New year, old junk

No offense, seashell collection.

After waking in a field of goats, Molly and I piled back in the car heading towards the town. We found a nice little spot on a pristine beach (ahem, if you can’t see the litter in the photo then it wasn’t really there!) to indulge in a little New Year’s breakfast. Well, our oatmeal was lacking hot water so it really was just a New Year’s clementine… but still. Sitting on logs near water seems to be the perfect place to be at notable moments… like a new decade, or a new school year, or the glassy beach after a breakup.

Post breakfast we found ourselves at the National Museum of Ras Al-Khaimah. It’s strange. I’m squatting in a part of the world with a rich and unknown (to me) history… but Abu Dhabi almost strains to hide it. RAK has been a bit more pro-active in promoting heritage of the area. That being said, Molly and I were the only visitors to the museum that day.

The structure was once a fort and later a palace for the early ruling family in the region.

Today several of it’s rooms display artifacts ranging from crude tools, fine pottery, and relics from the pearl diving days. Much of the collection was donated to the museum by Western hobbyists, such as the seashell collection donated by an elderly Englishwoman. (Well, I imagine her to be elderly at least…)

Comparatively, the museum wasn’t much to behold… but considering the lack of heritage/historical learning opportunities, I was a bit glued in. Reading the placards it was almost amusing to read lines similar to, “This ancient village survived from ancient times until the 1970s when we decided to put a highway through it instead.” I’m not going to say that history isn’t valued here… but, sometimes it feels that way. (This is coming from a very nostalgic person, mind you).

One of the highlights of the museum was the windtower.

Windtowers were common in the Middle East before the advent of air conditioning. Some clever person long ago figured out that if you divide the area of the chamber like so…

The winds will be caught and lowered down into the house, creating a natural air conditioner. It works.

The museum was a nice little bit of respite. We lingered there as long as we could, stealing little naps on the bench in the courtyard before heading out on our wild and challenging hiking expedition.

xo, jill