Emirates Trip. Day 3: Al Ain

At one of the Jebel Hafeet stop

On the second day in Al Ain, we supposed to visit a 5000-year old Jebel Hafeet Tombs, It said that the tombs were excavated by Danish archaeologists and found artifact such as ceramics and vessels. However, it can be difficult to navigate the desert with the sedan car. We did stop at one of the camel farm and asked the local for the direction. To no avail, he drew the direction on the sand, as he doesn't speak English. In hesitant, we continued to drive about 5 minutes in the desert, in the middle of nowhere. Then, we decided to turn back.

Nonetheless, we had to stick to the plan. We moved on to visit Al Jahili Fort, one of the oldest historic fort erected in 1891. Hardly to see tourist flocked into this attraction, we rather took this advantage to really enjoyed the austere and picturesque of the fort. Built to protect the palm grooves, was also the former headquarter of the Oman Trucial Scouts. The palm groove was now a castle park. There was a permanent exhibition by the traveler with the name of Wilfred Thesiger, or Mubarak of London. It's quite interesting to see how he explored the places that no one has ever been.

Jebel Hafeet from the distance

The tower is the fort's landmark

The fort's entrance

The grandfather of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, the founder of UAE

The south wing is the information center of the fort and Al Ain itself

It was the largest castle in Al Ain and best-in-class example of local military architecture.

This round tower was actually separated from the castle.

Some of the architectural design in the castle, depict the pre-historic bronze age existence

Restoration has been carried out to preserve the historical significance

A permanent exhibition devoted to Wilfred Thesiger

He was the English explorer and traveler, who had been accommodated in Al Ain

About 5km from the fort, Qasr Al Muwaiji was another restored historical building, birthplace of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. The royal family lives here since 1946 before moved to Abu Dhabi in 1066, once became a Ruler. Interestingly, the exhibition was housed in a glass-walled within the courtyard. In fact, every room in the palace has been equipped with air conditioning. We felt really comfortable and didn't feel the scorching sun.

Inside a Qasr Al Muwaiji's mosque tower

The Qasr Al Muwaiji's entrance gate offers a splendid view

This was the home of Sheikh Zayen bin Sultan of Nahyan and his family

There was supposed a square window to provide access to the light (Read description below :P)

One of the room to host the royal guest

Walked through the magnificent glass-wall corridor

If you want to get more details about Qasr Al Muwaiji, go to their site, where you can book for guided tour, which we didn't opted to. Closed to the afternoon, we headed to Remal Mall, looking for a lunch. There are bunch local food restaurant in the food court situated at the top floor, we had our beriyani rice while nu'man enjoyed his burger. Then, we headed back to our hotel to rest, as we planned to had picnic dinner at Mubazzarah park.

Later in the evening, we made our way to Hili Archaeological Park. It was a combination of the archaeological site and public park where flocked by tourists and residents alike. The Bronze Age site was dates from 3 millions before century. Remains include settlement, tombs and 'falaj' were scattered inside and outside the park, while most of the artifacts were kept at the Al Ain National Museum. We rented a 3 wheels bike to stomp around the park.

Each bike was 30 drihams per hour

Hili Grand Tomb was built in a circular form with a diameter of up to 12 meters,

The archaeological sites were numbered accordingly. This was Hili 10.

I'm not pretty sure what exactly it was...

Another tomb that dating from the Iron Age

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Green Mubazarrah, probably the greenest place in Al Ain. Upon checking on the web, there was a hot water baths next the park. Ahhh we missed it! Anyway, we had our KFC meal picnic and Nu'man having fun at the small theme park.