle.....
Great road and you know you are going to have a great view.


Our last destination...



Look at the road.....awesome..


again.



and again  :-)


See the far distant cliffs....


And the roads to get there...look at the surface  :-)


from here we're going down there..



small village along the way


I know i'm showing a lot of this road...


We came from there...



Anyway...showing a lot of this road cause its the most beautiful i've ever seen








More and more


Sadly...


we reach our hotel...


in Khasab...



With a view...


of the Gulf of Oman


And what a VIEW  !!!



After some R&R ,we came here...



To take a traditional Dhow cruise along the fjords of Oman



Our ride...




Carpets and cushions...



Typical traditional style...


Al Capitan


And the view....


Arabian mint tea...



While we just relax.


Flag of Oman...



We had the whole boat to ourselves


Look around...


Beautiful huh.............



Three crew to take care of us...



imagine looking at this with the crisp cool sea wind in your face...


Those cliffs are huge


Zoom Zoom


Still hazy though



Passing isolated colonies...


Telegraph island...Ye olde British waypoint...


They ran a cable from India to England through here....



More and more mountains...


Lets stop for a break.....



feed the fishies...


And partake of an authentic Arabian meal...


In a traditional dhow...How cool is that....


Another attraction here is those...


See them ?




Dolphins  wow :-) :-)


the captain got them next to the dhow ,gunned the engine ,made a bow wave,and the dolphins loved it...




So many of them...


On either side....



He did this 3 time over the next half hour....


See the baby dolphin.....





So close huh....






What a rush..........


Look at the scale of the mountains


And the views....



On the way back to our hotel...


Khasab fort.





Time to relax.....


And catch our dinner  :-)


What a frickin amazing day


** part 3 soon..


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