Sunset at Al Muwaiji

Al Muwaiji Community is about 2 miles away from the Al Ain Town Center, along the Abu Dhabi Road and about 250 meters away from my place. It has a shopping complex, an ADNOC gasoline station, restaurants, residential flats and villas around the community.

Photos shown below were taken yesterday. Once again, it makes me happy to see the majestic sun disappearing below the horizon. I will never get tired of watching the sunsets, the clouds and the skies.

06:10 PM

06:35 PM

Posted for Skywatch Friday. Thank you Skywatch Team. Go and visit Skywatch Friday's main web page for more beautiful skies all over the world. Simply click the badge above, join us and have fun!

Have a great weekend. Salaam!

Word of the day: mara' thanya is the arabic term for again or once again.

Autumn?

Autumn? No. These are dried leaves that fell from the tree just in front of my neighbour's house.

United Arab Emirates has an extreme weather condition. Summer is extremely hot and winter is so cold though there is no snow. Usually northern emirates can experience hail storm during the month of December and January. Heat is ravaging the trees and plants here in Al Ain City these days and most probably in all other emirates.

Word of the day: fasl al kharif is the arabic term for autumn. Salaam!

Sunset

Sunset at Abu Dhabi Road

click the images to enlarge

I know.....I know...Oh yeah! I know that today is Wednesday (still oriented :) after 3 night duties in a row) and I am supposed to be posting for the Wednesday meme but it makes me glad to see the sunset everyday each time I am preparing for my night duties. I can't wait for the Friday meme for these sunset photos (oh yeah convince your blogging friends or simply admit that you are too busy Misalyn). 

Word of the day: youm al arba'a  is the arabic word for Wednesday. Salaam!

Al Ain Mosque #9

This is a huge mosque at 9th Street of Al Humairah Community in the Central District and the biggest mosque that I've ever seen in Al Humairah Community. It has 2 big domes and 2 minarets. It looks more of a fortress :) Photos shown below were taken few weeks ago at 07:00 o'clock in the morning before I went to Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort (Al Ain Zoo).

main entrance

domes

a closer shot of the dome

Word of the day: tisa'a is the arabic word for number nine. 

Have a wonderful start of the week. Salaam!

Reflections at Green Mubazzarah's Artificial Lake

This is my very first entry for the Weekend Reflections meme hosted by James. Photos shown below were taken in January 2010 at the Green Mubazzarah Park located in the foothills of Jebel Hafeet. The artificial lake was created for the beautification of the park. True to the local government's objective, this lake is one of the most visited areas of the park especially during the winter season here in the United Arab Emirates.

For more Weekend Reflections images, please visit James at Newton Area Photo. Click the link provided or click the badge shown below and you will be directed to James' web page.

Word of the day: fasl al shita'a is the arabic term for winter . Salaam! 

Skywatch Friday- Sunset

Sunset at the First Interchange of Sheikh Zayed Road.

"When I admire the wonder of a sunset or beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator." ~~Mahatma Gandi

For more beautiful skies around the world, visit the Skywatch Friday's main web page. Have a great weekend.

Word of the day: maghreb (sometimes spelled maghrib) is the arabic word for sunset. Salaam!

My Breakfast Buddies

McDonald's Khalifa Street Branch was renovated in 2009. They removed the McPlayplace and added more space for the people to dine in. This year they started the 24-hour operation with breakfast meals available up until 11:00 AM.

By the way, meet my breakfast buddies....Mary Anne and Emily. We love the sausage mcmuffin, hash brown  and hotcakes. Instead of the usual coffee or hot chocolate, I always ask for apple juice. We love to stay here  after our night duties. Chit chatting while eating  is our way of destressing after our tiring shift.

Word of the day: sanna is the arabic word for year. Salaam! Have a great weekend.

Penguins at Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort

One of the most visited areas of Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort is the Bird House, just few blocks away from the Dinosaur Trail, where you can find several avian species including these aquatic and flightless penguins. It was an amazing experience for me to see these flippers. They look so cute and adorable and I watched them swim and walk around the enclosed area for about twenty minutes.

(please click the images to enlarge)

Their 'sanctuary' is well ventilated and air conditioned in a high cool setting.

They look like sumnabulist critters :) in this shot

a lovely flipper

Posted for Watery Wednesday hosted by 2sweetnsaxy. Are you ready to get your eyes wet? If your answer is yes, click the badge below and check out the other participants.

