21st-24th April Abu Dhabi

21st
We arrived really early this morning and were picked up by Louise and Julian.  It was nice to see the family again and spent most of the day relaxing as we were very jet lagged. We went on a small shopping trip in the afternoon but I don't think we were very good company as we were asleep by 7:30!

22nd
Today we went on a little sight seeing trip with Julian,  starting at the marina and the fish market. It was an experience to say the least.  It was really good to see the old traditional way of buying fresh fish and having it cleaned and prepared right in front of you. We drove around Yas Island and saw Ferrari World and the water park that we were really looking forward to going to later in our stay.  We went back home and later in the evening we went to the F1 track and walked around the 5km circuit with Nadia and Euan (he was on a bike). It was a really good walk! After the walk we went for a milkshake at a restaurant overlooking the track and it was pretty with all the lights.

23rd
Today we spent the morning playing with Aila and chatting with Julian before we headed off on our desert safari. We got onto a bus and drove for about an hour towards Al Ain and arrived at the camp which was in the middle of the desert.  After a quick briefing we went on our first activity - quad biking. It was lots of fun and Rob enjoyed going quickly up and down the dunes.  We then went on a camel ride which was short but we didn't need much longer as we don't think the camels were very happy to have us on their backs. Katrien then had some henna done in one of the tents and not long after we went on our dune bashing experience! It was lots of fun. A little scary at times when you see a big dune in front of you, you get to the top and there is a huge drop!! Unfortunately it was a little shorter than anticipated as we had a young Indian boy in our car that didn't like it and felt unwell :(. After our dune bashing we relaxed in camp before a lovely bbq dinner. We then watched a video about the United Arab Emirates and headed home again.  It was a really nice afternoon and enjoyed the Arabic cultural experience.

24th
Today we were on babysitting duties and watched numerous films with a poorly Aila. Later in the afternoon we went into the city to meet Nadia for a little city tour and tried to find a Shisha cafe to experience the night life of Abu Dhabi.  Unfortunately her usual place had shut down and after a long tome deciding where to go we opted for home instead.

25th
Today is the start of the weekend here in Abu Dhabi and it is also their day of rest and religious duties so often a lot of places are closed or have limited trading hours. We did plan our trip to Dubai and looked into planning our days at the water park and Ferrari world. We will update on our Dubai trip soon!

Lots of love

Katrien and Rob xxx