PF 2010

And that’s it my friends. Another year has passed again. And it was so quick, that I didn’t realize that I have 42 posts and 61 pages of written stories, experiences, rumors and news I’ve been through during the last 14 months I have been living in Dubai. And that is good.

That I continuously kept posting during the whole year about basically everything is a sign that I like to write and I like to let you read. And that is good.

That I am still here and kicking with hopefully good position of staying more, is sign that I have been doing my best to achieve it. And that is good.

It was a good year. Somehow every year I think that the last year was the best so far. I think the same today. And that is how it should be J

I hope you all had a good year and I wish you all the better to the next one…to make it the best!!...until the following year of course J

Universe…Earth…Asia…Emirates…Dubai…all these places are big playgrounds…but the biggest one is a human heart, where is decided the course of life of an individual, changing the courses of Dubai…Emirates…Asia…Earth…Universe!!

JIRI!! Has been setting new courses to a lot of things, but has he changed himself? Has he decided what his course will be? Has he found his Universe? Maybe yes…maybe no…maybe he’s close…maybe he’s far…maybe he doesn’t know…maybe he hasn’t noticed…maybe he’ll never find………To be continued

Oman - Different perspective

Two days in the office with sand still in my shoes were over in a second and we had another long weekend ahead. We agreed with Jana, Jaro and Milan that this is a good opportunity to explore more from the “distant” Oman. At first we wanted to go the Oman’s very south province Salalah, but 1300km was too much even for four days, so we changed our plan to going around Nizwa or a bit south of Muscat only. We did not have any particular schedule or plan. Everything we want to decide on spot as per our mood J Pure improvisation!!

We took two cars, one with Dubai people and other with Abu Dhabi guys, and we were supposed to meet at 10pm on Tuesday after Al Ain border. We finally met at 2:30am, because of all possible reasons for delay. Anyway…we drove a bit more that night to be closed to our fist destination: Jebel Shams mountains and the Grand Canyon of Middle East.

Next morning after a short sleep on a stony bed next to the road, we drove 1000 meters to the top of the canyon to do a small hike to an abandoned village, hidden on the canyon’s steep slopes. An easy two hour hike with a stunning panorama of the bottomless crack in the ground under the Oman’s highest mountain took us to a strange place.

To a place where twelve families who used to live in a couple of tiny houses stuck to the rock under the huge overhang, with basically no access route other than a narrow path we came on, with no space to move around because of a 100 meter drop 20 meters from their doorways, but well protected against the enemies and with a permanent supply of water in a small lake. Perfect for a couple of weeks maximum J The time was different!!

We didn’t take the same way back as the most of the people have to take. Why? Because we were climbersJ with all the gear, so we enjoyed doing a nice Via Ferrata out of the canyon.

And then I stupidly crashed my camera, because a gust of wind blew down my backpack with the camera on top, while we wanted to take a picture of us all. Pity, but hopefully it won’t be that expensive to repair it. So with a tear in the eye I look for the last time into the canyon, turned around and followed the others back to the cars.

After another night in the stony bed we decided to skip the hike to the Oman’s highest mountain and instead we did a road trip to the ancient city of Nizwa, former Omani capital, to see one of the typical Arabic forts. Impressive but in comparison with all those huge European castles it was nothing. “Here they were fighting with spears and honey, while in Europe with cannons and rifles” commented Jaro and but we all agreed, that against spearmen that fortress was quite good ;)

We didn’t have enough time to check other forts in the city of Sur, so we chose to explore the beauty of Wadi Ash Shab, according to the book, one of the most beautiful places in Oman. And it was definitely spectacular. A deep crack in the ground opening into the sea with a small stream lined with palm trees running at the bottom.

We wanted to hike to the end where should be an underwater cavern which you have to swim into. We involuntarily hired a local guide, who wanted to make money by showing us the obvious pathJ But at the end he was actually useful because he showed us the cavern, which we or another crazy group we met there, couldn’t find! Yes…two crazy groups meeting each other few minutes before the sunset in a far end of a wild wadi! One is Czech and the other…Czech girl with Turkish boyfriend and English guy speaking Czech. Typical J

We found the cavern, but because the water level was low after summer, we didn’t have to swim through a completely flooded tunnel and you could squeeze the head between the ceiling and water. Less scaryJ

And what usually happens if two such groups meet? Yes…they go party :D So we gave to the others tent, blankets, grill, meat, beer and invited them to go camping with us to Wadi Dhaykah, where we wanted to climb the next morning. And again…everyday perfect chill next to the camp fire, with pork sausages on the grill, cool beer from the cool box and bright full moon above our heads.

