2008

Shaikh Mohammed with his two sons: Shaikh Hamdan (r) and Shaikh Maktoum (r)	Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (aged 25)- newly appointed Crown Prince of Dubai	Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (aged 24)newly appointed joint Deputy Ruler of Dubai

Tea mornoing at the residence of the Indonesian Consul General . These ladies will perform a dance using the plates they are carrying	Susanne (it was her birthday) and Birgitte	The pavillion
An introduction was made to the event	A mother to be - 7 months pregnant with her first child has to go through a ceremony. First the parents to be ask for her parents to bless them	Next she is being washed with water and flower petals
All guests "buy" a taste of food from the parents to be. If it is too spicy: the baby will be a boy, too sweet it's a girl	A beautiful set-up in the garden with a delicious lunch to follow
I went with the coffee-ladies to Souk al Bahar a newly opened old style mall just opened in the Business Bay area by Burj Dubai		Quite a few shops are still waiting to open
Still a construction site	The view from the inside towards the Burj Dubai	A beautiful ceiling lamp
Hanne, Nina and Bente
	Nina and Anne looking at Iranian carpets
Annabel, Peter, Leonore and Constance are on their second holiday to Dubai and we went to the Old Souk in Dubai
Annabel enoying a sandwich on the beach in Musandam on the way to Khasab - the wind was really, really cold!	Peter and Poul	the girls on the beach
Getting ready for the drive to Khasab - Musandam		We stayed at Esra Hotel appartments in Khasab
	The girls played in the freezingly cold pool...	While Annabel and Poul wisely kept on their jumpers!
	We enjoyed our bbq	Getting ready to go on the customary dhow trip into the fjords of Musandam
	Ours was the last dhow in the row	Anil from Khasab Travel andTours
Our Captain - Mahel, aged 22yrs - and in the back ground his village
Shaikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. Cultural Lunch - with arabic coffee and food - and Danish television interviewing some of the guests - including Peter.
Visiting Old Town - the newest development in the centre of Dubai. Home to Burj Dubai soon to be the worlds tallest structure.
And the usual trip on the abra up-and-down the Creek
And the ususal visit to the old souks
AL AIN - JEBEL HAFEET - in the Abu Dhabi Emirate	Poul is checking with Kor if we are in the right place. We are. This is our visit to Al Ain and the hot springs at the foot of Jebel Hafeet.	Peter checking out the picnic-cooler bag
	Leonore	The water in the spring is VERY hot.
Masbah lil nisaa - swimming pool for women. There were two pools for women and one for men - inside no pictures were allowed - but the Indian ladies wore their saris in the water and the three (3) ladies guarding the pool didn't ask them to put on proper swimming gear (as requested on the signs outside the pool).	The house with one of the spring water pools	Overlooking the picnic area from the mountain
Driving up the mountain there were a lot of designated parking areas where you could enjoy the view of Al Ain	The ususal rubbish being dumped everywhere	You can almost make out the two cyclists enjoying the drive down the mountain (up is 2 - 3hrs - down is app 20mins)
	Al Ain
Hotel Mercure almost at the top of the mountain
		Peter and Poul admiring the motorcycle parked next to the taxi sign....
The lobby of hotel Mercure where we enjoyed our coffee
At the top of the mountain the fence was rather fancy - but of course with a VIP neighbour it had to be
	The VIP neighbour: Shaikh Khalifa, President of the UAE is building a summerresidence to be used for a few weeks in July every year	Al Ain museum
	The Al Nahyan family tree - the Al Nahyan family is the ruling family of Abu Dhabi and the president of the UAE comes from this family(tribe)	a Majlis (livingroom-come-meetingroom for the men of the family)
a falcon		and a bustard
	Pottery from China, Thailand and Korea has been found in the Al Ain area
A display describing the coffee ceremony
jewellery	The Holy Quran	Shells being used to feed babies.
Instruments for circumcision and cutting the umbilical cord		The chair where a boy would be seated for the circumcision
		Outside the museum.
This was the last sightseeing with the Krarup/Belling family in Dubai