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.
One of the photos which I took during the walk around was published in Gulf News newspaper which was an exciting moment for me. After our venturing and exploration was complete we descended to a Park which was the second destination of the picnic.
At the park lunch was arranged from a nearby hotel. We spread out multiple huge mats to accommodate the 25 people who were present. The mats were arranged in the shade of date palm trees which seemed to be modified to bear no fruits but grow bigger near the ground. Once we were done with eating, the stage was set for some fun activity. We played the game of Tambola aka Housie which was being played by many people for the first time and they were really having a great time. I would say that this is one game which can easily be played by a group of any size and will keep them engrossed throughout. The whole anxiety of winning a prize was great.
All of us had a good time and we played 2 rounds which lasted for about an hour. We then traveled to the last destination of day, a theme park called Funcity in the same state of Al Ain.
The rides seem to be scary from a distance and we were content watching them from there. Rides ranged from 360 degrees turns, water rides, 4D film show and many others. I restricted myself to the simple ones and then just relaxed sitting in the grass. By now it was time for dinner and we had again ordered it from the same restaurant which provided us with lunch. The 4D movie experience was the first time for me and I enjoyed it. It is a 15 minutes short movie where the screen shows the 3D affect and the remaining 1D is provided by the movement of seats.
After the final meal of the day we started heading back and reached home by 10:30 pm. The total driving for the day was close to 400km but the fatigue was little.
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