Diving Deeper in the UAE?

Further to our last posting, on some Fujairah hotels attracting people to stay because of the wonderful diving facilities available, I am reminded of this skilful piece of advertising.

To promote a scuba diving course, an advertising agency installed these posters (pictured) at the bottom of Antwerp's public swimming pool.

The posters read, "Not deep enough?"

Geoff Pound

Image: Underwater Scuba Diving Commercial.

Further Hotel for Fujairah

Yet another huge hotel is opening on Fujairah’s eastern coastline, north of Al Aqah beach and just near Dibba.

This week Nikko Hotels International announced it will open Hotel JAL Fujairah Resort & Spa on May 15, 2007.

The new five-star resort will be the first in the Nikko Hotels International group (owned by ACICO in Kuwait) in the Middle Eastern market. This will be followed by a further hotel projected to open in Dubai in 2008.

The Fujairah resort is being built along a third of a mile of private beach and will have 257 guest rooms, all facing the Indian Ocean.

Each of the new hotels along the Fujairah coast is targeting a certain market. The Hotel JAL Fujairah Resort & Spa is talking up Fujairah’s ideal scuba diving and snorkeling sites and it is featuring their state of the art diving centre.

Source: Hotel JAL Fujairah Resort & Spa

Image: Experiencing another world.

Fujairah’s Amazing Coastline

I took my rellies for a day at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort this week for some sun and some pampering.

My visitors remarked on two things—the friendliness of the staff (I am not being paid to say this but the recruiting and PR teams are doing a good job) and the number of people we heard with European accents (especially German and Russian) as we swam and sat around the pool.

This week Patrick Antaki, the hotel’s General Manager, stated that Le Meridien team is returning to strut its stuff at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin this month. Eager to maintain its title of the ‘Middle East’s Leading Beach Resort’ at the World Travel Awards for the second year, the hotel will be showcasing its facilities and its superb location on the Fujairah coastline.

By the number and sound of the European guests plus the friendliness of Le Meridien staff, attendance at such exhibitions is paying off.

Fujairah has one of the leading beach resorts in the world. The magnet of Le Meridien indicates that one of the greatest assets of Al Fujairah is its coastline.

Geoff Pound

Image: View from the sea of Le Meridien, against the background of the Hajar Mountains.

Report Claims U.A.E.’s Big Success at Significant Human Cost

A report today from the Ethical Traveler News Team claims that ‘Migrant Workers [are] Exploited While U.A.E. Prospers.’

The article describes the U.A.E. economy running ‘at full throttle’ to become a top tourist destination, a nation with one fifth of the world’s cranes working on a US$100 billion worth of construction and Dubai becoming the fastest growing city in the world.

The report by Christy Hoover asserts that such success is coming at a human cost to the 2 million migrant workers brought to the U.A.E. Specifically Hoover makes the following allegations:
* Low wages—many work for less than $300 per month
* Recruitment agencies routinely force workers to pay for their visa fees, travel and sometimes recruitment fees (usually totaling between US$2,000 and $3,000) with the result that many workers are deeply in debt before work begins
* Illegal confiscation of worker’s passports for months (allegedly to ensure the employee doesn’t abandon the job early)
* Withholding of wages, without explanation, for anywhere between 2-6 months
* The frequent flouting of labor laws

Hoover does acknowledge that certain steps have been taken towards improvement. These include:
* The instituting of laws to protect workers against illegal practices
* The UAE government’s promise in September 2006 to increase the number of labor inspectors from 140 to 1,000 within 18 months
* The creation of a Human Rights Department by the Dubai Police to deal with labor disputes through mediation
* The establishment of a Permanent Committee on Labor Affairs by the Dubai Government to oversee breaches of laborer’s rights

Hoover’s report lacks evidence of specific research and first-hand interviews. While she refers briefly to “the UK Guardian and other sources”, her report would have more weight and balance if it revealed thorough, up-to-date and on the spot research.

It will be interesting to read any response to this report from representatives of the U.A.E. government.

Geoff Pound

Source: Migrant Workers Exploited While U.A.E. Prospers, Ethical Traveler News, March 2007.

Image: A glimpse of the construction scene in Dubai.

Fujairah: Getting Up Your Goat?

On our way home from Lulu’s Hypermarket this morning, we saw this scene.

A herd of goats feeding just behind the Fujairah Tower (the city’s tallest building) and fifty metres from the main street.

One of the features of Fujairah is its distinctly rural favour.

Geoff Pound

Spring Time in Fujairah

Turning into the month of March, Spring is in the air, here in the Middle East.

A man commenting this week on the noticeable change in temperatures said, “It’s as if someone has flipped a switch.”

The plant growth is also noticeable. The palm trees around Fujairah have an exquisite, light green colouring in their centre, where the dates are starting to appear.

Geoff Pound

Image: Date Palm in Faseel.

Sunrise over Fujairah

This picture captures the sun rising this morning over the Indian Ocean and two fishing boats.

It doesn’t get much better than this!

Geoff Pound

World Billiard Champs Might Be Potting Holes

You might be forgiven for thinking this is a photo of a crater on the surface of the moon.

This is a picture of one of the many craters on the first roundabout you will encounter when you are approaching Fujairah from Dubai.

The road maintenance team must have a lot of work on to be leaving dangerous cavities of this magnitude unfilled. It is a pity that the welcome roundabout has not been repaired in time for all the visitors coming to Fujairah for the Eight-Ball Pool World Championship commencing tonight.

Or maybe the large holes in the road are left to symbolize the pockets on the pool table and thus make the billiards enthusiasts feel more at home.

Image: Pot hole on the entrance roundabout. Welcome to Fujairah.

Fujairah into the Pool

The publicity machine is cranking overtime in the United Arab Emirates, alerting people to the World Eight-Ball Pool Championship which commences tonight in Fujairah’s Al Bustan Centre.

Sixty-four players from forty countries of the world are expected to participate in the eight days of action (1-8 March). Two of the players will be representing the UAE.

This is the third time that the emirate of Fujairah is hosting the Championship.

Before you get rolling down to the Al Bustan Centre, here is a quick reminder of how the game is played:

* The game of Eight-Ball Pool is played with a ‘cue ball’ which is white.
* There are fifteen ‘object balls’ consisting of two groups of colour balls: a group of seven red balls (numbered 1-7) and a group of seven yellow balls (numbered 9-15)
* The ‘Eight-Ball’ is the black ball.
* Players strike the balls with a ‘cue’.
* The table has six ‘pockets’.

The object of the game is to win by being the first player to ‘pot’ a group of coloured balls in any order and in any pocket and then ‘pot’ the 8-Ball in any pocket.

It is a fast game. A player has a maximum of sixty seconds from the time the balls have stopped to play the next shot.

It is a simple game but check out the World Eight Ball Playing Rules if you want to understand the differences between a ‘standard foul’, a ‘non-standard foul’, a ‘serious foul’ or a ‘frame foul’.

Like all games there is some jargon to fathom. The same web site will get you up to speed on being ‘snookered’, making a ‘fair break’ or knowing how to ‘spot the ball’.

Geoff Pound

Image: One of the many publicity pool balls in Fujairah.

Breakfast in Fujairah

A group of free range donkeys nonchalantly grazing this morning in front of the Fujairah Hospital, with the city centre in the background.

Geoff Pound