Jet skiing days over in Abu Dhabi?

The Abu Dhabi Government has now banned jet skis from being ridden in many areas of the Abu Dhabi coastline. It pretty much puts paid to the trade in jet ski hire. Jets skis are now banned in all the areas where you can hire them (e.g. Mina Port, Al Raha Beach, Al Bateen). Only if you own your own jet ski and can launch it yourself from an area not banned, will you now really be able to ride one.

As you can see from the the link below, I have enjoyed hiring jet skis from time to time and will miss the opportunity to do so again. There are clearly marked swimming areas along the Corniche beach, but still some jet ski riders (typically local I have to say) , do seem to enjoy annoying everyone else who is trying to enjoy the beach. So, I guess it is the actions of a few that has meant there is now one less thing to do in Abu Dhabi.


http://neilandcaz.blogspot.ae/search/label/jetski

Volvo Ocean Race Gig

A few pictures taken from the gig this evening and a video of Kamal Mussalum, on the Oud, with ADBB.....

 

Abu Dhabi Big Band @ Volvo Ocean Race event

The Abu Dhabi Big Band will be playing on Saturday Jan 7th for this event at the Race Village on the Breakwater, Nr. Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi. We will be playing two sets at c.4pm and 6pm.

Best news... it's free, so come along!

Photo: Tiffany Schultz

Hawkers in Abu Dhabi

I had a bit of a bizarre encounter today. I was heading back to my car after a business meeting at ADMA. My car was in the public car park in front of ADMA along the Corniche. A Mazda car with two guys in it stopped me for direction to Yas Island. They were Italian guys. The driver was very grateful for the directions and started up about a conversation about where I was from and what I did. He told me he was a fashion designer working for Armani and that he had just come from the Emirates Palace outlet and was on his way to Yas Hotel. I joked with him that if he was a fashion designer I should probably apologise for my suit! - which is definitely not Armani.

He was soooo pleased to be talking to fellow European who had helped him, he wanted to give me something. He looked at my and told me I was a European size 58 and that he had some samples left over - as he and his friend were not size 58 he would love for me to have one free..... ok yeah right... so now I was waiting for the catch. He continued. He had 3 suits my size conveniently, and he was leaving tomorrow and had promised his daughter that he would take her back an iPhone... so here was the deal.. take the three suits but just give me the money enough to buy her an iPhone.......

Of course I politely declined and bade him good day.

Now this kind of thing happens all the time at home, mainly in motorway services stations, generally trying to flog watches....but Abu Dhabi?, randomly in a car park on the Corniche?? Bizarre.....

Weird cloud formations over Abu Dhabi

We went to the public beach on the Corniche yesterday. There were some really weird cloud formations that looked interesting. Unfortunately I only had my phone camera with me. If anyone knows what causes this phenomena I would love to know......

Jet-skiing on the Breakwater

There are times when life feels really good... and today was one of those days for me. Yesterday we were bumming around Shanghai on the last day of our trip to China (more of that later), today I was jet-skiing in front of the Corniche in Abu Dhabi.... all sounds a bit “rock ’n’ roll” ! . I don’t take these sort of things for granted and do count myself fortunate that we have these opportunities. I did manage to take a short video clip on my phone (sorry about my digits getting in the way!) ....


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=neilroberts02#p/a/u/0/TeR0WRKFT5A



I am currently going through my 1200 pictures and 100 video clips of our trip to China! ... so more of that very soon. Suffice to say for now that we had a fantastic time and loved every minute.

End of Ramadan

Ramadan is coming to an end. At the approach of Ramadan, it can be viewed by non-Muslims as a bit of a nuisance - all the restrictions, lack of places to get lunch etc. But actually, I haven’t found it quite so difficult this year, maybe I’m just getting used to it. Mostly you are busy with work, so the time passes quickly and before you know it, it’s Iftar time and you are allowed to eat and drink again.

The government departments and companies started their Eid holiday today. Officially, it has been announced that Eid will begin on Friday - so therefore tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan (for those that don’t know, Ramadan is the name of the month we are in, in the Islamic calendar).

Since the start of Ramadan I have been meaning to take some pictures of the lights along the Corniche. Lights go up for various celebrations through the year and they do look very nice. Finally, tonight I managed to get some!

Friday we fly to Damascus, Syria, for two nights which we are really looking forward to. Should be lots more photo ops.!

Beach Club

One of the nice things about living here is that during the months of good weather we can enjoy the weekends. We never have to think about what the weather will be like, we know what it will be like! As reported, we do get one or two days of bad weather, but mostly it’s bright and sunny.

If you want to enjoy some time on a beach in Abu Dhabi you have two options.

1. Go to a public beach
2. Join a beach / Health Club

There are really only two public beaches in Abu Dhabi. The first is called Ras al Akhdar and is to be found round the back of the Emirates Palace. It sounds very nice, but really there are no amenities here, but despite this it does get busy at the weekends. There is a bus route that takes you there and access to the beach is free. This beach will shortly disappear as the whole area is being redeveloped as the new Presidential Palace.

