December 6 - Ras al Khaimah, UAE

It’s the last full day of the cruise and we’re docked in the capital city of another of the Emirates, Ras al Khaimah which bears the same name for both the city and the state.  In terms of development this place looks to me like it lies somewhere between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and where we were yesterday.  Already there are a multitude of high-rise buildings with others under construction.  Our shuttle bus left us off at a very modern mall with stores like Marks & Spenser, Bath & Body Works, Sephora and Starbucks.

Kind of boring photos but you get the idea that it's a gleaming, modern mall. The first one is some kind of zero gravity play area

A very new looking mosque right across the street from the mall

Right down the street from the mall and the mosque were lots of tired looking strip shopping centers like this one.  Many had a veritable United Nations of what looked a lot like typical takeout places at home

I walked around a little in the mall but I really wasn’t interested in anything there.  I did sit for a few minutes and watch some of the people who I think were locals go by. (Most of the mall patrons were from the ship.)  Of the locals walking around, most of the women were wearing an abaya, which is a cloak like robe worn over another dress, and a hijab on their heads.  From the people I saw it looked like there were a lot of nannies walking with children.  I came to that conclusion because the women almost without exception looked like they were from southeast Asia while the kids definitely looked Arabic. I also think the stores were not the kind that the average worker in the UAE can afford to shop in.  

From the times I’ve been here before I learned that the society here is very class conscious.  I think the percentage of the population that is actually of emirati blood and heritage is quite small.  Then there are western people who work here for multi-national companies.  Then there are the “worker bees” so to speak.  This is the large group who come here to build the buildings and do the serving and more menial jobs. Some of the people in that category come from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. and for all intents and purposes are indentured servants. They are brought here with contracts for a specified period of time during which if they decide they don’t want to do what ever work they are assigned they are immediately deported with no possibility of coming back.

This emirate like Dubai and Abu Dhabi is a little more modern and westernized than yesterday’s.  As an example, when I got off the ship and went through security to leave the building there were two women in abayas and hijabs checking the x-ray machine and metal scanner.  When I came back, not fifteen feet away, I went through another scanner manned by a very pretty Arabic woman wearing a military camo uniform with trousers and a beret on her head.  I would have liked to take a photo to show the contrast but I don’t think that would have been appreciated. From my veranda I can see what must be the old town of Ras al Khaimah and as you can see it is pretty rustic looking.