Holiday @ Danat Al-Ain Resort With an Awesome Pool!

we stayed in danat al-ain resort when we enjoyed wadi adventure last few weeks. it was obviously an old hotel, judging by the elevator alone – with its old-fashioned number buttons that you see in old malls in ipoh! haha.

but old is gold at times, and we had a wonderful time at danat al-ain resort, abu dhabi.

 

 

most importantly the boys were so excited to see the swimming pool – after the disastrous ‘splash pool’ experience at wadi adventure. they were so psyched to dive in!

there are 3 pools at danat al-ain hotel – an olympic-size pool, a cute kids’ pool with a slide, and another huge pool with differing depths throughout. I love the latter pool because even my younger kids can enjoy that huge pool because it’s not too deep. and it’s not too shallow for a full-grown man either – so all my boys could enjoy being in the same pool!

 

the room is comfy, spacious and clean. overall an enjoyable experience for us!

 

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my boys having awesome pool time : kahfi in red floaties, kazim in blue float, and big bro khaleef in goggles.

 

the kids’ pool is small, but this makes it easier for the lifeguards to keep tabs on the kids. it also has a roof over it which is so helpful once the sun goes up!

 

goin up to use the slide

 

my boys made friends with this adorable boy ibrahim who has a lebanese mom and jordanian dad. he hung out with my boys the whole time. he was SO cute and chatty!

Wicked Whitewater Rafting @ Wadi Adventure, Al-Ain

always wanted to try whitewater rafting. who, me? NAAH! I’m talking about mr. khairul the adventurous, outdoorsy half of syigim-khairul. haha. we headed on to ‘wadi adventure’ al-ain. it’s situated in the foothills of the majestic jabel hafeet in al ain, abu dhabi as you can see what surrounds the spacious waterpark.

wadi adventure has the world’s longest man-made whitewater channels; with 3 channels of different levels. awesome!

wadi adventure basically has 1) this big wave pool where you can surf, 2) a pretty nice wall climbing spot, 3) an ‘airpark’ where you can climb, balance on walking planks, do flying fox and stuff. there’s also a 4) mediocre, unimaginative ‘family pool’ and 5) a sad excuse for a kids’ pool called ‘splash pool’. I’ll explain more later.

‘wadi adventure’ is not really a water theme park as it doesn’t have any water rides and slides – but there are many activities you can indulge in – the most popular would be the whitewater rafting and kayaking.

 

 

entrance fee + extra payment for activities!

and you have to know that the entrance fee of aed50 for adult and aed25 for kids give you access to ONLY the surf pool beach area (which is also closed to others if someone is surfing- according to the lifeguards), family and splash pool, and the low ropes course. the OTHER attractions that I mentioned above? you have to pay EXTRA.

for white water rafting, we pay an extra aed100 for 1.5 hours.

for khaleef to do his favorite wall-climbing – aed40 for 20 minutes!

there’s pros and cons to this arrangement : first, for someone who wants to do ALL the activities offered would have to pay much more; it would be better to include all activities in an appropriate one-time entrance fee.

however,

like for me who only accompany my boys at the pool, and to just take videos of mr. khairul on a raft shouldn’t need to pay so much than others who wanna do more activities. so in that sense, it’s good that I’m not paying for activities that I’m not gonna do anyway.

 

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the boys played at this little obstacle course run next to the ‘airpark’. it’s a decent one, but cammon – wadi adventure in ABU DHABI? I expected more. look at the kids obstacle course in ‘escape adventure’ teluk bahang in penang, malaysia and you’ll know what I mean by MORE.

 

airpark & zip lines

this is similar to what we did in penang a few years back. it’s basically walking while balancing of various items – planks, ropes, circular discs – while hanging by a zip line. it might be so adventurous and fun for a first-timer, but look at what my boys did in ‘escape adventure’ penang – and you’ll know that you ain’t seen nothing yet!

click here to read about this awesome place in teluk bahang penang!

 

 

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wall-climbing

khaleef tried his favorite wall-climbing. we had to pay an extra aed40 on top of khaleef’s entrance fee for him to do this. for 20 minutes. there was only one other guy waiting for his turn so there was practically no queue.

khaleef went up, and got strapped up in his safety harness.

 

the dude in blue was the wall-climbing instructor. he motivated khaleef all the way; and I like that he addressed khaleef by name which personalized the experience.

 

my khaleef all set to climb!

 

pretty long way up, but khaleef was not hesitant at all to climb all the way! go khaleef go!

 

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whitewater rafting

boasting the world’s longest man-made whitewater rafting channels, mr. khairul was particularly excited to do this activity. it’s said in many sites that it’s important to make prior booking for this activity to avoid disappointment because it’s so popular (also kayaking) but funny thing was, there was hardly ANY crowd when we went eventhough it was a weekend.

it looks nothing like the waterparks that we’ve been to. NO crowd! just a few people here, and one family there, and another group scattered around. we were walk-ins and easily got a slot for whitewater rafting.

scroll through our pictures – do you see anyone walking around the park in our shots? it was like it was just us! haha.