The second is the public beach on The Corniche (the City Sea Front). Actually, it’s a very nice beach which has recently been redeveloped. The sand is nice, the calm breakwater is great for swimming in and there are plenty of food outlets/toilets/changing areas etc. There is a free area in the central part, which also has volleyball and football pitches laid out for public use, and paid areas for females and families.

The Corniche Beach being redeveloped last year


Andrew Henderson / The National


You can pay to go into the family section (as long as you are not a male on your ow​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​n​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​) - I’m trying to recall but I think it is about 12Dhs (2 quid). You can also pay extra to have use of some rather nice sunbeds and umbrellas - c.30dhs (£5). You can even pay extra to have a sun bed on the “front row” by the waterside. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The beach sunbeds and umbrellas





So, now to the second option - a health/beach club. These are mainly within the hotels. Many of them are accessible to non-members on a day rate, others are either not available to non-members at all or only mid-week. Some of the prices are as follows:-

• Beach Rotana - 150 Dhs (£25)
• Intercontinental - 115 Dhs (£19)
• Le Meridien - 195 Dhs (£32)
• Hilton - 160 (£27)
• Sheraton - c.180 Dhs (£30)

As you can see, these are pretty steep - also bearing in mind that The Hilton is really the only one that has a nice view with no cranes or construction noise. Unless you live close by one of these, you may as well drive to the public beach if you are going to be an occasional user.

We have a membership at The Sheraton, for a few reasons. First, as a member of staff at The Corniche Hospital, Caz gets a 30% discount. It’s still expensive, but with the discount it isn’t extortionate. Second, we can walk to the Sheraton in 10 minutes. Third, I can also carry out my new year resolution of going to the gym (which is included). Since the new year I have been going in the mornings midweek, when I am not going to Dubai, so 3-4 times a week. So at least we get reasonable usage from it. Although our visits to the beach will reduce when the really hot weather comes. They do however have an indoor spa with sauna, jacuzzi, steam room etc, so maybe we will chill there for a while instead.



The beach front at The Sheraton





The Pool Area





The Gym

Corniche Park

I had a meeting this afternoon at a cafe on the Corniche. My car was in a precious parking space, so I thought I would walk there rather than give it up. Rather than walk along the roadside I went into the middle of the park and walked through there (between Najda, 6th, and Muroor, 4th). The park is really very nice, very well landscaped with interesting sunken garden bits and lots of fountains. At one point there was a full scale impromptu cricket match taking place....(sorry about the picture quality, they were just snapped off my phone)

There is then a long stretch where they have newly (it seems) incorporated some exercise "stations" along the way called the LifeTrial - I guess to encourage more people to get some exercise. So of them were quite good with small bikes, steps, curls etc. It would be a darn site cheaper than the health club rates we are paying! The problem comes when the weather warms up though. Nice at the moment, but not so much in 35 degrees first thing in the morning as it will be before long.

One thing that I can't understand, why in this heat would you have park benches made of metal!

Night Photography

One night while we had the kids here, my eldest daughter wanted to take some night time photos. We both share an interest in photography. It was seeing some of her results with a digital SLR last year that prompted me to buy one. It was nice to spend a few hours with her doing something we both enjoy.

Here's a few of the results (I'll spare you the 98 pics I took!)

Abu Dhabi Night Shots

38th National Day

The locals celebrated their 38th National Day (commemorating the unification of 7 Emirates into 1 independent nation of Emirates) in their usual inimitable fashion! Emiratis love their country and their leaders and they love to celebrate, so on National Day all these things come together. The Corniche in Abu Dhabi become an unofficial DIY parade, with people who have spent 1000s of Dirhams decorating their cars driving up and down the street. There is a real party atmosphere which everyone joins in with.
This year there was much made about a massive firework display that would be set off from 25 points around the city and from barges on the waterfront. They started an hour late (at 9.30pm) by which time many people, especially those with young children had already gone, or started going home. When eventually they came, they were the biggest let down ever! Most towns back home would have better displays on Nov 5th. I don’t know what happened – maybe it’s the credit crisis!

Shuja Yacht Dinner Cruise

The Royal Meridien Hotel owns a yacht moored in the marina near Marina Mall, which they use for evening dinner cruises up and down the Breakwater in front of the Corniche. We went with Caroline’s two aunts who are currently staying with us at the moment and our friend Michelle from our apartment block. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the food was pretty good and we were very luck with the weather, it was so clear. A lovely couple of hours.

Pictures below….

Shuja Yacht dinner cruise

F1 Fan Zone tonight

.... and my tickets have arrived...yippee!!

Ramadam lights on the Corniche

Walking

It's nice now to be able to just walk out of our tower block and walk around the city. I waited today until the sun started to go down and then walked around our part of what is called the Tourist Club Area and then on to the Corniche. There was nice breeze off the gulf on the Corniche which made it quite pleasant.

Here's some pictures I took ...

Mina Tower (our apartment block)

I'm sure you wouldn't get away with a company name like this at home!

Around the Corniche

They even make the subways pleasant places

A view back from the Corniche showing our location and where Caz works

Sun going down over LuLu Island

Opposite of apartment, Shiraz Nigits!