After the rather successful location recee yesterday at Al Gharbia, today we set out in another direction to Al Ain. If the former was supposed to be famous for its desert, the latter is supposed to be famous for its greenery. Apparently Al Ain is the "garden city" of UAE.
After breakfast at a tiny restaurant called Spicy TamilNadu which served the best masala tea ever, we set off to explore locations at Al Ain. The drive to Al Ain was picturesque - my favourite thing about it being the small, soft, reddish brown dunes. They were a far cry from yesterday's humongous ones in terms of size, but there was something very charming about it.
Al Ain was true to its equity and turned out to be rather green! The city was tastefully landscaped and we checked out the date farms which were as green as any place in Kerala, which pretty much means that it was really, really green! There were not just rows and rows of dates palms, but also unexpected fauna like mango trees in the farms! There was the constant chirping of birds in the air and a luxurious green grass carpeted the floor. It was all very, very beautiful!
After spending some time on the farm, we set off to check out an oasis and that was yet another incredible experience. Sure, I have heard of an oasis before and have seen a few in movies before but nothing prepares you when you actually witness it! I fell in love with it immediately. I am not sure whether we will get permit to shoot there and even if we did, whether we can do justice to the place and bring its beauty fully on camera but whatever be it, it was breath taking and I loved standing there and taking in all that gorgeousness! Al Ain also presented some other interesting sights like a fort and a rocky mountain, which was the first mountain of any sorts that I have seen in UAE so far.
Back in Abu Dhabi, we went straight to my editor-cinematographer's house were I had been invited for lunch. His two brothers, their wives and children are all living in the same place and I had the most amazing time with them. Everyone of them had an insane sense of humour that I loved, the kids were adorable and the food served was super delicious. What more can one ask for!
Post lunch we set off again for more location recee - this time mainly within the city. We covered parks, Corniche area (yes, again... but it is that vast and there is much to be seen!), the backdrop with the Emirates Palace and the Presidential Palace (love them both - both are expansive, sit right beside each other and look similar in their overall structures - one in a rich brown and the other in a serene white), a few hotels where we could potentially shoot and the Heritage Village.
Dinner was at a Pakistani place called Fujairah which served some delicious grills at ridiculously cheap prices! It was awesome! Post dinner, we paid a quick visit to one more family - the editor's uncle and aunt, a very jovial, cool couple. I learnt that the aunt is an incredibly talented artist and the house was packed with her artworks! She's had no formal training but the variety of works she had done is mind boggling - she has used anything and everything as her tools - paint, foil, paper, cloth, metal and what not! It was truly inspiring.
Another very productive day thus came to an end. I hit the bed completely exhausted but feeling thrilled at discovering a few more good sites for shoot and feeling grateful for having met such an amazing set of people!
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