DIY: Half-day trip to Jebel Jais, RAK

One of the things I love about UAE is that there lots of outdoor places I can visit during the cooler months. Of course there are familiar destinations that are always on my list but there are new and exciting places that I can keep my weekend exciting if schedule permits.

I will be posting a series of  blogs about where I have been and the outdoor destinations I visited. For this post I will share about my trip to Jebel Jais.

One of the new and upcoming tourist outdoor destinations is located in Ras Al Khaimah. North of UAE, Ras Al Khaimah or RAK, is one of the seven emirates of UAE. It is about 130 km from Dubai or less than 1.5 hours to drive, depending how fast you can go in the highway. (120 km/hr is the maximum speed in most of the highway in UAE) In RAK, there is a new mountain destination called Jebel Jais (Jebel = Mountain) is starting to draw tourists from different emirates because of its cooler weather. Jebel Jais is considered to be the highest mountain in UAE. I have read in social media that during winter months there are instances that the summit of Jebel Jais is covered with snow. 

It is fairly easy to navigate to Jebel Jais from Dubai. 

Brown signages in UAE leads to historical sites and tourist destinations

If you are coming from Dubai or Sharjah using Mohammed bin Zayed road make a free at the round about that connects to Sheikh Muhammed Bin salem road. I reset my car odometer here to zero. After passing two flyovers I reached the clock roundabout. I made another free right on Khazam road. Take another free right from the next roudabout. The road will slowly bend to your left and you will find a golf course on your left. Keep driving until you reach the Lamp roundabout. Go straight. 

To your right there is an Emarat petrol pump. This is the last petrol station you will find going to Jebel Jais. You may fill your gas tank or take a quick toilet stop. From this point there are road signs pointing direction to Jebel Jais. Don't forget also that you need to pass the military camp on your left side and a oil depot to your right. When we went to Jebel Jais one week end we followed a group of tourist cars heading to that direction so it was fairly easy for us.

No. That is not Jebel Jais yet

The road is relatively flat and in good condition. As the city is slowly fading into the background the scene is replaced by huge boulders of rocks and barren mountains with roads cutting through the mountains and valleys. 

I am actually driving through a dry wadi (wadi is a river bed). The surrounding area have signs of erosions with huge water barriers in some areas. I can see a very deep basin hollowed from the ground. I imagine that it serves as a catch basin for the water coming down from the mountains during the rainy season so that it will minimize the flood water going to the residential areas. Despite of these harsh conditions there are still local people living in the area because I can see few villas and herds of goats roaming freely in the area.

I reached another roundabout with a sign going to the left is Jebel Jais and to the right is Wadi Bah. We turned left and noticed a group of cars that we followed before that the stop in the first rest area. From here the road will start to incline.

Driving in Jebel Jais is similar to driving in Jebel Hafeet, another mountain destination in Al Ain. The road is divided into three. Two lanes going up and single lane going down and is lined by concrete barriers. I thought I would need a 4x4 car to drive to Jebel Jais but my 1.8 saloon car hardly made a sweat negotiating the sharp curved and steep climbs going uphill.

And watch out for the weekend cyclists too. It has become their destination as well.  

That is Jebel Jais summit at the photo. Look! 

I took us one hour and thirty minutes from the starting point (Km 0 remember :) ? ) to reach the last viewing area with few stops along the way for photo ops. That was quick! My car Odometer reads 63 Km. Knowing that it was our first time to reach Jebel Jais.

The last rest area is not actually the summit. The summit is still a few minutes away but we did not attempt to go there because it was still under construction and they put barriers on the road.

There are lot of campers in the area with tents and people setting up barbecues. I counted seven rest stops with toilet facilities along the road. A small cafeteria can be found selling hot tea or coffee and snacks. There is someone cleaning the toilet and maintains the cleanliness of the area. 

I don't know if they allow overnight camping. But if they do, try to be extra careful especially if you have kids with you. If you plan to do camping try to reach early before sundown because there is no street lamp yet at the moment.

solar powered toilet facilities with running water

The trip to Jebel Jais will take only half day if you leave early and don't plan to camp overnight. For us, being rewarded with this awesome view of the valleys below from Jebel Jais is enough for now. I am sure we will come back again.

We end our weekend get-away driving back to Sharjah to eat lunch at Aden Restaurant.

the view from the last camping area. See those ZIGZAG road leading to the top. 

