Ras Al Khaimah - a whole new experience

On Tuesday night, after the photo shoot I drove up to Ras Al Khaimah, the most northerly of the Emirates and close to the border with Oman. Everyone was full of dire warnings about adverse weather but the rain had cleared and it was a beautiful evening, the forecast was good and anyway, I lived in Manchester so I'm used to rain! It was the after effects of the rain which caused the problem as the 311, the main motorway North was closed after Dubai due to flooding. They literally just closed the road and diverted all traffic off it. There were no diversion signs, I don't have a map or sat nav and I'd never been in this area before. I kept trying to tell myself what an adventure this was but all I really felt was panic and a strong desire to go home. I ploughed on, trying to head in the right direction following intermittent signs and the car's compass. I ended up in grid locked traffic on the Sharjah ring road, which was also seriously flooded, though luckily the Jeep is high enough to cope with it but there were flooded out cars all around. After 3 hours and a trip round an industrial estate I finally found myself back on the right road and heading for RAK at a good speed. However, when I got off the motorway at the right junction it was pitch dark and the road under the motorway was just a huge lake. I took a deep breath and headed through it safely. However, on the other side the sand and stones had washed across the road and you couldn't see what was road and what was desert! I pulled over and a good samaritan stopped to see if he could help. He looked at my map and then said to follow him. He drove all the way back down the hill till we got to the hotel so that he could be sure I knew where he was going. I wished I had more words in Arabic to express my thanks for such a kind hearted gesture. It had taken me 5 1/2 hours to do 230km.
The hotel was literally brand new and the staff, though inexperienced, were falling over themselves to look after me. What's more the hotel had a mini bar and I have never been so grateful for a G&T in my life, even without the Perkins hand to make it and no ice or lemon! There was no room service menu yet but a kind chap came up with one and took my order for a sandwich and I felt huge relief and, once it was all over, could enjoy my ability to fight against the odds and have an adventure!
In the morning I opened the curtains to find the hotel was in the middle of an industrial zone and, as it was cloudy and windy, with lots of sand in the air, it did resemble a Blade Runner type set. Since part of the reason for my visit was to discuss with Al Shaheen their invitation by RAK tourism to help promote the Emirate I wondered how easy that would be. But then years ago I had to promote Middlesbrough so I'm used to that kind of marketing challenge!
The Manager of the Acacia actually came and introduced himself at breakfast and asked after my stay so they certainly do hospitality very well in RAK.
Brian, the Director of Al Shaheen Adventure training came to pick me up and we went off to visit their facility. They provide outward bound/adventure training, primarily for the UAE military and are about to build a beautiful new facility which will allow them to promote their offer to a much broader clientele. As mentioned before they are also talking to RAK tourism about promoting the Emirate as a tourist destination for adventurous and outdoor pursuits as they are on the edge of the Hajar Mountains and have a beautiful Gulf Coast line and some pretty nice desert. All fascinating things from a marketing and communications perspective.
Brian showed me round and I met the team and watched some students experiencing diving for the first time and we talked about the future and the new centre. Then we headed off into the mountains to see a group doing some rock climbing. This group are from the Vocational Institute, which is basically where they send the real no hopers, people with learning difficulties or just plain naughty, who have not been able to cope with the conventional education system. It was wonderful to watch these kids, who've been told all their lives that they'd never amount to anything and that they didn't have much of a future, and see the smiles on their faces as they came off the rock face. We talked to them with the help of one of the interpreters and it was clear that for many of them it was just the best thing they'd ever done. Afew days with Al Shaheen, working in groups and learning to rock climb, dive, mountain bike and see how much they could actually do must be a life changing experience for some of them. I was awestruck.
Brian then decided to show me just how amazing the mountains are, and with another of his colleagues he headed up a road which is still under construction up the mountain. He clearly knew the road and how to handle his SUV but I must admit to being more than a little scared as we climbed higher and higher on a rough track and hair pin bends, especially with the visible signs of recent rock falls due to the weather! However the views were amazing and we survived the experience unscathed.
We headed back to town and had a good look round. There is lots of work going on to create hotels, beautiful residential developments and leisure facilities around the creek in the centre of town. They even had a brand new Mall with a very new Spinney's and a Cafe Nero (which sadly we don't seem to have in Abu Dhabi yet).
There is a lot to do - so many parts of town are not yet developed and the property collapse has even hit out in RAK. The original settlement of the most beautiful old cottages with original wind towers is crumbling away and you have to dodge the goats and chickens on the road, even in the middle of town but you can certainly see that it has potential.
I headed back to Abu Dhabi through some lovely desert countryside which had a green fuzz over it brought on by the rain which has brought the camels out to graze. It looked idyllic. Despite missing the alternative road which Brian had suggested and the traffic on the National Paints flyover (always mentioned on the traffic news on Radio 2 and now I know why!) I made it back to Abu Dhabi in under 3 hours and the worst of it was coming from the Sheikh Zayed bridge onto the Corniche as someone seemed to have been messing around with the traffic light phasing.
My trip to RAK was certainly an adventure but I am looking forward to going again though I will pay more attention to the weather forecase in future!