[voyageur]

Why a new thread? I thought to myself. I already have this thread here, up and running.

I think continuing there wouldn't do justice to the place. There are around 50 + pictures and quite a few things I would like to mention about the place. New thread it is.

Recap :

A few months back, I was on the way to Jebel Al Jais ( Jebel – Mountain, Al- The, Jais – name of the mountain) and I missed sharing my story of racing with an FJ cruiser. I couldn’t complete that journey due to high traffic jam from the half way point. I returned back, and thought I’ll try and not go there. Well I went there for a quick visit and that was a very wise decision.

10 reasons why you could possibly consider visiting this place:

1. An amazing place to visit with your partner, family or as couples/wanna be couples. This place is going to elate both of your mood.

2. Beautiful views of winding roads from almost everywhere as you ascend.

3. A treat for any Motorcycle/Car enthusiast. Such are the roads. Narrow winding roads… means high adrenaline.

4. During the ‘not so hot and not so cold’ climate in UAE, the breeze at the top is something that needs to be experienced.

5. Compared to Jebel Hafeet, the roads are a bit more challenging. The roads from the bottom to the top are around 35 kms and feels like never ending once you start ascend. That can be good and bad, depending on how you view it.

6. Camping, barbecue and all those things can be done. Lot of space left for the same reason. (mentioned later on)

7. Availability of Public washrooms at every 5 kms for men and women. Fairly in good condition.

8. It’s not very far from the nearest city/Emirate (Ras Al Khaimah). Only 25 kms or so till the base of the mountains.

9. This can be a biking/cycling track. There are a lot of Cyclists climbing up and you may possibly bump into a bunch of them.

10. Last but not the least, it’s a beautiful place (see the attached pics)

Info :

As opposed to some people thinking, Jebel Al Jais is not the most highest mountain range in UAE. Jebel Yibir is with a 1,500 + meters above sea level. Jebel Al Jais is one of the highest places, not the highest point.

How to find this place :

Ask Google… he knows, is the most worthwhile answer. It’s close to the Emirate called Ras-Al-Khaimah, to which there are two express ways (namely E311 and E611 which later on merges to become E311) and one highway (E11) joining RAK to other Emirates. The speed limit of E11 is 100 kmph with 80 kmph at some places near RAK and Umm-Al-Qwwain, while the express ways obviously is 120 kmph with tolerance of +20 kmph making it 140 kmph.

Attaching the maps as I took both the route. The to journey was via E311, starts from Emirates market near my home and merges on to E311 and joining E11 later. The E611 is far out from the city limits than E311 and joins E311 at the centre as you can see.





The return leg is usually slow paced, as I am coming alone and not in a hurry.




Around 125 kms one way is the mention here, and I think it’s a bit more than that. Around a 150 kms (sorry no odometer readings to back my statement).


Planning :

I was supposed to go to Jebel Al Jais only this weekend, but then thought to myself what is preventing me from going there that weekend. Who can guarantee that next weekend would not see me doing something urgent! So just decided a day before that I am going. Tanked up, checked the tire pressure and set it to the standard 35 psi and checked the coolant/water levels in radiator and that’s it.

My take on the trip :

I went with my lady love as well. She is made of steel and looks Indigo blue.

The never ending 35 kms, the climb… the ascend is a nightmare if you go in traffic and a pleasure to climb if empty. The last time was a good lesson and I corrected myself this time, went early morning on a weekend. When the world was asleep after partying, I woke up at 4:00 am in the morning and managed to leave by 4:45 am. The plan was leave by 4:15 am.

On the way I stopped by a petrol station and got something to eat for the morning and I drove away to RAK. I knew most of the place from before. But towards the end I got lost and drove around for a bit before I reached the place. That ate up some time but nonetheless, it was only around half past 6. I had to climb the 35 km twisties and I was down there.

The roads are not that great at some stretches, and your heart breaks with each bad pothole your small car hits. My suspensions aren’t that great either. It’s stiff by default and that’s where the Golf gets it’s precise handling. The potholes would be hard to tackle sometimes, and in a blind spot some other times. Few kms were testing, but the remaining were amazing.

