Needing to escape the cold and grey Anni and I headed east to Abu Dhabi for Christmas. Well, it was a comfortable 21 to 25 degrees so pretty agreeable. Picking up the hire car at the airport we drove out to Qasr al Sarab, out in the Liwa Desert on Christmas Eve. Easy drive on fast roads; although the speed cameras may yet come back to haunt me.

Qasr al Sarab is settled deep in the desert about 20kms from the border with Saudi. There is nothing else, just this huge and beautiful, tasteful resort. No town, no main roads...just desert for as far as the eye can scan. The desert changes as you head inland out of Abu Dhabi from drab rock to sweeping ochre sand dunes, valleys and sand mountains. On Christmas Eve we climbed to the top of the nearest large dune, about 300 meters from the valley floor and watched a stunning sunset - perfect!

A few days of soaking by the pool (scaring the locals with my lack of tan!), doing a bit of archery, dune bashing (Anni vomited in my lap, so it must have been pretty good!) and biking, all the while eating fabulicious food - well, it was pretty nice (apart from the vomit bashing that is). Christmas Day was not too stressful either, with much of it by the pool between courses of good food and we even managed to do a gym workout and a bit of a run.

We had thought our vegetarianism might come t an end on Christmas Day when faced with Turkey, Lamb etc....so we reclassified it as "Vegevenient" - as it turned out the Christmas vegetarian foods were pretty convenient and provided the perfect excuse to excel in the desserts department instead. Suffice to say, too much food and too little time!

So we highly recommend Qasr al Sarab - never stayed in a place like it before. Being inland even in Winter it was still a comfy 25 degrees in the day, but in summer it does get up to 50 C degrees, so I reckon early Spring and Autumn must be optimal. After 3 nights of indulgence and after Anni was discovered hiding in the Wardrobe we reluctantly left and drove back to Abu Dhabi.

Not as bling or ostentatious as Dubai, Abu Dhabi was pretty nice with lots to do, esp. if you are into cars. Easy to get around, by taxi or car, surrounded by beautiful beaches man made and natural, and embraced by warm waters, canals and sea Abu Dhabi did not disappoint.

Back home at the end of a fab week and guess what - it's cold wet and grey...Ho hey, that's Christmas 2011.