(mr. khairul paid an extra aed100 for this 1.5-hour activity).

 

there were 3 channels altogether with different levels. here is mr. khairul and his ‘raft-mates’ about to go on the first course – a mild, uneventful one just to get a feel of navigating through the channel. in each raft there would be 4 people, and 1 instructor sitting at the back.

 

the boys tired from running and rolling on the kids obstacle course, watching their dad doing the whitewater rafting. you can see the ‘airpark’ at a distance. looks smaller and unattractive compared to the one in penang! click here to see.

 

look at that view! what a fantastic sight of the foothills of jebel hafeet al-ain as they paddle away in that yellow raft. click the picture below for full view of the 1st and 2nd whitewater rafting channels.

 

here is the final course to whitewater raft in wadi adventure – it’s the roughest among the three. it was funny (but looks dangerous!) when mr. khairul and his raft-mates were asked to ‘drown’ themselves neck-high in the surging waters and just let themselves float to the much calmer part of the channel. this was part of the training, to let them have a feel of swimming through the strong current.

 

 

whitewater rafting has obvious risks when done in nature with sharp turns and hard rocks – so wadi adventure provides a safe, controlled environment where mr. khairul can still experience the exhilarating whitewater rafting with minimized risk!

mr. khairul enjoyed it so much and said THIS is what wadi adventure is all about (which basically translate to ‘this is one activity worth paying for!) in fact, amazing race has once made this course one of its challenges!

 

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splash pool

“where’s the kids’ pool?” I asked the lifeguards. no, this can’t be IT. but yes, this is IT. this was what I meant by ‘sad excuse for a kids’ pool’ at wadi adventure. calling it a pool would be an insult to awesome pools everywhere.

this is a puddle. you should call it ‘splash puddle’. my youngest kazim stood in the so-called ‘pool’, and it’s practically ankle-high!

my younger boys who can’t do wall-climbing like my eldest can ONLY enjoy THIS ‘pool’ when they come to wadi adventure so it was very sad to see that THIS was what they came all the way for.

cammon wadi adventure, give us our money’s worth and build a PROPER pool for the kids – with slides at least!

 

in singapore, when we stayed at festive hotel in sentosa island, there was a ‘pool’ similar to this, only ankle-high but there were arches across the pool with water showering out, and big huge squirt guns around the splash pool so my boys had so much fun and not just ‘splashing around’. be creative lah wadi adventure! ni kat dubai marina pun ade! free!

 

 

family pool

now THIS is what they call ‘family pool’ and I was very surprise to know that this was THE pool in the whole wadi adventure.

first, I was very disappointed that wadi adventure took no imagination AT ALL in building the pool. it’s just a boring rectangular-shaped pool with no design whatsoever. the pool in my current apartment has more imagination than this!

also, it’s quite small considering that it’s a FAMILY pool – assuming every single family visiting wadi adventure would want a dip in this pool.

also, it’s a FAMILY pool but it’s deep so my younger sons could not join their dad and elder brother in the pool. sure there’s complimentary floats but I would want a pool with differing depths so my sons can all swim safely.

 

 

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it was getting SO cold towards the end of the day!

 

the surf pool behind the boys

 

 

I suggest going to wadi adventure if you really wanna try the whitewater rafting because that was really awesome; especially navigating through the world’s longest man-made whitewater rafting channel.

kayaking is also a hot activity, and if you wanna surf in a safe environment, this is a place to be too. but if you’re a family with young kids? you had better spend your dirham at yas island waterpark ‘yas waterworld’ for a more money-worth time. they have the most fantabulous kids’ pool!

(click here for our time at yas waterworld, abu dhabi)

that said, wadi adventure is truly an oasis in the desert; beautiful place to raft and surf!

Holiday @ Tilal Liwa : A Hotel in the Desert

we’ve been to hotels by the beach (well, we’re currently LIVING by the beach but oh well) hotels attached to the mall, hotel near a theme park – but never smack in the middle of the desert! so off we go to get this new experience!

we went to madinat zayed city in the western region of abu dhabi to liwa desert – to stay the weekend at ‘tilal liwa hotel’. this resort is said to be the ‘jewel in the desert’ because of its location and the privacy it provides as a retreat from the busy city life of dubai and abu dhabi.

 

the surrounding desert area is called ‘rub al khali desert’.

 

this was my first time travelling to the western region of abu dhabi. nothing but sand and sky. gorgeous nothingness. macam twilight zone!