Driving on narrow winding roads is really an amazing feeling, dangerous but then the best thrills come with their own dangers. More danger, more thrill. So the safest bet is to stay in your limits and have as much as fun you can. May it be car, may it be life. Never forget the limits…. Gladly I know exactly the limits of my car. I know it’s brakes, I know it’s acceleration and I know it inside out, except it’s ABS malfunctioned once (or did I panic more than usual) and I hit a smooth speed breaker a bit hard. Arghhh!

As usual my Photography revolved around Golfey.

Let’s move on to that then

(Please don’t mind the Vignetting in some of the pics. My screwed in filters have screwed up. My mistake again that I kept them screwed in together for a long time.)

First look at the mountains, the sun’s showing up



Playing with the focus



Then the name that matters most to me...



Sooner than later, I stop again.



and again



and again. ufff!



The sun has shown up now… and it’s becoming visible.



Point 7. Public washroom.



Point 6. Barbecue



Now some pictures of ravines. You will now notice why it is not a good idea to jump from a ravine.



You see in the next picture, there is a minute thing on the road.



Then I zoom completely, at a 105 mm



How do people even jump from suicide points?

Then my rally car,

If I stand up to click it then it looks tiny like a scale model.



Then I kneel down to make him feel better



Then I start driving up again. Suddenly after a turn I see some mutton dressed in the shape of lamb crossing the road. (pun intended)

I park my car, and go after them.

One of them is thinking of committing suicide



He apparently is troubled that his gf is seeing someone else, and then I tell him my story and that my passenger side seat belts have become stiff and crispy. He is moved by my story and …..



He gives a tough look.



Then I turn back and take a couple of pics, from the edge. I live on the Adgeeee







I turn my head to see something that reminded me of India. Why this kolaveri di?



A closer look



The herd is not happy with my intrusion. I might have to leave soon.



I drive drive and drive… I reach the end of the road





So that was the end of my uphill journey. The roads after that point were doable on a 4×4 strictly. You can see the rules written on the board. I saw a couple of cars passing the gate, and on enquiry the guard mentioned that they were from the company and had permission.

[voyageur]

As I was looking around I saw another road which led to a tower like structure. On asking the guard he said there is a road to this place. I move on to explore like a Ford Explorer, but not much joy with that. They had locked the way to go uphill. So I am going to do what I do the best (Hitman: Agent 47)



Warships… lots of them. Feels like watching Greece attack Troy.




Then I see another spot, which sparked interest. Half of it was under shadow. Thanks to the mountains.



Back to warships



Then in a while, our friend from old gang comes to visit. Sorry for the shake, I wasn’t prepared for him.



Many people came in with their utensils to cook food. I don’t understand the obsession, maybe it’s fun.



Again the roads



Here we are nearing the end. So should I post the ending now and later post the Golf section? Yeah, that will work I guess.

So on the descend I took some more pics of mountains, good roads, places nearby and stuff like that.





And then the beautiful scenic place downhill.















And then the B&W I saved from before…



Isn’t the place very beautiful?

Now some Golfey time, anyone who wishes to skip this can do so. This is madness and obsession.

Golfey time

A fun fact :I took all the winding roads in 5th gear with occasional shifting to 4th gear to deal with hairpin bends. Apart from that 5th gear and moving steadily, not a slightest of feel that you are out of power. Amazing torque. This car never ceases to amaze me. Anything that doesn’t fail to astonish you may it be a car or a person, you will want to hold on to it forever. I am in the same situation. Everyday is different with this car. Amazing Engineering!!!

That’s why people are ready to pay hefty amounts for German cars even though their reliability and customer service is arguably the worst. The German cars are well engineered and tbhp doesn't need a novice like me to enlighten on that aspect. The number of Polo GT's and Skoda's speak for itself. But my car belongs to an era when there were only essential electronics and the rest was to be taken care by the driver. It’s a drivers car… No doubt! And pretty much reliable too due to the above mentioned.









