Dekkers on Trek

After picking up our bikes in Abu Dhabi last Friday, we hit the road to Al Ain. This is a nice city at the border to Oman. Due to the very short night before, we decided to award ourselves with a hotel and really found one in the middle of the desert. This was the worst quality/price ratio we have encountered so far….

Three drips of water per Minute came out of the shower, the Airco with the noise of a Boeing 747 had two modes (extremely hot or extremely cold), the tv was interacting with the TL-lights, no meals and breakfast available; but boiling water was served complimentary, so we could prepare our Nescafé and Good Noodles?.

The next day we targeted a place somewhere in Oman, but Ali didn’t allow us. This very friendly helicopter pilot, payed for our breakfast and invited us for lunch in his place in Al Ain.

We only biked 58km this day, as we were also invited for a sleep next to the camels at his farm in the desert. Before that we met the friends and neighbors of Ali (who left us for a couple of hours to work at the airport). They surprised us with fresh camel milk, dates and nice conversations.

On top of that we were invited to see them train their falcons (each with a price tag between €15.000 and €50.000?) in the desert, which was indeed a superb experience (except for the poor Turkey, who didn’t survive the attack of the Falcon…?).

Then it was tea time of course with delicious sweets. Ali was a bit later as expected so dinner was late too and we had to skip the camel farm. Instead we slept in his house and were served with an extended breakfast and fresh laundry the other day.

Time to say goodbye and to cross the border of Oman. At this border we couldn’t buy a visa but were directed to the police station 14km away. At this police station they directed us to another border halfway our track to the coast, another 50km away. Finally we could buy our visa here and reached the beach after 128km of biking.

A nice camping spot on the beach and a dive in the Indian Ocean was our reward. A very weird situation came up when two men were casually walking with a huge bull along the beach…

The day before yesterday we biked along the coastline in the direction of Muscat. A fantastic road with nice views and friendly people everywhere.

Invited for lunch by a taxi driver and we witnessed a few camels who were taken for a walk on the beach; “may we take a picture?” Sure please jump on the camel and so Maurice did….

Another bull was taking a fresh nose and it appeared that this was in preparation of a bullfight which is allowed in the stadium of Barka.

Yesterday we reached Seeb after passing the huge gardens and palace of the Sultan of Oman. Unfortunately concealed by high walls and armed guards.

We had great grilled fish for diner and had to walk back to our hotel with our shoes in our hand because of the high tide…..

After our Westin experience, it was time to pick up our family at the airport of Abu Dhabi. The cause of this short break in the Emirates was on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Ronald’s father (Maurice’s grandfather…). As a present of his children, Theo was invited to visit the “Dekkers on trek” in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We were hosted in the Gateway hotel in the old part of Dubai and spend 4 days together?.

The Monday was used to discover the Marina area and to recover from the flight from Amsterdam.

That night we had dinner on the banks of the Dubai Creek with a perfect view on the “dows”, the lighted old freight ships now in use to entertain tourists.

Tuesday we had a relaxed morning before we were heading to the other downtown to visit the Burj Khalifa (the highest building in the world) and the Dubai mall (the biggest covered shopping mall in the world).

What an incredible buildings and what an overdose on luxury and materialism. We had a terrific Lebanese dinner and witnessed several shows of the huge fountain. The Wednesday we started with a visit to the spicy souk and crossed the Creek with a so-called Abra, a water taxi on ancient boats.

After a power nap of our birthday child, we were ready for a real desert adventure. With several 4×4 trucks, we had a rally in the dunes followed by a BBQ and some entertainment (camel drive, quad drive, belly dancer, shisha and henna painting).

On Thursday we visited the Jumeirah mosque including a tour and presentation about the rituals and facts on Islam. A very interesting presentation with sometimes a bit too much “local color”…

Time to take a dive into the warm Persian Gulf and relaxation on the Jumeirah beach as a preparation for the last diner together. We had a reservation in “the Hide” for a delicious steak and on top of that the waiters came with a tasteful surprise with a candle whilst singing “happy birthday to you” for an impressed (grand)father.

Early Friday morning, we dropped the entire party at the airport from Abu Dhabi and took our bicycles from the Westin parking to pick up our trek again?

We had a great break with our family and enjoyed the presence of our (grand)father very much!

Since our last post a week ago, two major events came on our way kept us from posting…

The first one was the kind invitation of the Westin hotel to host us for two nights and the second one will be commented on in our next post…

It took us one day to Dubai again and one day from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. It’s not very funny to bike in the Emirates… nerve wrecking it is. The roads are huge with 6, 8 or even 12 lanes and as long as you are in the crowded city areas (and believe us; Dubai and Abu Dhabi are huge and crowded), it takes a lot of time to pass through and to survive on the emergency lane of the high ways. There are simply no “small” roads.

When we reached Abu Dhabi and the entrance of the 5-star Westin hotel, the tables had turned. In a warm, friendly and quite atmosphere we were welcomed by Oliver and Nicolas in person and they made sure that the check-in went smooth and that we could enter into our beautiful room immediately. With a terrace overlooking the driving range of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and an ice-cold Dutch brew in a green bottle with a red star (we’re not allowed to mention the brand here ?) our second surprise was there. But it became even better! The management of the hotel invited us for a drink in the “Lemon & Lime Bar” and we were quite overwhelmed with the variety of gin-tonics. For instance the one with Safran was a true surprise, as was the one with Basil. The Earl Grey flavored one and the gin with Blackberrys were great too…

This first night was completed with a delicious dinner at the Italian restaurant and we thank Oli and Nicolas once again not only for their company and nice discussions! Then it was time to go to bed. And even this was a great experience as we have never slept in a bed with this ‘heavenly’ quality. The only problem is that at a certain point of time you have to wake up and get out of bed…. This time it appeared to be not that big of a problem. We had an extended breakfast and a reservation for the 9-holes competition course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The clubhouse is designed in the form of a huge Falcon and you have a breathtaking view over the different holes when you pick up your electric cart and clubs (everybody gets a golf cart which is equipped with a touchscreen showing your exact position and distance to the next hole ?). We played a flight together with two Canadian helicopter pilots and decided to have our lunch together as the conversations were still going on once we finished the game.