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How to get there:

There are inter emirates public buses travelling to RAK. But for this trip it is better to take your car or you may rent a car.

Your Complete Guide to do Visita Iglesia in UAE

For Christians, Holy week is one of the most important occasion in Christianity because it commemorates the passion of Christ. There are many events that are happening in the church during this time and one of them is the Visita Iglesia. Visita Iglesia is a religious tradition that most of the catholics perform during the Holy week. By visiting at least 7 churches, the pilgrims commemorate the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Candles for Prayer Intentions

Ninth Station of the Cross

Here in UAE, although Islam is the official religion of the country, the rulers allow freedom of religion and the non muslim religion can even build churches and other house of worship.

For me and my family we have been doing the Visita Iglesia yearly for many years with some friends in private cars. While it is also good to join a big group in a rented buses, I prefer to be in a small group because it is quicker to move, waiting time is reduced in every churches and can at least try to cover as many churches as we can in one day. 

In UAE there are 9 catholic churches and one chapel. 

St Joseph's Cathedral

Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi
-----St Paul Church
Musaffah Industrial Area, Abu Dhabi Behind KM Supermarket
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St Mary's Church Catholic Church
Al Ain, Near Lulu Hypermarket
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St Francis Assisi Church
Jebel Ali Village, Dubai. Landmark: Ibn Battuta Mall
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St Mary's Catholic Church
Oud Metha, Dubai. Near Rashid Hospital
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St Michael's Church
Yarmook, Sharjah. Near Ministry of Labor
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Our Lady of Arabia Catholic Church
Industrial Area, Umm Al Quwain. Landmark: Few streets behind Al Manama Supermarket
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St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church
Ras Al Khaimah. Near Acacia Hotel
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Villa Chapel
Al Dhaid. Opposite ADNOC Petrol Station
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Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church
Fujairah. Few blocks away from HCT and Our Own English High School
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The St Paul Church catholic church in Musaffah is the second church in Abu Dhabi after St. Paul Cathedral that was opened to the parishioners in June 2015.

There are 3 ways to do the visita Iglesia in UAE. First: is to  visit the churches from Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Second: to visit the Sharjah, RAK and Fujairah Churches. and Third: if you are able to do  10 Churches in one day, the so much better.

We tried the second route starting from Sharjah, Dubai, Jebel Ali, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi before.(that time there was no church yet in Musaffah) but it was a very long drive. The Jebel-Ali-Al Ain route was a 2 hour drive,   Al-Ain- Abu Dhabi route was another 2 hour drive and Abu Dhabi Dubai/Sharjah was another 2 hour drive. So if you take this route it is a back breaking  long drive not including the time for prayers at each churches, toilet stops and meal breaks. 

For us, it was convenient to cover the following churches in this order because the route is shorter and quicker:

 - Sharjah-Umm Al Quwain-RAK-Villa Chapel in Dhaid-Fujairah (5 churches). If you can add Dubai and Jebel Ali, you can cover a total of 7 Churches. Meaning you can pray two Station of the Cross Prayer at each stop.   

Try to reach St Michael's church before 6am to avoid the big crowd. By this time you should be able to park in front of the church. After the prayer in the church drive toward E11 or the old national road leading to Umm Al Quwain. At the big round about in Umm Al Quwain turn left. The church is few streets behind Al Manama Supermarket. The building is a warehouse that was converted to a church. 

There is enough parking area in front.  

Our Lady of Arabia Catholic Church MAP

From Umm Al Quwain we return to E11 and drive toward RAK until you reach the round about before Al Hamra mall. Drive right until Acacia Hotel. Turn left. After about 100 meters the Church is to your right.   

St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church

From Acacia hotel turn left toward Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed road. Cross this highway toward the truck road. Drive until you reach E18. Go straight. This time you are driving along E87 toward Dhaid. Be careful on this road because this area is sloping and some wild goats are crossing the road. When you see the big cement factory on your left, turn left. You will pass Lulu Hypermarket and when you reach ADNOC petrol station make a U turn at the next round about. 

You should reach Dhiba before 12 NN because sometimes they are closing the villa but if people come they remain open. It is not difficult to find this place because it's exactly opposite the petrol station. 

You may eat lunch at Khor Fakkan beach in Fujairah while enjoying the seaview. On weekends Khor Fakkan is popular tourist destination.

