Hili Oasis and Hili Tower

On yesterday's morning walk, we decided to check out the Hili Tower and Hili Oasis....sites near our flat.  The Hili Oasis is much larger than I expected.  The paths went in all directions and we could have walked for quite a while!  There are some ruins inside that are in the process of being restored.  At the entrance to the oasis is the Hili Tower, made of mud brick and straw.  It has been restored and was not open when we went.

Hili Tower

King of the Tower

Ruins

Renovation of ruins

View down one of the paths

View looking out through the oasis

Birds....

More birds....

Desert Life

Motorcycle jumping over the airplane at the Al Ain Air Show

The kids (and grandpuppy) came to visit this weekend.  We took Blue for a morning walk to visit the camels.  Then we headed up to climb Jebel Hefeet and visit the Green Mubazzareh (hot springs).  Finally, we drove out into the desert to play on the dunes.  After coming back home to clean up, we went to eat at a Lebanese restaurant called Leisure, where strangely enough, I ordered Mexican food (Chicken Fajitas)....yummy!!!

The camels kept following Blue around the outside of the fence, fascinated with him! 

Heather and Blue and me on the very tip top of Jebel Hefeet

Looking across a chasm at Kim and Cory on another rock outcropping of Hefeet

We drove through the Green Mubazzareh (a lush, green valley at the base of Jebel Hefeet) where there are hot springs.  We didn't go into the official "women's" and "men's" areas, preferring to stop alongside the road at the small feeder streams to soak our feet.  This was about 300 yards from the source of the springs, and the water was still extremely hot!!

Green Mubazzarah:  lush and beautiful in the middle of the desert

Out in the dunes.....play time!!

After playing for a while, Blue was taking "rest" stops!

Cory "sandboards" down the dunes!  LOL

Heather gracefully "hops" down the dunes!

Heather, Cory, and Blue race to the top of one of the dunes.  
(Yes, Cory, that's Blue's little head you see bouncing along beside you!)

By this time, Blue was worn out and ready to pose!  :)

Sinking down...down....down...into the sand

The dunes were so pristine, you can hardly even tell we left our footprints here.  
Don't you just love the circular pattern in the sand?!!

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Blue

On Saturday we all went to the Al Ain Aerobatic show.  There were 15 aerobatic and display teams from 4 different continents performing.  This is the 9th annual show, and is supposed to be one of the five top aerobatic shows in the world.  They were expecting around 130,000 people.  We watched part of the FAI Desert Challenge, which involved 6 competitors from different countries compete head to head in terms of aerobatic skill.

We were also glad to see exactly where the airport is, since we're flying out of there in a couple of weeks to go to Oman.  The government just moved the holiday for the Prophet's Birthday to February 17th, so that means we have a 3-day weekend!!  Yea!  We're going to fly to Muscat, Oman for a few days on the beach.

Tickets!!

We thought it was neat how the smoke trail formed the "11" in 2011

This is Otto the Helicopter playing yo-yo--quite entertaining for the children, 
but we were ready for him to fly on out and let the real show begin :)

These two planes were Blue Voltige, motorgliders from Italy.  
This was their re-creation of the Italian flag.

Here's Blue Voltige doing a close-flying formation.  They had beautiful music playing from the speakers, and it was almost peaceful watching these two perform.  They had very small quiet engines, so you could focus on the aerobatic feats.

This was a paramotor.  Apparently, with little wind today, it was quite a feat that he even made it off the ground.  His partner crashed on take-off.

This was Team Viper, flying Hawker Hunter supersonic fighter jets.  The pilots are all current or
former members of the British RAF.  Here they are meeting almost head-on.

Team Viper flying formation

Scandinavian Catwalk:  two ladies walking on the wings!  They crawled up and down
 as the airplane flew spirals and loops!

"AirCats" on the wings as the plane comes out of a full loop

This was Kim's favorite part:  Magic Corn
He's found a delicious new snack!!

