Our flight went by incredibly smoothly, with the exception of a delay at the beginning because of a big storm passing through Dallas. Although the flight time was 15 and a half hours, it seemed like we were only aboard for about five. I sat on the same row as Grace, and we had the middle seat open between us (which was such a blessing). In front of us were Shaurya, Amanda and Eileen, while Winston, Kevin and Will were further back in the plane. We had a great group to fly with, which made the time pass all the more quickly.
We landed in Abu Dhabi at about 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, and quickly grabbed two cabs to the hotel. We are staying at the Sheraton (which is a first for me with international travel since I am normally camping out in tents or hostels), and because of the amount we travel for work we were able to upgrade our room - which has been awesome! We decided to kick-start the vacation with a group dinner out by the pool and beach. The restaurant was Lebanese and the food was very interesting. I ordered what I thought was something like the Cevapcici I had in Bosnia, but it turned out to be like a hamburger quesadilla. We had great appetisers though, and the environment was perfect .
We started today by all gathering at the hotel breakfast buffet. The spread was incredible, and we enjoyed juices, smoothies, and coffee (or maybe that was just me...). After we were all fuelled up for the day we set out to go see the palace. We ended up getting into two different cabs, and quickly learned that we were not prepared. At all. First we learned that shorts and flip flops were not allowed. Although all of the girls had dressed very modestly, the guys were all wearing shorts and had to go back to the hotel. First, however, they thought that it would be a good job to drop the girls in the cab off at the mall... which is generally my least favorite place in any city. When we were at the mall, we learned from one of the girls in the other cab that we needed to have a reservation to the palace, and wouldn't be able to get in that day. Not too discouraged, we decided to go walk and explore the city instead of waiting around shops that were all American and European in nature before meeting up with the rest of the group to figure out what we were going to do next. That's when things started to get pretty amazing.
After only walking about 200 yards from the mall we ran into the waterfront. The water here is a beautiful deep aqua, and as we approached the rail separating the street from the stone beach we saw a group of 6 dolphins frolicking around in the water! They were so graceful, and jumped out of the water often as if they knew we were looking for a show. Across the waterway were two of grandest buildings I have ever seen - the Palace and the new home of the UAE president. I have been to some beautiful palaces before in Europe and Russia, but these two were unbelievable in scale and beauty. In front of the white house was a full marina stocked with super yachts, and both were sitting atop beautiful sloping white sand beaches.
We spent a while walking down the waterfront to take in the beauty of the water and the architecture. After some time, however, we decided that it was time to rejoin the rest of the group and we set out to meet them at Heritage Village. The village was a collection of handicraft shops, history museums, and demonstrations of the different environments and nomadic cultures present in the UAE. It was an enjoyable experience, but it wasn't the most thrilling attraction and we didn't stay for more than an hour.
After leaving the village we decided to go to some of the markets. We were first dropped off at the Iranian market, which one of my travel partners described as "an outdoors Wal-Mart". I don't exactly agree with the title, but I think that it demonstrates the fact that the goods for sale at these stalls were not souvenirs or art work, but rather very practical things that people use in business and every day life - like cooking stoves, cookware, knives, and storage containers. We stepped into a furniture store to look at the rugs for a little bit, but then decided to turn around and explore some of the other markets in the area, which turned out to be very enjoyable.
The first market we walked through was the flower market. It was different from the flower markets I enjoyed this summer in Croatia and Peru, as the offerings were mainly potted plants rather than cut stems, but the flora was vibrant nonetheless. We saw a variety of plants that fostered fruits like pinaples, kumquats and grapefruit, as well as many flowering bushes.
After leaving the flower market we decided to go to the fish market. Although I really don't like eating seafood, the fish market was very cool (with the exception of the smell, of course). There was a massive variety of types of fish, and there were very adventurous shellfish and delicacies as well. It was definitely a place that only the locals visited, and it felt kind of awkward to not make any purchases. The people were kind, however, and Kevin and Chris made friends with one of the stall owners.
Following the fish market we visited the vegetable and fruit market, which is always one of my favorite things to do. I tried new fruits from India and Egypt, and we bought a bunch of mangoes as a group that the stall owner cut on the spot for us to enjoy. We were a loud group, and we attracted the giggles of many of the shop owners in the market. They told Shaurya in Hindi that they thought we were crazy (all in good humor though). We departed the markets after being on our feet most of the day and decided to head back to the hotel. Although we had spent the day cabbing all around, the fares were extremely affordable and made transportation much easier. I could only imagine what it would have been like had we tried to walk everywhere.
At the hotel we donned our swimsuits and headed out to the pool, where some of our group had retreated to after our first adventures at the Heritage Village. The pool felt amazing, and it revived the part of my soul that only really lives during the summer. The heat here, while it frustrates some, only makes me anticipate summer in Texas with even more excitement. After the pool we went out to the beach and spent some time lounging on a floating dock as a group before heading back in to get ready for our trip to the Mosque.
After dressing very modestly (closed shoes, long baggy pants, shirt, cardigan, and head scarf), we took cabs to go just outside the city to visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I can hardly express just how beautiful this mosque was. It was larger than the Taj Mahal (115m versus 73m tall), and its newness made everything glimmer. It was opened in 2007 to serve as a mosque not only for the people of each of the emirates, but to be a destination for people from around the world. The mosque has visitors from 100 different countries daily, and welcomes 2.5 million guests per year.
The architecture was beautifully modern. The massive entry doors electronically opened when the laser sensor was triggered, and there were 5 12 ton chandeliers throughout the prayer rooms indoors. In addition to the chandeliers, the entire entry was covered in the world's largest hand-knotted carpet, which took 1200 laborers 20 months to create. It's pretty impressive that they were able to build such an incredible building in only 11 years, when buildings of similar caliber used to take multiple lifetimes to complete in an older time.
I loved the floral decorations and the creative usage of lighting, textures and mosaics across the interior. The ceilings were unbelievably tall as well. It's hard to describe how impressive the building is, so I will just have to rely on pictures.
After the mosque we went out to another lebonese restaurant for dinner. The company was great, and our meal was out on a patio overlooking the entire harbor. The skyline reminded me of Singapore, and the warm night breeze was the perfect way to end the night.
Tomorrow we are taking it easy before leaving in the afternoon for a desert safari out to a Bedouin camp. It'll be an exciting day. So far, this vacation has been all of the adventure and fabulous company that I hoped it would be.