Now this I wanted to try and make my wallpaper. Focus on the ground, for a change











So highlights of this trip,

Start from home : 04:45 AM
Reach Jebel Al Jais 06:30 AM
Start the car for return leg 09:00 AM
Reach home 11:45 AM

Total kms : 250 kms approx

Total fuel : 27-30 liters approx


And a souvenir to remember



Cheers!

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[noopster]

Short and sweet, voyageur! Have been fending off requests to do a vacation to DXB for a while now at home because frankly hanging out at overpriced over-ACed shopping malls isn't my idea of fun . This is a neat alternative!

Do tourists need a separate visa for the other Emirates or will the one for Dubai do (sorry if that's a noob question). Are there car rentals available to make this trip? Most importantly do they accept Indian DLs?

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by noopster

Do tourists need a separate visa for the other Emirates or will the one for Dubai do (sorry if that's a noob question). Are there car rentals available to make this trip? Most importantly do they accept Indian DLs?

UAE constitutes of seven cities or emirates, your UAE visa will be valid in all these provinces. Very true, though Dubai has an image of malls and huge buildings the there are lots of outdoor activities and a lot fun.

I checked at Hertz, they do not provide rentals with Indian license. Maybe locals living there can provide more insight.

[raj_5004]

I can see you had great fun on the twisties. The last time I went there, it was sunset and thankfully not very crowded.

Originally Posted by noopster

Short and sweet, voyageur! Have been fending off requests to do a vacation to DXB for a while now at home because frankly hanging out at overpriced over-ACed shopping malls isn't my idea of fun . This is a neat alternative!

There is a lot to do in UAE except visiting the malls. Water sports, desert safaris, sky diving, road trips, theme parks, etc.

Do tourists need a separate visa for the other Emirates or will the one for Dubai do (sorry if that's a noob question).

Your visa will be valid of all the seven Emirates.

Are there car rentals available to make this trip? Most importantly do they accept Indian DLs?

There are plenty of car rental companies.

The cheapest one will give you a Nissan Micra or a Kia Picanto for about 1300-1400 AED per month. You can get a Nissan Sunny or Hyundai Accent (Verna in India) for 1700-1800 AED per month. Heck, you can even rent a Gallardo if you wish to do so!

It is said that you can drive a rental car here with your IDP, provided you carry your Indian license too. Also, your Indian license should be more than a year old. But I will prefer calling up rental companies and confirming with them because it is at their sole discretion. Some nationalities maybe declined, so it is better to check, especially since we drive on the other side of the road here!

You cannot drive private cars with your IDP.

[Gannu_1]

Lovely! The Golf must have been a riot to drive on these roads. Have fun and do come up with more of these travelogues of lesser known places in UAE.

Originally Posted by voyageur

Warships… lots of them. Feels like watching Greece attack Troy.

/snip

Back to warships

Those are commercial vessels not warships unless I am missing something.

[voyageur]

Originally Posted by noopster

Short and sweet, voyageur! Have been fending off requests to do a vacation to DXB for a while now at home because frankly hanging out at overpriced over-ACed shopping malls isn't my idea of fun . This is a neat alternative!

Do tourists need a separate visa for the other Emirates or will the one for Dubai do (sorry if that's a noob question). Are there car rentals available to make this trip? Most importantly do they accept Indian DLs?

Hello,

Thank you so much for the comment and I am glad that you liked my post.

You can visit all the Emirates with your UAE visit visa. They don't even have border checking like we have in India for different states.

Afaik about the rental cars, they don't give you a car if you have an Indian Drivers license. But somehow if you can convert it to an International Driving License, I guess there are chances.

I have written to Hertz and let me see, what they reply. I'll keep you posted on this.

Again thanks a ton.

Originally Posted by raj_5004

I can see you had great fun on the twisties. The last time I went there, it was sunset and thankfully not very crowded.

Crowd is the last thing you want to see there.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Lovely! The Golf must have been a riot to drive on these roads. Have fun and do come up with more of these travelogues of lesser known places in UAE.

Those are commercial vessels not warships unless I am missing something.

