We arrived at our ship in Dubai at 1:30 a.m. Dec. 9 after a 24 hour trip from home. Then up and on our excursions by 8:45 the same morning.
Gary went for a trip in the dessert over sand dunes and to visit an oasis.
Pat went on a tour of Dubai Cultural area.
Dec. 10 we arrived in Fujairah, another of the Emirates. Here is what we have learned
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country consisting of 7 Emirates (similar to a state or a province). The UAE is 42 years old.
There is a federal parliament with an elected President and 40 elected representatives. Each Emirate has a Sheik. The Sheik is a hereditary position and is largely ceremonial (sounds like a constitutional monarchy).
Each Emirate has its own set of laws, some allow liquor, some do not, some allow foreigners but not locals to have liquor.
While men may have 4 wives each wife is expensive as she is entitled to one kilo of gold, a house and all wives must, by law, be treated exactly the same. If you gave one wife a diamond ring you must give a ring of some size to all other wives. So only the rich have more than one wife. (sounds fair!)
The UAE has a population of 8.7 million, 87% of which are foreigners. The other 20% are Arabic. There are considerable benefits provided to the nationals that foreign workers do not receive such as free medical, education, a 6 bedroom house given at time of marriage etc. the free education includes university anywhere in the world. If a UAE national is accepted into a university in another country al their expenses are paid – tuition, housing, books, 2 trips home each year, incidental expenses etc.
Crime rate is very low. Climate is good Nov.- May and attracts a lot of tourists during that time. Summer is brutal with temperates averaging above 45C.
The Cultural Center we visited in Dubai is an area that was built in1985, it has a series of buildings such as a library, the Sheik’s offices, a cultural center for shows, meetings etc. only nationals can go into the buildings.
Only nationals can own property, so all foreigners have to rent.
Dubai is basically a large metropolitan area, visited for its shopping and known for bargains in gold jewelry (I didn’t learn this until after we left!). Some is built on land which was created.
I am attaching some pictures from Dubai and from Gary’s trip into the desert.
We visited a fish market, a vegetable market, a historical market area and one of the malls.
There are 50 varieties of dates grown in the UAE.

Dec. 10 we had a tour of the area around Fujairah, another of the emirates. Entering the port we observed a very mountainous coast and a lot of oil tankers. We learned that Fujairah does not have any oil but oil is transported here from Abu Daubi by pipeline. It is stored in oil tanks and loaded onto tankers at the rate of 50 tankers each day. “Tank farms” line the coast line for 10 miles or so.
Archeological excavations revealed the area has been occupied and a trading area for about 4000 years. Europeans arrived here is the 1500s beginning with the Portuguese.
Until the pipeline was built Fujairah was the poorest of the Emirates because it doesn’t have oil.
It was on the spice route and we saw a coup,e of forts that were built about 500 years ago to protect the route, particularly the shipping of Frankincense.
The countryside is very barren but one of its economic drivers is agriculture with fruit and vegetable farms. We passed a number of greenhouses which are air conditioned so they can grow produce in the summer.
We stopped at the Friday Market, visited a museum and one of the forts.