One of my friends Casey relocated to Ras Al Khaimah last September, another emirate in the UAE, and we’ve been trying to find a weekend that works well for both of us so that I could head over for a catch up and check out what Ras Al Khaimah is like.

So back in January I left Dubai and drove the 109km over to Casey’s apartment in the morning. It was a very easy drive, pretty much one straight road the entire way across. Around fifteen minutes before arriving at my destination I could see something in the distance on the road and started to slow down, it wasn’t before I realised that there were camels all across the road and people had stopped and got out of their car and were taking selfies with the camels, it was very bizarre!

Obviously I couldn’t not stop without taking a picture of course!

I arrived at Casey’s apartment and we jumped into her car and drove across to the marina. Not as big as the one in Dubai but super cute all the same and we stopped at a cafe called Tucano Coffee for lunch.

I went for the eggs Benedict with an iced caramel coffee and Casey went for Mexican bagel. The food was delicious and so well priced! I couldn’t get over the price differences compared to Dubai, it felt like such a bargain.

We sat chatting away in the January sunshine for a short while before we went over to RAK Zoo where they have a monkey sanctuary that looks after monkeys that had been purchased as pets and kept in homes until they were too big to look after and the owners unable to care for them. The keeper, whose name I sadly can’t remember, lives with the two monkeys full time as they are unable to be returned to the wild after being raised in homes from being babies. He does a fabulous job, and his life is fully committed to these two monkeys, caring for them 24/7! You can see how much he loves the monkeys and vice versa. They are so playful and love to be tickled and run around. It’s crazy how much you can see the similarities between humans and monkeys when you’re in such close proximity with them!

Such beautiful animals! Even though they’re unable to return to the wild, they do have such a wonderful life here with great outdoor facilities!

We then went for a drive out to the corniche road to see what Ras Al Khaimah was like! Definitely has the Arabian vibes, but definitely nowhere near on the scale that Dubai is built up to.

So we stopped for a cup of tea and a smoothie with a view overlooking the corniche, which I somehow managed to not take a picture of, before grabbing some dinner with the sunset. Casey introduced me to Salt burgers, and oh my goodness. I haven’t stopped thinking about these burgers ever since, they are SO fantastic. With the sun going down, I began the ninety minute drive back home to Dubai.

It was so lovely to catch up with Casey and be able to see what her home Ras Al Khaimah is like. Most times it’s Casey coming over to Dubai, so it made a nice change and I can’t wait to go back and spend some more time exploring! As always, feel free to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube:
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