Everything you've always wanted to know about driving in RAK, but were afraid to ask..

The subject of this weeks blog is transport, as it's been a crucial part of our experience so far!

There is no public transport here, no buses, no trains, nuffink!  Walking or cycling is not easy as pavements are few and far between outside the old town and many of the roads are 2 or 3 lanes wide, so crossing them requires a lot of concentration!  Some of the Indian and Pakistanis cycle, normally on old boneshakers and often on the wrong side of the road, but I've only seen 3 Europeans on bikes the type of which we'd see at home.

So the car is king.  Taxis are cheap, the meter starts at AED 3, which is 55p.  A trip to Domi's school which is about 7 minutes cost AED 9.  You can ring and book but it's anyone's guess as to when they'll come, so regular users will get a favourite driver and take his number so they can book direct.  They are easy to flag down, and you don't normally wait more than 5 minutes for one to pass by, but in 46 degrees that is a long time for Amélie!  You also then may or may not get a driver who speaks English or even Arabic, most cabbies are from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan etc.  They memorise the names of the most poplar places but if you're going somewhere other than that, tough luck!  A journey that should have cost AED 9 was AED 27 for us the other day because we ended up on the highway out to Dubai rather than the town centre! I could have rang the company and complained but what if the guy had then lost is job?  I didn't want that on my conscience so I paid up the £4.90 and out it down to experience!

So most of the new teachers rent a car until such time as they decide to buy.  Rental costs AED 1800 a month for a Yaris or Nissan, and that's the quickest way of spotting a teacher, as we are the only ones who drive cars like that!  The only other group are the Indian drivers who work for local companies and ferry middle management about.

The Emirates drive huge, bigger than Range Rover size Toyotas, Nissans and American made SUVs.  There must be more V8's here than in Detroit!  Other favourites are Mustangs and ultra high performance Japanese cars.  Petrol is about AED 1.4 a litre, so a gallon is around a £1.  All the petrol stations are attended so you don't need to get out of your air conditioned car, just pass the money or card through the barely opened window!  They do have signs up telling you to turn the engine off but most people ignore that in favour of keeping the a/c running!  At least you'd be cool until the fireball hits you!  The same goes for mobile phone use, I saw a guy drive in to the petrol station on his phone,  stay on it while his van was being fuelled, then continue with his call while he drove off.  It does appear that when you buy a big 4x4 it becomes compulsory to talk on the phone all the time, but only when driving.  Maybe they are receiving directions so they know when to do the 3 lane change of course at the last minute?

A lot of the local employers provide transport for their employees.  This could be a reasonably modern bus (RAK ceramics for example) or the back of a van or lorry with a metal roof fabricated over the otherwise open back, air conditioning in its purist form, it must be like being on a poorly constructed roller coaster heading in to a blast furnace.

Finally, it's worth mentioning the concept and design of the road system.  It is based around the 'U' turn so most of the roads have concrete sections dividing the opposing carriageways.  Hence you may see your destination on the other side but reaching it could take a mile long detour looking for the chance to bring her about.  Hence my hire car running out of fuel in sight of the nearest petrol station and in sight of the car hire office..