Date - 5/9/2025
Mission - Spend Sunrise to Sunset in Khor Fakkan
Why - Because...why not?? It is a holiday.Day 1 of a 3 day weekend, so not planning to spend it at home
Climate - Still sultry and humid but not unbearably so
Victims Co travellers - Hubby , both my girls and a cousin , who were all reluctant to wake up at that hour (3 am)
Schedule - catch the sunrise at Al Suhub rest house, spend the evening at Khor Kalba mangrove, rest of the day was to wing it as needed, especially as Friday prayer was there. Breakfast n lunch outside.
Would I do it again? - Definitely, maybe once I'v cleared all my places in my bucket list.
How did it go??-
I started the day with a reluctant bunch of people. We left Dubai at 3.20am (yes am) towards Khor Fakkan. The plan was to catch the sunrise at Al Suhub Rest area, while not having to spend too long there. This was because the Insta posts warned of a high parking fee, to the range of AED 120 for 3 hours.
We reached at around 5.25am and walked around the place for a bit. The climate was humid and sultry but not that bad. Reached the peak and found a lot of vehicles already there and a lot of people waiting camera in hand. The restaurant was closed (obviously ) and would open at 7am.
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Nothing much to do until sunrise except take pictures of the amazing view. The view was truly spectacular with shades of daybreak ranging from dark night to morning glow. Subhanallah! However the sun (possibly due to the cloudy climate) took its own sweet time making an appearance. Good pix, nothing dramatic but I did feel a sense of happiness just watching.1 more tick on my bucketlist. Yay!
The vibe- A whole bunch of strangers just there , silently watching and clicking. Peace.
We did exit in a hurry so that we would not enter the 3 hour tariff and googled a spot for breakfast. Hubby had a craving for Pakistani food which the rest of us caught onto as well.
Al Qaser Al Pakistani Restaurant LLC
Only a few places were open at this time and Google maps brought us to Al Qaser Al Pakistani, very neat and nice place. The ambience was good but the food.. the food was mindblowing. Parata with Kheema, a complimentary halwa, one aloo parata and a chicken keema parata. If this place wasnt in KhorFakkan, I would probably go frequently. Closed with a cuppa tea and left feeling happy, alhamdulillah.
We did take a quick nap at a small park enroute but the flies dint let us sit for long and we moved onto the beach. Though I did find this particular tree+cactus interesting.
Beach
We headed to the beach from there. Why the beach in this humidity? Just to find a shaded spot to sit and while away some time till Jummah prayer. Time flies pretty fast when you have the new UNO - No mercy cards in your hands.
Our cousin brought up this masjid and said it would be a good place to visit and pray Jummah this Friday and so we went. Located in Fujairah, the place is truly grand and beautiful. Set in a serene atmosphere, we were glad to have come here. We had about an hour until prayer time and we just sat,prayed and relished the quiet and peace inside the masjid until it was time for prayer.
Fine Fish restaurant
Lunch time!! We asked Google maps where to go for lunch which was Seafood based, not too pricey and cute. Google replied - Fine Fish and having been here before with good memories, we decided to go there again. Definitely not disappointed. The Sea bass and Kofer was tenderly delicious and hats off to the dynamite prawns as well. More than enough for 5 people. The interior is a Majlis and cosily themed. Alhamdulillah, rounded it off with a Sulaimani and left for our next place.
Khor Kalba Mangrove
I blame Insta for filling my feeds with beautiful pix of this place and so we went. Definitely an amazing place. Had we not been as tired, I guess we would have spent more time there. Pretty decent crowd was already there with still more coming in. There are buggies from the entrance to the interior structure which were continuously ferrying people. During cooler times, the crowd is definitely gonna be more. Pictures are not going to do much justice, you really have to feel the place.
The marshy areas, the sealife aquarium, etc are straight out of our science textbooks. I have never seen a
sea urchin before and the sea slugs were amazingly gross (if that makes sense). Did not see much from the viewing decks but the breeze was awesome. Have a look at the herons and the pattern in their eyes. Cousin decided to stay in the car as he was tired and since he was the one who had been driving all day, he needed some shut eye.
Mangrove ticked off my bucket list, double yay!! Alhamdulillah. We finally headed for home, as the sunset started. Reached Dubai in 2 hours, thanks to a wrong turn, and after a quick stop at cousin's home, went to Vegme for dinner.
Pretty much wiped out after today but the feeling of satisfaction...Amazing, Alhamdulillah.
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