Abu Dhabi stopover

Emirates Palace Hotel

Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Local lunch

Al Diar Regency

Abu Dhabi skyline

Abu Dhabi skyline

Abu Dhabi - Capital of UAE (United Arab Emirates)

Currency - Dirham

1 AED = 0.20 EUR

1 Eur = 4.77 AED (Both circa; at the time of writing)

I arrived in Abu Dhabi at about 8am and was told I was allowed to go into the city - a relieve as I would have had to spend 15 hours at the airport! I go the government ran bus into town for 3 AED with a basque couple from Bilbao, who were flying onwards to Johannesburg.

We went for a coffee and the three coffees came to 6 AED!! However, we didn't go to Starbucks, we went to where the locals went. Unfortunately the guys had to leave early enough as their next flight was at 13h15 so I said farewell and went to explore the city and what it had to offer.

Abu Dhabi is quite a bizarre place but interesting nonetheless. The architecture shows the depth of the rich oil Sheikhs and the sights are impressive. However, coupled with this extravagant show of wealth are the inevitable poorer people. Religion plays a huge role in everyday living as well. There are mosques about every 500metres and it is clear that religion is embedded in society. Songs are sung to the public through the mosques using large speakers - it is quite surreal if you have never heard it before I tell you..

The Emirates palace hotel is very impressive. The hotel truly is a palace, at least from the exterior, and cost USD 3 Billion to complete.

I strolled around for about 2 hours after the basque couple departed and took random photos. I had already decided I was going to go back to the same place we got coffee for my lunch - you can't beat the local cuisine anywhere and the owners were so friendly, despite only knowing a handful of English words. For lunch I had a large dish of rice, a dish with spicy chicken (like Kentucky fried chicken only halal) and a third dish with curry and potato. I also had a bottle of water and a coffee after - the total price? A mere 20 AED!

If I do go back to the UAE in the future I will most likely split my time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai - which is only a 2 hour bus ride away.

I've managed to make it to Beijing now at the time of writing this blog entry - I'm sleeping on a large American pool table for the next four days!! Surprisingly comfortable actually! Write up a post of the Beijing trip either before I get to Beijing or when I get to Shanghai. Gonna try post up some pics now and then change to go to Tian'an men Square.

All the best,

Liam O'Connor, travelling hobbit