Visiting Al Ain

I visited the oasis town of Al Ain over the weekend. Two things come to mind in Al Ain – oasis and roundabout. Of course, this is the largest oasis in UAE with many natural greens which are so hard to come across in the Middle East. And this must also be the roundabout city of the world – there must be hundreds of roundabouts at every intersection of the town. With the mad drivers around, it is really quite interesting to try to tackle one roundabout!

The highlight of the town is of course the oasis itself which is a huge expanse of greens (mainly palm trees) located smacked in the middle of town. The oasis is irrigated with the ancient Falaj system of channels and cloth barriers. Around the oasis are many of the town’s interesting tourist attractions – Al Jahli Fort, Sultan Fort, Al Ain National Museum and Al Ain Palace Museum. Of particular interest would be the Al Ain Palace Museum. This was the home of the ruling Al-Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi. I caught a glimpse of how life was for the royalty before the discovery of oil! I got to see the royal courtyard, private residences, majlis, coffee room and even the royal kitchen (looks like our Mamak kitchen!) Oh…. I even found the royal bed! Not very majestic but very Arabian!

Another must-see would be the Al Ain Zoo. It reminds me of a smaller-scale Singapore Zoo – really very well run and maintained. The zoo is basically desert-themed with many of the rare Arabian animals like the oryx and gazelle. Surprisingly I didn’t see any camels or dromedaries. But I found my ‘rakan sekampung’ – the Orang Utan! The Al Ain Zoo is one of the biggest in the Middle East and is quite a surprisingly nice tourist attraction.

Another interesting attraction was the Jebel Hafeet (Jebel means mountain). This rocky mountain is reached by a 15km winding road which brought me up to a 1500-m peak overlooking the town of Al Ain and its surrounding desert. There is a sense of calm and tranquillity up there – a unique geological site.