Hili Archaeological Park and....... Weather in Al Ain

This morning, Kim and I hiked to Hili Archaelogical Park, about 2 miles down the road.  There was not one person there when we arrived, and only a mother, father, and 2 children when we left.  It's a large park area, beautiful with grass and flowers, and a few scattered remnants of an archaeological dig.

This is the pathway leading in from the main entrance.  It reminds me a little of DisneyWorld if you could be there when there are no visitors!

This is a picture of the foundations of one of the buildings that was part of a larger settlement. Pottery found here belonged to one of the Bronze Age Phases (3rd Millennium B.C.) and additional pottery shows that it was reoccupied during the Iron Age (1st Millennium B.C.)

This is the central fountain, with the ubiquitous mosque in the background

There were various play areas for children, but I found this the most fascinating.  It was huge.  I'm not sure I would  let my children slide down this monster.  AND....right behind this is something called "Free Fall."  It was like a straight wall that children would slide down (NOT A SLIDE--a STRAIGHT WALL!) and then land at the bottom.  Kim said it might be entertaining to watch the children get hurt!  I can imagine broken limbs!!  They do not have the same concern over here about lawsuits that we have in the U.S.  Many times out walking we will see things that are SO dangerous, but there are not even warning signs of danger.....much less barriers to protect people.

This is a close-up of a carving on the Hili Grand Tomb. It is an oryx, an animal that is indigenous to Arabia.  This rock carving was created more than 4,000 years ago. This tomb is the largest monument in the U.A.E. in terms of the size of the stones used.  It was excavated in 1965.

On another note, it's been an interesting contradiction in weather this past week.  First, we had BIG rains!  Here is a picture of the rain standing on the basketball court and 2 little kids running around kicking the water.

Then, just yesterday we had an awesome sandstorm.  According to The National, our newspaper, the storm started off the coast of Dubai and headed east to us, with wind speeds of up to 55 kph.

Visibility at some points was almost zero.  Then, as the sand died down, you could see enough to get this picture.

So now, we've had the heat, the rain, the sand, and the "cold."  It got chilly enough for me to wear a sweater on several mornings!  Can't wait to see what's next in store.....

Weekend in Dubai

We decided to get away for the weekend and spend a couple of nights in Dubai.  We got there about 5:30 Thursday night, checked in, and had a lovely walk along the creek. We ate at a Japanese restaurant where you select all your own food, put it on a plate, and give it to the chef who then prepares it for you.  It was so much fun! The desserts were about as beautiful as any I have ever seen, but I didn't want to be gauche and take a picture of them!

On Friday we went up to the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa and toured.  It was amazing, and we were fortunate to have some awesome views.  With the fog being so bad in the past week, we were worried that visibility would be low.  The ride up was so fast!!  You couldn't see out:  probably because people would get motion sickness?!  You could hardly tell the elevator was even moving.

Burj Khalifa:  tallest building in the world

We went to the Dubai Mall, where we found all the things we couldn't find in Al Ain.  I was so excited to finally find a pair of shoes in my size!  I bought some jeans, some casual walking pants, two pairs of shoes, and some other odds and ends.  Kim got a watch to replace his that finally gave up the ghost after 6 years.

Standing in front of the Burj:  couldn't get the whole thing in the picture, even though we were still quite a distance off

Looking out across the Gulf:  Look how small the other skyscrapers look!!

Looking down on the road system from the Burj:  you can see the shadow it casts

We visited the Gold Souk and the Textile Souk, where I bought some scarves.  Kim was a little overwhelmed with all the "hawking" of wares, so we didn't tarry for long.  We stopped at a little creek-side restaurant and enjoyed an evening snack and the sunset.

View looking out across the creek as we ate

The Old Souk at night

Deira Creek at night:  you can see the small boats ferrying people across the creek

Sunset with the Burj Khalifa standing tall in the background

Gold Souk at the Mall

On Saturday we took it easy and walked along the creek for the morning.  We sat out by the pool and soaked up some quiet rays until it was time to head back to Al Ain for work tomorrow!!

Walking along the creek on Saturday:  interesting juxtaposition of the modern yachts in the background with the small boat in the foreground