Day Trip along the East Coast of the UAE

First stop: Al Bidyah mosque. Oldest mosque in all of the UAE--established in the 15th century.

Al Bidyah mosque.

Me in front of a banana tree and next to a lemon tree. No, I did not sample the bananas.

More of the farm that I visited.

My new Pakistani farmer friend with the result of his efforts.

Today's adventure was a "guided" tour north along the coast road from Furairah. Guided was a little loose because I asked the guide, Mani, to shake it up and let me do some of the directing. He seemed to appreciate that fact that I sat up front with him and just wanted to talk about what we drove by, rather than sitting in the back with an "entertain me--I dare you" attitude. We hit it off and enjoyed our five+ hours together. He shared with me his fifteen years of living in the UAE, places that he had lived, jobs that he has worked, and what it is like for a non-Muslim living in the heartland of Islam. I asked him to stop at quite a few places that were not on the agenda. My favorite was a farm along the coast that grew everything from bananas and dates to mangoes and citrus fruits. It was wonderful and smelled so good I didn't want to leave. The young Pakistani farmer (pictured above) was a little reluctant to let some strange guy wander around his farm with a camera until a few dirhams changed hands. I have lived here long enough to know how things work. It was a wonderful day.



I also learned that all of the nationalism that I observed and wrote about yesterday may be more temporally influenced rather than spatially; December 2nd is National Day. So much for my keen observation skills.