United Arab Emirates: Arrivals.

My holiday continues because now I am going to post my waffling blog.

Here goes...

My flight was delayed due to a sand storm and we circled Dubai for over an hour and half waiting for the winds and sand storm to die down. Passport control was easy but my bag was the third from last one off. I then had to run like a crazed thing through the arrivals. i must have looked a complete sight charging through. luckily I just made the 10am bus by the skin of my teeth! I was happy because the next one was at 2pm. But I was still dressed in UK clothes and hadn't bought any water. I was parched, hot and feeling quite gritty and grimy due to all the sand in the air.

Anyway, I thought I would just enjoy the scenery. Hahahaaaa. What a joke! What a boring journey; just greyness and whipped up gritty sand for two hours on the motorway. Sand in the swaying palm trees and grit all over the motorway. All I could see were some Indians working on the sides of the roads planting flowers. That was strange seeing them dig in the sand (no soil in sight.)to plant cyclamen and petunias as motorway borders. As the plants are so tiny at the moment you can clearly see the black piping and tubing, which obviously works as the irrigation network.

After two hours of snoozing on my super grey journey out of Dubai, honestly as boring and colourless as anything I have ever seen even the super smart white cars zooming along didn't improve the colourless scene! I arrived in Abu Dhabi to finally see Michael again and meet his other guest, Seda from Turkey. I'd never met her before but she's great. Very easy company. off we went to Michael's ninth floor flat right in down town AbuDhabi. A central district mostly inhabited by Indians and Pakistanis.
Off we went to our first Mall. A small, mostly Indian themed place with an internal toy train pottering about to entertain. We ate Thali from Kerala. Lots of guys from Kerala end up working in the UAE. It was bloody marvellous. Yum, yum, yum. Gorgeous cardamom buttermilk and lots of spicy dips all served on a banana leaf. I really felt like I was back in South India! A bit swisher though!

Sauce galore.

Michael with two dinners.

Michael and Seda

A bizarre addition to a shoe shop window.

My first touch all day of outside colour and obviously my favourite. Goodbye grit and sand storm

We then went for about a 4 mile walk along the sea front. (Or the Corniche as it is called.) The beach is man made but bloody hell it's damn good and a greataddition to the lifestyle in Abu Dhabi. A lovely place to walk and relax. I really liked it and even though I was feeling bloody knackered I just kept on walking!

Later in the evening off we went to the cultural festival at the Old Fort of Abu Dhabi. It was the last day so we just had to go and I am so glad we made it in time. There were lots of local Emerati families out and about enjoying the festivities and I loved it. To be honest tourists were definitely in the minority.
Here is a link to the festival http://qasralhosnfestival.ae/ and here are my photos.

relaxing over coffee

Selling carpets and lids which keep your lamb stews warm

Dancers. Men are wearing their winter gear.

Singing and dancing and waving sticks. Was fun to watch. lots of little boys swaying around too.

With the dancers behind me.

Seda in local ladies moustache wear. This is old style but still worn to protect women from breathing in too much sand up their noses. The local girl was fluent in English, really informative and extremely glam! As for the woman on the right...who is she?!!!