Hello Ganesh,

It was fun driving the Golf through those roads. The scary part was that there were Land cruisers doing 200 on that straight stretch. It's a bit dangerous but felt good other than that.

They are commercial vessels, some carry fuel and some others carry other essentials. I was just trying to be sarcastic... Add some humor you know

Cheers!

[ajaypjayaraj]

Hey voyageur,

Nice write up. I had driven to top of Jebel Al Jais in mid Jan this year. My cousin had just taken delivery of a Tiguan 2.0 TSI AWD, so we were just driving places during weekends. Loved the drive on the mountain, esp with a 200 BHP TSI. The AWD and sport mode was real joy. Was missing the manual shift in the curves, so used manual mode too when bored of the auto box.

Wanted to go beyond the paved road section but cousin and family was in the car, so din't try any adventure. But that unpaved part looked tempting, and risky too.

Another attraction was groups of M3 coupes and Subarus, probably a car tuners club weekend ride or something. Saw such groups and man those cars were loud and felt like being in fast and furious shooting location.

On the way back we took the coastal road from RAK. They had some HOG riders world meet or something that day on that road. There were 100's of Harley Davidson riders on the road. They were louder! Was a nice road trip, to the mountains and back.

[roshan_cruise]

Hey voyageur, if you are into explore mountain road, would suggest you to try the road beyond Shawka dam (it would help though if you have a vehicle with a high ground clearence).

[roshan_cruise]

Oh yeah, the road to jebal jais is indeed scenic and [dangerous if one of your vehicle headlight conks out at night :-p]. but worth the drive. Maybe we went before there was this gate as we were able to go to the part of the top using 4x4.

Guys don't worry, the guy in the last pic...did survive [He was ready to jump,since we didn't allow him to drive his car :-),we had to bribe him with a chance to ride the cherokee].

Need to dig up my hard-drives for the remaining pics.

[PravStar]

Just one word WOW. Thanks for sharing this Voyageur. it was a plesure once to deviate from the fanfare of glitzy malls and palaces of UAE. Got something to do in the DUBAI afterall with benthusiasts perspective. Do share more things to do in future guys. Special mewtion to Roshan as well for his funny and 4WD pics.

[voyageur]

Originally Posted by noopster

Most importantly do they accept Indian DLs?

Hi noopster,

I got a mail back and they do not accept Indian license. They will require International license with the Indian DL as well. So if Hertz doesn't accept, chances are that no one would.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

Hey voyageur,

Nice write up. I had driven to top of Jebel Al Jais in mid Jan this year. My cousin had just taken delivery of a Tiguan 2.0 TSI AWD, so we were just driving places during weekends. Loved the drive on the mountain, esp with a 200 BHP TSI. The AWD and sport mode was real joy. Was missing the manual shift in the curves, so used manual mode too when bored of the auto box.

Wanted to go beyond the paved road section but cousin and family was in the car, so din't try any adventure. But that unpaved part looked tempting, and risky too.

Another attraction was groups of M3 coupes and Subarus, probably a car tuners club weekend ride or something. Saw such groups and man those cars were loud and felt like being in fast and furious shooting location.

On the way back we took the coastal road from RAK. They had some HOG riders world meet or something that day on that road. There were 100's of Harley Davidson riders on the road. They were louder! Was a nice road trip, to the mountains and back.

Hello Ajay,

The 2.0 L TSI has 7 speed DSG iirc. That would have been fun as well. But yeah, nothing replaces manual transmission and I am an ardent fan of manual gearbox. I am glad you guys had some good fun.

Do you know how to get past that check post? I asked the guy and he was like, 'It's only for people from our company.' The unpaved way looked quite dangerous as well.

How was the coastal route? I have heard praises of that route. HOG was there that Friday while I was driving back. Some 20 odd bikes making their presence known. I would love to own a Superbike someday here.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by roshan_cruise

Hey voyageur, if you are into explore mountain road, would suggest you to try the road beyond Shawka dam (it would help though if you have a vehicle with a high ground clearence).

