2006/08/16

Roundabouts of Al Ain #7

Tawam (or Twam, you see and hear both) Hospital Roundabout

Tawam Hospital is a very large hospital on Khalifa Street/Abu Dhabi Road in the far west of Al Ain. This is the last roundabout on the way out of town (or the first, if you are arriving from Abu Dhabi). From what I have been told, the hospital itself is primarily for Emiratis (it has a royal wing), though expats can go there if they are referred by another hospital.

This is a huge roundabout. Compare the size of it with the size of the Deer Roundabout (with the same magnification):




I couldn't get the whole thing into a photo:

but you can see that it has four horse statues, two black, two white, behind a hedge, with palm trees and funky lamps and flower lined walks. Behind the hedge is a large pool that was probably a fountain at one time but now has decayed very badly and is empty.



The expressions on the horses seem a little funny close up (to me any way, and I don't have a lot of experience with horses, so take my impression as you will), either mad:


or happy:


or confused:


I have to admit, I do not like the design of these lamps, and they really seem out of place here with the statues. You can see one of the buildings of the hospital in the background.


While not in the roundabout itself, there are also statues of deer between the entrances and exits of the roundabout:



I also noticed that one of the caretakers/groundskeepers left his water and boots (I took these Friday morning, so I hope that he had the day off). I noticed that I forgot to get any good pictures of the flowers, but the grass and the flowers were beautiful and well maintained.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I haven't seen this one (yet). I think the boots alone could make quite an artistic shot, if you're good at that kind of thing.

Work on the Murrabba Roundabout (near Lulu Centre) is now in full swing; I saw 2 workers and 2 machines at work there this morning. I think they took note of my comment that I didn't like the brown mud. Oh, by the way, I live right next to the Municipality office (marked on Wiki) in Munassir, do you think I should go in there and alert them to your blog? I think they'll be flattered.

(P.S. Buxman's Filipino friend's wife works at Twam. He says it's for nationals only, and some referrals (not very usual) from other hospitals (cases that cannot be handled etc., or on reference from "high-up" people. Staff families are accepted.)

The Surreptitious Fabric said...

Wow, I never actually got down to see the horses up close. They look hilarious in these shots. Mine are from far out. :D