AL AIN: Cycling in Al Ain Oasis

An amazing historical place to visit in the UAE. It is approx. 3000 acre and it was built to tame the desert.

Tim and I rented a bicycle for an hour to ride around the oasis rather than walking it. Honestly, you can do both and it’s massive. Around the oasis, there are museums and art galleries to stop and see.

I highly recommend you visit Al Ain Oasis, I guarantee you will have a good time.

 

ABU DHABI: Picking Vegetables from Emirates Bio Farm

It’s a 2 hours drive from Abu Dhabi and extremely long and boring drive but it was indeed worth it. I always wanted to visit the farm and learn few things here and there. Tim and I love to plant. Especially Tim but sometimes, he doesn’t let me touch the plants.

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Anyway after driving for 2 hours straight, we finally arrived at Emirates Bio Farm at 11AM. We bought our ticket which is about AED 35 per person (approx. £ 8) and booked a farm tour for 12PM. We walked around the public area and bought cold beverages to keep us cool. We then started the tour and they made us pick our vegetables.

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Right after the tour, we had brunch at their restaurant and paid AED 90 (approx. £ 21) for a breakfast platter for two.

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We really had an amazing time and bought fresh organic vegetables from their mini supermarket and it a great place for families to visit.

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Al Ain Trip – Rotana, Jebel Hafeet & Trader Vics

Oh Crap! I missed a Saturday post last week and I knew I would.

Many things are currently happening in my personal and work life. Well everyone has things going on but you know when a lot of things just suddenly happen at the same time well that’s what is currently happening to me.

For Tim to have an enjoyable long weekend, I booked a standard room for a 1-night stay at Rotana Al Ain. We usually arrive 1 or 2 hours before check in however this time we decided to check in on time but on that day, we were so unlucky that the hotel had a lot of guests so because of the delay we checked in after 2 hours. As curtsy, the hotel upgraded our room to a 1-bedroom suite with a living room and dining table. In addition, they offered a late check out.

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You can skip my mini story and continue to Hotel Review….

Story Time:

As soon as we got to our rooms, we changed into our swimming suits and went to the pool. I have a weird and funny story to tell you. As Tim and I were sitting by the pool, kids from the ages of 4 – 7 years were jumping in the adult pool. So the signs say clearly no jumping, no diving and kids must be accompanied by an adult. Anyway we were getting splashed a lot by those little kids and Tim just got up and looked at the life guard without even saying a word.

The life guard approached the parents to tell them that their kids have to swim in the children’s pool and that they are disturbing hotel guests. The mothers started shouting at Tim for no reason and we did not even make eye contact with their kids or even shouted at them.

Anyway some drunk man sitting next to me starts shouting at Tim and making hideous comments in Arabic and that’s where I come in place. I started an argument with the man in Arabic which made him speechless because he didn’t expect me to speak Arabic. After few minutes, he comes to us and apologises for his action and we became friends. He even asked the mothers to apologise to Tim but obviously they did not. He even told us that we taught him a lesson to not speak in Arabic in front of anyone.

Anyway he took us to Jebel Hafeet (mountain) to view the city from the top.  The view of the town was amazing and the drive was adventurous but dangerous. Here is the funny part, the drunk guy insisted to take our photo at the mountain and this is how it turned out.

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Hotel Review:

Although they checked us in really late, I would still recommend the hotel. The fact that they upgraded our room and even provided late check out, that says it all. While waiting to check in, Tim and I sat in the private lounge where they served free coffee, juices, tea and croissants. The hotel is not that expensive for a 5 star. The pool is reasonably big and also has a mini Jacuzzi for the adults.

Tim and I had breakfast at a restaurant called Zest that serves buffet throughout the day. The hotel also has a pool bar, a Lebanese restaurant and a Latin, Caribbean and Asian Fusion restaurant called Trader Vics which is well known in Dubai. We went there at 10pm and there was a live band performing Latin music. The food was delicious and the setting makes you feel like you are on an island. We really enjoyed our time.

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