blah blah blah abu dhabi

I was going to try to update this on a daily basis but I'm actually not sure what to write about.  Abu Dhabi seems to be such a city of contradictions that I can't get my head around it.  It's kind of like Vegas without the gambling- all luxury and service and money and every hotel/restaurant/attraction trying to one up everyone else and constant construction.  Anything that sits for too long is quickly covered by a layer of dust.  And the weather is hot and hazy.

But, as with every place, the wealth is only one layer of the city.  In the centre of the city are high rises, each apartment housing 3 or 4 families.  The streets overflow with parked cars squashed wherever there is room- many of the building were not built with parking lots...   Apparently in a few years these buildings will all be demolished and rebuilt as luxury apartments and hotels.  Abu Dhabi island is being redesigned as an island of elites.  The question remains- if the workers are priced out of the city... who's going to do the work?  And who is going to live in all these new apartments being built.  Everyone I talk to asks those same questions.

OK... enough of my rambling... what have I been doing?  Working, relaxing by the pool, and seeing a bit of the city, mostly.  ("they come out at night... mostly..."- that's for anyone who's seen Aliens.)  On Monday night, the head of operations at Takatof was heading out to the Emirates Palace Hotel (google it, it's amazing) to do a site visit so he invited me along.  There was an exhibition on the Guggenheim opening that night and Takatof had volunteers helping out.  I don't think I've ever been around so many rich people in my life.  It was a little unsettling.  The crown prince (!) of the UAE was even there.  The hotel is "7 star" and is built to look like an Arabian palace.  It's all marble and gold with pillars and arches and tiles and well, look it up.  The exhibition, itself, was pretty amazing- they had shipped over some of the masterpieces from the Guggenheim.  Cezanne, Klee, Pollack, etc.

Then my host gave me a driving tour of Abu Dhabi-- past the high walls of the major palaces, through the markets, around the inner city high rises, and of course, by the many, famous malls.  The blocks here are super long with little streets in between and little rhyme or reason to the numbers.  It's not exactly a pedestrian friendly city so I was grateful for the driving tour.  It's really the best way to see things.

And then yesterday, I spent doing work at the hotel and crashed at around 7pm for a 12 hour sleep.  I think the jetlag/ exhaustion from flying had finally caught up.  This morning I went for a walk along the Corniche (the walking/biking area by the water).  I was a little underwhelmed.  I was sweating like no other, the water is flat and kinda unexciting and there's so much construction going on that you can't really appreciate the beauty that is there.  Or maybe I'm just spoiled from living in Australia.  I don't think any beach will ever be able to compete again.

This evening I head out on a desert safari...

I'm finally remembering to bring my camera and take pictures.  I'll post them when I get back.

Love, Tamara