The UAE

9th February 2020

This morning we woke up later than expected but, our morning view had completely changed – we werent above the clouds anymore.

Still, not a bad view of Al Reem Island.

We had been told that Al Marina Island was a good place to go for ‘fun evening activities’ and the mall was a must see. As the bus stopped there we thought why not however, our bus didn’t seem to exist (another public transport blow) and the taxi it was. On our journey we could see a huge hotel in the distance that we thought might be a good place to go for a coffee as it faced the sea. How wrong we were, well in the sence it was still being built.

It was starting to get seriously hot then and the mall seemed a good refuge. This mall however, didn’t really impress us especially as it was deserted. Not one customer in any shop, we felt sorry for the workers dusty away. No wonder everywhere looked so clean.

We continued our walk over a bridge, with the perfectly symetrical cut trees all in a row, and passed the Coniche beach into Abu Dhabis mainland and continued the long stretch that led to the Presidential Palace.

These tall buildings you may recognise. I wouldn’t have done though. The Emirates Towers were so tall and we were torn about going up to the top due to a tour we had booked for later. After deciding better views will be seen elsewear we walked to the Emirates Palace. We passed a very large glittery square and like magpies we investigated.

On seeing a face in the artwork we searched for any information and found it was The Founder’s Memorial, a monument to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of, and who helped form, the United Arab Emirates, who died in 2004.

This building, with surrounding grounds looked insane, especially knowing you could have afternoon tea and coffee (with gold on the top) really drew me in. Josh however, was wearing shorts and so I had to miss out on the most fancy gold coffee. Oh well, its for sure on my list for the next time.

Our walk was reaching now 40 minutes but, we could see the Presidential Palace, which turned out to be just one entrance to a very long driveway. We brought entrance tickets and caught a bus to the buildings front courtyard. The driver told us this Palace had only been built in 2015, opened to the public March 2019 and is only used for official state business, even though the Prince has his own suit at the back. The pristineness, symmetry and detail was even more impressing than the Grand Mosque. Even the chandeliers, courtyard pillars and archways were perfect.

These two courtyard photos are nothing compared to inside this impressive place.

Every dome had symetrical, intricate patterns and lights that formed a perfect photo. The main dome was the most impressive and to get it in a photo I had to sit on the floor… got told off for that. Oops! Hehe! Got a wicked photo though.

After we forced ourselves out the Palace we had a quick lunch in a seaside restaurant and our first Pina Colada in UAE. It was a quick lunch due to the flies that surrounded us as soon as the plates were put down. Ewww! Never eaten a pulled beef rib burger and chips that quick before and the sea looked so inviting and close but, no time.

Our next tour took the rest of the day and well into the night. It was actually a birthday present from my boyfriend Josh. THE BEST PRESENT AND HIGHLIGHT of my Abu Dhabi trip.

We went into Al Khatim Dessert and there are no words to discribe how exciting all the activities and just being in the dessert. Next time I wanna sleep there, in the open, under the stars. After being picked up by our guide with Open Air Travels, at Gate Tower 2 we travelled to a camel farm. Being joined by four other people along the way and passing farmers animal markets along with countless camel farms. Our guide told us the sell the camels for meat, milk, for riding, races, tourist work, working camels and for beauty pageants. The lower the females lower lip the prettier it makes her (the strangest of all pretty camel features).

The camel on the right is a pretty lady.

After this we definitely had to put our seat belts on as we started our dune bashing. Withing our 4×4 WD we noticed a rolling cage had been placed inside and one of the other girls asked if our driver had rolled the car. His reply was silence, then ‘only once at the beginning’. I don’t think she wanted to hear that due to the nervous look on her face, although to tell the truth my stomach had millions of butterflies in it. Dune bashing kept going for 30minutes and I was full of adrenaline by the end of it. Some of the steeper dunes we went up, down and along the top were thrilling and I couldn’t stop laughing and squealing coming down them. The wheels would kick up the sand over the windows even so we couldn’t see. Scary but, I’d recomend it to anyone.

Halfway through we stopped and had miniature photoshoots with the dessert all around us.

In this same place we had the chance to go sand boarding. Although, this consisted more of body boarding down the dunes. Me and josh not only raced each other but, we also went down as a pair sitting on one board. At the bottom we had turned and I got a face full of the fine sand. Later on, at the camp, Josh got a chance to stand up and sand board. I was nervous about doing this but Josh convinced me and I loved it! Bring on snow boarding!!

Next, we travelled to our camp where we rode camels and went on an extra activity of quad biking – my surprise. This was my first time on one and I loved it. Riding up and down the dunes at dusk and night aswell was insane.

Afterwords we chilled at the camp with Arabic coffee with evening entertainment of: henna, trying on the traditional robes, sheisha, a camp fire, a bbq including a traditional pudding kind of similar to bread pudding), belly dancing, traditional spinning dancing with lit up outfits followed by stargazing, was provided.