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I was so excited when I got to “sleep in” on the Tuesday! I got out of bed at 8am and had a lazy morning of showering, doing my hair and packing before we left for our trip to Khasab in Oman.
On our way out of Abu Dhabi we went past a few of the palaces. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any pics as that could have seen me spending some time in prison. And unfortunately I couldn’t see most of the palaces as they were behind tall walls, but I can say that they must be huge as their properties are each the size of a large surburbian block.
We also went past this gorgeous fountain on the Corniche road, as well as what has been dubbed “the paper building” by my mom as it looks like a folded piece of paper.
We then made our way onto Saadiyat Island so I could see the Yas Marina circuit and the Ferrari World theme park. The pic on the right of the starting grid was taken through the plexi-glass on the bridge hence the blue tinge.
Don’t you just love this dustbin-bicycle contraption! The country is so pedantic about cleanliness that there are street-sweepers at every corner. This contraption was only spotted on Saadiyat Island though, not in Abu Dhabi itself.
We then made our way to the IKEA store. I just had to go in as it’s apparently quite an experience as you are guided through the store in such a way that you see absolutely every item they have to offer. This is not good if you, like me, are a keen shopper battling the “I wants”. So I spent the next 30 minutes oohing and aahing over everything and mentally placing objects in a house that I don’t even own. It was awesome! And to top it all off, I bought us a hotdog-and-drink combo that cost me a total of R16.00!! And it included a free drink refill! I was in bargain heaven!
So we took our free refill and continued on our road trip. We travelled through Dubai and onto Ras Al Khaimah (RAK). We got lost in RAK as the map we were following said we needed to be on the E11 but no E11 could be spotted. Luckily my mom has a keen sense of direction and we managed to get onto the right road which led to the UAE/Oman border post. After about 20 minutes sorting out entry and exit visas, we were in the Sultanate of Oman.
Technically we were in the Musandam region of Oman as it is separated from the rest of Oman by the UAE. It’s location gives Oman partial control of the Strait of Hormuz.
We stopped quite a bit on the way to our hotel as there were so many gorgeous pics to take.
This was the first beach we saw and we just had to stop to take pics. We noticed that each beach was equipped with these “gazebos” which allow visitors some shady respite from the heat.
A little further on our journey we stopped at Bukha Fort. This fort was built in the early 17th century and was later restored/renovated in 1990. It was the west coast’s main line of defence as it had a great view of both the land and the sea. Apparently the main watchtower’s unusual pear-shape was believed to repel cannonballs and other projectiles better than the normal convention straight-sided towers.
To the one side of fort was an old building. We’re not sure if it used to be a house but it provided us with some awesome pics.
After this little walkabout, we got back in the car and continued on the winding coastal road. The sea was on its best behaviour showing us several shades of enticing turquoise. The mountains were just amazing to look at. And we stopped at each town to take a pic of the houses or the fishing boats. There was so much to see. And so much that was captured to memory because the pics just don’t do any justice.
After all the stopping and pic taking, we arrived at our hotel, The Golden Tulip, around 16h30. We were quickly checked-in and given a gorgeous room on the fourth floor which allowed for breathtaking views of the hotel as well as the Arabian Gulf and the main town of Khasab.
We quickly changed and went downstairs for a swim. After cooling ourselves down, we went back up to our room to chill a bit before dinner and bed.
*Day 5′s adventure to come soon…
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
Another early start was in store for me on Monday 16 May as we had to leave the house by 07h30 in order to get to the first school on the list (of three) for the day. We didn’t spend more than an hour at the first school before moving on to school number two for another hour or so, and then finally onto school number three. We left school number three around lunch time and as I was starving, we stopped at a local restaurant in the Bani Yas district. We had flat bread and humus and salad (though my mom ate all of this) and roasted mutton. And we washed this down with some soft drinks. The tee total of the lunch came to about R36.00! I was gobsmacked! Nowhere in South Africa (that I know of) can feed two people for R36.00 and leave them so full that they roll home. It was awesome!
While driving away from one of the schools, we spotted two baby camels that had been fenced in by their owners. They didn’t care about the lack of space, they were just happy to have some food to munch on.
After lunch we made our way over to the Sheik Zayed Mosque (the mosque that helped create the perfect sunset on Day 2′s adventure).
As it is a religious building, it was necessary for my mom and I to dress accordingly. We both donned our abaya’s (a black dress/tunic) and shaylah’s (a piece of material used to cover your hair).
In trying to explain the next set of pics, I need to explain the layout of the mosque and the surrounding infrastructure. If you look at the mosque from the parking lot, the mosque is on the right. To the very left of it is a large open quad. And to the “top” and “bottom” and left of this quad are covered walkways with the most beautifully decorated pillars.
