In all my years in school and in working in higher ed I have never taken a Spring Break trip. This year would be different. Although, not the typical Spring Break hoorah drunk fest it was a great break from Kabul thanks to one of my benifits, a 6 day all expenses paid R&R trip. One of my colleagues, Lee, and myself met up in Dubai and we were off to points unknown to me. The first stop was Ras Al-Khaimah and the George Mason campus. I had worked for a few years with the folks there but had never met them. Dubai is about an hour and a half from RAK so off we went. There we toured the campus and had lunch at a seaside resort. 
Although there was an easier route we figured out from Khasab we traced back our original route crossing back into the UAE and Ras Al-Khamiah and then heading east to the Indian Ocean and Fujairah in the UAE where we stayed at a wonderful beachfront resort. Fro Fujairah we were off the next morning back out of the UAE to the lower section of Oman. Oman is actually divided in three sections, Mussandam, Madha, both detached from the main body of Oman and the lower sections made up of several other governates the largest of which is Muscat where the capital is. We stayed the night in yet another beach front resort at Al Sawadi Beach just outside Barka, Oman. Yes again the next morning we were up and outa there for a long 7.5 hour treck back to Dubai, through Rustaq, Oman where we visited an ancient fort. From Rustaq it was through the Ad Dhahirah desert region near the foot the Al Hajr AI Gharbi Mountains of the toward the Empty Quarter or Rub' al Khali back into UAE to Al Ain and back to Dubai. The first couple of days of driving were great. No driver no escort but 4 days and several border crossing, thus passport stamps, later upon our return we were glad to be done with driving/riding in the car.
Our visit to the remainder of the break consisted of shopping, shopping, more shopping which we do not get a chance to do a lot in Kabul. Including in which was a visit to the worlds largest Dubai mall which among every store you can think of features also a full size aquarium complete with sharks and large sting rays. Yes those small things standing outside the pictures of the aquarium are people. It also featured a lot of good American fast food, one of the things I miss most in Kabul. KFC (real KFC not Kabul Fried Chicken as in my earlier posts), Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King, and even TGIFridays. Stepping on the scale before leaving, I discovered I gained 5 pounds while in Dubai. Oh well I have lost 30 while here so that is o.k.
Being the biker, one of the best things of the stay in Dubai is that just by chance it feel on the weekend of Dubai Bike Week. Although I did not stick around for the Deep Purple concert because of the eighty seven u.s. dollar ticket price, it was enjoyable. It featured all of the worlds most well known manufacturers including even Dyersburg, TN based Boss Hoss. Yes Boss Hoss was there. However, the Boss Hoss bikes in Dubai feature european specs which make them even faster. Others included, of course, Harley but also Triumph, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, and even American Made Victory. Also present were several custom builders mostly from the UAE. Included in which, to my surprise, was a bike based on the General Lee including tank covering rebel flag. All in all it was a pretty big deal and a good show. Even MTV Arabia was present covering some of the bands.
Saturday it was time to pack it up and head back home where we arrived in Kabul just in time for the first day of Spring which is also the Persian new year. The streets were packed with folks out in their finest for the celebration. Sunday, however, it was back to work and it was a very busy week for me, thus, the delay in getting this info up.
A year ago had you told me I would be in Kabul I would have said maybe but had you told me I would spend Spring Break 2009 crossing a lot of the Arabian Penninsula I would have laughed at you. I did it though and it was a great time. Hope you have enjoyed the blog and ALL the pictures from the week.
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