The state of Al A is probably the greenest place I had seen yet. Throughout my visit I had it in the back of my mind to find a greener place but failed in all attempts.

Getting that amount of greenery in a region which was once a desert is a marvel in itself. The fauna is not limited to desert shrubs or date trees but all kinds of beautifying plants and huge trees. It is sign of man’s perseverance and determination which has made this place hospitable in dry weathers.

Without getting any more philosophical just follow the below image to open the door of gallery to my picnic trip Al Ain.

For visitors who are landing on this page directly they can read more about my experiences and activities here in textual format.

Musandam was a great place to relax and just enjoy the water surroundings. The place did not seem to be much famous as the number of dhows and cruises seemed less. This in no way reflects the lesser extent of pleasure one might generate during and after the cruise ride.

The cost is neither exorbitant nor inexpensive. It was around 350 AED per person which included the pick up and drop from our home in Sharjah.

My earlier post was about the experience in complete text with some images. The following image will lead you to the gallery where photos from Oman and Musandam in particular are hosted. Hopefully they will inspire you enough to add this destination on your places to visit when you visit UAE or Oman next.

The state of Al Ain is probably the greenest place I had seen till now in my entire UAE trip. It was a group picnic where people from my father’s office were also to join us. We started the day early and assembled at 8 AM at the office which was chosen as the most convenient starting point of the onwards journey. It was a complete day outing where we planned to cover 3 places.

Al Ain is located about 130 km from Dubai and our place of interest, Jebel Hafeet was another 35 km ahead on a hill top. People were slowly reaching the office. The snacks and goodies were distributed to all before starting the journey. With some initial discussions and group formations, we finally managed to leave at 9:30 AM. After an hour of driving we halted for the snacks break. With a bit of lost ways and wrong turns we finally reached the hilltop in another hour by about 11:30 AM.

The landscape of road and the turns it formed to reach the hilltop is quite amazing. It is a single naturally created mountain with flat areas around it. There is no commercial plaza but just a small snack shop to cater for tea coffee and some cookies. The mountain top has been flattened to create a huge plain surface for enjoyment and strolling around. I explored all the different directions from the top capturing many photos. All the cars which came in were parked at the edges of the mountain leaving the middle area free for walk. There was a young Arab who seemed to flash his Ferrari and was racing around the place. The sound created by the machine was music to ears and the actual vehicle is a dream machine. The trademark red color was just amazing and I tried to take some photos but was not quite successful.

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One of my photographs got selected for display at Chitra Kala Parishad. It was an exhibition by BPC, Bangalore Photography Club where submissions were invited some time back under different themes.

My photo shown below was selected under the theme of "Nature". An even more exciting announcement was that it made into the top 25 frames which was sponsored by an Apple reseller store and Epson.

I want to thank Ram Manoj for taking this shot and giving me permission to share it on my blog. This is the only way I could see the exhibition as I could not go to the venue due to knee surgery.

This is an annual event from BPC aptly termed as "Frames of Mind" and this was the 2009 edition.

The frame has been returned back to me and I am quite happy with this achievement. It is the first time I have got my photos printed in that size. The image was printed at 18 x 24 inches. Framing the whole image with a border just adds to the look of the exhibit. I felt a deep sense of achievement on my photograph being exhibited at such a prestigious event.

Today is the last day of physiotherapy. A day I would have waited for when I entered the rehabilitation and recovery department 4 weeks ago. The big difference being that I am able to completely walk, undertake a lot of weight training and even jog for quite a while at high speeds.

The credit to making me in this good condition goes to my physiotherapist Rejisha who ensured that I always stretched to the next levels. Some credit to me also for sustaining all the pain while doing the exercises and doing them religiously without fail and any skips.

At the last day measurements were taken from both the legs at different places and they were found to be same and this was also a sign of recovery and strength getting back in the knee muscles and around it.

So now its complete movement and daily activities without any strenuous activities like a hike or a trek for another 2-3 months. I am hopeful that in the next 3 months I should be strong enough to go for a trek.