This pic is taken from the entrance to the mosque showing the quad and the covered walkways that flank it’s sides.
This pic shows the myriad of pillars that decorate the covered walkways, and a close up of the intricate detail that covers the pillars.
And these pics were taken when my mom and I walked through the covered walkways to the opposite side of the quad (ie looking toward the mosque now and to the walkway on the right).
And if you thought the exterior is amazing, just look at the interior now!
Isn’t this the most gorgeous ceiling decor and chandelier you have ever seen?! And this is only in the foyer area of the mosque.
Also in this foyer area are gorgeously decorated panes of glass. The left pic is looking through the glass over the quad. And the right pic is looking through a set of doors down a covered walkway.
As I entered the mosque, I immediately got the feeling of how small I actually am. The building is immense! And I don’t think the few pics below will accurately depict the size and proportion of this beautiful building.
Again there are a myriad of pillars and domes all beautifully decorated. And again the most gorgeous chandeliers I have laid eyes on.
The gorgeous pillars
And the detail at the top of each set of pillars. This is made out of solid gold.
And the roof and wall detail
This is the wall that is faced when you pray. The words on the wall are all prayer words in Arabic.
After exhausting our cameras at the mosque, we headed over to Madinet Zayed Shopping Centre which is known for it’s discount shops. We know how much I love a bargain so I was in seventh heaven. We made our way to a perfume shop first and I bought a gorgeous smelling Arabic perfume. (If you see me in the next few months, be bold and take a smell at my neck as the perfume really is gorgeous!) We then went to a shoe and clothing store and went a bit mad buying things for my niece – gorgeous shoes and cute summer dresses. And before we left, we went past the main perfume shop and I managed to hunt down my favourite Lacoste perfume. Not only was I given quite a discount, when I converted the price back to Rands, I realised I had a real bargain on my hands and purchased a bottle immediately – 1 large bottle of Lacoste “A Touch of Pink” for roughly R280.00. I think I may need to get my mom to stock up on a few bottles for me and bring them over when she comes to visit in July.
We called it a day after the shopping excursion and went home exhausted. We weren’t allowed to laze forever though as my mom had planned a dinner with friends on level five of her apartment building. Luckily dinner didn’t end too late and we didn’t have far to go to find our beds.
*Day 4′s adventure to come soon…
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
I shared this dessert with Serena on Thursday night at Col’Cacchio Pizzeria in Benmore along with this dessert. She is out from Iraq at the moment and it was our chance to catch up with what has happened over the past few months.
It is listed as “Meringa” on their dessert menu and is priced at *R35.00 per portion. It is described as a delectable jumble of crushed meringue, fresh berries, cream and berry coulis.
My Thoughts
I really am in love with the berry-meringue-cream combo at the moment. And this one was just as yummy and delectable as all the others I have tasted. The cream was infused with berry coulis, small pieces of strawberries and pieces of meringue. It was the perfect mix of sweet but not too sweet. And a lot easier to eat than the others I have tried. The only disappointing thing was that there wasn’t a lot of meringue included in the cream mixture.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Try it and let me know what you think!
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
*The price is correct at the time of publishing
Are you a spelling “nazi”? Do you throw a tantrum every time you see a word spelt incorrectly? Well if you’re like me, a South African speaking the Queen’s English, then you will feel appalled each time you have to change the predicative spelling of words on your iPhone.
As they are manufactured in the US, the iPhone’s predicative text includes US spelling – realized, color, neighbor, etc. But the good news is you can change your language option to the British English allowing your phone’s predictive text to spell the way you do.
Take a look here for the full How To…
I shared this dessert with Serena last night at Col’Cacchio Pizzeria in Benmore. She is out from Iraq at the moment and last night was our chance to catch up with what has happened over the past few months.
It is listed as “Lindt Chocolate Panna Cotta” on their dessert menu and is priced at *R40.00 per portion. It is a double layer of Lindt white and milk chocolate smothered with a Lindt chocolate sauce.
My Thoughts
The first bite (or two…or three) was fabulous but after that each mouthful needed to be finished off with some water as it was so rich. I think my sweet tooth was not on it’s best behaviour because this dessert was just a little too rich for me… This must be a first!
Rating: 4 out of 10
Try it and let me know what you think!
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
*The price is correct at the time of publishing
Sunday morning rolled around before I had the chance to rest enough. I was woken early by my mom as Sunday is a weekday there and I was going to be tagging along on her school visits. I had a quick breakfast and shower (and managed to break the shower rail with barely a tug) and we were out of the house by 07h30.
