Finding fun, relatively quiet and safe parks in Al Ain can prove to be a little bit of a challenge. However, in the Shiab al Ashkar District, you will find a great many beautiful, spacious and well-equipped parks. They range from rather large ones, with Helter Skelters and trampolines, to smaller ones with a scattering […]
Weekend fun
Ice Land Water Park, Ras Al Khaimah review
In October 2010, the Ice Land Water Park in Ras Al Khaimah opened. This joins the Wild Wadi and Aquaventure Water Parks in Dubai. How does Ice Land compare? This is my very personal review. I drove from Al Ain with my boys, aged 11 and 8, along with another father (I’ll call him David […]
Al Masaood travel agent in Al Ain
After we had settled here in Al Ain, I spoke with or visited 4 different travel agents in Al Ain. I asked one about flights to the UK: they just told me to go to the Etihad website. Two others I asked to quote for a holiday to Egypt: I chased both a few times […]
Journey from Al Ain to Fujairah
Here is my first draft of an article to show you what the car journey looks like from Al Ain to Fujairah. It takes about 3 hours to get to the beach hotels there like Al Aqah Beach Resort (our favourite), Sandy Beach, etc. If you have a Garmin satellite navigation device, or the Tom-Tom […]
Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort Hotel, Fujairah – views from balcony
Here are some photos taken from the balcony at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort Hotel in Fujairah… Looking to the north, the row of green trees in the middle of this shot marks the edge of Al Aqah’s land… Coming south down the beach, you can see the canvas tent covering the climbing frame […]
Rotana Hotel in Al Ain
Of the 3 hotels in Al Ain – the Hilton, the Intercontinental and the Rotana, this is the one I know the least about. I took this photo while there was some contruction work outside the hotel, so it’s not brilliant… What’s different about this grand hotel is that the main pool is surrounded by […]
UAE Offroaders
UAE Offroaders boasts more than 500 members. A number of them live in Al Ain. I have nabbed the following text from an article at the UAE Offroaders site. “UAE Offroaders is a club of fun, desert-loving UAE residents, organised specifically to give newbies a safe and encouraging support network to get started, as well […]
Dolphinarium, Dubai
The Dolphinarium provides a great show for all the family. We paid extra for premium seats, but once we were inside we realised that this wasn’t necessary: everyone there got a great view. Once you’ve paid your money, the only other thing that’s there is a fastfood-type restaurant. Across the expanse of grass is a […]
Danat Hotel, Al Ain
The Danat Hotel in Al Ain was, until 2010, called the Intercontinental Hotel (and still affectionally known as the ‘Intercon’). The Danat is very busy with tourists and new arrivals to Al Ain who are sometimes lodged there temporarily until their apartments or villas are ready to move into. Here are some photos of it… […]
Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort Hotel, Fujairah
The reason we Paynes moved to Al Ain was because we discovered this hotel a few years ago and then came twice a year ever since, then finally decided to move to this country as we like it so much! We’ve stayed at this hotel 11 times so far, ranging from 2 to 15 nights […]