Ajman - Worth a short visit

It is easy to spend your weekend going to shopping malls, out for a meal with friends or simply sitting at home watching TV. However, there is a lot out there to do and see so Simon and I have decided to try and do something a bit more interesting at least two weekends a month. We started our quest yesterday with a trip up to Ajman; the smallest of the 7 emirates that make up the UAE. I've lived in the UAE almost 30 years and had never been there, had I been missing something fantastic all these years? Unfortunately not, although there were a couple of interesting things that made the trip worthwhile.

Ajman is only 40 minutes north of Dubai...at the weekend that is - with working week traffic it's more like 2 hours. The main thing that struck us with Ajman is that it is all apartment blocks, we hardly saw any villas and those we did see were of the 'falling apart style' similar to what you'll find in the local area of Satwa behind the Fairmont Hotel. There are a lot of attractive new tower blocks but from what the newspapers say, a lot of these (sold as 'freehold') have no power, water or sewage since the Ajman authorities lack the infrastructure to provide it. The other thing to strike us was that it seemed to be almost all residential; we didn't see any area that looked like a business district. This makes sense since a lot of people who couldn't afford to live in Dubai and couldn't find accommodation in Sharjah moved to Ajman since it was cheaper. What the builders of all the towers we saw had clearly forgotten to build, though, was car parking - there were cars parked on every available scrap of sand and I wouldn't have liked to be the owner of a car stuck in the middle with no way out!


The Dubai Explorer had said there was a good souk and a museum but we never found the souk since there were no signs for one at all. Does it really exist? We didn't see any old cultural areas at all except for the museum which apparently dates back to about 1775. The museum looked like it would have been quite interesting but sadly it was closed for Eid. We couldn't help laughing at the sign outside, what constitutes an official morning and an unofficial morning? Clearly, it means days of official mourning (basically a public holiday is declared when a member of the ruling family dies) but a tourist could misconstrue it!

Close to the museum we discovered the Ajman Kempinski Hotel. I had looked at the hotel a few months ago with a view to going there for the weekend but the Trip Advisor reviews were all terrible and said it was dated with a dirty beach and right next to the port. I don't know where those visitors had been staying because we were really impressed with the hotel and will definitely plan a weekend there at some point. Maybe they've had a recent refurb, but we found all the interiors in excellent condition and tastefully done and the beach...wow...the best beach in the UAE I would say. Seriously. Dubai has sadly lost all its beaches due to the 'wonderful' palm projects so most beaches now consist of sand that is brought in by truck and this replenished sand becomes like mud when it mixes with the seawater. Ras Al Khaimah has similar artificial beaches and the East Coast lost its beaches due to Cyclone Gonu a few years ago and so they have no choice but to bring in sand to replenish them as well. The beach at the Ajman Kempinski was proper white sand and turquoise waters: gorgeous.

From the Kempinski we drove along the Ajman Corniche (beach road) but the public beaches aren't very well maintained and didn't appear to have many facilities. After a few kilometres the beach facilities suddenly drastically improved and we realised we had crossed the 'border' into Sharjah so we turned back round to finish our exploration of Ajman. The port in Ajman is located just north of the Kempinski but it wasn't visible from the hotel's beach - in Abu Dhabi the Meridien and Beach Rotana hotels both lie on artificial beaches looking onto horrible construction sites and a power station. Past the port we came to the Fish Market with traditional dhows moored up outside and we decided to have a wander through. Outside, where all the waste is dumped, the stench was pretty ripe but once inside we really couldn't smell fish at all. There was an interesting fish cleaning area with about 40 men squatting on boxes, descaling and filleting fish on wooden blocks for customers. Descaling was done with a big knife rubbed vigorously back and forth over the fish - sending scales flying everywhere! We didn't see any refrigeration at all but presumed that most people were buying fish to eat that day so it would still be fresh.

The final stop on our tour was at Ajman City Centre to get an inexpensive lunch. Inexpensive...yes. Healthy and tasty...not really. There is only a fast food court in this City Centre, no Japengo or other shopping mall chain of real restaurants. Another example of the fact that there is not a lot of money in Ajman. With a choice of KFC, Hardees, McDonalds, Pizza Hut...I was really overwhelmed with the choice! Even the non-burger joints were only selling pre-made food that was being kept semi-warm in chafing dishes. I went for the best of a bad bunch and ordered from SalaThai - cold beef in oyster sauce, lukewam rice and tepid vegetables. Strangely enough I won't be rushing back for more. In terms of shops, the mall is very small with about a quarter of it taken up by Carrefour and the rest containing the usual shops you have in Dubai.

Ajman wasn't a wasted journey since we were able to see that we haven't been missing anything all these years. I would still be interested to go to the museum one day and will certainly plan a weekend to the Kempinski at some point since it's far enough away to feel that you've really got out of Dubai and yet it isn't a long drive at all. Their restaurants looked good on paper (Indian, Chinese and a sports bar with surf 'n' turf type food) and they have a bar with a 3-lane bowling alley, pool tables and table football. Since there didn't appear to be anything else happening in Ajman, it's a good job they offer some entertainment. My tip: go to the Kempinski for the weekend, visit the museum which is 5 minutes away and stop off at the fish market which is 10 minutes away. Short and sweet.