Fujairah Day Trip

On Saturday I was invited to attend a girls beach day in Fujairah, another Emirate about 2 hours from Dubai (I was really on a Tour de Emirates this weekend between going to Sharjah for our rental car, and Fujairah on Saturday). It's always nice to get out of Dubai for the day, and also to see new places (that don't require a passport!). I really didn't know how much the UAE actually has to offer outside Dubai until I got here... All the Emirates are so different and it can be lovely to go to Dubai's more sleepy neighbors.

We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Elizabeth's flat (gotta embrace the British terminology while living here, or you give yourself away as an American the minute you open your mouth... not that I can really hide it with my 'accent', but I'm trying to assimilate). Elizabeth is my friend who had the Yellow Party the weekend I learned the consequences of dehydrated alcohol consumption in Dubai. She lives in Jumeira right on the water with an amazing view of the Gulf and beach below. Clare, Diana, and I met at Elizabeth's and she prepared an amazing traditional English breakfast for us: Fresh Fruit and Fruit Juice, Fried Eggs, Bacon fried with tomatoes and mushrooms [weird, but somehow it works], Heinz Baked Beans [apparently an English fav.], and Fry Bread, which is basically toast, but instead of being toasted in the toaster it is made crispy by being cooked in the frying pan in the bacon grease, and eaten under the eggs -- Kat, I definitely recommend you try this since you are the bacon cooking extraordinaire.

So with our belly's full we set out for Fujairah. Road Trips with friends are always fun, especially when you aren't in a hurry to get somewhere. There was friendly banter about the music choices and we just took our time and enjoyed the mountainous scenery.

On the way we came across a giant outdoor market. It had wares of all sorts, including rugs, cheap toys (undoubtedly made in China), antiques, furniture, and the best part of all, TONS of fresh fruits. So we, of course, could not resist the temptation to stop and get some fresh fruit for the beach.

There were rows upon rows of stands and so we pretty much had our pick of who to buy our fruit from. As we walked by, each of the proprietors pointed at their selection and tried to push mangoes and oranges into our hands while also immediately cutting and trying to give us samples. We walked down the row and finally settled on one to chat with to see if we could get a bargain. He gave us a sample of a fruit I had never had before (and have no idea what the name is), but it was a bit mushy and tasted like a cross between a pear and a date with a giant pit in the middle. After we tried the fruit he then immediately began shoving about 30 of those in a bag and then proceeded to put about 20 mangoes in. We kept saving over and over again, no no no no no, we only want 4 of each, and after much persuasion we got him to take out the excess fruit. Then came the bartering over price, which proved to be difficult as he started with a major high ball offer of AED 50 dirhams (about $15 USD) which seemed quite high for just 4 mangoes and 4 funky pear/date fruit in the middle of the dessert when there are 50 other guys we could buy from. Diana was a good barterer and she got him down to AED 30 if he'd throw in a papaya. So we bought our fruit from him and continued to look around.

Fujairah Fruit Stands, very beautiful and vibrant with all the fresh produce. Almost like an oasis in the middle of the desert.

Another view, notice the giant pot on the left side. They also sell fresh (the most fresh and amazing I have to say because I tried one) corn on the cob and also coconuts which they just chop the top off and stick a straw in so you can drink the milk inside.