At the Market and Up the Mountain

Today I took our visitors to the livestock market in Al Ain to find some camel blankets and to see some camels. It was quite an experience!

The market consists of many, many pens of live animals (goats, cows, camels) that are waiting to be sold. It was exceptionally hot and rather smelly but we managed to get some blankets after a very complicated negotiation that did not result in any kind of discounted price that I could see. The general impression is that the people here will barter but the truth is that every time I've tried to do so the discount I get is either negligible or non-existent. Its also very difficult to haggle when the 2 parties do not speak the same language. Nevertheless, the experience alone is worth the price. They sold amazing things for camels in the shop. I kept trying to find out what they used the stuff for but I'm not sure I got the right information. Some stuff is for feeding, some for medicinal purposes like for when the camel has a bellyache and some just for decoration. It really is fascinating.

After this we went to see the camels. When we got there the handlers invited our visitors into the pen to be with the baby camels and took pictures of them. JJ and I stayed in the car as it was really hot but the handlers insisted we get out so we we went to stroke the camels and have our picture taken. They tried to get JJ to ride one but he was too frightened. They took many pictures and then included themselves while their buddies took pictures with cell phones. All this while the baby camels are milling about and, every now and then, sticking their noses out at us. When we were done, we went back to the car with the handlers right on our heels demanding 'Money money'. We gave them some Dhs10 notes and hot-footed it out of there with them knocking on the car windows and calling us back. Quite intimidating.

Next we made our way up Jebel Hafeet, the famous mountain here in Al Ain. We stopped at some look-out points along the way until we got to the Mercure Hotel near the top where we spent a very, very pleasant afternoon sun-bathing, swimming and riding the super tubes. JJ had an absolute ball and I think its safe to say that a good time was had by all. We left there feeling rather drained but content after an afternoon of fun in the sun.