There is nothing better than after another night on stones to wake up directly in the climbing area and be able to stretch your body and mind on some easy traditional routes. Whole Wadi Dhaykah was full of climbing potential and we did our best to use it. We stayed climbing up late afternoon and then tried to find camping spot on the other side of the wadi where some Dubai guys we met there pointed us to. The driving was rough between deep tracks in loose round wadi stones, but Tiguan was brave and had no major problems. Good boy J

We didn’t find that camp spot, because it was dark already, but we found a beautiful large pool. Just excellent for washing away daily dust and revitalizing the body before the evening chill on the stone field J

Next morning we drove back to the wadi and we wanted to find Hotel California crack with nice 6 pitch traditional 5c. “It’s there” I pointed out to the other side of a rough wadi bank full of big stones. “I’ll leave the car here and walk. Should be about 500 meters” I added, but Jaro had different opinion: “I’ll try to go around and if I’ can’t pass I’ll come back!”

We packed the gear and when we were about to start walking we saw Jaro passing slowly through a small water pool. We’ve learned that wadi stones are more slippery than sand and that wet wadi stones are like ice we’ve learned when Jaro got stuck and submerged up to the doors in the “shallow” pool.

With Jana we ran to check the seriousness of the situation and when we saw Jaro’s white face behind the wheel continuously pushing the throttle not to suck water into the engine through the submerged exhaust pipe and with his feet being washed by cold wadi water, we realized that this is very serious.

Pulling the car out with human force was impossible. So I inspected a possible access path from the other side, cleaned out the biggest boulders and slowly drove close to Jaro to try to pull him out with German force. Floor it…jerk the Pajero half a meter…get stuck in a geyser of stones…reverse…floor it…jerk it…get stuck…reverse………It was tough, but we made it J There was nothing better so see than Jaro’s happy grin when his “Precious” got saved from flooding and destruction!! At the end my car was probably more damaged than his from all the stones drumming on the chassis and from one which punctured somehow the aluminum rim from inside that I had a flat tire!! Happy end J

We didn’t have time left for climbing at Hotel California, so we only inspected the routes and agreed that the final rehearsal for Kenya would happen here and we slowly left towards home on an emergency tire. We tried to get it fixed in nearby town, but you can’t expect Omani garage men to perform such a delicate operation as aluminum welding J

We wanted to go to see the biggest Omani fort on our way back, but we were short of time so we changed our destination to Muscat old city center with beautiful sea promenade, sultan’s castle, traditional market and a milk shake on the street. Nice point after even nicer four day trip.

Oman is the same as UAE and different in the same time. It’s Arabic, but a bit more Arabic, ancient and traditional than UAE. It’s dry, but a bit greener, water full and live. It’s mountainous, but a bit higher, deeper and steeper. It’s beautiful, but a bit more attractive, thrilling and natural.

And maybe it’s just because I’m not living there and it seems to me better, because I don’t have it every day. And as I’m thinking about it…I would probably change my opinion when I have to work there :D

It’s civilized, but a bit poorer, older and more dangerous!!

EID of four wheels

Eid al Adha is one of many Islamic holidays. They don’t have fixed date, because they follow the Islamic calendar. This year it fell on Thursday 26.12. We got holiday on Sunday too, so along with the weekend it was four daysJ Government employees they have whole week off, but private sector was not that lucky!! Was it? ;) And with UAE National day on Wednesday 2.12. and personal leave on 3.12. I had two four day weekend in the row J Excellent.

So after Thursday we with Rune relaxed by playing Magic and winning everything we touched, I stood on Friday morning on dirty Mussafah street in front of Abu Ibrahim’s “Boom quads” shop. How that happened?

Going camping to the desert is a common, maybe the most favorite outdoor activity of the locals and expats probably too. You just load your four 4x4 with booze, meat and grills…drive into the desert…make camp…drive around with the cars…get drunk…and leave home next morning. I tried to take my AWD once, but it’s not fun, because it’s not made for crashing dunes. So last time we went I opted to be a co-driver, which wasn’t much fun either, because you don’t hold any wheel!! So on the following occasion I wanted to give my Tiguan one more chance and tried driving around some easy stuff while my friends were deflating tires, but I got stuck on the top of a flat dune, because I only didn’t stop facing downhill. This wouldn’t happen to the 4x4. No fun!!

