Nepal Kitchen House

Posted by Kanga.

We’ve been meaning to eat at the Nepal Kitchen House for a while. We noticed the small sign while driving by. On another day, we ventured into the building to check out what kind of business it was. It turned out to be a restaurant. (One can’t always tell by a business’s title what it actually sells.) A few more times we drove by on our way home from some other restaurant and said “oh, we should have tried the Nepal Kitchen House.”

This is aloo jeera fry (cubed potatoes with cumin seeds and parsley) and chicken rice (lentil soup, rice, chicken in a sauce).

These are vegetable momos (dumplings).

These are chicken momos (dumplings).

Our meal began and ended with tea. This feast was 42 AED ($11.50 USD).

I’d like to know more about the building that the restaurant is in. The building still has several businesses in it, but it has fallen into disrepair. It may have been the first “mall” in Fujairah. There is an inner court with two escalators going up just one floor that clearly no longer work. The columns are covered in beautiful tile work. It must have been impressive in its day.

Handcrafted Soap from Italy

Posted by Kanga.

Again, something I didn’t expect to find in a grocery store in a small UAE town – handcrafted soap from Italy.

Only the lemon and angy smelled pleasant to me. I don’t know what angy is, but I’m going to give it a try.

New Cinema

Posted by Kanga.

The Century Mall in Fujairah opened with just a couple of stores, adding a few more along the way. As you can see above, the food court is all set, except that there isn’t a single restaurant, yet.

The cinema opened recently. This is the massive and spectacularly lit lobby. We’ve been to this theatre twice now. The admission price is a little higher than that of the old cinema which is still operating. We think this might be why the talkative teenagers are still frequenting the old cinema. That is fine with us. We prefer to watch movies without listening to the drone of teens who CAN’T SHUT UP, even being told to be quiet. Don’t get me started… It also helps to go during the Middle Eastern dinnertime 8-10pm.

Grocery Adventure

Posted by Kanga.

It is sometimes fun to see what irrelevant items are lumped together in the grocery store.

What constitutes “ethnic foods” in a French supermarket in an Arab country? Japanese, Thai, Mexican, and Russian. I was just glad they had fat-free refried beans. Yeah!

Lighting Up the Sky

Posted by Kanga.

Two nights ago we were on our way home from the grocery store and saw something flashing, very bright, lighting up the sky. It was happening so frequently and at such regular intervals, we thought it might be man made. We actually turned around and drove back to investigate.

It turned out to be lightning. There didn’t seem to be thunder, until I realized that there were no individual claps, just a contant rumble. It was quite a light show and then the rain started. Lovely, huge, cold drops.

Sharjah Archaeology Museum

Posted by Kanga.

Our local vacation included a visit to the Sharjah Archaeology Museum.

The museum presents the history of Sharjah from the stone age up to 611 A.D. The museum is nicely arranged, fully bilingual, and multi-media. An audio tour is available and worthwhile.

Each time period includes a diorama showing a typical abode.

It is always amazing to see how delicate the gold work was in early times.

In addition to shells and pearls, carnelian was a common component of jewelry.

There are many petroglyphs in the Hajar Mountains. The stones develop a red pateena. Chipping this red layer off is a fairly easy way to leave behind art. The above image is a bull tied to a post under a crescent moon. The crescent moon is a common image in area petroglyphs.

These ancient metal bracelets are very similar to those used not too long ago.

The two parts of this sculpture of a man holding a bird were found on two separate occasions and reunited here.

Mother of Pearl gathered along with pearls was used in these carvings.

These gold decorations were amazingly small.

We recommend the museum. It is very well done, very educational, and well worth your time.

Old Abu Dhabi Documentary

Posted by Kanga.

Oil Discovery and Distribution of Wealth in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (1968)

This is a 52 minute film about Abu Dhabi in 1968, prior to the formation of the United Arab Emirates in 1972. It is a bit blunt about some things. It definitely shows the drastic changes that oil discovery and production caused. The best part is seeing so much footage of Sheikh Zayed in a variety of settings. It is a little melodramatic with some forebodings about the future, but it turned out that Sheikh Zayed was a very wise man.

Arabia’s Wildlife Centre

Posted by Kanga.

Yesterday, we ventured to the Sharjah’s Arabia’s Wildlife Centre. It is located between Sharjah and Dhaid. The centre is part of the Sharjah Desert Park which also includes a children’s farm (we’re assuming this is a petting zoo) and a natural history & botanical museum. Entrance to the park is 15 AED for adults ($4.00 US).

Photography is strictly forbidden in the wildlife center, so all you will get in this post is this picture of camels crossing the road which we encountered on the way there.

We highly recommend the wildlife center. It is very well designed and most of the animals were visible and active. Included are animals of all kinds native to different areas of Arabia, not just the U.A.E. – snakes, geckos, lizards, frogs, mice, rats, gerbils, grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, scorpions, foxes, wolves, wildcats, sand cats, jackals, porcupines, hedgehogs, honey badgers, gazelles, ibexes, oryxes, ostriches, flamingos, pelicans, owls, bats, and so much more. If only I could have used my camera, I would have so many desert hare pictures – bunnies everywhere!

On our way out, we passed the big animal enclosures. Starting with the baboons. It was feeding time, so they were quite busy. The next enclosure had desert wolves, who can look over the pit separating the enclosures and see the baboons. They were pacing up and down undoubtedly thinking “those baboons look tasty.” Next door to the wolves were striped hyenas also pacing up and down looking at the wolves thinking “those wolves look tasty.” Next to them were the cheetahs. If the cheetahs don’t fancy a hyena meal, they can also see an enclosure of gazelles. I’ve never been so close to a cheetah, separated only by glass. And, last, but not least, came the leopard. He, being the king of all, was just chillin’ out.

This is definitely a value deal. Give yourself plenty of time. The exhibits are extensive and you’ll want to stop and watch the active animals. One little Egyptian Spiny Mouse had a grub and was being chased mercilessly by her roommates. I hope she got to eat it in peace, eventually.

Falconry

Posted by Kanga.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended a meeting of the Emirates Natural History Group Fujairah where Guy Foster explained falconry and showed us some very beautiful birds.

The session was very informative. Falconry is actually not common in the Fujairah area because of the hills. It is usually done in wide open, flat areas so that one can maintain visual contact with the falcon. If a falcon flies over a hill, it may not come back to the “owner.” One never really owns falcons. They do not bond with people. Falcons are in it for the free food.

Female falcons are larger than males and more desirable for falconry. The indigenous falcons that are in country all year round are a small species. The larger species that pass through the UAE on their migration route have been considered more desirable. It is no longer legal to catch wild falcons.

We were all given a chance to gently touch the back of one of the birds.

DaddyBird enjoyed the chance to get up close and hold a falcon.

Blustery Days

Posted by Kanga.

This photo was taken in February.

This is approximately the same view in March.

The wind has been blowing quite viciously this winter. “Sand storm” doesn’t really describe it, because the airborne particulates are a very fine dust not sand granules.

Living on the 16th floor of a new building with very leaky windows during these wind storms has been interesting. Aside from the high pitched whistle of the air coming through the windows, there is the vibrating of the building at large. It feels like living in a rocket ship about to take off. Even the cats didn’t want to be in the living room alone due to the wind howling around the sliding glass door.