Adventure in Al Ain

We left Dubai at about 8:30 this morning, heading for Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there.  I noticed that there are small mosques/prayer houses at many of the rest stops and gas stations along the interstates.  Everyone needs to be close to one for calls to prayer throughout the day.  We went by a huge new development for a Universal Studio amusement park outside of Dubai.  We also passed a large camel racing track and a camel market.  Closer to Al Ain we began seeing dairy and poultry farms.  We realized right away that the city was green - filled with trees and flowers - and eventually found out it is named The Garden City.

The ever changing desert....and The Garden City....each with it's own beauty.  

We arrived in Al Ain about 10:00 and met up with our friend, K, who has been working as an administrator there for several years.  She took us to Oasis Hospital - a well known hospital dating back to 1960.  It was a small community with Caravans passing through back then.  (Oil was discovered in the area in 1969 and the UAE gained independence from England in 1971.)  Al Ain is now the 4th largest city in the UAE.  It is also the city where Sheikh Zayed bin Sulltan Al Nahyan, the first president of the UAE, was born.  Al Ain also has the country's highest number of Emirati nationals.  The city has been inhabited for 4000 years.  It was built around an oasis.  

The Oasis Hospital was established by American Drs Pat and Marian Kennedy at the invitation of the Sheikh - the first institution to offer modern medical care in the entire emirate.  At that time 1/2 of infants and 1/3 of women were dying for want of adequate medical care.  The hospital operated out of a mud building.  Now it is 200 bed hospital with a wonderful reputation in the community. They have an interesting museum  - covering the hospital's history and the history of the modern city since then.  Really fascinating to see the influence of believers in the area.

Amazing to see God's word on display at the hospital...in the middle of an oasis in the desert!

Don't we LOOK cool and comfortable????  It was actually quite hot - and we needed to keep shoulders, knees, elbows, and rear ends covered.

From there went went to an Al Ain Oasis, the largest oasis in town...there are 7 oasis in the city.  All are date farms now. The one we walked around also had eucalyptus, fig, and papaya trees.  It was quite pretty.  It had an very efficient and clever watering system.

The dates and the figs

Even tho it was very hot, we also walked around the Sheik Zayed Palace Museum.  The Sheikh lived here until 1966.  Many rooms are majlis or meeting rooms for receiving visitors.  If you are less important you get just inside the palace gate...the more important you are, the further into the palace you are invited.  Outside in one of the courtyards was a replica Grand Court tent, representing a link with Bedouin life.  There is also an old Land Rover like the one driven by the Sheikh in the dessert to visit Bedouin communities.  All quite impressive and interesting.  There was lots of wonderful artwork, as well as pictures of the Royal family through the years.  I was impressed by how much history K was able to share with us.

In one of the meeting rooms in the Palace, hobnobbing with the Royals...

Another of the beautiful meeting rooms.

The three inner courts of the palace

We went to a nice cool mall at the edge of town for lunch.  We had Iranian food today...five different kinds of meat served as kabobs - with salad and French fries.  Right behind this modern mall was the old traditional camel market...the only traditional one left in the country.  There were sheep and goats as well as the camels.  Also several little stores selling fodder and supplies for the animals.  Very cool....really neat to see.  It was probably about 110 that day at that time of day.

Our tasty Iranian food and fun with the camels.

Andy was convinced one of them was going to spit at me...as he was sitting in the air conditioned car and I was out in the heat of the day!

We got to see K's apartment - a newer but typical cinder block construction.  Was fun to see her furniture and way of life.  Then we were off to our hotel so she could get on with her busy schedule. Thanks for the great overview of Al Ain.

Several people encouraged us to stay on top of the highest mountain in the country at the Grand Jebel Hafeet Hotel.  It was very nice and not over the top.  319 dirham - about $88.  The views over the city were spectacular.  I swam a few laps in the pool and found it refreshing...but as soon as I got out I was sweating again.  We had a light dinner at a cafe in the lobby and then played miniature golf on the terrace...no charge for the 11 hole course.  Have no idea how they came up with that number!  The holes were simple in design but had fun little twists to make them interesting.

It was quite hazy in the heat of the day, but in person you could really see quite far over the city below.

We drove on a steep winding road about 10 km to get to the hotel....looking up and looking down it was quite pretty....difficult to capture it all...

A couple of new little Tid Bits I learned from K.  During the hot  months, starting June 15th each summer, it is against the law to work outside in the sun (gardeners,  street cleaners, roofers, construction workers, etc.). It is just too dangerous!  They have inspectors out and about making sure not one is working.

Watch the numbers on license plates.  1-9 indicates royal family, 10-99 means you are well connected to the royal family, 4 digits are for emirate nationals, and 5 or more digits are expats.  Quite a pecking order!