Re-Discovering Al Ain Part II

Hello there and Salam to everyone. I'm back after a long halt here. This is a continuation of our trip to Al Ain last December 2, 2010.

These are my favorites among the display we have seen at Al Ain Museum, an 18th-century armor and a bucket of coin minted in the 17th century.

After Al Ain Museum, we headed to Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, also known as Al Ain Zoo.

We are here to see the white lions of Sambona or African lions, well I have never seen a white lion before so I am excited as a child. AWPR  is committed to protect and preserve these stunning endangered wildlife that's is why they are here in their new home.

Are you familiar with meerkat or suricate Suricata Suricatta member of the mongoose family? During my previous visits at Al Ain Zoo, these social mammals are not there yet and I think that they are a new addition to the growing number of zoo animals. They became one of my favorite animals after I have seen a documentary about them from Discovery Chanel Abu Dhabi. What I like most about them is when they all stand on their two hind legs in the morning when the sun rises and another was they do care for their family specially the young ones.

We enjoyed roaming in the zoo and looking around at all the animals. The zoo is so big we almost spent about two hours and it was almost sundown when we left. My daughter complained that she did not see the penguins yet. Well, probably that would be for our next trip since I learned that the park will soon to open a children's garden including a butterfly house and I am really looking forward to seeing that. Oh and the photo of meerkats above is courtesy of AWPR.

The sun was setting and we will not have enough time to see other places so I just randomly took some photos of the locals performing a local dance on our way out.

Our next stop is supposed to be the Green Mubazzarah but when we reached the entrance, the police would not let vehicles into the park, they said it was full and the road is completely blocked. So we changed plans, we headed to Jebel Hafeet instead even we are starving just to let the traffic ease out and we will be back later for bbq and picnic.

As our car ascends the mountain I can feel the pressure from both my ears and my little boy started crying. He felt it too. We gave him his pacifier to soothe him and some bubble gum for my daughter. They say it helps just like when you do a jaw exercise while on the plane when the pressure goes up due to altitude.

We, adults, are busy looking from the window starring at the view below. Al Ain at night is amazingly beautiful. So much has changed since I last climb Jebel Hafeet. Back then, only half of Al Ain view at night have lights but now almost the whole of Al Ain is gleaming brightly in the dark.

After taking all the pictures we want and after contemplating whether we will have to settle somewhere atop Jebel Hafeet for our dinner like some kabayans, we finally decided to go down and luckily we were allowed to enter the park. We rolled down our windows so the police officer will see that we are family else there will be no luck. Even it is already late in the evening, the park is still crowded. The smell of bbq and kebabs are all over the place. The voices of children reverberate in the air and the people look all happy and gay.

We succeeded in finding a good spot and begin to unload our stuff from the car. Tired and starving, we lay down the food we have prepared, one good thing is that I brought some hot water for tea and coffee stored in the vacuum flask that keeps it warm for long hours if we would have frozen in the cold night while waiting for our dinner to get warm and cooked.

The boys busy with the bbq and me busy taking photos of Jebel Hafeet mountain. :)

It was a tiring day but all worth it because we had so much fun together with friends and family. A time to unwind and have some quality time for ourselves far from the bustling city of Dubai. Not only we had a good time but learned some of UAEs heritage, culture, and history. See you on our next trip.