Next stop is Our Lady of Perpetual Church in Fujairah. The church is located near HCT or Civil Defence.

Our Lady of Perpetual Church

Our Lady of Perpetual Church MAP

From Fujairah drive back to Sharjah via E84 road or Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed road that will join Kalba road and Maliha road. This is a new road bypassing Dhaid. It will take one hour to reach Sharjah. You should be able to reach Sharjah around 1pm and still have enough time to visit St Mary's Catholic Church Dubai and St Francis Catholic Church in Jebel Ali.

St Francis Church, Jebel Ali

St Mary's Church, Dubai

We never tried yet to visit all churches in UAE in one day. But if you plan to do so, I think you need to start early and have lunch while the car is running. Few stops can cost you precious time. If someone can replace you on the wheel much better because it will be a long drive.

What to bring? Expect a warm weather. Bring sunglasses, pack lunch, snacks, enough water or juices and the car must be in good condition.

So there you go folks! I pray that you enjoy and be blessed spiritually this coming Holy Week.

If you need additional info you may contact me at: akosimangjuan@yahoo.com. Other infos can be looked up at google. com.

How to go to Dubai Butterfly Garden from Dubai Dubai Miracle Garden

This is just a continuation of my visit to Dubai Miracle Garden.

We exited the opposite gate of DMG. We were informed by the security that we cannot enter the same gate anymore to go back to the parking area. Well that's ok. Because the parking area was near to the Dubai Butterfly Garden.

We walked like 5 minutes to the Dubai Butterfly Garden. The ticket costs 50 dirhams at the gate.

From the gate the actual entrance to the Butterfly garden was a few steps away and by the looks of it, it looked like a small vacation house from the distance.

We were met by hospitable guides at the door and said a few introduction on what to be expected at the garden. At the first room were filled with framed well-preserved butterflies. I was never interested with butterflies before until I saw the display of different colors of butterflies in artful patterns. 

Some display were designed to look like the royal families of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.   

We were led to another room were we saw the live butterflies flying around the garden. The garden actually was an air conditioned domed-shaped building with plants hanging from the ceiling. There was also artificial water fall in the end of the garden and a lot small trees and plants around.

The were a lot of butterflies flying around. The butterflies were of different sizes, colors and species. I was expecting a foul smell from the butterflies but there was none.

Butterflies were feed from a rotten fruits of banana and watermelon. 

There was also a small enclosure were visitors can have a close encounters with the butterflies.

There were two more interconnected dome but have the same display all through out.

The entrance fee of 50 dirhams maybe expensive to me to see a lot of butterflies but one of the guides explained that its because of the high maintenance of the garden. At the moment they don't have facilities yet to bred the butterflies. 

The eggs are regularly imported from Philippines and Southern America and were grown in the separate room in the garden. Once the eggs are hatched they were transferred to a basket to be released in the garden.

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Advance info from the guide: A fish pond is being planned or developed with in the area and will be the upcoming attraction.

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How to get there by RTA Bus:
RTA Bus Route 105
Fare 5 aed
Sunday to Thursday : 2pm to 8 pm
Fridays and Saturdays : 12 Midday to 10 pm
20 min interval from Sunday to Thursday and 15 min on Fridays and Saturdays

Nearby Attractions:
Global Village
Dubai Miracle Garden

Timings:
9am - 5:30 pm
50 aed fee
disabled is free
3 yrs old below is free

www.dubaibutterflygarden.com
tel: 00971 4 4228902

Why Did I Visit Dubai Miracle Garden for the Fifth Time?

I think it was my 5th time to visit Dubai miracle Garden. If not for my friends who came over for short a visit in Dubai and they needed a personal driver (...hehe) to drive them around Dubai, I would have not set foot at Dubai Miracle Garden.

DMG is located in the outskirts of Dubai close to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Rd (previously Emirates Road) and opposite Dubai Autodrome and Arabian Ranches.

DMG is a flower garden with landscaping in different shapes and sizes. It is open on cooler months only because the flowers will not survive the very hot weather during summer time.

We arrived at DMG around 10 am in the morning. There were already a lot cars and tourist buses in the area but we were lucky to find an empty parking slot. We bought entrance tickets at the gate which costs 30 dirhams each.

