A post about Abu Dhabi

So Abu Dhabi is full of really tall buildings. Out on the Corniche, which is the waterfront, they actually look quite nice. They are all spaced out, and lit up real pretty. Plus there are no buildings in front of them due to the water and all that, so you can actually see them properly. But other than that the tall buildings are not at all impressive. You don't even notice them really. A lot of them are all new and shiny like this one:


And others look really bad, yet people are still living in them. And when you think about it they connot even be that old, seeing as oil was only discovered here in the desert 40 years ago. So all of the big buildings must be 40 years old or younger. Apparently they look bad because all that time ago they just built the buildings like any other buildings, whereas nowadays they know how to build buildings so that they can survive the heat and sand.


Then of course there a buildings that just look a bit ridiculous, like this one:


And then there are all the buildings that are under constructions, and the skyline that is dominated by cranes.


And like I said you don't actually notice them very much after awhile. What you do begin to notice is the stink. There are a lot of reasons for the bad smells, like all the people (some of them are so smelly, even in the open air - I don't understand how they put up with themselves) and the food smells and the sheesha pipes. But the biggest reason for the stink is this:


So there are these huge dumpsters on every corner, everything is chucked into them, they are sitting in the sun, and they are often just left open. It is gross. Of course, what else can they do really? And it does provide a source of food for the millions of cats, like these ones:


This visit to UAE I have noticed the cats more than in the past. Perhaps they are out and about more or something. I have so far seen two tiny kittens as well. And it turns out that all these cats that look a bit different to your usual cat, including Mum's cats, are not just funny looking desert cats. They are now a recognised breed, and they seem to only breed amongst themselves so they are all purebreed as well. The ones on the street don't really look anything special for the most part:



But Mum's cats are quite interesting looking:


There are also heaps of chickens around. They belong to the people in the houses, but I'm not really sure what for. They seem happy enough.


Of course the city can be nice, and it can be very impressive. When you manage to get a glimpse through the buildings the sunrise and sunset is pretty.


And when you stop to take notice the size of everything can still be very impressive.


As is the gigantic hole they are digging as a part of the roadworks. It looks like maybe they are going to build a tunnel under the road, so that there will be one road underneath the other.


And you should see the way they decorate, this last photo is some of what is left of the National Day decorations.



Of course they don't go so overboard for Christmas being Muslim and all but some of the decorations are quite impressive. But that can wait until tomorrow it is late now.