Our great-niece, Sara, came to town for a visit.

Just like Santa, she came in late December, but unlike Santa, stayed for a week or so to visit. She had been on a work-away in Japan. While there, she then decided to come over to visit us before going on to Europe. Her visit just happened to coincide with an unexpected extra week of holiday due to COP28. So, with this confluence of good luck, we spent some time exploring various areas of the UAE.

~If you just want to see the photos from Sara’s visit, click here. ~

We didn’t waste any time! We took Sara straight from the airport to Business Bay and the Dubai mall for food …

… and to check out the Dubai Fountain.

The show is short, but really quite spectacular.

We also were treated to an amazing light show on the Burj Khalifa. These shows can sometimes go on for some time, and can actually be seen from miles away. They can also be quite distracting if you are cruising down the highway at 140 and see the flashing lights off in the distance.

Once we had eaten our fill, and the shows were over, we drove the 90 minutes to Al Ain where we actually live.

I still had one more day of work left before my extra holidays, so we spent a couple days touring around a few of the Al Ain hot spots including …

… the amazing Al Ain Oasis, where they grow a wide variety of excellent fruits including mangos, citrus fruit, bananas, and of course dates.

The oasis is also home to several mosques. Most are relatively humble, but this one has a particularly good location and so makes for a great photo.

I took the opportunity to capture a few portrait shots with Sara and Annette here and there. Here is one of them!

Once I was officially on holiday, we packed up and headed to Dubai to stay in an AirBNB for a few days. We found a lovely place in the Dubai Marina, on the ‘inside’ of the canal between the canal and the gulf.

The entire Marina is on the beach, so as soon as we were settled, off we went to sit on the beach and enjoy some beverages.

The whole area of the Dubai Marina is next to the Palm Jumeriah, which contains some amazing buildings …

.. such as this one.

The beach itself is lined again with apartments and hotels. I have posted similar shots before, but I do find this area quite exciting.

We were just a couple minutes walk from the canal, which runs through the middle of the Marina area.

The canal is lined with hotels, apartment blocks, marinas, and lots of lights. All along the walkway are restaurants, shisha cafes and people of all nationalities.

The next morning, we went off to explore Dubai. One stop that many people do not even realize is still here is the Flamingo Sanctuary right in the middle of Dubai …

… filled with flamingos.

Oddly, there is only enough parking for about 7 cars showing how few people know it is here.

From there, we went on to Bur Dubai, sometimes called ‘Old Dubai’, at least by us. This area is along the Dubai Creek, which is not a creek but an inlet. There are lots of great restaurants …

… where you can get a shisha pipe for your after dinner relaxation.

– Lots of flavours –

There is also several souq areas along both sides of the creek.

To cross the creek, the easiest way is to jump on an abra. There are several abra stations where you can cross for about 30 cents.

They tend to be very busy, as this area is quite densely populated and business run in old-fashioned ways.

Along the creek, they still load dhows which travel to other middle-east countries and down to Africa.

On the Deira side of the creek, you can find the Gold Souq, the Spice Souq, and other ‘souqs’ where you will find lots of things to spend your money on. I always love walking through here and seeing the spices and being harassed in a friendly way by the merchants.

The next day we went to one of my favourite spots – the beach. This day was particularly windy and so kites were out in great numbers.

I have so many shots of this beach, but here is one more.

I really don’t know how they don’t get tangled up with each other. There must be more room out there than it seems from shore.

Anyway … We then returned to Al Ain and our humble flat. From there, we continued our adventures around the country.

On another afternoon and evening, we went out to a desert ‘safari’. These are generally a bit of fun. We get to bomb around the desert for a bit in a 4X4. We have done this before, but the drivers on these safaris tend to be much better than me! This one was great, but I think very short.

We got to ride on a camel which was also quite short – basically the time it took to take the photo. Nevertheless, it was interesting to get up on the camel and feel how it lurches when walking.

Among the entertainment on offer was a henna tent, some quite good food, belly dancers and a final show of fire-breathing jugglers.

On another day, I took Sara out into the desert to another of our favourite haunts – the Magic Forest. This area is along the Omani border. There is a small dip in the sand dunes, between which the groundwater lays very close to the surface. As a result, there are lots of trees and water, which support several small farms.

Often we get to see baby camels and a variety of other livestock. This time around, we mostly saw camels and sand!

We went up onto the dunes to get some shots and check out the views towards Oman and the Hajar Mountains.

There are quite a number of small farms like this one tucked into the dunes. They tend to have a lot of camels, but some do have goats, cattle and horses.

The tracks between these farms are often quite well packed making it easy for us to zip around

As if we hadn’t had enough camels and goats, we went of to the Camel Market which is not far from town and our villa. Here you can buy goats for your next celebration …

Goats!

… or just as a cute pet.

You can also buy a camel or two to increase your chances at the races.

While at the market, a very kind Emirati gentleman came up to us to inquire as to our business at the market. After a few halting arabic words, we were invited to his house! While there, he tiktoked us!

On our last full day, Sara and I drove to the Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi to learn about falcons. Technically, it is a very nice veterinarian hospital that specializes in falcons.

Falcons are susceptible to a number of strange diseases that arise from being wild animals that are held in captivity. For example, they get a lot of problems with their claws and they can break off feathers.

We were shown how they replace feathers so that the falcons can fly better and faster.

As part of the tour, we got to see one being fed a quail carcass. As you can see, the falcon made very short work of the poor little quail.

After the hospital, we did a drive around the mangrove swamps, the Mamsha area and over to the heritage club for a view of the city. Then, we were off to the mosque for a tour.

From there, we were able to make our way back to Al Ain for a final evening view of the city at sunset.

Every visitor we have gets a view of the city and the sun setting into the desert haze.

The next day, all three of us drove to the airport. Sara was off to her next destination, and we were off to Spain.