It’s finally here. It’s been sneaking up on us for months – the mornings when a two-minute taxi wait makes you look like you’ve just put in an hour on the treadmill, the evenings when you book a table on a terrace and the waiter tries to have you sectioned. You can’t remember what the city looks like when you’re not wearing sunglasses. Yup, summer’s back, and we’ve got four months to get through before the weather becomes bearable again. We feel your pain, so we’ve found you a selection of ultra-cold places to hang out that will see you through the heat. Brrrrrr!
Plunge pool
Apparently, nothing gets the circulation going like a session in a nice hot steam room or sauna, followed by a bracing dip in a plunge pool. We’re of the school of thought that jumping into freezing cold water is a deeply unpleasant experience, but it seems we’re in the minority. Advocates sing the praises of the adrenaline kick you get from diving in, the invigorating feeling of the cold water on your skin and the multiple health benefits. If you’re bold enough to take the plunge, first visit the nearby steam room or sauna for 10-15 minutes to open your pores and get good and hot. Then jump into the plunge pool, which will cause a dramatic change in your body temperature, encouraging expanded blood vessels and capillaries to suddenly contract, which is apparently good for the muscle tissue and helps flush out toxins.
Other benefits of regularly using a plunge pool are that it tones your skin, strengthens your immune system, builds up your heart (it gets used to dealing with nasty shocks better) and, of course, cools your body more quickly after you’ve been using the other spa facilities. Those suffering from joint problems experience some relief, as the cold numbs the nerves around the joint, reducing pain and relieving inflammation and muscle spasms. You can enjoy all these icy benefits in the teeth-chattering waters of the InterContinental hotel’s health club plunge pool – you only need to stay in for 30 seconds to reap the rewards. Most operate between 8°C and 10 °C, but this one is a slightly more bearable 13 °C. Bearable, but just.
InterContinental, Bainouna Street. Call for Health Club membership rates (02 666 6888).
Spacewalk indoor skydiving
A chill wind? Blowing in Abu Dhabi? Yes, of course it’s man made – we’re talking about the only indoor sky diving facility in the capital. At a daunting 12ft high, the wind tunnel works by blowing what feels like a gale-force blast of chilly air from the bottom of the structure, while boiler suit-clad adrenaline-seekers are blown about on top of it (they adjust the wind speed to suit your weight). It might not take as much guts as real skydiving, but having to dive into roaring high-speed winds that are blowing at around the 160kph mark is still a pretty nerve-wracking experience. When you arrive, you’ll be kitted out in an all-in-one flying suit, earplugs and goggles, but for a glorious two minutes your hands, face and neck are all exposed to the deliciously cold wind.
It’s difficult to master the art of controlling your movements and direction, and flights are only two minutes at a time, but that’s certainly long enough for you to get your chilly thrills. Exit the chamber shivering half with excitement and half with the cold, with fingers that feel as though you’ve been out walking the moors on a frosty winter’s day and then get ready to head back out into the blazing hot sunshine.
Spacewalk Indoor Skydiving, Abu Dhabi Country Club, Al-Sada Street (02 657 7777). Introduction course, which includes instruction and a two-minute flight, is Dhs180. Frequent flyer, family and party packages are also available at discounted rates. The weight limit is 90kg.
Ice room at Emirates Palace
When you want to escape the dust, heat and noise of the city, there are few better places than the tranquil confines of Emirates Palace’s Anantara Spa – and its legendary ice room. To get inside the ice room, however, you must book yourself in for the royal hamam – a refreshing experience in itself, and an ultimate indulgence. You’ll be covered from head to toe with invigorating eucalyptus soap, sent to the steam room to soften your skin, then rinsed and scrubbed all over to remove any dead cells. After that, you’re covered with sweet-smelling mud, and steamed and rinsed once more. Finally, five minutes in the Jacuzzi is all that stands between you and an icy experience.
