A very special beach house, UAE

We got up early and rolled along the sand blasting highway into the Emirates. But we didn't make it far though, since we find Mohammed's vacation house at the beach.

Mohammed, an early-retired in his late fifties, is easygoing, humble, and since he doesn't get to travel as much as he'd like, decided to offer his house to travelers.
His place was more of a private Jurassic Park: giant bird cages, an artificial lake with fish,life sized animal sculptures, a treehouse complete with a treetop walkway, three enormous dogs, palm trees everywhere, and a massive hall packed with arcade games. A child wonderland.

What we had in mind was to park at the beach house and use the private palm beach Mohamed offered to pitch our tent. He also offers outdoor bathroom and kitchen use. Instead, Mohamed insisted we park inside the compound and stay in one of his guestroom blocks. This came with three meals a day, and evening walks through this private jungle. His immense generosity was unexpected... And it was a good opportunity to let go and unwind.

We stayed two days, and guess what, in the second evening our friends in the big truck rolled in as well! We tossed the kids around (or they tossed us around...a matter of perspective), we had some of Mohammed’s camping sandwiches, laughed a lot, and hit the road the next morning.

We had considered pushing all the way to the Oman border, but decided against doing the 420 km and aimed for a beach instead. Finding a proper campsite wasn’t easy, and the one we chose turned out to be the beach where half of the UAE goes fishing. Cars everywhere, lines in the water, headlights all night. There's little peace in the Middle East...

And tomorrow Oman. Let's go!Read more