There were a lot of people in the garden taking photos. The view of the garden never fails to amaze. Everytime I visit DMG I will feel a sense of peace and the myriad of colors seemed to be calm me inside. 

There were also marshals around the garden directing traffic and giving warnings to visitors who might unknowingly destroy the landscape.

I was curious about how the plants were watered and maintained. I went to investigate and I found out that there were endless black  pipes running all over the garden with small holes where water come out.

According to my research later, this is what they call Dipping Irrigation System. This way, water wastage is minimized. 

After taking few photos we went to a huge elevated plaza at the center of the garden. We ordered hot coffee and doughnut from a small cafeteria while enjoying the panoramic of the garden.

After a few minutes we decided to leave the garden to go to Dubai Butterfly Garden which was just 5 minutes walk from DMG.

Click here to read the my post about Dubai Butterfly Garden.

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How to get there by RTA Bus:
RTA Bus Route 105
Fare 5 aed
Sunday to Thursday : 2pm to 8 pm
Fridays and Saturdays : 12 Midday to 10 pm
20 min interval from Sunday to Thursday and 15 min on Fridays and Saturdays

Nearby Attractions:
Global Village
Dubai Butterfly Garden

Timings:
9am - 9pm weekdays
9am - 11pm weekends
30 aed fee
disabled is free
3 yrs old below is free

www.dubaimiraclegarden.com
tel: 00971 4 4228902

Souq Al Jubail: The World Class Market

Souq Al Jubail in Sharjah opened in November 2015 but I got the chance to visit last weekend.

It was constructed on a reclaimed land just behind the area where the old fishmarket used to be located. The old fishmarket was demolished to give way to the entrance to the new fish market.

There was a huge free parking area in front of the building. If you are familiar how the Arabic designs looks like, you could imagine that Souq Al Jubail is a government building and not a Fish and Vegetable market. 

So the government of Sharjah move the Fish, Meat and Vegetable market to this new location under one roof.

The entrance is located at the center with a Souq Al Jubail written to the left and the Arabic translation to the right.

To the right of the entrance was the Meat section and Fish section. I went first to the Fish section and I was surprised by the cleanliness of the area. The Fish section was divided into four rows but currently only two rows were occupied. The floor was dry and the fishy smell is very minimal. There were a wide varieties of  fish and shrimps for sale. 

Each stall was properly numbered manned by one or two vendors at a time.

The vendors were very friendly. I bought from one of the stalls and I was given a barcode after they weigh my fish. I went to a separate counter to pay the fish. The cashier gave me a receipt and return to collect the fish. That was easy and very organized!

If you wish to have your fish cleaned, you will find the cleaning section at the end of the hall. There were two counters. First they will weigh your fish and they will give you a queue number.  

world class fish cleaning facilities

You can check monitor your fish cleaning status from 2 LCD screens. Ample chairs were placed in the waiting area. 

Next we went to the meat section. I was not buying at that time but I went inside just to see. The vendors knew that I was a "kabayan". So they were calling me "kabayan". "You want bulalo?", one vendor asked me.  "You want tuwalya?", the other one said. 

Reception Area

In the middle of the building you will find the reception area and information counter behind it. There were two escalators leading to the second floor of the building.

Opposite the Fish and Meat section you will find the vegetables and fruit section. It was bigger than the fish and meat section combines as it occupied the whole left wing of the building. 

There were several empty rows but the middle rows were occupied to the end. The display counters were aluminum and they have chillers for fresh vegetables and fruits. 

I paid reasonable price for my fresh supplies and groceries considering that the vendors moved to the brand new and air conditioned building. They must be paying quiet a higher rent compared to the previous location just opposite the road.  

You can borrow also a shopping cart from one of the sections near the reception counter.  

I noticed though that chicken supplies are not yet available in the market. 

On the way out, I bumped into a group of tourists from India. I imagine Souq Al Jubail will not just be an ordinary market but will become a must tourist destination for people visiting Sharjah. 

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Opening time: 7:30 am - 10:30 pm daily
Getting there:
from Dubai: all buses from Dubai going to Sharjah stops at Jubail Bus Station.
                     Souq Al Jubail is just opposite the Jubail Bus Station

Within Sharjah:  take Sharjah taxi or take a bus going to Jubail Bus Station.

Nearby Attractions:
Central Gold Souq
Animal Market