Abu Dhabi Geography Lesson

Abu Dhabi, 1955

Three years ago Abu Dhabi was, to me, just a word on the map, rather like Timbuktu. Where it was I had no idea and if I had been told - near Dubai - I still wouldn’t have been any the wiser as I was very vague about the location of Dubai. Well now that Heidi and Darrell have migrated to that strange sounding place I am enjoying a real life geography lesson. If you are interested - read on…!
Abu Dhabi (Father of the Gazelle from the legendary arrival, in late 1700s, of the Baniyas Bedouin tribe at a spring of clear water on this island) is the name of a city and also of an emirate, one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates. An emirate is rather like a province, I gather. The others are Dubai (second biggest and best known with capital of the same name), the others are Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Kaimah and Fuljairah. Heidi who has been here for two years can reel them off her tongue which I find very admirable. ~The last five are very small and apparently of very little importance. Abu Dhabi is by far the biggest and richest and basically supports the others. On the map it shows an ‘undefined border’ with Saudi Arabia which doesn’t sound very comfortable.
Until 1955 AD was a nomadic settlement with a few hundred people coming and going. The attraction was the fresh water spring - always an attraction in a desert! The island is actually a just piece of land separated from the mainland by an easily crossed narrow channel. It is now connected to the mainland by two bridges and another is under construction.
It was the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf that made the difference . Whilst the Dubai oil has dried up AD oil continues to spurt and is expected to continue for another thirty years. But not just oil. AD was incredibly fortunate in that the Sheik in charge, Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a highly intelligent man with moderate views and very concerned for the good of his people. Not quite a Mandela, as he was a dictator, albeit a benevolent dictator, which Mandela certainly was not. But he was a good guy and in the thirty three years of his reign he brought this country into the modern world. Thirty eight years ago the seven Emirates combined to form the United Arab Emirates and this will be celebrated on Wednesday - National Day. It seems that there was genuine grief when he died in 2004 and his son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, succeeded him and has continued to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Sorry - I somehow switched from Geography to history!
Back to the subject in hand…
Modern AD is amazing with wealth oozing from every pore. The desert has been - well not conquered as I don’t think that anyone can conquer a desert - but it is certainly being held at bay. The modern city has magnificent roads - actually highways - edged with trees, grass, flowers - fed by fresh water gushing through a maze of black piping. The spring has receded in unimportance. The fresh water now comes from great desalination plants (we are keen to visit one but so far have had no luck in finding a tour). No one saves water - there is plenty and no one saves petrol or electricity - there is plenty. Oil, oil, oil.. Houses are huge, building and development is going on everywhere. It is mind-boggling.
The original island is now of course much too small and the city is spreading out into the desert and onto the nearby islands. The huge luxury hotel that Darrell is building is on Sadiyat Island which is also accessible by road bridges. It is one of three hotels that are going up on the island and, naturally, there is a golf course also under construction adjacent to the hotels.
I have to admit that my impression of the city, apart from my admiration for what has been achieved and disappointment about the lack of concern about the fragile desert and beach ecosystems, is one of total confusion. The highways all look the same with on and off ramps and enormous traffic circles and one never seems to be going in the required direction. There are no nice quiet and convenient suburban roads, there are no short cuts. We have been here a week and I have absolutely no idea how to get to the shops or to the childrens’ school. I have enormous admiration for Heidi at the way she manages to navigate (Darrell uses a GPS but not Heidi).
Because the local beaches have already been or are about to be taken over by the uncontrolled development, beach holidays for the locals are not that easy. That is why Darrell and the boys went across to Oman for their holiday. He ‘phoned today to say that they were up at 3.30am this morning to look for turtles - and they saw them What a fantastic experience and how sad that the beaches on this side of the gulf are losing out to the almighty dollar, in this case the dirham.
Sorry this was longer than intended.
Any questions?

Abu Dhabi 30.11.2009

Dogwalk, souk and holiday mode...

(Darrell and boys off to Oman)

