Trip to an Oasis.

After the confinement during the long days of summer, we decided to go for a change with a long drive to a hilly place called Hatta. It is near to Oman and a part of Dubai. An oasis surrounded by the hills. As usual Aisha was happy to know that she is going out, and that too early in the morning. I don’t know how this happens but when I want her to get the maximum sleep on an eventful and long day, she seems to wake up earlier than usual. This day too, she was up by the time I finished my bath.

I washed her, fed her and dressed her. The moment she is dressed, she wants to get out of the house. She starts yelling and by the time we are ready, she will be in a mess. Today was no exception for her drama.

Our relatives joined in and we were four families with three kids – Aisha’s cousin Zahra and Z’s cousin Ihsaan. Aisha, Z and I were together in one car. Aisha was thrilled to see I, who is only 5 months old and she was always pointing him and shouting, “Look mom, I is doing that” or “I is doing this”.

Our first destination was a park at Hatta, were the kids could stretch out and play on the slides and swings. They ran everywhere, happy to be out of the car. After Jumuah prayers, we went in search of a decent place to lunch. We were disappointed as there were no good restaurants, and after ½ an hour we finally selected the ‘best’ place available, although it was below the standards. The food was also bad.

Hatta is a very small town; you can never call it a town. There are only a few people living there – the UAE nationals who are probably the government staff of the place and some East Asian expatriates who work in groceries, laundries, garages etc build for these nationals and themselves. I don’t think there are more than fifty shops in that area. But Hatta is a place of tourist attraction.

Our next stop was at the heritage village – a place form where you can read the history of UAE. It was a fort and inside it there were tents, utensils and weapons used by the old Arabs. Aisha wasn’t very happy to explore the place, as she was a bit tired and sleepy. The only entertainment she found there was a cat, which came near us.

We went to a mosque for our prayers, from were I washed Aisha and changed her dress. The refreshment made her active and she was lively once more, running across the masjid. I was also refreshed, with the cold water on my face and a little rest under the a/c. With renewed energy, we started for the dam – the main attraction of Hatta.

The dam was beautiful, surrounded by the hills. But it had only little water in it and it looked like a big pond to me compared to the dams I’ve seen in India. We had to climb down a lot to reach near the water, but the water level meters indicated a full dam once it started to rain. Aisha wanted to play in the water but her dad did not allow her. She was a little fussy about it. So I took of her shoes and allowed her to step into the water for a few minutes. She was reluctant to return, but had no choice. It was 6:30 in the evening and we had to reach Dubai. She slept as soon as we got into the car and woke up only when we stopped at her aunt’s home in Dubai.