Yeah I heard about Shawka Dam but that is an SUV territory I believe. I have seen couple of pics of the road and it's a bit scary. I will try and get some bhpian with an SUV to go along with me.

Originally Posted by roshan_cruise

Oh yeah, the road to jebal jais is indeed scenic and [dangerous if one of your vehicle headlight conks out at night :-p]. but worth the drive. Maybe we went before there was this gate as we were able to go to the part of the top using 4x4.

Guys don't worry, the guy in the last pic...did survive [He was ready to jump,since we didn't allow him to drive his car :-),we had to bribe him with a chance to ride the cherokee].

Need to dig up my hard-drives for the remaining pics.

Night driving is indeed dangerous. Since rest of UAE is well lit up, we never bother about upgrading our lights. It so happened couple of times that I didn't switch on my light and once in Dubai a police patrol pulled by the side and reminded me about the lights.

If you have pictures of the 4x4 territory, do share. It will be a pleasure.

Originally Posted by PravStar

Just one word WOW. Thanks for sharing this Voyageur. it was a plesure once to deviate from the fanfare of glitzy malls and palaces of UAE. Got something to do in the DUBAI afterall with benthusiasts perspective. Do share more things to do in future guys. Special mewtion to Roshan as well for his funny and 4WD pics.

Glad to know that you loved the post. Malls are the last thing you want to be in Dubai. They are overpriced and you can get the same at half the price in India. As Raj mentioned above there are a lot of other things to look forward to in Dubai. Especially Skydiving. It's expensive but well worth the experience I believe. Also desert safari / dune bashing is fun. Not to forget about GoKart. I'll post my experience of that someday.

Thanks once again for the encouragement. It does mean a lot to me.

Cheers!

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by voyageur

I got a mail back and they do not accept Indian license. They will require International license with the Indian DL as well. So if Hertz doesn't accept, chances are that no one would.

Yeah they require International License. I got mine before flying out and its valid for a year IIRC.

Originally Posted by voyageur

The 2.0 L TSI has 7 speed DSG iirc. That would have been fun as well. But yeah, nothing replaces manual transmission and I am an ardent fan of manual gearbox. I am glad you guys had some good fun.

It has a 6 speed DSG, that's what I remember. On a straight line, slot it to Sport mode and floor. The way it sounds and thrusts ahead is really impressive. Guys who use big motors regularly were impressed with the way the 2.0 TSI performed as compared to their big 3 and 4 litre motors.

But, just like you, I would always rank a manual above the AT for that ultimate driving experience. That is why my garage will always have atleast one MT car. Can't live without it. But in Dubai, its hard to find one. My friend has a manual FJ though. He said it was specially ordered and only a handful are there on UAE roads.

Originally Posted by voyageur

Do you know how to get past that check post? I asked the guy and he was like, 'It's only for people from our company.' The unpaved way looked quite dangerous as well.

Which check post? U mean where the paved road ends? AFAIK you don't need any clearance to go beyond that point. You just need a good offroader and ofcourse some b***s. It looks pretty dangerous but was really tempted to do that adventure. Only if the ladies and kids hadn't come along.

Originally Posted by voyageur

How was the coastal route? I have heard praises of that route.

Coastal route is for easy ride back to Dubai. You could stop on the beach for some fresh air and ofcourse there is Baracuda on the way back ! (if you wanna pick your stock for the week)

[voyageur]

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

Which check post? U mean where the paved road ends? AFAIK you don't need any clearance to go beyond that point. You just need a good offroader and ofcourse some b***s. It looks pretty dangerous but was really tempted to do that adventure. Only if the ladies and kids hadn't come along.



Coastal route is for easy ride back to Dubai. You could stop on the beach for some fresh air and ofcourse there is Baracuda on the way back ! (if you wanna pick your stock for the week)

Now a days, there is a check post kind of thing and I guess some construction activities are going on. I had clicked a picture of the same above showing 'Roads closed'. But yeah a 4x4 and it will be pretty much fun and if they allow to go up.

So E11 back is costal roads which touches Umm-Al-Qwwain. That was my return leg. I thought there is some other way to go back. My bad.

Thanks