Don’t you find that it takes a while to get into holiday mode? I am just starting to feel that way now after ten days. Yesterday we were so decadent. We all slept late, then eventually piled dogs, Stephi and Stephi’s bike into the car and went off to ‘dog beach’. This is a stretch along one of the many inlets that has been adopted by the local expats and their dogs. Gerron and I discovered the joys of dog walking in our walks in the Wilds and this is much the same (although much easier - flat beach). So sociable - lots of people with language and dogs in common. Heidi’s dogs were strays that she adopted here but most of the dogs on the beach were brought over by their owners. Very mixed bunch of many different pedigrees (dogs of course!). Heidi’s two salukis (not pure bred I assure you) always draw much admiration (it seems that I am alone in thinking that Bella is ugly!) . Pearl is now a year old and quite well behaved so she is allowed to run free; Bella is three months old and very naughty so she is kept on the lead. Weather is perfect, no hurry to get home for breakfast and Steph whizzes around on her bike (training wheels long a thing of the past). Two things worthy of note that you can see in the picture (in addition to Gerron of course!) . One is the lonely mangrove, the only one in that long stretch (mangrove swamps are also under attack) and the second is Abu Dhabi’s answer to the leaning tower of Piza. Can you imagine building a tower like that on SAND!! We are told that this ‘dog beach’ has been earmarked for villas - the huge wealthy homes of the Emiratis so it will be lost to the dogs and the expats. But H&D will probably have gone elsewhere by that time.
After late breakfast we made our way into town to visit a ‘souk’. Just a market really, rather reminiscent of the Oriental Plaza or the Durban Indian Market but lots of stuff. We had such fun wandering around, Heidi was tempted into a few household items and I bought her a decent sized teapot that will do six cups of tea without constant refills. Also bought a few gifts for folks back home. Stephanie had pocket money burning a huge hole in her little pocket and she eventually chose a lovely plaster-cast horse that she will paint. Wish I could take a couple home for Jords and Megs but fear they won’t travel well.
Holiday mode - swimming, reading, sudoku, exploring. Comfortable bed, Phillipino Daisy to do the housework and laundry. Much laughing , lazy food (remember all that weight I lost before coming here? Well it’s returning fast!!).
We are having a GREAT time!!
　
　

Abu Dhabi 26.11.2009

The foot is much better and the crutches have been discarded. Getting the crutches was a tale in itself. There are no easy-to-find street addresses in AD. We asked at the local pharmacy but - no crutches. Try another pharmacy. So we did. And we did. At some stage I suggested the obvious - let our fingers do the walking... But no - yellow pages do not have street addresses. Eventually one pharmacy mentioned that there was a medical supplies company on the airport road. Loo...oong road - no number. So we drove along and after a couple of false stops we hit the jackpot. No - they didn't hire crutches but we could buy at Dhs 165 (R330). Worth every penny for Heidi.

But no happy ending for the trailer story. Darrell wants a trailer to carry kayaks, bikes etc. There is a big board 'City Trailers' quite near home so this promised to be a fairly simple exercise. Calling in there we were told that - no we must go to the shop which is in the industrial area, Mussafah. All we had was a phone number. No address. We headed for Mussafah (Heidi's car is automatic so she only needed her right foot). Take the offramp, turn right at second traffic light, then left , then right at the Etisalet building then we would see the shop. We drove and drove. Several times H communicated with the trailer man whose heavily accented English was almost indeciferable. Several times we redid the required route trying different variables (eg try left instead of right) but nowhere could we find 'City Trailers'. Darrell is still trailerless! Yellow pages are no use so not sure what the next step will be.

Yesterday was a special day in the UAE - the 38th anniversary of the establishment of the state. The childrens' school (more about that another day) decided to turn it into a national/international day in honour of all the nationalities represented at the school. The boys wore springbok jerseys and took plates of biltong (yes - available at a nearby shop!) . Happily for them only the other SA children wanted to eat the biltong so they scored very nicely. Steph wore a pink T-shirt with a cute elephant saying 'SA babes love to boogie' matched up with a spare Springbok cap. She took a plate of Zoo biscuits (brought from SA - you can't get them here) and Nutty Crunches. I gather those were more popular than the biltong! We made three SA flags for the kids to wave in the procession. Then Gerron, Heidi and I stayed to watch after dropping the kids. Great march past of about 1100 kids, all ages. The UAE contingent came first (as was their right as the host nation) then were followed by the African contingent (almost 100% white kids!!!). Davey was in the front row, very important, Alex hidden somewhere in the middle and Steph waving enthusiastically and smiling broadly as she walked past. We all cheered and clapped. The whole procession took quite a while with contingents literally from all over the world. I think S America was the smallest group. Europe probably the biggest. We met more of Heidi's friends (Brits, SA, Oz and NZ) then headed for home, Heidi to rest the ankle and us to be dropped at the great mosque.



This mosque, built and financed by the late Sheik can only be described as magnificent, amazing, out of this world. Built mainly in white marble, it must closely rival the Taj Mahal. I had to wear an abaya and sheila (head cover - see picture) which was very uncomfortable as the sheila was of the most flimsy material and would NOT stay in place. It bothered me the whole time we were there and I was very pleased to be rid of it when we left. Imagine wearing an outfit like that all the time.