Our first stop was ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council). And then it was off to the first of the five schools my mom advises.
There were a few things I found really interesting about the schools in general. Firstly, each student is given a cardboard lunchbox daily which contains a juice, a water, fruit, a yoghurt and a sandwich of sorts. So there is no need to bring your own food to school, and no “tuck shops” I could see. Secondly, the schools are a square building with the central area being the play area. This play area is usually under cover because of the year-round heat. And all the windows have guards on them. I’m still not sure if these guards are there to keep the kids in…
As Abu Dhabians are keen “feeders”, they will offer you copious amounts of tea and coffee and juice and water at every opportunity. I got so used to it that if I wasn’t offered something at a school we were visiting, I felt robbed. 
We stayed at the first school for a few hours allowing my mom time to catch up after being on home rest for 10 days as she had hurt her ankle. At 11h00 I was called in to the Social Worker’s office as he’d arranged a pizza party in honour of my arrival. Their pizzas are the size of a normal side plate and feature rich cheeses (not the normal mozzarella). They were quite yummy and I felt very special to have had a little party organised for me.
We then went off to the second school, the only girls school on my mom’s list of schools. And while we were waiting for the principal (my mom wanted to introduce me), we spotted a lady who wore the tell-tale signs of having attended a wedding over the weekend – henna tattoos on her hands and feet. Isn’t the design absolutely gorgeous?!
After we’d finished at the second school, we called it a day and went past Khalidya Shopping Centre so I could buy an appropriate swimming costume for our trip to Khasab (because a bikini is not appropriate, especially not my itsy-bitsy bikinis).
Next we went to Marina Mall as my mom said I just had to see the spice section at a shop called Carrefour. And while my mom paid for our purchases I went to exchange some Rands for Dirhams. Who knew that there are so many places available to exchange money?! There are literally a handful of places in each shopping centre.
After our brief shopping expedition my mom put on her Tour Guide hat and began to show me some of the sights. We went to the Emirates Palace Hotel first and it really was a sight to behold. It was built for the Sheik, but apparently once it was finished, he decided it should be turned into a hotel and another palace should be built for him. (Prepare for a multitude of pics…)
This is the view of the palace as you drive in. One of my favourite shots in this group is of the water. Love how it came out… In the top pics you can just see my mom standing at the top of the stairs – that gives an indication of the enormity of the palace.
Just before we entered the palace I took this shot. I love the lines and the shadows. Perhaps I’m a photographer in the making…
The inside of the palace is spectacular! All luxurious and spacious and filled with gold! Top left pic is of the many levels seen from the central atrium. Top right pic is of the ceiling in the central atrium. Bottom left pic is of one of the lounge areas in the foyer. And bottom right pic is of one of the staircases (love the lines).
And then I was told that we just had to visit the bathroom! I love how the bathroom sign takes their religious attire into consideration.
And while we were on one of the upper levels, we spotted a couple camels walking on the palace beach. How cute!
An overall view of the palace from the other side of the lagoon. It really is quite an impressive building!
From there we headed off to Spinneys which is a shop perfect for all ex-pats! It sells South African magazines, jams, teas, etc. So if I felt a little home-sick, this was definitely the place to visit. What’s more, they even have a Mugg & Bean above them! We bought a few things and then made our way to The Noodle House for an early dinner and so I could watch the sun set behind the largest Mosque. (Let me just tell you that I have a ton of pictures of this sunset but chose only to share one to ensure I don’t bore you with pics…)
Once dinner was finished we headed home so I could have a bath, some tea, and an early-ish night (was in bed by 22h00).
*Day 3′s adventure to come soon…
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
PS: Thought you’d enjoy some of the signs I saw while driving during the day. I really loved seeing each sign with the English and Arabic versions.
QUICK LOOK
- FM Radio with 20 pre-sets
- Compatible with all iPhones and iPods with a dock connector
- CD and USB functionality
- Dynamic Sound Generator X-tra Bass boost function (DSGX)
- Speaker units comprising of a 100mm Woofer (cone type) and a 40mm Tweeter (cone type)
- 6,9kg in weight
- Remote control (with 2 AA batteries included)You would think that since the system is so multifunctional, it would be a pain to setup. This was definitely not the case as there are exactly four cables to plug in to set up the system – one to plug the left speaker into the “brain” unit, one to plug the right speaker into the hub, one to plug the radio aerial, and finally one to connect the system to a power source.
Take a look here for the full review…
Saturday 14 May arrived far quicker than I had expected it to! I was a mixture of excited and happy and sad and emotional all at the same time.
