When we told family our travel plans included a stop over in Abu Dhabi they said things like "Be safe!" and "Don't get kidnapped!". I understand the good intention behind their sentiments and why they're telling me to be safe. It's just that since we've left the states the only time I've felt afraid was when I was living and wandering cities in the United States. Most places outside the US including Abu Dhabi feel really safe. Most places outside the US don't have the violent gun culture mixed with a lack of affordable health care for people who may need mental health services or have addiction issues, like the US.
I guess Abu Dhabi made me want to rant.
The sun sets during the beginning of Ramadan 2016.
Abu Dhabi is the second fake city we've visited. As mentioned earlier, Singapore was first.
Qualities of fake cities include:
- Too clean
- A bunch of skyscrapers built to suggest a city but lacking the population to fill them
- Not many people on the roads or sidewalks
To be fair we were visiting Abu Dhabi during the beginning of Ramadan so perhaps that's the reason there were not many people out and about. Or maybe there aren't many people out during the day because it's 106 degrees.
The few people we met who live and work in the city will tell you Abu Dhabi is a really safe place.
"See? There are cameras everywhere and all the cabs all have GPS. It's very safe here."
Sparkles! A closer look at one of the giant light fixtures in the hotel dining area.
I thought it would be funny to stay in a five-star hotel using credit card points because we've been traveling for a while. Accommodations in Japan, while very clean, were often times very small and we could stay in the second best hotel in Abu Dhabi during the time when we weren't working for a year. Staying in a five-star hotel rated the second best in Abu Dhabi behind the Emirates Palace Hotel, which is also a palace, brought to light the differences between five-star anything and everyone else. Also, there are a lot of differences between the Emirates Palace Hotel and where we stayed. I mean it's not like we had a palatial suite with staff and access to a private beach.
Other things that are funny: we washed our clothes in the bathroom sink.
A view of evening light from the pool area.
Some guests complained in reviews about the hotel because the breakfast buffet could have been better.
(What kind of hotel buffet are you used to?)
You would have to stay there for a week to begin to run out of options. We were there for two nights and both mornings the breakfast buffet had many different options. What is your life like that walking into a room and deciding which five-star restaurant breakfast items you'd like that morning, isn't good enough. In fact it's disappointing.
I told you earlier this place made me want to rant...
We took a half day tour (also booked with points) to see the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Emirates Palace, Date Market at the port, and the Heritage Village. We had a nearly private tour as it was us and one other couple, a retired pair of Aussies originally from the UK and our driver. It was pretty quiet out on the roads and touring the sites. Probably due to Ramadan and the high temperatures.
The Grand Mosque is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. It does an excellent job of balancing grandeur with simplicity. Also, they wash the entire building every 24 hours so it looks very clean because it is very clean.
The courtyard is considered the largest floral marble mosaic in the world. It's stunning.
Really, all you have to do is walk around, point and shoot to collect a bunch of beautiful pictures.
And once you've made your way into the Main Prayer Hall, just do what you did on the outside. Walk around and take pictures of all the beautiful spaces.
The Main Prayer Hall contains the largest hand made carpet in the world. It took more 1,200 ladies two years to knot the beautifully woven textile together.
A closer look at one of the seven giant, crystal chandeliers placed within the mosque.
Later we stopped in at the Emirates Palace Hotel to have a brief look at shiny gold spaces.
Our tour friends thought the gold everything Palace was a little over the top and remarked on the absurdity of needing to drink out of gold coffee cups in order to feel good about yourself. I thought all the gold stuff looked kind of pretty. At least some of the UAE money is going to build interesting looking places. And there's a lot of over the top architecture to be seen in Abu Dhabi if you're interested in that sort of thing.
This is just the entrance to the new Presidential Palace being built across the street from the Emirates Palace Hotel. It's a work in progress.
A view of the hotel that has the race track in it. It's down the road from the Ferrari World theme park and Abu Dhabi IKEA.
The Etihad towers are nice and shiny too. Also across the street from the Palace Hotel.
After looking at shiny things and beautiful buildings we stopped by the Heritage Village to see what life was like in the desert before all the oil money arrived. Before oil money you had to be outside in the desert without AC.
The desert is very hot during the day.
Our last tour stop ended at the Date Market where we correctly identified some delicious coconut stuffed dates. Since it was Ramadan, to be respectful of the culture and religious practices we were not able to sample any of the dates before buying them. We chose correctly friends!
That night after the temperature dropped below 90, we had one more evening to hangout by the pool. It was another beautiful space to spend some time relaxing before we had to make our way over to Amsterdam to meet up with Ryan's parents and begin the European part of our travels. Although ridiculously hot during the day, Abu Dhabi is a interesting place to spend a few days touring around different sites. I'm interested to return later and see how much further they've progressed in the SimCity game.
BAM! I tagged the skyline with my iPhone light. Like a boss.