Hatta, Dubai, UAE

The Bohemians have been dreaming of globetrotting for a while now, and it still remains a dream. Oh well, the dreams would come true when we have enough cash to buy the wings the dreams need.

Living an expatriate’s life in a place like Dubai, in spite of the lack of direct taxes can be quite taxing. A whopping 35% increase in rent rates in Dubai has meant that the saving potential is now zero.

The Bohemians would click and write about Dubai a lot more in the coming days. Forget the high cost of living for a while... No matter what, life in Dubai just gets worse in summer – it is way too hot and humid. People find comfort staying indoors or becoming serial mallsters.

The Bohemians (together) made our maiden sojourn on the 16th September to a place called Hatta (Dubai, UAE)

The trip was Patrick’s idea to start with. Patrick (and his real name is Pratik) is an aspiring photojournalist. We were also joined by PJ, a good mate of mine.

At 5:30 in the morning, all four of us gathered at my place. I had a shock of sorts 10 minutes before we started. My wallet was suddenly missing. It had all my identification cards, ATM card and all that. I was so distraught… Miti had this sad look on her face – not knowing how to console me on my loss.

I figured out that I had left my wallet at Second Cup –one of our favourite Coffee Shops in Dubai – the previous night. With no cash on me at 5:30 in the morning, I took one last look at all the places where I could have possibly left my wallet if I had brought it home…

And after some ten minutes of heartache, I found the wallet in my drawer – waiting for me in silence. I did wish, why couldn’t have the wallet cried out loud to let me know she is home and safe!

So all smiles and beaming we started 10 minutes late… Patrick had his Nikon DSLR, Miti had brought a Canon digital cam without much juice in it (the blame is mine for not charging the batteries).

As we got out of Dubai city, it started to get very foggy. And in 20 minutes or so we were faced with an impossible situation – extremely poor visibility.




||At this point – we decided to pull over and wait for the fog to clear. PJ was behind the wheel, and I am sure he wasn’t seeing much of the road anyway.||






||Patrick immediately got busy with his camera. Clicking away merrily - capturing some nice moments. PJ was busy cleaning the windscreen... and he also found out that the Pathan in the pick-up van in front - also spoke Tamil!!! Miti was slowly getting active after almost a sleepless night - the twinkle in her eyes can never be missed.||







||All PJ (left), Patrick (middle) and yours truly could do was to wait for the fog to disappear. There was a smell in the air - the smell of Camel piss, which was not so pleasing anyway. ||








|| Just for kicks!!! Miti was trying out some of her kick-boxing skills on the poor me. PJ looks the other way, not too amused with what is going on. What was the best part of the kick-boxing was not the fact that she had no intention of kicking me, but the sound-effects Miti produced as she went through with the kicks! ||





||Patrick and Miti were happy snapping away. This is a wonderful picture of a desert ant picking up pollen (hopefully)||






||I was not aware of this picture being taken. Patrick snaps the moment - Miti pushing the dinosaur towards the car||





||Just when we had though the fog had cleared - and it was safe enough to be driving - this is what happened, visibility almost dropped to less than a metre!||






|| Even the summer sun struggled to shine through.||





||Suddenly we were in Oman, driving through the desert from one part of Dubai to another. The fog seemed to be lifting and the vision was getting a lot more clear.||






||The first chance of brilliant sunshine, we got out of the car to take some snaps of the Omani desert. Miti is trying to find some interesting subject to be snapped.||







||And she did!! This picture (taken by Miti) says a lot more than my words. So I better not say anything about it, just enjoy what you see.||







|| PJ's Ford Mondeo sunbathing. The small trees in the background are really wonderful for the fact that they have survived a harsh desert summer.||








|| Another masterpiece by Miti||






||Before we left Oman, we managed to pose for an interesting picture.||










|| After the stop in Oman, we drove further - and reached the dam in Hatta. An excellent shot taken by Patrick - PJ is seen walking away... great shot indeed!||






||The dam has a lot of water. For it to be in the middle of the desert by itself is a miracle.||









|| Beautiful.||