A Day in Abu Dhabi

Wow what a city. You're kind of expecting desert when you get here but it's full of high rise buildings and is surprisingly green- maybe something to do with using 250 000 gallons of water each day- 97% of which comes from the ocean- their desal plant!

The second thing I learn is that everyone is so nice and helpful! From the air hostesses to the bus driver to passers by. It may be because one of the 5 principals of their religion is to help someone less fortunate if they can afford to. The other principals being: pray 5 x per day, fast for ramadan, and I can't recall the others... Anyway I got on the bus and only had a note which the driver wouldn't let me use and a girl sitting on the bus pulled out some coins and paid for my fare! Then I went to a hotel to see if I could leave my bag there for the day and not only did he open the door for me and welcome me like I was a guest in his very fancy hotel (I was wearing baggy pants and a singlet!) but he let me leave my bag there for free! 

And everyone speaks English- even to each other, and their English has an Australian- sounding accent. 

I set off at the start of the day (having arrived at 6.15am at the airport) with a dodgy map. I walk down some streets for about 20mins (which were full of construction sites) and sweat and quickly decide this is not fun. I'm not prepared for 34 degrees so I head back and take the hop on/hop off bus tour instead. Only then do I realise I was also heading in the complete wrong direction before.. 

Basically there are 12 stops all over the city (impossible to walk to) and you can hop and off as you please as buses arrive at the stops every 30 mins. Along the way you listen to headphones with information about the city and each landmark. I see a beach that is divided into male section and the women/children section and you have to pay to sit on the beach! I visit a "traditional town" which has been staged so out of context in an outer part of the city. The greatest is the mosque. It is white and enormous and so so white and inside there are gems and pearls and diamonds on the walls imported from all over the world. There is a chandelier. We have to cover ourselves from head to toe in a black gown- so hot! And we take a tour of the mosque. It is magnificent and the most expensive thing I have ever seen. After a long long long day of sightseeing I have dinner at the top of a tower with a panoramic view of the city and finally head back to the airport for home! Home sweet home.