Dubai Update #4 – 28th, 29th, 30th December

Our Dubai Xmas holiday with the family continues.

Fridays in the Muslim world is the main religious day of the week and so it mirrors our Sunday.  Sunday is a normal working day and Saturday is the same as our Saturday.  So on Friday the 28th we decided to have a “hang around home” day with “Sunday(Friday) Lunch” at a local restaurant that specialises in a smorgasboard of local cuisine. This meant that we were putting off our trip to the Camel Festival in Abu Dhabi to the following day, the last day of the festival and a risk that it would be winding down, but the kids were a little sick of being pulled from pillar to post so we took the chance.

So after a night of me suffering from severe LBM and a roll of toilet paper in my back pack we set of for Abu Dhabi the following morning, Sat 29th.  Our fear of the Camel Festival winding down was well founded and there were only a last few camel races that were in progress when we arrived. All the souqs and other activities had packed up and there were virtually no spectators around.  However we did get to see some camel teams decked out in their finery.

Click thumbnails for larger image.

So a little disappointed that we had missed the festival we headed into down town Abu Dhabi for some lunch and then onto the Sheikh Zahed bin Sultan Grand Mosque.  While recently built this Mosque is astonishing.  The Muslim world certainly knows how to make grand monuments to their religion and we should all be in awe of the craftsmanship that goes into these structures.

Heading home from the Mosque, about a 1.5 hour drive we sited this marvelous building. Completely Circular.

 

And a typical Abu Dhabi suburb.

 

This is a rich country and the homes tend to be very large.

We arrived home early evening and in the confines of our Villa we took part in a sundowner or two and a wine with dinner.

Next day the 30th December was a rest day with a little shopping – bought some shoes. Rockports very cheap here, about half price to Australia.

As a write this it is about mid day new years eve, and we are preparing to head up the coast for 2 nights in Ras al-Khaimah on the West coast then onto Fujairah for 3 nights on the East coast.

So I will be off the air for a few days and unable to do any posts

Cheers

Graham

From Dubai