This is Uncle Rabbit, by the way. He may make the odd appearance. He was given to me by a friend before I left - we are both year of the rabbit, but she is one whole twelve-year cycle behind me. Hearing that the first time took its toll on me emotionally. But I'm pretty much resigned to being ancient now. It was hilarious when an overly friendly waiter asked me what I did in life, and I responded that I am a student: his look of confusion that anyone as old as me could still be in school was priceless.
It must be heart-breaking for architects that design their buildings to shimmer to then have to place them in Abu. Here we can see a typical corporate palace in the city centre. Can you see the grimy coating of sand all over?
Workers are employed to fight a losing battle to clean facades of their daily layer of sand - but really, what's the point? Remember we're in a desert people!
And don't get me started on the window displays in Abu Dhabi. All that money and the signage and window dressing looks like something from Craggy Island. I mean this example was right beside the Sheraton's flagship hotel in the city. The shopkeepers aren't even trying.
And how appetizing is this? Umm, impulse purchase...
In fairness, most retail in Abu is done in the mega shopping malls. These are air conditioned oases full of places to eat, shop and take your leisure. Coming form the desert, the Emirati people are fascinated with the cold, and indoor ice rinks and snow-based attractions feature regularly.
There are lots of US chain restaurants over here. I love seeing their signs in Arabic script. They don't do that in Japan though - Starbucks is still written as is.
Also, the call to prayer played throughout the shopping mall at certain times during the day was pretty impressive. I can actually tell you exactly when these calls came because there was a clock displaying the times in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque.
It takes dedication to be a muslim, man. I wanted to say something about the true church being the one to commercialism, but my internet service would possibly be cut off, so I won't.
In my time here in Abu, I have become addicted to drinks with mint. The Middle East knows how to do fresh mint well.
This lemonade with fresh mint is basically a virgin mojito and is sex in a glass. I guess because the culture is pretty much tee-total, they come up with way more interesting soft-drinks than just diet coke. It doesn't always work.
This cucumber and mint concoction was basically cold, weak soup. Not exactly refreshing.
Abu is full of parks and is way greener than I expected it to be. In fact I got to do some blossom viewing to make up for the fact that I left just before the cherries had bloomed in Japan.
Encyclopatrick time! Abu has the third highest per capita consumption rate of water in the world (they say) but 97% of this supply comes from desalinated sea water, so I shouldn't feel too bad about enjoying all those grassy verges and colorful blooms.
As I said in the previous entry, Abu seems to be a peaceful place where different groups of people get alone well. The only time I saw any real culture clash was on the plane about to leave Abu Dhabi. An Emirati man in full national costume refused to take his assigned seat beside an unveiled, t-shirt-wearing Arab woman. He wasn't rude or aggressive about it: he just seemed slightly shocked that such a thing might be expected of him. The Arab church is a broad one though, because the same Emirati man was later seen having the craic with a Moroccan brother who was dressed in Western clothing, drank tonnes of wine on the flight, and openly kissed his English girlfriend in public. We're all gods children, as that guy on the radio used to say.
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