Went a little higher on a cold January night!
Okay, the day #2 of our Dubai trip started a bit late because Jia and I slept late the night before, so we stayed asleep till 9am.
It was Friday, 6th January 2017. which means we have to the Mosque for afternoon prayers, so we prepared ourselves after we woke up.
We had some time to kill, so Jia and I decided check the rooftop of our hotel as a staff member informed us earlier about the swimming pool there, along with a steam bathroom.
Jia and I headed to the rooftop with Uzair, to view Dubai’s skyline from our hotel’s top.
And it was indeed very amazing!
The very first Friday of January 2017 was just so perfect. Seeing a clear blue sky from that rooftop, alongside Dubai’s skyline, was just so mesmerizing.
See what I mean!
These were captured by Jia’s smartphone as I once again didn’t bothered to take pictures with my camera of a perfect sunny winter morning.
The swimming pool on the hotel’s rooftop was good but I wasn’t in the mood of taking a dip in that. Jia felt the same way as we had to go for the Friday prayers, so Jia just opted for a picture of it, instead 🙂
That is Jia’s shadow!
We returned back to our room and later walked towards the nearby hotel where my Uncle’s family was waiting for us. Yesterday, I memorized the route, so we walked there ourselves. I took my camera with me but since we were going for the prayers, I didn’t took any pictures.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch back at the hotel and made plans about where should we go next on our trip.
Jebel Hafeet was chosen as our next destination and to reach it, we decided to go through the city of Al-Ain, the largest inland city in UAE.
A more than 90 minutes drive from Dubai to the city of Al-Ain was really fun for us as we another city of UAE within a span of 2 days. But since we were traveling at the night, I once again didn’t took any pictures of the roadside attractions.
We reached the mountain, after more than 9pm local time. That’s when I took out my camera and started to take as many pictures as I could.
Jebel Hafeet is a very famous tourist attraction, featuring a geyser, a children’s play park and much more. We spotted many families with their outdoor cooking gear as they enjoyed a perfect night out. We opted to eat our dinner at Al-Ain after we left.
The play park section grabbed Uzair’s attention and he kept playing there.
There were some electronic rides for the kids also at the play park, so Uzair also enjoyed those. The kid next to him is my Uncle’s son.
As Uzair was busy in playing around, I found something interesting of my own, by looking at the other side of the mountain:
Upon seeing this view of Al-Ain city from the mountain’s top, I went into an estate of awe and wonderment because this was definitely something I hadn’t seen in real.
Looking down at the city below was certainly a surreal experience.
Everything looked so small because this was my very first experience of standing on top of a mountain and watching the town below.
It was a chilly night as well because I was standing at an elevation of about 1000 meters, about which I didn’t realized. I didn’t bothered to pick my jacket before leaving the hotel earlier, so while admiring the lovely night view from the mountain, I also shivered a little but thankfully, didn’t caught any kind of cold, flu or sickness later.
And seeing such giants rocks up and close was also a wonderful experience. Touching these cold rocks was another surreal experience.
Looking at the town below from the mountain, I also wondered whether anyone down below is looking back at me from there, wondering just as same as I was.
We headed back to Al-Ain after spending about an hour at the mountain and searched for a restaurant to have dinner. To our surprise, many were already closed and it took us some time to locate an open one. The owner welcomed us in and we enjoyed a lovely dinner.
Before entering the highway towards Dubai, we made another stop at a local Starbucks. I enjoyed myself a cup of hot chocolate, which was something I really needed. I also bought 2 official Starbucks mugs as gift, one for Jia and one for my sister.
I was already asleep by the time our SUV was on the highway towards Dubai. My Uncle dropped me, Jia and Uzair at our hotel front and I didn’t checked the time as we just went back to room and hit the bed to resume our sleep.
This post is part of my 2017 Dubai trip re-experiencing as I’m sharing some old and some new photos from that trip, along with details about what I experienced in my very first foreign country visit. Read the previous episodes by clicking on the links below:
Blog of Hammad Rais 
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