Day 55, Thursday - Al Ain to Ras Al Khaimah

The area of the hot springs

*Sorry about not posting yesterday, I lost my internet right before I tried to post!*

Al Ain has hot-springs, and we visited them today. It looked like there were places outside where you could sit in the water, but we went into a room which reminded me of a traditional bathhouse.

The outside of the bathhouse

Asma swam a few times back and forth, I did more soaking than swimming because it was a little too warm for me to swim in but I did paddle around a little. Fresh water pours out of a spout at one end, which you can sit under and get a little water-pressure massage, and that water is pretty hot though not scalding. Asma tells me that is gets hotter throughout the day so she likes to go earlier.

By the time we left I was getting hungry for lunch.

Random note sidebar in 3…2…1…



All white - Dubai



I asked Asma why different cars have different colors on their license plates (generally a square of color on the side or in the middle). She said that originally for Abu Dhabi they were red, but they started running out of numbers so they started making blue ones. Then then they decided that Al Ain should have its own color so they made it green, although an all green plate means that it is a taxi. Ras Al Khaimah is all white, though I think Dubai is too. Finally, Abu Dhabi was running out of colors again, so they started using grey. How about that?

All green - taxi

Red rectangle - Abu Dhabi

Blue square - Abu Dhabi

 

Yellow & White - government



Green square - Al Ain



"My" room in Ras Al Khaimah

 And we’re back!

For lunch, I had Lebanese food, which seems to be quite popular all over the Gulf region. I say "I had Lebanese food" because Asma is fasting, which means I had lunch with myself. :)

Asma and I talk about everything. We talk about similarities and differences between the US and the Middle East in terms of culture and politics. She has traveled around the US quite a bit and has also lived in England for some time so we talk about those places. It has been really interesting for me to gain a rather different view of the Middle East and the world from a woman who is from a very traditional Middle Eastern background but who has traveled so much around the West.

In the evening we headed to Asma’s house, about two or two and a half hours away in Ras Al Khaimah, which is where I am now. :)