It's getting too hot

Matt: May is upon us and here in Dubai, that means things start to really heat up. We've already had a number of days up over 40 degrees. Scorchio!

This obviously hinders the outdoor activities somewhat, but we have managed 2 hikes in the last few weeks. Karen, Scott, Lenny and I went on a 5 hour hike up to a village called Shi'ri. It's a nice hike but it was really exhausting, the heat was a killer, it was definitely one of the 40+ days.

We met some locals at the top who shared their shelter and food with us. I had bumped into one of the guys, Souad, before at another village in the mountains, I use the term villages as this is what they used to be, people would live there hundreds of years ago. Now they are used as getaways, a scattering of crudely built rock shacks with a few modern twists, like generators in some cases :), only a few families build and use these shacks, they head up to chill and relax for the weekend in the cooler months.



When you meet the mountain locals, they are generally extremely friendly and very hospitable. It's really refreshing and a side of life in the UAE very few expats experience.

After struggling with the Shi'ri village hike, Jon and I decided to do the last hike of the season to some pools that we discovered when we did Jebel Hatta back in Feb. We estimated the pools were 2 hours into the hike, making for a 4-5 hour round trip. Perfect as it was another really hot one. I had been under the weather during the week and didn't feel anywhere close to 100%, this made hiking in the heat even more unbearable so when we did find the pools and find them full of water it was a joy. Although we did see snakes in the wadi and smaller pools - so were a little aprehensive, but not enough to stop us!


Matt takes the plunge..



Lenny enjoys the refreshing water, after a bomb!



Last week I also had the chance to go scuba diving - with a difference. Kelly was asked to write a story and took me along as photographer. So what was the difference? We were diving in the worlds largest aquarium, with 33 sharks and numerous other thousands of sea-life, rays, groupers and more than 80 other species. It was an amazing experience, there was no cage, just a wetsuit for protection and we had this in the back of our minds Click Here. It was very surreal, having dived so many times in open water and seen a few sharks and large fish at a distance, to have hundreds of them brushing past you was a scary and thrilling experience. I'm trying to get the photos and as soon as I do - I'll post them.

Other news, made it to the top of Dubai's newest climbing wall - result. Still lots of harder routes to conquer! That's all for now..

Peace out.