25/11/2012 - Arrived in Abu Dhabi
around midnight last night. Good news, no lost luggage this time. Both
bags arrived safely. It's 1am by the time we arrived at the hotel, 2am
by the time we finally got to bed. Totally exhausted.

Started our first day in a leisurely fashion. Late rise, late breakfast.

After a quick look at the tourist map, we decided to take a walk up to the Abu Dhabi Mall
- supposed to be quite something. Not. Just another shopping mall.
Nothing to indicate we were in an Arabic state. Chalk up another victory
for American influence.

Looking for a more Arabic experience we opted for a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
And grand it is too. Huge. On a scale of the biggest grandest
cathedrals of Europe. On the way into the Mosque, a security guard was
directing women to the right and men to the left. "Hmmmm," I thought,
"Separate entrances for men and women." But no. Not as simple as that.
Women are required to wear appropriate dress for entry. This meant being
issued with a temporary scarf and robe to wear while being inside the
mosque. Didn't sit well with Julie's sense of equality and womens
rights, but hey, when in Rome etc etc (don't tell Julie this, but I thought the black veil and robe were quite becoming).

27/11/2012 - Yesterday we decided to do the tourist thing and book a "Desert Safari" -
including a bit of sand dune bashing, camel rides, belly dancing
demonstration, and a barbecue meal at a desert oasis. Sounds cheesy I
know, but should be fun.

While were were waiting for
the tour people to pick us up, we went down to one of the bigger
shopping malls. I haven't seen so many high end shops under one roof.
Everything from Armani to Prado to Gucci, and everything in between. It
was so high end that the Timex shop was reduced to a stall in one of the
aisles. On the way back to the hotel, we had a bit of a communication
failure with the taxi driver. Told him which hotel to go to and sat back
to enjoy the ride. After 10 minutes nothing looked familiar. After 20
minutes it was apparent we were headed to a completely different part of
the city to that where our hotel was. After some gesticulating and
showing the driver the map of where we were meant to be going, it became
apparent that he thought we meant a different hotel. By now, the taxi
fare was 3 times what it should have been, and we were still 15km from
our destination.We finally arrived at the hotel with a taxi fare the
size of Greece's GDP. Julie pulled out some notes and handed them to the
driver with a look that said "Your mistake, we ain't payin the full
fare, lets split the difference, take this". Driver looked at the money
(which was slightly more than half the fare) then looked at us as if to
say, "Is that all" to which Julie gave him a look which said "Take it or
leave it, that's all we're paying". He grudgingly took it and left.
Crisis averted.

Tour operator picked us up from the
hotel at about 3.30pm (along with 4 others) and off we sped to parts
unknown. And by "sped", I mean SPED. 160kmh plus down the highway. Some
45 minutes later we pulled off the main road onto a goat track, or in
this case, a camel track, which led to a rendezvous point with other
vehicles, alongside a camel pen.

This was the
starting point of the safari. Spent about 1/2 hour stretching our legs,
getting close to the camels for a photo op (bloody hell they smell a
bit, we all tried our hardest to stay upwind of them).

All
around us, all we could see were sand dunes rising above us. Apart from
the occasional snort from a camel, there was total silence. Desert sand
is very different from river or beach sand. Very fine, less gritty than
sand back home. Walking in it proved quite tiring, so everyone tended
to stand around a chat among themselves.

If nothing
else, this sort of excursion is a great way to meet other like minded
travelers. We got to chatting with a couple of English guys here on
holiday. Had a great time swapping travel stories of places we had been,
and places we want to see.

Wasn't long before we
were back into the 4WDs and heading for the dunes. Now I know why it's
called "dune bashing" - the vehicles are literally bashed up and down
the dunes. Slipping and sliding every which way. It was sort of a cross
between being on a roller coaster and in a washing machine. I'm sure
some of the angles the driver had the vehicle on are not in the Toyota
handbook of recommended driving techniques. It was a case of hang on and
hope the driver knew what he was doing. And he did. It was a case of
letting the vehicle find its own way and just keeping the power going to
the wheels. Quite exhilarating.

After about an hour
or so of hair raising thrills, we came upon a campsite nestled amongst a
ring of dunes. Clay walls and turrets were set out in a large square.
Palm trees were scattered about. A couple of wells here and there. Even
tho we were aware of it being a tour operators base, it still had the
feel of what a Bedouin camp would possibly look like.

Spent
the next couple of hours exploring the area (did I mention how hard it
is to walk in this sand?), having a couple of camel rides, and lounging
around and chatting to the others. If nothing else, the location was
quite spectacular - moon rising over the Eastern walls, as the sun was
setting over the western walls.

After we had dined
and wined, it was time for the belly dancing demonstration. Quite
interesting, the young lady certainly could shake rattle and roll. As to
how good she was, or how authentic it was, we have no way of knowing -
nothing to compare it against. Still, a fun time was had by all.

Today
is Julies birthday (Happy Birthday dear). Might look for somewhere nice
to go for dinner. Apart from that, it was a bit of a lazy day. Grabbed
some breakfast, and did a bit of city exploring. Basically just filling
in time before we fly out to Istanbul tomorrow.

So,
Abu Dhabi. Worth seeing - yes. Only as a stopover tho, wouldn't come
here as a destination itself. If you're looking for an "Arabic"
experience then you will be disappointed. Take away the Arabic signs and
you could be in any city in any part of the world. Shopping malls are
the same. Shops are the same. There is no cultural or historical context
here. It is what it is meant to be - a purpose built city, established
with petro dollars, purely as a place to do business. Not very exciting,
and with limited scope for tourists. Still, it was a pleasant break ion
our journey.

Istanbul should prove to be different.
Here is a city steeped in history, ancient and modern. A veritable
meeting point of east and west. Until then, Au revoir.