I arrived at the airport around 10h30 and went straight to check-in so I could relieve myself of my heavy bag. The Etihad check-in guy was awesome! Not only did he greet me with a smile, he also had a great sense of humour. He asked me if I had anything of value in my bag and I replied with “only my GHD”. He laughed and replied with a “thought you would say your shoes” quip.
After a quick bite to eat and something to drink at Mugg & Bean, I proceeded through to passport control. Luckily it didn’t take too long to get through and soon I was waltzing through to my boarding gate which seemed to be on the other side of the airport. The first view of the plane was awesome as my excitement started to outshine my other emotions.
If you haven’t noticed already, or if you don’t get out much, South Africans love to queue. We do it without fussing or whining (most of the time). And it made me laugh when passengers on my flight started queuing to board when boarding hadn’t even begun yet. The Etihad crew were quick to tell them to sit down until boarding began. And once it did, everyone flew to queue even though there were only about 20 passengers.
Boarding was quick and painless. I hadn’t realised that the flight had come from Cape Town and so I was expecting to have a semi full flight considering the amount of passengers at the boarding gate. I found my seat and hoped against hope that there would be a little space available in the overhead storage compartment for one of my carry-ons. SCORE! There was just enough space for my little bag. I then took my window seat, taking my handbag with me as it contained the necessary items that would ensure I didn’t have to get up, climb over my “next door neighbour” and look for something in the storage compartment. Even though the flight had come from Cape Town, there were still a number of open seats. I was hoping I’d be lucky enough not to have a neighbour. But unluckily I discovered it was taken when a guy sat down beside me. To make matters worse, he sniffed and snorted every few minutes! I tried to distract myself with the copious magazines and crossword puzzles I had but they could only distract me so much. I would have used my iPod but I was told to put it away until after take-off (who knew?!). So I suffered with the snorting and sniffing for a good 30 minutes until my unspoken prayers were finally answered and he decided to move seats. WHOOP WHOOP! I now had 2 seats to myself which meant I could spread out, put my feet on the seat if I wished, use whichever tray table I felt like… Life was good!
And life got even better when I was handed a menu (A MENU!!!) informing me of what would be served/available.
And indeed life got even better still when I discovered the awesomeness of the in-flight entertainment. There were movies and TV programmes to watch, games to play, etc.
The touch screen was a little “iffy” at times but that didn’t stop me from watching THREE movies (I am number four, The Dilema and The Mechanic)! I had a 9 hour flight on my hands so I had to busy myself somehow. And since I didn’t want to sleep in case I messed with my sleeping clock, I decided the in-flight entertainment would have to do. And it did!
The rest of the flight was uneventful. Until I got my first look of Abu Dhabi. Granted I couldn’t see much other than the lights but that was quite a view in itself.
We touched down at 23h15 (Abu Dhabi time)! It was a breeze getting through passport control. And it was even easier to locate my pink bag as it was the first one on the conveyor belt when I walked through to collect it. I sauntered through to arrivals and ended up hunting my mom down as the flight had come in earlier than expected. It was then time to go outside so we could get to the car park. It was quite a change to be in a 38 degree humid heat when I had been freezing on the plane and in the airport because of the aircon. We eventually got to my mom’s apartment at around midnight and I did a quick unpack before passing out as I knew it’d be a busy Sunday ahead…
*Day 2′s adventure to come soon…
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
I received this via email the other day and I thought I just had to share it!
The Pastor’s Ass
The Pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.
The Pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again and it won again.
The local paper read:
PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONTThe Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the Pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.
The next day the local paper headline read:
BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASSThis was too much for the Bishop so he ordered the Pastor to get rid of the donkey.
The Pastor decided to give it to a Nun in a nearby convent.
The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:
NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWNThe Bishop fainted.
He informed the Nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey so she sold it to a farmer for $10.
The next day the paper read:
NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10This was too much for the Bishop so he ordered the Nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.
The next day the headlines read:
NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREEThe Bishop was buried the next day.
The moral of the story is . . . being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery . . even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life. Stop worrying about everyone else’s ass and you’ll be a lot happier and live longer!
Have a great weekend!
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
I can’t remember where I found this little pic but I thought it was very apt for the feeling of limbo I am experiencing at the moment. You see tomorrow I was supposed to be married. Tomorrow I was supposed to become a wife. Tomorrow I would be changing my surname. Tomorrow would be the start of a new chapter of my life. But tomorrow is no longer happening… Instead tomorrow will see me jetting off on a trip. A trip where I’m hoping to find some clarity, some peace of mind, a chance to just be, a chance to stop thinking about everything…
So miss me while I’m away. And hold thumbs that when I land back on SA soil next Sunday, my mind is clearer and more decisive.
Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles
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