We were taken on a guided tour by a guide who really loved his mosque and the Islam religion. The Mosque was started in 1996 and is now 97% finished. The building is actually finished and just the ground, wall and gates are still to be completed. The artistry that went onto the mosque is absolutely fantastic (I'm going to run out of adjectives soon!), the materials, the workmanship
everything of the absolute best - it really has to be seen to be believed. They used craftsmen from all over the world but mainly Greece and most of the marble came from Greece. I just can't tell you how lovely it is. Two things that interested me on a mundane level were: the huge outdoor area (see photo of Gerron standing there) was marble paved by a white stone that does not absorb heat so it was cool underfoot (we had to take our shoes off) but the coloured marble inlays were warm to hot depending on the deepness of the colour and how close they were to black. I wonder if the white marble was special (as we were told) or if any white marble would reflect all the heat and stay cool? The other interesting and clever thing was the lighting of the (definitely OTT) chandeliers. We were wondering how they could change all those lightbulbs when necessary but it turns out that the sparkley little lights are from optical fibres which are fed from the top by a series of windows. So clever.

Tour was free, so was the loan of the clothing. If the intention was to impress the infidels - well - I have to confess that they succeeded. But how close was our friendly guide to his Taliban brothers? No political or controversial questions came up but I do feel that Christianity could do with some of the discipline imposed on the Muslims. To get a really sour taste in your mouth log onto the attachments to Kirsten's blog http://www.vanderriet.blogspot.com/ about Muslim influence around the world.

Abu Dhabi 21.11.09

We arrived safely on this desert island at 12 midnight on Thursday. Our trip was extremely uneventful and about as uncomfortable as any 'cattle class' international flight. As airlines go Etihad was very nice and service was good.
Arrival formalities went well - Heidi says probably because of our advanced ages!! At both the visa queue, the eye scan queue (what's that?) and the passport queue we were directed to the front so practically no waiting. So its not only cheap movie tickets that make 65+ the age to be!
Heidi and Darrell are renting a large house in an enormous complex (Heidi keeps referring to it as 'compound' which to South African just doesn't sound right). The guest room with own bathroom has sliding doors out to their, admittedly, tiny garden and is pretty much 5-star. Very comfortable bed, air con. and a big vase of lovely flowers (presumably imported). Most living things here are imported, including many of the people and all the food. But definitely not oil which as you know is what runs their economy.
Friday morning just somehow disappeared in a mass of early morning tea and rusks (imported - Ouma!) opening arrival gifts, talking, late breakfast, admiring everything, walks to local (in- house) shop etc. Quick afterlunch snooze was cut short at 2.30 in order to set out for the desert. The house itself is on the island but the city stretches far beyond. It is beyond impressive with marvellous roads, greenery everywhere, everything new and modern. This city is only fifty years old and is truly amazing. Eventually we turned off the main road into the countryside - read desert! Disappointingly there were no camels but we have been assured that that was just bad luck and we would be bound to see some soon.
Next turn was on to a dirt road and soon we stopped for Darrell to let down the tyres and attend to other desert requirements. On we drove, pretty much through the desert now and eventually stopped at a tree which would provide a scrap of shade. Being winter it wasn't too hot - maybe akin to a Durban summer day. There were several families, all in 4x4's and they all parked with their fronts facing down the hill (dune). We discovered why when had to take off.
A couple of things particularly took my attention. One was the enormous power pylons stretching over vast tracts of sand and second was the tree farms. Yes - acres and acres of small trees growing in the sand, watered by black plastic piping that we could see stretching over the sand (desalinated water, by the way!). The trees were very nondescript, probably chosen for their aptitude for desert survival and are moved to city, suburbs and gardens as required.
Our afternoon in the desert was great! The sand I discovered is of the finest texture and is lovely between the toes but makes climbing dunes a tortuous exercise - one step forward, three quarters of a step backward slide. The kids, of which there were many, charged unbelievably up and down the dunes (I can think of some SA kids who would have loved it!). The moms and this one granny relaxed in chairs in our chosen picnic spot and the men - including one grandpa - went dune bashing in the 4x4's. Of course and inevitably, one got stuck and the guys had enormous fun trying to get it out. Then the fires were lit as it started to get dark, meat was cooked (H and D had brought wors, the others sausages), car headlights were switched on so we could see what we were doing and eventually we reversed the tyre letting down process and went home. Great start to our holiday.
That was Friday (Muslim day of rest, equivalent to our Sunday).
Disaster struck this morning. Heidi, tripping down the stairs to let dogs out and make tea, literally tripped and ripped her ankle. Very bad sprain or tear. X-rays show no break but it is very sore. So today, second day of our holiday has been spent at home relaxing and doing nothing much. With seven weeks ahead that's no problem - plenty of time to do lots of things. So we have had a nice gentle day with our daughter and three gorgeous grandchildren. Time now to take the children for a swim and then I must organise supper!! Will put some photos in later.