My recent trip to the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi allows a comparison. These are the building projects that can be seen from the front of the Emirates Palace Hotel.
This is approximately one year ago:
This is the current view:
This is last year:
This is the current view:
I have a much better camera these days. Can you tell?
Archive for the ‘United Arab Emirates’ Category
Construction
October 17, 2009Make-up for Film
October 13, 2009At the last minute, I got the chance to go along on a student field trip to the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. We went to a workshop on make-up for film done by artists who worked on Lord of the Rings and 30 Days of Night. Here’s a sample of how they turned an ordinary guy into a vampire in 1.5 hours.
Above, they have prepped his face and hair and are about to glue on the forehead appliance.
They added nose, lip and chin pieces.
They painted him and also put nails and paint on his hands. One has stunt nails that are flexible (won’t put an eye out), the other has harder nails meant to look good in close ups.
Here’s a close up. Notice he has blue eyes above. Below, his right eye has a contact lens that makes it look black. Left eye is still blue.
In goes the second contact lens. They also put in dentures, but my pictures of that did not come out well. You will have to imagine.
During the whole process they talked about the work they do, the products they use, and working with actors and directors. It was good to hear them tell the students that they are constantly reading and doing research and draw a lot from the medical field. What? Life long learning?
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque at night
March 26, 2009This is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is quite beautiful by day, but even more so at night because it is lit and the lighting changes from white to deep purple and back again.
For those who do not already know, Sheikh Zayed is considered the father of the United Arab Emirates. He was the Ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first president of the UAE when it was established in 1971. He died in 2004 and is buried in the courtyard of this mosque. From what I have read so far, he was a very wise man and good ruler. The same can be said of Sheikh Rashid, the ruler of Dubai when the UAE was established. The current rulers are the sons of these men and are proving to be wise, good rulers as well.
Al Meshwar – Fujairah
March 2, 2009To find a place to eat dinner after our bull butting disappointment and short visit to the beach we consulted the guide book. We picked Al Meshwar mainly because the guide book said “a bizarre building that looks like a cross between a set from the Flintstones and a crusader castle.” Darned if they weren’t right! — Great food, we highly recommend.
Fujairah
March 2, 2009
Fujairah has several roundabouts with large public art. Above, the large coffee pot and cups, below a hand holding a perfume bottle (?).
Along the beach were some rather Flintstone style trees and matching trash cans.
This is Paul and our new friend Zeyah standing on the beach. Below you can see that the water was so still and the sky so hazy that it is nearly impossible to see where the horizon is.
I fully intended to dip my toes in the Gulf of Oman, but the overwhelming bad fish smell put me off. The sand here was actual sand, not broken shells. It was very dark sand and it made the water dark, too, which made it even more uninviting.
Bull Butting Bust
February 28, 2009
We drove all the way to Fujairah yesterday in hopes of watching the traditional bull butting. We did find the “arena” and there were other hopefuls there waiting to see a contest or two, but none materialized. Someone said that someone important had died that morning which would mean that the contests were canceled due to mourning. Nothing in the Gulf News this morning, so it wasn’t a government official.
Notice how this guy drove up onto the berm so he could watch from the comfort of his vehicle. Below, more of the hopefuls waiting for some action.
Anyway, we had a blast on the drive, the dinner, and the drive home. We had the company of two new friends and lots of interesting sites and experiences. I will post each separately.
Oops, you are probably saying “What IS bull butting?” It is a contest between trained bulls who butt heads and the winner is the one who pushes the other out of the “ring.” It is a mostly bloodless sport. No bull is killed. No matadors. Think of it as bulls wrestling.
We intend to go back, so if and when we do, we’ll have video so you can experience it vicariously for yourself.
Rest of the road trip – RAK Mountains
January 30, 2009In order to drive north, we must drive through Sharjah and Ajman. The cities of Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman are right up against each other. For those of you in Ptld area, it’s kinda like driving from Beaverton, through Portland and then Gresham. Not really a break in between. Sharjah is known mostly for it’s traffic problems. The rents have traditionally been cheaper in Sharjah (that may be changing with the effects of the current economic downturn) and so there is heavy traffic caused by those who live in Sharjah and work in Dubai. They often take hours to get to or from work. Some get up early, drive to work and then get some more sleep in the parking lot before work.
Commuter traffic is not the only issue, however, we ventured into Sharjah and got trapped in the worst detour ever. It went on forever, twisting this way and that. The epitome of the long way around. The picture below shows that there may or may not be three lanes. That truck was actually parked in our lane, so we had to pull around it without colliding with the others trying to navigate this.
We finally got out of the detour nightmare. We were hungry by this time, so started looking for someplace to stop. I’ve mentioned before the lack of infrastructure in Dubai, but Sharjah is far worse. The picture below shows what it is like just one block off a paved street. Paved streets are few and far between. Buildings are put up long before any of the support structures like sewers, streets, sidewalks, etc. Completely backwards from the States where all those things have to go in before a building is even started.
We discovered the Grand Arabian Home Restaurant. Notice the logo – a wood frame house with a wood burning chimney – nothing Arabian about that! The food was marvelous! The fresh squeezed juices were marvelous! Great little discovery.
We saw many beautiful mosques throughout the day. This is the one I managed to get a picture of.
As mentioned in the previous post, we then stopped at Hamariya beach. It looks like Paul is doing a little jig, but the sand is not that hot.
From there, we continued to drive north past Umm Al Qwain to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK for short). In the haze we began to see that there might be mountains. (The haze, by the way is dust kicked up by the wind. All part of being in the desert.)
And, yes, there were mountains!