The ice room is small, softly lit and tiled. As you sit on the heated bench, you’ll notice the wall to your left is frozen from floor to ceiling, while the wall to the right has a crushed ice dispenser, where mounds of frosty chips spill out on to the floor. Plunge your hands in for the ultimate cooling experience, or sit and sip ginger tea while the chill closes your pores and makes your skin glow. Just remember, this is a classy place, so resist the temptation to craft an impromptu snowman.
Dhs812 for 75 minutes. Emirates Palace, Ras Al Akhdar (02 690 9000).
Desert Chill ice cream van
There are, of course, numerous places in the capital that sell ice creams – but do the Baskin Robbins and the Cold Stone Creameries of this city drive to your rescue whenever you’re having an overheating emergency? No, they do not. But Desert Chill does. It’s an ice cream service that delivers anywhere in Abu Dhabi, and you’ll see its fleet of five ice cream vans driving around the Mohammed Bin Zayed City, Mushrif and Muroor and Bain al Jessrain residential areas throughout the summer – just look out for the pastel pink and blue vans with a big picture of a camel licking an ice cream on the side. The Desert Chill company serves all the old Wall’s ice cream favourites including Magnums, Fab lollies, and Crunchie Blasts, and, of course, soft whip ice cream too.
Of course if you’re not in the right place at the right time to catch the vans on their journeys, you can just call for a delivery (minimum order of Dhs100) and they’ll bring their sweet frosty wares straight to your doorstep. Instant cooling, anywhere in the city throughout the summer – now that’s what we call service. The only thing more chilling than that is the creepy high-pitched music we remember ice cream vans playing from childhood. ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ anyone? It’s enough to send shivers down our spine.
Call 050 612 2108 or 050 114 2491 for a Desert Chill delivery.
Ice rink
It’s probably not the first hobby you’d have pictured yourself taking up in Abu Dhabi, but when temperatures hit the forties, heading to the ice rink seems like the only sensible thing to do. You can pull your jeans, hoodies, scarves and mitts out of storage, take pleasure in wrapping up warm and hit the ice at the Olympic-sized, newly refurbished ice rink at Zayed Sports City. There are heaps of courses and activities for kids and adults to do every day of the week, whether you’re looking to make friends at the Tuesday Ladies’ coffee mornings, develop your ice dancing on Mondays at the rink’s disco, or join in the karaoke on ice sessions on a Friday evening.
Group coaching sessions and one-on-one lessons are also available for beginners and intermediate level learners, and take you from the basics of staying upright and gliding across the ice, to all manner of turns, spirals and spins. And if you can’t be bothered with actually learning to skate, it’s just as much fun to order a hot chocolate from the rink-side café, take a seat on the bleachers and check out the Monday-Wednesday evening ice hockey training sessions. You’ll feel like you’re in Canada in the depths of winter. Bliss.
Ice Rink at Zayed Sports City (02 403 4200).
Cheese room at Jones the Grocer
The fromagerie at Jones the Grocer is our ultimate happy place. Partly, of course, because of the cheese itself – after all, what’s better than standing open-mouthed in front of huge wheels of gooey camembert and crumbly slabs of gorgonzola? But also because the temperatures are between 8 °C and 10 °C to keep the cheese in perfect condition. So why not pay a visit next time you’re at the café? Tell your dining companion you’re just nipping to the bathroom, sneak off to the cheese room and let the heavy door swing closed behind you, sealing you in with the cold air, the pongy smell and a massive sampling platter.
Jones the Grocer, Al Raha (02 557 4882).
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque’s marble
Apart from the fact the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is beautiful enough to give you butterflies; it’s also a masterpiece in anti-heat design. Worshippers are required to touch their heads to the floor when they pray, so it’s important the marble stays at a comfortable temperature. These infamous white floors don’t get warm even in the hottest summer months (you can feel the difference when you walk over the coloured flower designs that do absorb the heat). In addition, because of their domed shape, the vaulted roofs are exposed to a smaller area of the sun when it is shining directly overhead during the hottest part of the day.
