My Birthday In Abu Dhabi

I have grown not to be the biggest fan of birthdays in recent years.  You always feel let down by friends who text you at the last minute to say they can’t make your get together anymore, or someone important to you that forgets to wish you.  So whilst this may sound extremely bratty, I really don’t like being in South Africa, or, at least not in Cape Town for my birthday.  So when Christine mentioned that I should come visit her in Abu Dhabi, I figured my birthday would be the perfect timing, as the backpackers would also be quieter during that time and Abu Dhabi wouldn’t be too hot yet. 

Christine flew to Lagos, Nigeria, 2 days before my birthday and was due to arrive back the morning of, so I went to bed really late the night before my birthday so that I would want to sleep when she came in.  I woke up at 8am to let her in, where I was surprised by a birthday cheese cake…a very welcome surprise!!  After enjoying a slice as well as one of my many cans of Coke (AED 1.50 each!!), we went back to sleep and I managed to get about another 4 hours sleep in.  There was something about Abu Dhabi that made me want to sleep in very late each day, no matter what time I had gone to bed the night before.  When we got up around 2am, we lit all my candles and then I had some more cake J 

We had decided that we were going to go for half price sushi for my birthday, so when we hailed the cab, I figured that’s where we were going.  But, Christine had another surprise up her sleeve, this time a pedicure as my other birthday present.  I have hardly ever had pedicures so this was a real treat for me!!  The Philipino ladies who worked in the shop were so sweet, I don’t think I will actually ever forget Margie and Rhonda.  I got a wonderful foot massage before getting painted with a lovely pink nail polish (which has lasted to over a month later).

From Bellacure, we headed off to Aloft for sushi, which Christine wasn’t joking about when she said that I needed to dress up.  Going out places in Abu Dhabi are a LOT more ‘dressy’ than Cape Town!!  We ordered some cocktails as well as sushi (no salmon roses in Abu Dhabi!!) and wow I was not disappointed.  Their tuna sashimi was the best that I have ever tasted, wow.  I ended up ordering another portion, before we debated where we wanted to for drinks afterwards.  We ended up deciding on a club at a hotel in Yas, which had become my favourite area.  The music that was being played there was super cheesy, and Christine and I realised that we no longer really knew how to dance to anything but trance, so we just tranced to the commercial music J  I was happy though, as they had Strongbow draught, which I have missed terribly from the UK. 

All in all it was an amazing birthday spent with my friend and definitely a really great decision to spend it in Abu Dhabi!

Maya Island

When Christine mentioned that we were going to a place only open on Fridays called Maya Island, I asked her what it was and she said ‘drinking and pools’.  I figured there might be a big pool with a small bar next to it and that would be about it.  So on Friday morning we had a nice sleep in, then woke up, got dressed in our bikinis and headed into a cab.  When we got to the dock where the boat would leave from, it seemed like some kind of abandoned construction site.  I later realised this was probably to conceal the whole thing from conservative Abu Dhabi, especially as it said on the rules board ‘No local dress allowed’.  We got on the boat, headed out for about 20 minutes (the view of Abu Dhabi from the boat is amazing!!) and when we came close to the island, I realised very quickly that this was more than just a pool and a bar.  This was amazing!!  There was one HUGE pool, surrounded by about 3 other pools and a big Jacuzzi.  There was a massive stage playing awesome house music, as well as inside the pool was a huge bar, with the bar stools being in the actual pool!  There were sun loungers everywhere to lie on, either pool side or on the beach front.  I was shocked, never in a million years did I expect to find this in Abu Dhabi.  I felt like I was back in Ibiza the year before at a Bora-Bora beach party, not in a Muslim country!  It was a hot day, so we got our drink vouchers and then spent a couple of hours between lying next to the pool, swimming in the pool and lying in the Jacuzzi.  Once it started to get dark we went to sit on the bean bags for a bit and chat, before heading back to get a boat back to Abu Dhabi as we didn’t know when the last one was leaving.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my stay, it was very amazing to see this ‘great escape’ from the Arab-ness of the rest of the country!

My First Day In Abu Dhabi

When I planned to go to Abu Dhabi, my main purpose was to go and see my friend Christine, and so I didn't give much thought to what I would actually get to see there, or that this was my first time seeing a country which isn't totally westernized.  Coming out at arrivals in Abu Dhabi airport, I was so so excited to see Christine and it was amazing to be reunited with her outside Starbucks.  We got into a cab outside the airport, and driving down the motorway for the first time was a totally surreal experience.  It felt like a never ending road to nowhere.  But seeing all the different mosques all over the place it started to dawn on me how different (in a good way) this country really was.  After about 20 minutes in the cab, we drove past the Grand Mosque, one of the biggest mosques in the world, and what would be one of the stops on our sightseeing.  Driving into Abu Dhabi centre was so interesting.  Some of the buildings looked like something out of an Indian slum, very run down or even half destroyed, whilst others looked brand new and very expensive.  Christine's building inside was very fancy, like nothing you would find in Cape Town.  As neither of us had had any sleep the night before, we got into bed, but I soon heard the nyaaaaaaaa of the mosque across the road singing their ''call-to-prayer''.  As Christine had told me about this so many times it was rather exciting for me to finally hear it live...so I went to her window to see it, though there really wasn't all that much to see!

After getting about 5 hours sleep, we woke up very hungry and so headed down to the corniche (a strip of restaurants and such along the beach front of Abu Dhabi).  It was there I discovered one of the new loves of my life - the tortellini pasta at Rosa Belina.  Most amazing spinach and riccota pasta with a sundried tomato sauce and balsamic vinegar drizzeled over it...too amazing!!  Over the course of the trip, I managed to eat this meal 4 times.  After we'd finished our lunch we walked along the corniche a bit more and bought some YogaDay - a very yummy frozen yogurt with some interesting toppings like pomogranites.  We sat on the beach a bit and then hailed another cab to take us down to the Grand Mosque as it had started getting dark. The roads in the UAE are very strange.  For starters you drive on the right hand side of the road, and secondly, when you come out of somewhere, there is no option to turn either left or right, you have to turn right and then do a U-turn.  The city is also not very friendly to walking, as pavements and padestrian crossings are few and far between.

We got to the Grand Mosque and it was very beautiful from the outside.  The lights on the water features by night were just stunning!! We had to wear proper Muslim abaya to be allowed in so we got givenn some in the changing rooms.  Christine and I looked pretty funny in them!  Although the place was pretty breathtaking, a lot of the decorations, especially those inside were very 'kitch' and a lot of the gold looked very fake, so I didn't really know what to make of a lot of it. 

After being at the Grand Mosque, we went to one of Christine’s friends, Shannon’s house and from there headed to an Irish bar.  Abu Dhabi has ladies nights where drinks are free for ladies, and it was tonight, so I enjoyed a couple of free vodka mixers which was nice.  There were some very weird guys who danced very strangely but made for funny entertainment.  I went to bed very exhausted that night, but having had an amazing first day in Abu Dhabi.  It’s a funny feeling being in love with several cities around the world, but your own city not being one of them.  This is definitely a place in which I could see myself living.  Tomorrow’s Plan – Yas WaterWorld!