Tag Archives: uae

Thursday doors, 23/11/17. Al Lou’aluo’ayyah…
Al Lou’aluo’ayyah is a small town and beach on the East coast of the UAE. It’s on our stop-off list on an East coast day out, as the tidal zone on the beach frequently throws up interesting and unusual shells.
The beach is long and rather beautiful…
Jelly-fish, my first Mitra mitra shell ( I was so pleased) and brittle starfish…
In the small streets behind the beach we had a little poke around and I discovered a whole load of new and slightly different doors. All from older built properties, I hesitiate to guess the era, my gut feel is early 90’s. Metal-work with embellishment, all in need of a good maintenance work-over, but I really like them. Especially the falcon designs, one of the six national symbols of the UAE.
This one is my favorite…
Linking with Thursday Doors, hosted by Norm Frampton. Pop on over, hit the blue frog link and check out some more doors today…
Weekly Photo Challenge, Peek…
On our travels, when I’m the passenger in the car, my camera is always ready on my lap, my head swivelling, checking out the surroundings, just in case there is a shot to be had.
On this occasion in October 2017, we were driving fairly slowly down the corniche at Khor Fakkan, UAE in the late afternoon. The corniche traffic is usually slow-moving at this time as families are heading to the cool, tree lined park bordering on the beach, often to picnic in the shade after another long, hot day of the middle eastern heat.
I saw a flash of colour in the sky through the foliage, peeked out of my window and just caught the para-gliders through the gap in the trees as we drove past.
Wordless Wednesday…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Structure…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Corner…
On our road travels, I take a lot of photos from the car, sometimes they work, but many times they fail, blur, motion, an unexpected head intruding into the shot and so on… but, on occasions, there are some I keep, just because I like the effect and maybe I can work on it in the future.
This was one I kept.
Racing through Al Ain, in the UAE, trying to get to the border on a Thursday night to beat the weekend visa queue on the Oman border, I snapped out of the car window as we hurtled into the city.
I think it’s a stadium and now I can use this shot for this challenge, we were cornering at high speed!
Weekly Photo Challenge : Texture…
The desert sand is full of texture…
Photos shot in the United Arab Emirates, taking the off-road route to Hamim.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Graceful…
There is something special about being out in the desert amidst the graceful sweep of the dunes, the fluid patterns of the sand and the differing delineations as the light changes during the day.
Shot in the sand dunes of the UAE, on the edge of the Empty Quarter, close to the Saudi Border…

Bull-butting in Fujairah….
One of those “Lets go and see what’s going on over there” moments. Continue reading
Weekly Photo Challenge: Shine…
The Burj Khalifa, Dubai is currently the tallest building in the world.
Another such structure is forecast in this city of extremes to go higher, but it’s still in the planning stage.
Burj Khalifa dominates the Dubai skyline and just on occasions when the atmosphere is clearer and the sun is the right position and you have your camera in the car and get lucky going over a bridge or at a traffic light ( I have to add here “as a passenger “in case you are thinking I’m snapping as I’m driving) you can just catch this massive Eye of Dubai shining over the city… I haven’t seen Frodo or Gollum here yet, but nothing would surprise me !
Skywatch Friday: 21/10/16
It’s that time of year again in the Middle East.
The temperatures are going down, humidity is slowly decreasing, a few clouds appearing in the sky now and intense colours in the sunsets.
Winter is on its way, lovely….
Linking with Skywatch Friday

Thursday Doors: 20/10/16
Last week I posted some older-style traditional Emirati doors from Dibba on the UAE’s East coast for Thursday Doors.
This week, here’s some modern ones from the same area on UAE’s East coast. Continue reading

Monday Window: 17/10/16
Driving through Fujeirah, on the UAE coast on Saturday, I spotted a bank building with a pleasing design arrangement of windows. Continue reading

Thursday Doors: 13/10/16
Dibba is a port town on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates. This large natural harbor on the east coast of the northern Emirates has been an important site of maritime trade and settlement since the pre-Islamic era. Continue reading
Weekly Photo Challenge: Edge #3
Weekly Photo Challenge: Morning #5
Morning light from the rising sun casts shadows across the dunes, giving a surreal effect. Shot at the edge of the Empty Quarter, just before the Saudi border.

Monday Window: 13/6/16
For over five thousand years henna has been a symbol of good luck, health, and sensuality in the Arab world. The plant has been associated with positive magic and provides us with a link to an ancient age full of good and bad spirits, baraka and jnoun. Continue reading

One Word Photo Challenge: Camel
Trawling through my Reader, I came across One Word Photo Challenge hosted by Jennifer Nichole Wells .
Intrigued I went off to look and well… given my location and the theme for this week being “Camel” and the fact that I take rather a lot of camel photos, I just had to join in….
Skywatch Friday: 27th May 2016
Linking with Skywatch Friday, head on over to see some sky!
Thursday Doors 28/4/16:Al Hisn Fort, Sharjah….
Al Hisn fort in Sharjah , the home of the Al Qassimi ruling family of Sharjah since 1820, but nearly totally demolished in 1969, when the present ruler, who was abroad, managed to rush home to try to stop the demolition.The Fort was restored 20 years later with the original doors and windows saved from the demolished fort. Continue reading

A to Z challenge: V is for Volvarina and Volva…
Volvarina is a genus of small to very small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Marginellidae, the margin shells.(Wiki) Continue reading

Monday Window: Blue Souk, Sharjah…
I found a plethora of windows at the Blue Souk, Sharjah, UAE on Saturday, so for once my post has more than one window! I think you will like them, the Islamic style of the Souk is eye-catching with the beautiful blue sky above, setting off the tiles and architecture perfectly. Continue reading

A to Z challenge: T is for Turtle…
Fours species of turtles nest in the coastal areas of the UAE and Oman, including the green turtle (Chelonia mydus), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), olive ridley turtle (Lepydochelys olivacea) and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). Continue reading
Skywatch Friday: UAE, an eastern region sunset…
Linking with Skywatch Friday.. join in the sky fun and check out the other posts…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape
Landscapes in the Middle East are different, but have their own special beauty. Here are a few….

Wasit Wetland Centre, Sharjah, UAE….
I found a lovely place to visit last weekend, a small wetland in the heart of Sharjah’s Wasit area.Beautifully laid out, it’s a gem of a place to visit for a couple of hours. Continue reading

A to Z Challenge: D is for Dhow
Participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge (April 2016) with a sea-shore theme…
Dhows (generic name) are the traditional trading and fishing vessels of Arabia. Continue reading
Day Nineteen: Double & Rotation, Part 2
Arriving home very late, after a late end of quarter night at work and losing my entire Photo program due to a massive crash, but having already posted today’s assignment via my phone ( I was fairly proud of this achievement, WordPress on iPhone takes a bit of getting used to, but once on track it’s relatively simple, but it was a first!) I managed to restore my photo program and can post my original double thought for this assignment…. Continue reading

Desert moments…
When I drive in the desert, utter calm descends over me.
Lowering the tyres to 12psi, the Pajero seamlessly floats over the surface of the sand, every dune unknown, accelerating up and over, easing the pressure as the car crests over and down the ridge.
Beautiful desert colours encompass the surroundings with sand hues ranging from pale yellow to deep ochre, offset by the cloudless blue skies. Continue reading