Baracuda

Camel Traffic Jam on the way home from Baracuda.

This weekend we had a really interesting experience that I feel I must share. Since obtaining alcohol is so difficult (and expensive!) in Dubai, we rarely have any at our apartment. The only times we really stock up is when we are flying and can stop at Duty Free (not very often) or when we have visitors coming and ask them to stop at Duty Free (even less often). So, other than the odd bottle of vodka from six month ago, we don't really have a stock of booze, which is probably all the better for cutting unnecessary calories from our life.

However, when the occasion arises, that we actually need to acquire some alcohol without flying out of the country, we'll go on a run to another Emirate and buy from the elicit 'black market' alcohol sellers. Since we are having friends over to celebrate the 4th of July, we thought we should really have some drinks available, because, after all, what is the 4th of July without booze?

So we hopped in the car this afternoon and jumped on the Emirates Road to Ajman. Our destination was "Baracuda," a run-down beach resort which moonlights as an elicit alcohol distributor, about 45 minutes Northeast up the Gulf Coast from Dubai. While, from the perspective of living in a country where there is nothing taboo and/or illegal about going down to the corner package/liquor/convenience store to pick up alcohol, this sounds sketchy, driving to Ajman to stock up is a common practice of all western expat's in Dubai, looking to get their liquor on the cheap (if you have a 'liquor license', which we do not, you can go to the 1 super expensive/super taxed liquor distributor in Dubai. Not a desirable option).

So, off we went to Ajman, which is two Emirates over. Sharjah is the Emirate immediately bordering Dubai on the North, and then Ajman is Northeast of Sharjah. Other than the 45 minute drive, the only other little wrinkle with the whole booze-run scenario is having to pass through Sharjah, which is a dry Emirate. Not really a big deal, but apparently people in Sharjah, harboring their bitterness over being a dry Emirate (who wouldn't?), sometimes purposefully cause accidents/fender benders with people passing through who they suspect have made a booze-run. Because, then if the police come and you are discovered to even be transporting alcohol through dry Sharjah, that = immediately arrested. So, taking the highway and driving carefully is essential. Not a big deal though.

So, after that long-winded intro, the interesting part of our trip comes in when we actually got to Ajman. Now Ajman is very rural. Like, upstate NY rural, but desert instead of farmland. In fact, the whole of the UAE is very rural with the exception of Dubai and Abu Dhabi (the only two major metropolitan areas to really speak of). So, basically once you get out of Dubai proper, you are driving on a highway in the middle of the desert with nothing around. Not that interesting, however, once we got closer the highway became more of like a sanded-over pebble road. And as we started to get really close, we spotted a random airplane parked on the side of the road. Like a full-size 737. I was confused and asked Jared if we were near an airport. No, not near an airport. As we got closer, I could see that it was just an old broken down, full size airplane parked in the front of what appeared to be an abandoned/defunct beach resort. The airplane doors were hanging off the hinges and the plane had something like "Palm Cove Beach Resort" painted on the side. As far as I could tell there was no Palm Cove anywhere in sight...

Then we took a left at "Dreamland", the sketchy 1970's paint peeling Ajman water park, at which you can apparently drink alcohol in the pool and/or on the water slides. Is Ajman even a part of the UAE?? Baracuda was next door down an even more sanded over dirt road. Pull in, it just looks like a past its prime beach resort. However, walk into a nondescript unlabeled warehouse and you step into an alcoholic's mecca. It was incredibly crowded too, with hundreds of Dubai people milling about. Completely overwhelming when you go months without being able to buy beer or wine. I picked out 3 bottles of wine, some cider (mmm, South African Savana Dry), and was elated to find Bud Light. Bud Light is not something I would ever get excited about back home, but in Dubai, when all that is ever available is Heineken, Foster's and Stella, Bud Light is super exciting. Jared went for the 1664 and we paid and were on our way. Alcohol in the trunk concealed in the large black garbage bags they give you (you know, just to be careful). The whole experience is just so interesting, and continued to be interesting on our way home when, as we were driving along the sanded-over pebble road to get to the highway, we saw people ahead slamming on their brakes. We're in the middle of no where, with only about 3 cars on the road. What could possibly be causing the brake slamming? Oh, a camel traffic jam. That was a new experience for me. You do tend to see camels roaming free out here, but usually it's only 1 or 2. Not like a group of 10, which is what were casually walking down the road. It was completely weird. I was so disappointed that I didn't have my camera, but luckily, as we were passing on the right (after a minute or two the camels got the hint and got into the left passing lane), Jared was able to snap a photo on his Blackberry. Fortunately, once the camels moved aside, we got home without incident. Oh the daily adventures of living in the desert!