“There has to be something how even I can enjoy desert safaris and camping” I thought. And then I remembered somebody talking about the possibility to rent quite cheaply a quad bike with trailer for a whole day. “That’s it. Next time I have to try this!!” I decided and started investigation where, how, and how much. After a week I got contact to a group of Czech people taking quads to Liwa for three days during EID. They gave me contact to Abu’s shop and with Rune’s kind permission to install a towing hook to his Pajero and taking it to the desert for the first time, I was ready to join them with one more quad J

If you want to go somewhere where some real big dunes are, you have to go to Liwa oasis. It’s quite far, but it’s worth it. And for beasts as Yamaha YFZ350 Banshee and YFM700 Raptor definitely are there is no other challenge. So after two hours of slow driving we stopped at the last petrol station before the desert edge, filled all canisters and tanks, bought fire wood and headed inside. We stopped at the end of a salt plain, unloaded quads and the learning could begin!! What learning? Learning how to drive a manual motorcycle/quad. I have never ridden anything like this and I even didn’t know to do it theoretically. “Changing gears is on your left foot, rear brake on your right, clutch is on your left hand and front brake on your right. Throttle is this small lever on the right. Have fun J” was a short introduction from Michal. To my surprise, as easily it sounded that simply I executed it and in five minutes I was driving around with adrenaline rising!!

“Let’s climb that dune” I looked at the closest high dune and floored the throttle. Hnnnnn..hnnnn…bbloooob..bloob..blo…and the engine stalled. “Damn..I forgot to fill the tank” I laughed. Before we refueled the others came and we made a camp behind a small dune not far from the plain. We had a problem with one of the Banshees, when the clutch got burned, so Michal spend three hours with letting it fixed in nearby Liwa town and I punctured tire in the Pajero. Again from the tire side so it cannot be fixed and you have to buy new one. “It’s getting expensive this trip!!” I complained about my bad luck. I have never punctured tire in my life and here I destroyed already second in four months!!

I think I’ve found exactly what I was looking for. Riding quads in the desert is more fun than driving 4x4s, because you are in direct contact with the sand, dunes and wind. You drive usually faster, because you can clear bumps better and you don’t have to worry about damaging the vehicle. You are riding more, because you don’t have to stop and scout the terrain in front of you and you can basically go any direction. But the biggest advantage is that you don’t have to be afraid of getting stuck somewhere and spent two hours with digging and getting the car out!!

So I quickly got used to all those new control elements and was climbing the highest dunes around and enjoying the incredible panoramas from tops. The most I enjoyed the challenge of finding a way to get to the dune top, driving on sharp tipped dune ridges, slowly crossing lower dune tops without knowing what is behind or driving in spiral inside cone shaped holes between dunes. Sometimes trying several times from different directions.

It was also the difference between the 350 I was riding and the 700. With the Raptor, once I learned to floor the first gear, it got too easy to get anywhere because the machine had incredible power. You could just point to 100m 45° slope, floor it and drive to the top. Banshee was also very powerful, but just couldn’t do that much, so I just enjoyed it a bit moreJ

Second day evening we went to Al Moreeb dune, the tallest or at least one of the tallest dunes in the area. It is around 200m flat slope dune, where all the Emiratis with tuned Land Cruisers are competing who can get further up. We tried on one of the lower slopes with our quads. It’s kind of impressive feeling when you are standing on top and looking down the valley. We stayed till the sunset and returned to the camp.

Then some people went home, but chose to stay one more day, despite paying the quad only for two days. “Let’s try how is it to have my own quad for whole day and do some longer trip” I decided to leave the any possible problems away and stay hidden in the desert, where nobody can reach me ;)

I woke up quite early in the morning and went for around two hour wide circle around the camp. Just amazing. I also tried to find a way to the highest dune from the steepest side. For me it was a tough challenge and that was the best out of all trip. Elevations, holes, sharp ridges and dune tips in a long steep cascade finished by a rather flat peak with sand blowing across the edge. Perfect for taking some pictures!! I have to admit that I was quite happy to get there from that side. It wasn’t for free J

And that was the end. Around 4pm we packed up and drove back to Abu Dhabi and home. Definitely a great fun and experience, no matter that it was quite expensive fun. We are already planning another trip, but this time with a destination…from A to B J Let’s see… but for now…only climbing and getting ready for the Kenya expedition on February. What? You haven’t heard about that?...Ehm, well…stay tuned J