Road trip - Jebel Shams, Oman

Ramadan is officially over and life is getting back to normal.

I am scared to 'type' this out loud but the weather has even felt cooler the last two days. Last night it got to a low of 34 degrees, so all fingers are crossed the heat is over and winter is on its way.

The end of Ramadan brings with it Eid celebrations and several public holiday. These holidays are not officially announced until the evening before Eid begins. UAE residents were given 2 public holidays.... sounds generous, however, all of our neighbouring countries (Saudi, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain) were given a week off so it was a little disappointing.

To make the most of a four day weekend and escape the oppressive heat we headed off on a road trip to explore the mountains of Oman in an area known as Jebel Shams.

A friend who also joined us for the road trip recommended this route and camping location, assuring us despite our hesitation that it was an easy drive and would definitely be cooler temperatures.

Well he got the cooler temperatures right. Jebel Shams camp is 2000m above sea level and the peak is 3000m. The nights were cool enough to throw on a jumper and light a camp fire.

As for the easy drive.... not so right. Firstly it was approx 7 hours each way including toilet breaks and border crossings (we had 3 adults, Piper and Lily in the car).
It was an extremely steep climb and took some time to get up the mountain itself. It had been raining and some of the 4WD driving was a little hair raising. In fact at one point on our scenic drive the next day I freaked out on a steep descent and opted to get out and walk (brought back lots of childhood memories Dad).

It was a great break and another Oman road trip is in the works for later in the year.

Our Bedouin tent - we glamped it a bit and stayed in this instead of taking our tent

Walking through a little village on the start of our hike

There were goats everywhere just waiting to be terrorised by Lily

On our hike looking back at  the cliff
wondering where the path was and how the hell we just walked around
that with a toddler and poodle!

Naz doing 'hero' poses. Don't worry Liz there was a big ledge beneath him x

Like father like daughter, my little daredevil rock climber

Snapshots of our Road Trip through France

 Still playing catch-up and now I am even more behind as we have just spent a long weekend camping in the mountains of Oman to escape the Dubai heat.

Here it is, the final leg of our Europe trip!

Our motorhome for the next 8 days, we picked up just outside Paris and headed north to the Champagne Region

Our camp set-up in Epernay

Roadside lunch stop overlooking the vines of the Champagne region, near Reims

Never too young to join in a day of champagne house tastings (just don't tell her it was only water)

Piper's set-up on the road

Another lunch stop on the road in a little village
After the Champagne Region we had planned on driving further north and into Belgium, however, the weather started to get colder the further north we went and our Dubai blood was not happy. 

So we changed planned and headed south to seek the sun and instead explored the Loire Region. We came across a stunning little village Bracieux with the best municipal camp ground we had seen. We ended up basing ourselves here for a few days and hiring bikes to explore the area. 

Cycling in Chambord

Views out cycling

One of our camping stops was conveniently located next to a chocolate factory

More cycling. Most routes we took between small villages were a combination of quiet country roads like this and bike paths

Refreshment break... my cycling was never very good after a few of these wine stops.... a rose bush may have been a victim of one of my after lunch rides. (Thanks Photographer Piper for taking this snap)

Lunch stop out cycling

Piper founds some donkeys on our ride to Cheverny

Exploring the Chateau at Cheverny

We loved the experience of travelling unplanned through France by motor home. Now that we have tried it once we are planning a big trip through Europe by motor home next year...... hint, hint.... maybe some family members or friends might want to join us? 

Snapshots of Paris

We are back in Dubai just in time to celebrate Naz's birthday. I am going to try and catch-up on the holiday photo's this week. Our last week in the motor home was amazing, the absolute highlight of our trip.

We are all suffering a bad case of the holiday blues.... Dubai is too hot, too sandy and Ramadan is still going. Hopefully things pick up soon!

Here are some happy snaps from Paris.... unfortunately not a lot of pics but I have to be honest and say I am totally over Paris. Tried it several times now but it just doesn't do it for us. French countryside however is the bomb!

From left to right

1. Champs Elysees (all the fences and signs were still up from the Tour de France finish)

2. Minnie Mouse and Eiffel Tower

3. Eiffel Tower

4. Cool cat at the Louvre

5. Relaxed Naz

6. So Parisian snacking on her croissant at the Louvre

Snapshots of DisneyLand Paris

I am a little behind on the posts but will catch-up soon. Following Rome we flew to Paris and straight to DisneyLand Paris where we stayed for two nights with tickets for three days.

The first day we arrived at dinner time and explored briefly before settling in for the late night parade and fireworks show at the princess castle. Overall DisneyLand was amazing, a toddlers wonderland and we definitely needed the two days to explore everything. Staying at Disneyland was also a very smart move and made the three days easy and fun.

Snapshots of Rome

Internet access has been difficult, we are now in Paris after 3 days in Rome and the last 2 and a half days staying at Paris Disneyland. I promise to upload more photo's and write more once we get home but in the meantime I have put together a few happy snaps x

Starting from the top from left to right:

1. Colosseum

2 & 3. Trevi Fountain

4. Lane way

5. Typical street

6. Pantheon

7. Spanish steps

8. Colosseum

9. Top of the Spanish steps

So why have I been complaining about cannons?

Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting from dawn until sunset from eating, drinking and sexual relations. Ramadan lasts 30 days and its beginning depends on the sighting of the crescent moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar.

