'Welcome to Abu Dhabi'

Being a Thursday means that I have been away from Australia for 4 days. The last 2 Days have flown by like the bats I saw in Melbourne on my last night in Australia. Although 4 days do not seem like much in the 'big picture', I feel as though I have experienced a great load, especially in these last 2 days.

On Tuesday, Alice and I woke up to a orange 5am morning truly feeling the annoyance that jet lag brings. Luckily enough technology provided us ipods which helped us both get back to sleep until and nice 7:30am. Special mention goes out to Norah Jones fro bringing the world beautiful music that helps one sleep!
When we finally decided that we should get up we decided the gym and pool at the local 'clubhouse' would be the best way to start the day. The gym was just like any other gym really..., nothing too special. But the pool was like a resort pool. Blue as anything and just teasing us with its glimmering against the hot Abu Dhabi sun. We brought along Clancy the horse and he too soaked in the sun.

It was at the pool that we were first exposed to some muslim culture. Being a Tuesday meant that from 8am-10am was 'Ladies Time' which meant no men were aloud in the facility. This gave the muslim women courage that no men would see them 'exposed'.
 In Muslim culture the women wear the Abaya and the Shayla (headscarf). It is a 'choice' whether they wear them with some Muslims choosing to wear just the Abaya, just the Shayla, both, to only show their eyes (the letterbox), or to cover themselves up completely. This was a very confronting image to constantly see everywhere we went, espeically finding out that many Arabic/Muslim women go bald from the lack of air and exposure to their hair and also suffer skin problems due to lack of vitamin D. Although it is a controversial issue amongst locals and foreigners with the locals insisting it is their choice, as an outsider it very much seems like a male dominant statement and 'chain' on women. It is sad to see how women are still treated unequal here, although small changes do appear to be slowly happening.

Later that day we picked up Tamsin and Olivia from school and drove to Dubai. One thing that has struck me in Abu Dhabi is how everything is so flat! You would be able to see for miles...if it wasn't for the smog. Camels were a view on the way. I do like the camel. Something about the hump and their massive lips.
We arrived to the biggest mall in the world roughly an hour and a half later and before too long we were all standing in front of the biggest indoor aquarium in the world. If being slightly amused by the fact that we were in the biggest mall in the world in the beginning, the amusement quickly wore off by the fact of constantly getting lost and going the wrong direction. Finally though, we arrived at the boulevard to one side of the mall. The sight was simply breathtaking with the bridge walkway made from rendered stone and wood complementing the pure blue sea.  Furthermore, my eyes were treated still by the sight of the biggest building in the world (You get the picture how the UAE loves their 'bigs' eh?) called the Burj Khalifa. We continued across the bridge into a souq which is basically an arabic market. There, both Alice and I got henna tattoos by some women who traveled from Abu Dhabi to Dubai every day on the local bus! Public transport is not like it is in Australia and it was be a big task taking it every day for over an hour and a half.

After another long adventure just to find the car, we headed to a big place which I have forgotten the name of, but basically it was amazing, big, full of souqs and European restaurants.There we met a nice English fellow named Chris.

The next day brought a Wednesday and a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Msoque. There, we dressed up in the full muslim attire and went on a tour of the mosque. I cannot possibly use words to describe the beauty of the place. What is the saying 'a picture says a thousand words'?

There are mosques every 3 km around Abu Dhabi so that there can be no excuse not to hear the call of the mosque (which is recorded from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and goes out to the whole of Abu Dhabi) to pray. Prayer is every 5 times a day.

Later that day Zoe (a local bendigo australian staying with the Nunan family), Alice and I took a taxi out to Ferrari world where we rode the fastest rollercoaster in the world which reaches 240km/h. I wish I could've had a photo of our faces in that exhilarating 20 seconds but I think the best representation would be this:

Ferrari world was amazing fun, although i dont really or want to know anything about cars. All I know is that I want a Ferrari... FERRARI! haha just kiddin'.