Xmas day was a wonderful day with our Dubai family. Christmas day is a public holiday in Dubai. The weather is almost perfect, about 26 Degrees. The only down side is the intense haze that seems to be a permanent fixture of the atmosphere at this time of the year. While the haze appears to be mainly moisture in the air it does not feel oppressively humid. On Boxing Day we headed out for a 120km drive to Al Ain which is in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and on the border with Oman. Amazingly you do not have to be very far from Dubai before the quite amazing sand hills dominate the view from the car. The road to Al Ain is four lanes in each direction with a 120 km/hr speed limit and a tolerance of 20km/hr. Hence the traffic, is travelling at 140km/hr and there were no opportunities to get any really good photos of the landscape. Hopefully this will change when we head off into the sand hills for a Safari later in our stay. We headed to Al Ain to look, firstly at the country side and secondly to visit a more traditional city that had not been overtaken by modern hi rise and foreigners.
Mount Jebel Hafeet is just outside Al Ain and is the only mountain range in the Emirates. Also the site of a couple of palaces for local Sheiks to escape the heat of summer when it gets close to 50 Deg C.
After visiting Mount Jebel Hafeet we decided it was time for lunch. This was always going to be an adventure with three young children in tow. After parking the car in Down Town Al Ain we headed through the back streets and found a friendly enough looking “Restaurant”.
The proprietor and the four customers, I think, were a little gob smacked to see a white bloke with 2 women and 3 kids, all westerners enter their domain. The proprietor seemed to be a little embarrassed as he could not speak a word of English and women in the area were obvious by there absence. Well with a lot of sign language we eventually got a meal for all of us with some interesting unknown dishes. The entire feast cost us the princely sum of 39 Dirham. (about A$10).
After lunch we headed off to view a fort built in the 1890’s by Sheikh Zahed Bin Khalifa, Zahed the First, a highly regarded ruler of the time and grandfather to the current ruler of Abu Dhabi.
The fort is made entirely of mud and straw, and due to the subterrain being all sand it requires no foundations. Even the pave areas under foot are made entirely of mud and straw.
By the time we had finished at the fort the kids were starting to get a little restless so we headed back to Dubai, only 120km and at 140km/hr quite a quick trip.
End Update #2
Hi G & C
Steve spent time with Oil Services Training in Abu Dhabi – which he liked better than the Glitz of Dubai
Happy New Year coming soon.
Cheers from Mel
Hi Greg
We are headed to Abu Dhabi today to visit the camel festival. The feature of which is the camel “beauty contest”. LOL
Cheers
G’day Graham, best wishes for Christmas & new year.
Jill & I spent 6 days in Dubai a few years ago, mostly in the souks and walking around various arts of the town with a trip out into the desert to visit an Arab camp.
So diferent from anything we had experienced before, we really enjoyed it.
Regards
Pete
Great to hear from you Pete.
We still need to catch up for that coffee
Great photos: keep em coming! Happy family holidays to you all. Geoff and Gaell
Thanks Geoff
You do find some exotic places to take the women in your life out to lunch!
All the best for the New Year
Phil and Julie
Nothing but the best for the women in my life
Sounds fantastic! Keep the photos and narrative coming! Cheers Di