I got a couple hours of sleep, then rode with him to work in Abu Dhabi. Once there I went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which is one of the world's largest mosque. It is truly amazing. Everything about the mosque was nice. The stone that make up the mosque are from Italy, the chandeliers were made in Germany and the crystals from Austria. Everything is above top quality; the rug inside, is the largest once piece rug in the world. I took a tour of the mosque and the lady that guided us did a great job in introducing us to the history of the mosque and a little about their culture.
After the mosque, I went to Emirates Palace, which is a huge hotel right on the water. I surprised that there were also a lot of people there, like me, to see the hotel not stay in it. Of course the valet parking was lined with only top quality cars: Bentleys, Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis. If you want it and can't afford it, it was there.
From the hotel, I went to the Saadiyat Island off Abu Dhabi. Once there, I read about the 2030 plan for the island and how they are about to transform the area. If you are interested in learning a little about it, go to this link: http://www.forbescustom.com/abudhabi/index.html It is about to be an amazing transformation and has the potential to evolve their culture and possibly their country.
Later that night, I went to the Dubai Mall, (of course) the largest mall in the world. There is an ice skating rink, aquarium, medical center, nice restaurants, supermarket, and much much more. When I was there, I visited the doctor. After I went scuba diving in Dahab, Egypt, I got water stuck in my ear, the water was actually behind my ear drum. To be honest, I didn't trust to doctors in Egypt to handle this, I was afraid they might try to poke my eardrum or something. However, the Swiss doctor was very good. He had this tool that allowed him to go into my ear and nose and I could look at it on a computer screen, live. I have never seen truly up my nose or deep into my ear canal; it was not what I was expecting it to look like, but was pretty cool. I could actually see the air bubbles and water behind my ear drum. He prescribed me a litany of drugs that would fully decongest me and allow the water to come out over time without infection. However, I had to visit all four pharmacies in the mall to get everything (yes, four!).
After I left the mall, I went to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I got to go up to the observatory, 124 floors up, and see a breath taking view of Dubai at night. I wish I could have done it during the day, my camera did not capture top quality low light photos. I had to buy my tickets in advance to be able to visit the top, and everything was sold out except the 10pm visit.
A lot of stuff crammed into one day, but when you are in the UAE for that little of a time, it has to be done.
No comments:
Post a Comment