Ramadan was announced here on Thursday and declared with cannon fire..... in the park next to our house at 11pm at night. I cannot even begin to describe how loud it was or how high I jumped. They then proceeded to fire at 5:30am to announce the beginning of the days fasting and again just after 7pm to declare the days fasting over and the beginning of Iftar.

Thankfully the morning cannon fire has stopped and they are now only firing in the evening. Who would of thought my little family would get used to cannon fire!

Although we are not muslim we must abide by the rules of Ramadan. Here are few quick lessons we have had to learn and how we are coping so far.

1. We must abide by the laws and have to fast between dawn and sunset. This means no food, water, chewing gum or cigarettes in public (we try not to engage in sexual relations in public so no change there)

2. We are allowed to eat just not in public. In our home is fine, as long as we are not publicly visible. Most restaurants, mall food courts etc close down. Some cafes and restaurants do open in the day but with blacked out windows for non-muslims. However these are not as easily found as we were first led to believe. Basically we have to plan everything because food and drink is just not available. Last weekend we found a McDonalds that was open when were out and then had to hide in the car to eat it whilst frantically looking over our shoulder..... not fun at all and so very awkward.

Piper is allowed to eat and drink, children and pregnant women are excluded.

3. Basically home is our prison. It is extremely hot at the moment with daily temperatures ranging on average from 42 – 49 degrees. So you can imagine how limited our activities are going to be during the daytime without being able to consume liquids in public.

4. We use indoor play centres a lot due to the extreme heat. Unfortunately these are also affected by Ramadan and have adopted new opening times for the 30 days – our fave play centre will be opening between 8pm and 2am.... WTF???

5. Shorter working days hooray!! By law all employees in the UAE are only allowed to work 6 hour days during fasting. My office is going with the 8am – 2pm rule! Which sounded great in the beginning but the reality is I cannot get my work done in this time and end up working from home in the afternoons.

6. A lot of expats take overseas holidays during Ramadan. We are no exception and have planned to skip out on part of Ramadan and get a break from the heat. We will be away for two weeks. I have to go to Rome for a few days work so we are all going and then onto France.

7. No music or dancing is allowed during Ramadan – this includes in your home or car so we have to curb the wild parties for awhile. Not sure how this will go down with Miss O who thinks life is one big musical and insists on dancing, singing and performing everywhere we go. All night clubs and most bars outside of tourist areas close during Ramadan.

8. Most retail stores open after 4pm during Ramadan if at all outside of tourist areas. For those that do open during the day you can expect to be served by dehydrated hypoglycemic staff which will ensure Dubai’s already horrific levels of customer service will reach all time lows.

9. Iftar celebrations – Iftar is the first meal after the fast is broken daily and is a nightly celebration. A lot of restaurants have great prices and fabulous packages. If you are very lucky you may be invited into a local Arabic home to share Iftar. For the most part of life here expats and locals rarely mingle.

So that is my take on Ramadan. Basically 5 days in we are bored out of our brains.

Hopefully when we return from our holiday we can participate in some Iftar celebrations and enjoy the culture. But for now I cannot wait to get on that plane.

I will try and blog over the next two weeks but France is not known for it's wifi access. We are heading to Rome for three days (I am working) and then onto France. Paris Disneyland for a couple of nights (not sure who is more excited about that one, Piper or Naz). Then staying in Paris itself for a couple of nights before we pick-up our motor home and begin our road trip through northern France (first stop Champagne) then up to Luxembourg, Belgium and back down through France.

Life Lately in Happy Snaps

From left to right starting from the top:

1. Rocking it out to old school Kylie with Mum

2. Happy Lily (we have finally found a great dog beach just out of town)

3. Sandstorm last Tuesday, the building disappearing is the Burj Khalifa, it also poured with rain for about 5 minutes, the most rain we have seen in 10 months. Temperatures at the moment are averaging between 42 and 48 every day

4. Example of Dubai's dedication to wasting money. This sign etched in metal and professionally erected is a direct result of Lily's love of swimming in the pond. Crazy dog hating country, honestly have a look at the pond, she was not harming a fly

5. Beach fun - unfortunately beach weather is now over until winter, it is far too hot and the water is bath water warm and not in the slightest bit refreshing

6. Our little model and poser, this was taken today. For her birthday we spent the day at KidZania and she played her little heart out

7. Last photo ever taken of Piper with her dummy (or yodgee as she calls it), two weeks ago she decided she was grown-up and threw it down the rubbish chute and has not asked for it once since. The only tears were from me, I am pathetic I know

8. Atlantis Hotel at the end of the Palm

9. Happy 3rd Birthday Piper!! Taken tonight, we celebrated with Magnolia Bakery cupcakes from Bloomingdales

The Birthday Party

Apologies to everybody who has been harassing me to put up photo's of Piper's birthday party, given her party was held two weeks before her birthday these photo's aren't technically late.

Luckily we have a community hall within our building available for free use by residents so we were able to have a birthday party at home but without the mess and hassle.
Also because of the heat now it is impossible to play outside so this gave the kids enough space to run crazy with out destroying my house.

Piper had a fabulous day at her princess party as you will see below:

Pom poms I made earlier in the week

Birthday girl with her Princess Castle birthday cake (a little easier to make this year than the past two years I have to admit)

Party game fun!

I always felt bad she had a winter birthday in Australia, now over here it might be too hot but this birthday has been drawn out over two weeks so it has it's advantages.