 

and from all that sand and sky, we can see from afar, slowly emerging from the distance – the ‘tilal liwa hotel’ surrounded by ‘rub al khali’ desert. yes, that building behind khaleef!

 

I am lovin the ceiling lights at the reception area!

 

 

the tilal liwa hotel is beautiful with a touch of arabic décor and designs here and there. there are only 2 floors so exclusivity is apparent here. the whole place is cozy and clean.

hospitality was the best – I can’t remember a time when I bumped into ANY hotel staff and not be greeted. always a greeting, always a smile. they say hi hello good morning, or even asked if I needed anything or how my stay have been. excellent! I have only ONE complaint and I will elaborate when we get to the pool!

 

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a quiet romantic getaway at tilal liwa hotel that turned into a fun-filled family holiday!

funny story is, mr. khairul had long booked this place even before his family came for a holiday to dubai. the plan was to go on a romantic getaway la konon without the kids, so his mom and sis can take care of the boys while we’re gone. but we can’t seem to find the right time – so we postponed it till now; and ended up bringing the boys along. haha. sebok je!

however, the hotel still presented us with that ‘romantic’ package, and we came to the room welcomin us like this :

 

beautiful set-up on the bed; towels folded into kissing swans and petals on the white sheet. lovely! it was a romantic minute just before it was cut off by me screaming to the boys when they ruin the bed! haha.

 

compliments from the hotel, we also got this cute heart-shaped chocolate cake (again, in the romantic package! haha), to be washed down with this delicious sparkling date drink. loved it! (but at first we got an alcoholic drink in our tub. I called the reception and they gladly changed it to this date drink. so my muslim readers better check ya!)

 

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this gorgeous set-up of a mock beduoin camp right behind the hotel. an oasis in the middle of the ‘rub al khali’ desert.

 

the desert landscape is beautiful, but I must say – too flat, like just some sandy clearing. I’ve seen a more spectacular desert dune with different shades of color as the sun hits the waves of dunes. for tourists who had never been to a desert area before, this might be quite a sight. for residents of UAE – you have been warned! haha.

 

the view of the desert from one of the walkway

 

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discovering table tennis! as usual, one boy was not interested in any sort of sport. haha.

 

camel riding in ‘rub al khali’ desert~ the sun was shining gloriously but it was not too hot. quite windy!

 

mr. khairul on a camel~

 

riding bicycle by the desert! bapak, adik & abang

 

the tilal liwa hotel up front

 

desert rub al khali – as far as the eye can see!

 

lounging on a hammock. our room is somewhere on the 2nd floor facing the pool. tak patah ke hammock tu. haha

 

boing boing!

 

there’s a kids’ corner in tilal liwa resort, filled with fun activities for kids. the room is cozy and colorful, equipped with a TV playing cartoon. there’s one staff watching over the kids. however, most of the items are more suitable for kids age 1-5, as khaleef was kinda bored after few minutes. I suggest adding puzzles or game boards for the older kids!

 

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and now we come to the pool. well, it’s a pretty lookin pool as it’s after all an infinity pool, looking over the desert.

my ONE complaint is – there is no kids’ pool! outrageous! they really cater for couples yeah? a place this nice with excellent service and NO kids’ pool. I was quite disappointed as I can’t swim so most of the time I would just love to lepak at kids’ pool dipping my toes in while I watch the kids swim.

 

 

it was just one big adult pool. which is deep. even on the sides. I mean, you know lah kan how some adult pool walaupun for adult there will be a gradual depth so that the sides are not that deep kan? ini takde pun. just these steps, and even then it’s too deep. kahfi and kazim had to be content with staying at the very edge up the steps.

 

khaleef the swimmer had absolute fun though haha.

 

the infinity pool at tilal liwa resort, overlooking the desert. however, it would definitely be a much better sight if they had removed the quad bikes and parked them somewhere else. a sore sight for someone wanting the complete unobstructed view of the desert while they take a dip in the pool.

 

my 2nd boy kahfi hitching a ride on bapak’s back. a perfect shot – almost – had it not been for those darn quad bikes!

 

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food, good. what else can I say? spoilt for choice, delicious buffet spread and breakfast plus service was excellent!

 

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the boys goofing around on the balcony that overlooks the pool.

 

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this little arab corner at the reception area where we finally took a complete family photo! haha.

 

like I said, ‘tilal liwa resort’ in all its purpose is a lovely getaway for tourist to UAE coming to experience holiday in the desert. you would enjoy the excellent service, beautiful décor and that lovely infinity pool. oh, and of course the lovely view of the desert.

however, for residents of UAE you might as well go CAMPING somewhere in kalba or sweihan if you really want to experience sleeping in the desert. gorgeous, breathtaking dunes over there!

 

tilal liwa hotel at a distance, and my boys doing what they love best – playing in the sand. spot all three. tee-he-he.