Frosty the snow Camel

Greetings friends,

So we haven't posted in a while because we've been on holiday. And by holiday, I mean we are housesitting for friends who are currently in Sri Lanka for the holiday season. It's been pretty sweet! They have a much better place than we do so it's been like we've been in a sweet hotel for the past two and a half weeks.

We decided not to do TOO much this holiday for a couple of reasons. First of all, we barely know Abu Dhabi so why not get to know our home before venturing out?! Also, our friend was due to have a baby over Christmas, so we wanted to be around to help out.

We did, however, decide to do a tiny little adventure to Al Ain which is just a 2 hour bus ride from Abu Dhabi.

In short: It was magic.

I found a Groupon (I love Groupon!!!!! It's dangerous times though. I could literally buy one every day - they are just TOO good!!!) for a five star hotel in Al Ain with free access to the zoo, so we packed up and headed out on December 22nd - a nice little pre-Christmas adventure.

The hotel was stunning ass!!!

Here's the front of the hotel with a nice Nativity scene and everything. 

We really had an epic time. SO epic, in fact, that we reviewed that jazz on TripAdvisor when we got back. Yeah... recommended! 

With the exception of the complimentary buffet breakfast (which is arguably my favourite part of ANYthing EVER), my most favourite part of the entire trip - a part of the trip which made me giggle in excitement which caused lots of staring - was the immaculate, tropical resort-like swimming pool:

Look at this shit! <----

It was amaaaaaazing. I had NEVER been in a sweet ass pool like this! It was HUGE and just a tad heated and swirly and it swirled around some trees, a lounge, and it had, YES IT HAD, a swim-up bar!

*enter fireworks and screams of excitement*

Girl, let me tell you, I felt swank ass luxurious and amaaaazingly rich in this pool. We waltzed around like we paid FULL price for a luxury suite! It was awwwwwesome. I didn't purchase anything at the swim-up bar, but I was just excited to sit there and feel like I was in Cuba. Al Ain is close enough. :) Christmas in the tropics? We felt like we were further than where we were. 

After a hell of a lot of giddy excitement in the pool, we cleaned up and had a romantic dinner poolside at a beautiful Lebanese restaurant in the hotel. There was like NOTHING around the hotel, so we were really glad that it had an abundance of restaurants and eateries to choose from. 

Here we are looking all cute and romantic.

After eating our body weight in hummus and smoking enough shisha to make an Emirate dude go "Whoa man", we chatted about life, love, happiness and the future for hours. It was really a beautiful place to just sit and be. We were there until like 11pm and yet the weather was just perfect. I got a little chilly on the way back to the room, but I'm 'cool' like that. (<-- See what I did there?!) The coolness of the evening was actually refreshing - my LORD Al Ain was hot. I think it was around 29 degrees when we Canadians are used to -3287854683795 and snow. A different Christmas but a really beautiful one.

Good Morning! (Course 1/6)

As I mentioned, the Groupon came with a complimentary breakfast buffet and HOLY HELL did we cash in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even MENTION all the damn food there was. Between the English breakfast, the Arabic breakfast, the BREAD station, the cold foods, the hot foots, the fruit bar, the omlette and pancake station, the coffee dumplings (let me tell you!!!!) and the faux sausage and bacon? Mannnnnnnnnn. I had six plates. My IBS yelled at me later for it, but bitch please, LOOK at this! ^

It's safe to say Bernard and I lived like a king and queen this weekend. We even had left over pitas that were still wrapped from the night before at dinner, and clearly because breakfast was complimentary, I felt the need to take a couple packets of nutella, some honey, jam, and a pear and a banana for the road. If I brought tupperware, we'd STILL be eating that shit! It was mindblowingly good. I couldn't control myself!!! 2013 New Year's resolution? Portion control! I think my brain AND THIGHS are made of coffee dumplings and hashbrowns. :) Haha.

Epic.

After breakfast, we checked out and went to the zoo. There we saw some animals. Our last animals to see were these majestic creatures. We watched the turtle sex for longer than socially acceptable, Bernard took a video and a thousand pictures, and then we left. 

Christmas EVE and SANTA!

When we were on a bus home from our magical Al Ain adventure, our friend had a baby. We went to see Santa and then later we went to the hospital to welcome her newly born son to the world. 

Best. Christmas. Ever?? Although last year when I introduced Bernard to my family and had a warm amazing Christmas in Canada was amazing, there's something to be said about being entirely out of your comfort zone and getting dolled up for a weekend of luxury with the one you love! Christmas just keeps getting better and better! I wonder what next year will have in store for us? :) 

A very Merry (belated) Christmas to you and yours and an exceptionally happy new year.

With love directly from the sun,

The Winter wonderland Wuns