Al Ain, UAE March, 2017

Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, is part of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  It is known as a garden city.
Al Ain is the birth place of  Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates.

Our trip to Al Ain. including Lisa and Alexandra was

Baskets in the Market, Thanks Lisa

a cultural day.  We boarded a bus at the Al Ain National Museum, along with a wonderful group of Emirati women.

We stopped at the market which has grown over the years.  And a stop at the Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum to watch a group of wonderful young ladies sing and dance.

Traditional Coffee Pots

Honey bees loved this in the market and Alexandra found out why: They attach these "pods" to date trees to fertilize.   Bees like them because they are sweet. 

Thanks Alexandra for the great pic

Wonderful fruits and veggies

We watched the Ladies making baskets, I found a wonderful basket in the market

Alexandra explains: These are the flowers, the Emirati lady did say people eat them [I wondered why they were selling them in the fruit market!] but the main reason is to use them to ensure cross-pollination of the dates.  I guess dates are not self-fertile so you need another plant. If you look here you will see most are still in bud but some have cracked open.  The flowers are very small but numerous in each bundle.

Basket making

Colourful basket

Baskets, fans, and more

Beautiful young Ladies

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Great entertainment

The Ladies showed us how they make the rick rack

Palm tree ceilings

I would love to have this room, so colourful

The young girls adored this fellow

Very cool fellows, Thanks for the pic Alexandra

Watching the young girls dance for us was special, Thanks for the great pic Lisa

The falaj system (irrigation system) is a very big part of history, and is still used in the UAE and Oman, The pictures are great in The National Museum in Al Ain


We had a great day in Al Ain, Thank you, Lisa for a great day and Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority in Al Ain.

We look forward to our next visit

Elle, Sri Lanka Tea Ladies

Elle, Sri Lanka is tea country

Sri Lanka was once called Ceylon.

History tells us the British took the country peacefully in 1796, ruling until Sri Lanka's independence in 1948.  This is when the legacy of Ceylon Tea started.  The industry was introduced to the country in 1867 by James Taylor, a British planter who arrived in 1852,

Beautiful Tea bushes roll over the hills

We travelled to Elle, Sri Lanka to enjoy the beautiful scenery and hopefully learn about the local tea.  The first factory was all closed up.  The second factory had too many visitors, or it may have just been the end of the day.
We took a little drive to look for the ladies picking, but it was the end of the day and they seemed to be gone home.

A few ladies came up the path;

The Ladies took the time to show us their bags they used for collection of the tea leaves

More ladies came along, this time carrying bags of tea leaves

Strong backs, strong arms, tired bodies.  The ladies still gave us a smile

The roots are as deep as the soil allows

We could hear chatting in the homes after a days work

Fruit trees are scattered

The Ladies bags are plastic, I wonder if cotton bags would be cooler on their backs

Sri Lanka is one of the few countries where each tea leaf is picked by hand rather than by mechanization

The tea leaves are repacked in bigger bags and reweighed

Each lady has her bag of tea leaves weighed, and is recorded for payment

The ladies "fluffed' the tea leaves as they emptied the bags, I am not sure if this is needed or if it was for my benefit

The last ladies of the day waited for their turn

Some Ladies carried a leveling stick, to manage their progress across the tea bushes, maybe next time I will see this.

I read that the minimum working age for girls is 12

We took a walk in Ella

Bananas are very small, and very yummy

Little girls hiding from the rain

It was Friday, the mosque was busy

Little Girl with her umbrella was shy

The weather was perfect for gardening

Scarecrows are great garden watchers

Temple

Temples are abundant 

The village is very colourful.  The streets and markets busy.

Our driver Rahmath Liyawdeen has his own company FlyWings Holidays.  We enjoyed our week with Rahmath.  He is well knowledged, and helpful.