Along the way we saw camels, donkeys, cows, and goats. Sorry that I didn’t get any pictures. That’s the problem with road trip and seeing things as you speed by them. The traffic is such that it doesn’t allow for “ooo, stop here, I’ve got to take a picture!”
It was getting late and we were not prepared to cross the border into Oman or do an overnight stay, so it was time to turn around and go back home.
Sunset over RAK. (The round ball on the top of a building is the sign that it is an Etisalat building – the major phone company here.)
We avoided the Sharjah traffic problems by getting onto the Emirates Road. This is a freeway through the desert. It is, however, seriously dangerous. The speed limit is 120 kilometers per mile (approx. 75 mph), but the locals drive much faster. We estimate 160 kph (100 mph, I think this is a conservative estimate). The fast lane should be renamed the super sonic lane. To make this worse, they do not believe that they should have to slow down for anything, so they will flash their headlights to let you know that they are coming and it is your duty to get the *bleep* out of the way. So, Paul had his hands full driving in the not so fast middle lane and navigating the occasional passing of someone slower than us before the next speeding vehicle came along. One speeding vehicle forced us out of the way and then proceeded to cross all the lanes in order to exit. Huh?!?!?!?!?! Even after we got into town and were on city streets there were some who thought they were still on the freeway and ought to be able to continue at top speed.
We made it home alive. That’s what counts.
Hamariya Beach Revisit
January 29, 2009
Thursday we took a drive. I wanted to get out of the city limits at least once during mid-semester break. So, we returned to Hamariya Beach to see what it is like when the weather is cool enough for us to stand being out of the car. [See original posts about this beach – Sept 29 and Oct 9, 2008]
Paul mentioned the irony that we have now dipped our toes in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, but not the Atlantic. (We were in So. Carolina a few years back and drove up to where we could see the ocean, but it was raining so heavily that we couldn’t get out of the car.)
These pictures don’t do the place justice. The water is a brilliant aqua color.
The beach is littered with shells (and only a little garbage litter). The “sand” is more pulverized shells than actual sand which makes it feel sharp to the feet. Like walking on broken glass.
My feet were a little tender after all this, but no injuries. When we reached our next destination and I went to roll down my pants, I discovered my legs were covered in shell bits like scales or glitter. I was for a moment Aquawoman! Anyway, still had a few shell scales on my legs at bed time, so had to scrub them off. (Click on the image below to see what I’m really talking about close up.)
There is a sharp drop off a short distance into the water, so this is not a place for swimming. The undercurrent is probably deadly. There were some people there with boats apparently fishing, but we were the only silly tourists walking around barefoot and getting into the cold water. (It was cool at best by PNW standards. This would have passed for a hot summer’s day on the Oregon coast.)
This is one of my favorite places in the U.A.E.
Welcome to Hatta, finally
December 25, 2008
Our first stop in Hatta was Hill Park. The main feature and attraction of this park is just that, the hill.
One climbs up the hill…
At the top is this tower providing a marvelous 360 degree view of the area.
Above is the top of the tower, below is the view out the door of the tower.
At intervals up the path there are BBQ areas. These are rectangular walled areas with seating and a roof where families can picnic. You can see one in the bottom center of the picture above.
Above is a new construction of some sort. Possibly a shopping center or office building.
Next stop was the Fort Hotel. This is a posh hotel, but we just stopped in for a late lunch.
Below are bouganvilla. They are common, but usually small and straggly, unless they get a great deal of TLC due to the harsh climate. I took this picture for you, Mimi.
And here is the camel ride. We did not spend the Dhs 20 each to ride the camel. I’m not sure how exciting riding a camel around the parking lot of a hotel would have been. We were still suffering from the effects of our Germany illness, so were not up to this. I think I prefer to do the camel ride in a little bit more authentic setting.
We did not make it to the fort itself, which is the other main attraction in Hatta. As I said, still not feeling 100% well, so called it a day and drove back to Dubai. We’ll do the fort another day.
Continuing on the Road to Hatta
December 23, 2008Some of you may be able to remember the good ol’ days when Uncle Joe and Aunt Flo would come to visit and show the family the slides from their last vacation or, worse yet, the 8mm film made with a hand held camera and a total lack of cinematic technique. It seems to me that this blog is kinda like that, except that you aren’t a captive audience and you shouldn’t be getting motion sickness since I don’t have a 8mm hand held camera. So, here’s the next installation of slides from our long vacation.
Above shows how the sand builds up against the cement dividers in the center of the road.
There were a few little towns or wide spots in the road along the way. These five pictures are of one such wide spot where there was a long line of carpet/pottery shops.
This is typical construction, even in the city, where there is a long cement building with small shops side by side. It is not unusual for shops to be all the same product. This comes out of the souk tradition, where a market area specializes in a particular ware — the gold souk, the spice souk, the textile souk, the electronics souk, etc. This single building arrangement is like a strip mall, but the shops are smaller and the strip is longer.
Above is a tire shop. I have yet to see a tire shop with a big show room to display their wares. They are usually small hole in the wall shops. This one has the luxury of space to actually install the tires.
Above is the “supermarket” and a cafeteria. They seem to like the word cafeteria here and use it a lot. A supermarket is usually a tiny shop about the size of a one car garage. So, the big markets are called “hypermarket.” Also, notice that all the vehicles above are SUV or truck. We are definitely out of the city.
Above are three shops. The two on the sides that have two windows are unusually large. Most shops are like the one in the middle – about the size of one car garage.
So, we still haven’t gotten to Hatta, but hang in there. The next post. I promise!
Living the Travel Channel 