Word of the day: 'ayyuwn is the arabic word for eyes . Salaam!

KFC's Service Crew Members

A Filipino and an Egyptian service crew members of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) at Al Ain Mall.

Kuwait Food Company-Sharjah is the Emirates branch of the Americana Group that deals with the operation of the international franchises like Hardee's, TGIF's, Krispy Kreme, KFC and Pizza Hut.

Aside from the mouth-watering burgers, I also like KFC's refreshing frozen drink full of real bitz, the Krushers, especially nowadays because it's summer time here in the UAE; but don't ask me about the compensation and benefits of their employees because I might give you a real grimace :(

Photo shown above was taken a month ago before I left Al Ain City for a short three-week vacation in the Philippines. I and my brother were waiting for my sister-in-law to take her break so that we can eat together at Ponderosa Steak House and Restaurant. Before the break, the POS machine must be checked and all the sales must be counted. The Egyptian crew member was counting the UAE currency notes  and when I asked them if I can take a picture, they gladly posed for me. My sister-in-law was a bit shy and decided not be included in the said shot.

Posted for Ruby Tuesday hosted by Mary. Click the badge below to check out the other participants.

Word of the day: ahmar is the arabic word for red. Salaam and have a nice day fellow bloggers!

Vintage Cars

Some of the vintage cars from Abu Dhabi Classic Cars Club 'parked' inside the Al Ain Mall for public viewing and appreciation. If you're living in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and you have a nice vintage 'baby', click the link and join the club.

Word of the day: sayyara is the arabic term for car. Salaam!

Al Maha

I was about to click my camera when I heard a cute little lad said "shuf mama, fi al maha!", while pointing his forefinger at the next block and while the other hand was holding his mother's abaya. I was so curious to see what al maha is and how does it looks like. I followed the lad and I saw some antelopes with long straight horns. It was 11:00 AM and the al mahas were enjoying their snack :).

Al maha, less commonly known as al wadhihi in arabic, is an arabian oryx. A medium sized antelope with small shoulder hump, long straight horns and a traipsed tail. Arabian Oryx is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

For more information about the arabian oryx please click here.

Word of the day: shuf is the arabic word for look. Salaam!

Meerkats at Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort

It may look as an ordinary animals for some people especially for those living in South Africa and Botswana,  but for me these are rare animals and seeing them for real is kinda fascinating. Photos shown above were taken last Sunday at the Al Ain Zoo. It was a sunny and lazy Sunday for them (I guess) when all of the sudden a loud noise disturbed them. They were all keen to see what's going on with their surroundings :)

Meerkats are small animals from the kingdom of animalia with a scientific name of Suricata suricatta and a member of mongoose family. For more information about these critters, click here.

Word of the day: sagheer is the arabic word for small. Salaam!

Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort's Dinosaur Trail

I have been to the Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort last Sunday. It was too hot and sunny day with blazing 37 degree Celsius all the way until around 12:00 o'clock mid day turning my face into a nice bright red almost matching my shirt :). I was too early and I waited for about 2 hours before I finally saw these incredible lifelike animatronic dinosaurs.

(images are clickable to enlarge)

As I walked in through the gates, I saw kids of all sizes and shapes, mostly students having their field trip, with a big grin lighting up their tiny cute faces but there were some kids who absolutely hated it and bawled their eyes out. 

A 15-minute walk through the Dino Trail enthralled me because these dinosaurs were moving, rolling eyes, spitting and they're pretty noisy. Seeing them up close and personal, I did found out the way they lived through the information posts in every dinosaur. Another thing that surprised me was the little merchandise store at the end. The prices were really reasonable. I bought 2 big dino pencils for my 6-year old  and 12-year old kids (they are coming back to live with us here in Al Ain City; they will be here before the school year starts, most probably by July).

Very educational and informative indeed though they could have added some more foliage in between to make it more realistic and they could have made the pathway wider and tarmaced especially for those guests and visitors using wheelchairs, otherwise it was fun and fascinating.

The Dino Trail is open through July 2010 and it's really affordable for a price of AED 25 (US $6) with the combination tickets for the wildlife park, and AED 15  for children between 3 and 12 years old. Tickets are for free for children less than 2 years old.

Word of the day: yawm al ahad is the arabic term for Sunday. Salaam!