Sharjah nightstop

Leaving Iraq

With our flight departure of 1420, we had a relaxing morning at the hotel’s buffet breakfast before getting a taxi to the airport around 1040.

Erbil airport is a high security zone and our taxi queued up for a check during which we had to alight.  Our bags weren’t looked at but the car was inspected for anything suspicious.

We were then dropped off at a building far from the airport terminal where we our passports and tickets were scrutinised.  Surprisingly, our baggage wasn’t x-rayed at all.

It was around 1105 when the bus took us to Erbil’s airport building where our baggage were x-rayed before proceeding to the check-in area.  The staff here were a mix of local, Indian and African.

As I was borderline exceeding the cabin baggage limits for Air Arabia, while E was way over, we decided to check in separately.  Each of us would look after a bit of the other’s extra piece of baggage hiding around the corner while the other was checking in.

E went first but he was asked to check-in his large backpack at a fee of USD15 which was extremely reasonable for last-minute at the airport.  Many airlines sting you when baggage is added-on anytime after initial ticket purchase; the later the costlier!  Respect to Air Arabia, who also get my tick for not selling me a ticket exorbitantly one day before departure.

When it came to my turn, it was all plain sailing as I was only a little over Air Arabia’s limit.  My bag didn’t look big and I had E look after my small under-seat piece while I was at the counter.

Flying to Sharjah

After killing an hour airside with no water fountains, we boarded the Air Arabia flight to Sharjah.  The flight started with the usual travel prayer but I was surprised by the trilled “r” that was at the end of various words eg. Allah-u-akbarrr, safarrr.  It isn’t something I had encountered studying Arabic but something I hear all the time with Indonesians.

I had to buy a drink inflight to go with my sandwich made from the hotel breakfast.

E and I had a row of 3 seats but I had to share with two others who had been separated.  E wanted to lie down on his empty row (but didn’t really) so I stayed put.

We arrived at Sharjah but were not sure of whether we could use the automated gates, so ended using the short manual queues.  The cameras at immigration require passengers to remove their contact lenses but I doubt anyone would actually do that.

After a small delay at the counter, we made our way outside where we were met by Kevin, a friend of E, who drove us to the Hotel 72 Waterfront for our night-stop.

Sharjah by night

It was very kind of E to let me share his expensive room in Sharjah (and for Kevin to pick us up).  After freshening up, we went out nearby to a local restaurant for a mandi-style meal (meat on rice) accompanied with bread.

There was far too much rice and if I had been living here, I would have brought plastic containers along to bring them home!

To repay the kindness of both E and Kevin, I picked up the tab and was a bit shocked at the total.

We finished the evening with a walk on Nur Island, accessed by a wooden bridge from our part of Sharjah.  Kevin paid for our entrances and as I had mentioned that I was of a similar vintage as E, bought me a senior ticket!  First time for everything.

The Butterfly House, home to over 500 species, was closed but this was reflected in the discounted entry price at this time.  It was a pleasant walk in perfect cool dry air looking at the city lights of the surrounding area.

Because the island is in an inlet we were surrounded in most direction by water and beautifully-lit buildings.