Hatta Fort Hotel

We popped up to Hatta in the mountains last weekend for some R and R.

DIdn't take too many photos actually, I was far too busy as you can see!

It was a lovely weekend. Cant wait to get busy doing some more of this over the next few weeks, just 5 days of school to go!

Some more (delayed) Oman!

Some more Oman.... Muriel convinced a friend to babysit and we headed out for a delicious Mexican meal (I'd have to say it was better than Prickly Cactus...). Here we all are having a laugh.

Here's me with Charlie, I think he is probably trying to get away from my alcohol tinged breath, hehe. Isn't he gorgeous!

Dubai is not marked on this mapbut it's parralel with the curly border of Oman, on the Persian Gulf of course. When we drove in, we crossed the border at the curly bit then drove through to Sohour (Suhar) then down along the coast.

Muscat is divided up into areas, like suburbs, that pretty much run straight along the coast, ending with Muscat, which is the oldest part.

In the photos below we are in Muttrah, which is just before Muscat and has the old Souq which is stunning. It's all decorated in Carved wood and stained glass. To my untrained eye the style seemed more Morrocan than you would see in Dubai.

For those of you who haven't been, Dubai has a very flat coastline and although the beaches are beautiful the lack of cliffs can make it a bit monotonous, in Muscat there are cliffs everywhere plunging to the sea whith quaint little coves in between.

Most of this area was severely damaged during Cyclone Gonu in August, a good deal of work has happened to make it look like this.

Lots going on, will try and post last lot before end of term. Holiday next week! YAY!!!

Oh man, a long weekend in Oman!

I had half term TOW (4 days sigh...) and Zadok took the time off so that we could go and visit Muriel, Alasdair and baby Charlie in Oman. They moved there in September last year for Al's work. Charlie was born a month later so we hadn't met him yet!

It's about a 450km from Dubai to Muscat, the capital of Oman, it took about 5 hours but that did include visas and customs checks (they didn't look very hard) at the border. I'll post in installments.... Charlie pics to come I promise! Our first tourist stop was Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which is stunning.

The mosque has the largest carpet in the world, made in Iran.

And the largest chandelier.

Women have to be covered from head to foot so here I am all wrapped up... Each of these arches features Islamic art from a different area, there qre 12 countries represented and about 10 arches in each area.

I've not been very detailed so if you want to read more have a look here....

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque-Wikipedia

Al Ain

Zadok's new company has recently given all their managers a two day weekend every second weekend, as apposed to every third weekend. This makes a huge difference to our leisure time and we are really enjoying it. The Other Weekend (you know what I mean....) we decided to head to Al Ain, a city in the Emirate Abu Dhabi. Al Ain is about 130kms inland from Dubai, it is famed for cool temperatures in summer due to it's high altitude and having the UAE's second tallest mountain, often mistaken as the tallest (the tallest is Jebal Yibir in the Hajar Mountains, at 1527 meters.)

Zadok loves animals and Dubai has only an extremely embarassing zoo that we have never been to.... The zoo at Al ain however was a very pleasant suprise! Maybe not world standard but large enclosures and very active animals.

Zadok looking at the Mere cats, and the Mere cats lookin back, thats what they do!

Mixed African exhibit, giraffes, zebras and other things against the stunning back drop of the Hajar Mountains.

This ape looked like he belonged in prehistoric times. The sign said 'Greater Ape' but I cant find it on the web. Any ideas anyone?

This was my favourite shot of the day. Neither the little boy nor the lion seemed fazed by their close proximity to each other!

There were lots of other animals and we thought it was well worth the drive and the 10 dhs (AUD 3!) entry fee.

After a few hours at the zoo we drove off up the mountain. There are hot springs round the bottom, you can see the suprising amount of grass down the bottom, known as Green Mubazarrah.

The road up is excellent and siad to be one of the great driving roads in the world, I dont think I did it justice!

The view was really good, the weather freezing... (everything's relative).

It was a thouroughly enjoyable day out, we dont get to do a lot of sightseeing usually! Highly recommended if you haven't ventured to Al Ain yet.

Up, Up, But Not Too Far Away!

At Ibn Battuta Mall there is this large balloon, tied to the ground that goes up about 150 meters into the sky.

It's attatched to the ground by a thick metal rope and affords views over Dubai, particualrly of the Marina, Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah and Sheikh Zayed Road (car park).

We've been meaning to avail this attraction for some time, but either the wind is up or I forget the camera. Anyway, The Other Weekend (read: sometime in the last few months I just haven't got round to blogging it yet....) all things worked together and up we went!

I thought it was going to be scarey but getting off the ground was the worst bit, then it was quite tame. It was a good laugh, and another 'We Must Do That' crossed off our list!

The other weekend

Mel invited us all out to watch the polo, something I certainly hadn't done before.

The weather in Dubai is perfect at the moment, 30 during the day and a cool 15-20 overnight.

So the thought of sitting in the late afternoon with a glass of chilled wine, having a chat and watching the sun set was quite appealing.

The polo, what I saw of it, was interesting as well!

Julia is saying 'I love the polo dahrling! Why just look at those legs!'

And Mel is wondering how far this trusty horse will take her. Not very far is my bet!