After we waved the Canadians good bye we went for a complimentary treatment in the heavenly Spa and Massage Centre of the hotel. After so many kilometers on the bike it couldn’t have come better!! In the afternoon Ronald had a very nice meeting with the marketing manager who made our stay possible. The reason for inviting us was the excitement about our trip and the combination of sporting (biking) and relaxing (sabbatical), which are also the pillars under the concept of the Westin hotels.

Maurice insisted on a last gin-tonic with Monkey-47 from the Black Forest before we dived in our tremendous pillows again.

Thank you Fred, Shweta, Oli and Nicolas for this unforgettable experience, we truly enjoyed it!

This morning we’re having a coffee and breakfast at Starbucks with proper wifi: Time to write a post again and watch the fishermen at work.

As we have mentioned in our previous post we headed towards the northern part of the Emirates and cross the border to Oman. Once we escaped the 8-lane roads, packed with truck-like SUVs and where it’s a rarity to see drivers using both hands on their steering wheel, we headed back towards the coast to enjoy the little breeze coming from the sea.

That evening we found a great camping spot on the beach after an exhausting day. The next day before crossing the border to Oman we had lunch at a Pakistan restaurant. The manager was eager to lecture us about the Koran and since Maurice listened to him with great interest the manager refused any payment.

When crossing the border we experienced something new… the UAE officials made us pay to exit the country ??

This however, didn’t spoil the fun and we enjoyed a beautiful ride along the coast line towards Khasab where we set up our tent on the beach next to a food truck. With the company of a few Bangladeshi we had dinner (fresh grilled shrimps and calamari?) before jumping into the sea.

The following day our plan was to bike through the mountains towards the second border in Dibba.

The roads however were so steep and sandy that we had to Zickzack to get up. This in combination with the brutal heat and high humidity, caused for a higher heart rate, dehydration and a reduced blood flow… after fighting these conditions for 8km in which we climbed 400m in altitude we had to turn around and bike back (and this doesn’t fit at all in the mindset of the Dekkers…).

In Khasab we tried finding people who would bring us up the mountain so we could proceed with our journey but to our surprise we were told that non-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) people are not allowed to cross that second border.

Sooooo this made us change our plans. We headed back to the UAE yesterday through the same border we entered, this time free of any charge!

Oman left a very good impression to us, it’s clean, well organized, the people are friendly and the nature is overwhelming. We’re lucky to enjoy at least a part of the mountainous area and are really looking forward to seeing the other part of Oman next week.

At Bab al Bar we found another nice camping spot on the beach and Maurice was so nice to jump on his bike again for collecting two hot cappuccinos at the Double Tree hotel 2km away. After a dive in our bathtub (the Persian gulf) we went to sleep early. First in peace but from 1 o’clock in the night surrounded by young people with loud music…

Today we have our 3rd evening in the Emirates and it feels like we have been here already for weeks.

On 27/10 we finally arrived at the harbor of Sharjah and after a very unorganized passport control, we were allowed to enter this amazing country.

Huge skyscrapers were accompanying us alongside the roads to our Ibis Styles hotel and after checking in, we could park our bikes in the garage.

After settlement we took a taxi to Linda, a school friend of Maurice and were invited to meet her local friends in the desert for a delicious BBQ.

Those guys & Marie are members of a Jeep Wrangler Sport association and drive their pimped cars through the desert dunes. The meat and shrimps were cooked to perfection and a welcome alternative to all the kebab with rice in Iran?. It wasn’t until 3 o’clock in the night before we were heading to our hotel again.

Yesterday we made a backup of all our pictures and Marie & her ‘shababs’ (Arabic for guys) decided to show us how to drive a 412 hp Jeep over the huge dunes in the desert close to the border of Oman.

What an experience!!! It takes you about a year to learn how to drive in this funny environment and bring back the Jeep without too much damages.

Linda and Nicolas (another school friend of Maurice from Hotel Management School Maastricht and both employed in the Emirates) joined us during the long dune rally and we were very impressed by the skills of the 6 drivers. Of course there was tea (zaatar) somewhere in the middle of the desert and we could also witness a flat tire and a Jeep which needed a little tow to move on.

It was already dark when we returned to the normal street (there is a tire inflating service, because you have to release the pressure to 6-7 psi for sand driving).

Together with Linda and Nicolas, we ate a huge tomahawk steak in the Hide before we left for our hotel and a very very deep sleep ?.

This morning after breakfast we dived into the Persian Gulf wich has a superb temperature at this moment. Surrounded by the famous Burj Khalifa (with 829 meters the highest building in the world) and the Burj Al Arab Hotel (for only $ 50.000,-/Penthouse/night the most expensive hotel in the world with 7 stars), we had a real relaxing day off and now it’s time to prepare already for our next track.

We bought already some survival food and tomorrow we will start biking to the north of the Emirates and Oman to return in about one week to Dubai again in order to meet with bikers from the Yas cycles association. They will guide us to the luxury Westin hotel in Abu Dhabi, where we are kindly invited to stay for two days!