Feb 26 - Abu Dhabi

Hello everyone, We have had a great introduction to Abu Dhabi, it is a nice sized cosmopolitin city, with many different nationalities and very organized and well laid out.  Each new fancy office tower or hotel tries to outdo the last, so the buildings are unique and really eye-catching. The people are quite nice, with lots of people from the Phillipine's working in restaurants and stores.  We did some siteseeing over the last few days with our friends Joanne and Dick (fish market, looking at the dhow boats, etc), and today we went off on our own. 

We toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, kind of a modern day Taj Mahal (so inspired) built by the founding father of UAE.  UAE is a country made up of 7 emirates (provinces or states), some have oil wealth, but not all. This mosque was stunning, as you'll see from our photos.  The women had to cover up with abaya's (provided), the structure was truly beautiful. The chandeliers (7 of them) weigh 9 tons each.  Then we went out for lunch and went to see the Emirates Palace Hotel, a 7 star wonder..... very elaborate. Obviously this grandeur is in sharp contrast to Bangladesh.

Off to Dubai tomorrow, we may take the long road around and stop a few places "less city" like along the way.

A family walking along the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, many miles of boardwalk along the Arabian Gulf

 
The dhow boats (used for fishing) along the harbour

 
The Sheikh Zayed Mosque, completed in 2007, given to the country by the founding father, Sheikh Zayed.

 
Women in abaya's, one was our guide.
                                               

Joanne and Dick Kellie, standing in front of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (where Joanne works), it will be completed in 2013 and is expected to bring in lots of funds and treatments, as it was built with the support of the royal family.

At the Palace Hotel, Gold to Go, just put your credit card in and order your gold in ounces or larger.... anyone want to give us a loan to try it out?