All these cooling devices combine to their greatest effect in the entrance room between the courtyard and the indoor prayer hall. Coloured stone vines and flowers wind their way up the walls, which are so cool they make you want to press your cheek against them. The marble floor feels even colder here than in the courtyards, because it’s shielded from the sun. So, all in all, its one of the most refreshing, serene spots in the capital – as long as you go during a quiet time and not with a group of over-heated, sweating tourists.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Airport Road (800 555).
Cinemas
This is one of those ‘only in the UAE’ moments. It makes sense to leave the house wearing flip flops and light summery attire, because you live in one of the hottest regions on earth, and its 45°C outside. But if you decide you want to catch one of the summer blockbusters, you’ll go from oppressive, baking heat, to shivering under a blanket within about 15 minutes. First of all, the cinemas crank up the A/C to the max – we’re talking arctic conditions. Next, you order a fizzy drink, and they’ll hand you what is essentially an enormous tub of ice with a splash of Coke or Sprite on top. Then, when your fingers are so numb you’re thinking about leaving, they offer you a blanket to keep you warm.
Dubai’s cinemas have started actually charging to rent out blankets (which is akin to pouring a bucket of water over you and then making you pay for a dry T-shirt). That madness hasn’t spread to Abu Dhabi yet – right now you get a blanket if you’re a Gold Class ticket holder, and the rest of us just have to make do with smuggling in an extra pair of socks. It’s ridiculous, but we’re coming round to the idea of watching action movies with wind whistling around our ears – kind of adds to the sense of adventure, doesn’t it?
Cinestar Abu Dhabi, Marina Mall (02 681 8484).
Keeping cool – The Bedouin way before A/C…
When there’s no A/C, you’ve got to be pretty imaginative to keep yourself cool in a blazing hot desert, especially when there are animals to look after and farming to be done. Ursula Musch, a German expat who owns a camel farm in the UAE, knows as much as anyone about how desert-dwellers keep themselves cool the old-fashioned way. She talked us through the ways Bedouins make it through the summer.
Finding shelter
‘The desert is actually cooler than the city. It’s also farther from the sea – the sea makes the air very humid; drier heat is easier to manage. Bedouins hide from the sun between noon and 3.30pm, when it is at its hottest. They do no work during these hours, and stay in the shade. Even the animals don’t work – the camels look for ghaf trees [one of the few sturdy trees that grow well in the Arabian deserts] and wait underneath them.’
Day and Night
‘During the day, Bedouins use a “barasti” to shelter under, which is a shack made from the fronds of palm trees. They sprinkle water on the ground and on top, because this helps to bring the air through the leaves. At night, they sleep on the very top of sand dunes so they can get the benefits of any cool breezes that are blowing – otherwise the dunes block the wind. Don’t forget, these people are used to the heat!’
Food and Water
‘In old times, Bedouins made containers out of clay to store water, because it keeps the heat out. Food was wrapped in sacks sprinkled with water, and was stored in the shade.’
Go Skiing
Ice rinks, freezing water, and chilly winds just not cold enough for you? Well then, it’s time to take a trip down the road to our neighbour, to hang out in the coldest place in the UAE – Ski Dubai. It’s a bona fide ski slope inside Mall of the Emirates, and it has to be seen to be believed. Real snow covers five runs for skiers and snowboarders to practise their skills on, and there is also a steep tobogganing slope and a snow park for the kids that’s filled with slides and caverns to muck about in.
The temperature, you ask? Between a frosty -1°C and -2°C, so they even kit you out with a snowsuit, gloves, woolly socks and snow-boots before you go inside. Unless you’re doing some pretty vigorous exercise, you’ll start to feel chilled to the bone in a very short space of time (as we found out while waiting patiently for a nine-year-old to go on the slide 26 times in a row). That’s when you should retreat to the St Moritz café outside, where you can warm up again next to a CGI fire with a cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows. It’s barmy, but we love it.
Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates (04 409 4000).
