Drift Away . . .

A few days ago the same teacher who suggested the Soccer game, also mentioned in his Facebook post some information on other events happening in the area.  One caught my eye.  That was the Drift Nights at the Yas Marina Circuit Racing School.  Drift Nights you ask?  Well, if you’ve ever seen Fast and the Furious, you know what I am talking about.  For those of you who are not well-versed in the theatrical achievements of Vin Diesel, I will explain.  Drifting is a motorsport  where people race cars very fast and as they approach a turn, they apply the brakes and turn the wheel in such a way that allows the car to literally swerve or ‘drift’ into the turn.  The rear of the car usually comes shooting around the turn in line with the front of the car.  It is loud, there is usually smoke and to be honest, it’s pretty damn cool.  I’ve only ever seen it on T.V., so I decided to check it out.

After putting a message out on Facebook, a nice sized crowd gathered in the hotel lobby, we packed into the Yas Island shuttle and headed off to the Racing School for Drift Nights.  We we arrived, there were several cars parked up on the entrance of the school with men gathered around admiring one another’s supped-up vehicles.  The cars aren’t just ordinary cars.  They are bright, multi colored, embossed cars (the likes of Nissans and Toyotas), some with sponsor names attached, some looking like they just pulled it out of the shop with tricked out engines that could burn any Mercedes or BMW (damn Yuppies) on the road.  They put a lot of money into these cars, and then they take them out onto the racetrack to drift around the various turns.

Apparently it originated in Asia and has taken off in the rest of the world.  The neatest thing about the evening, besides the exciting drifting competition (yes, there is actually a way to judge the drifting)  and the fact that we were able to walk through one of the garages on our way out to the track, was that we could stand out next to the track as they raced.  In the garage, there were several Formula One cars among other ridiculous vehicles.

We stayed for about an hour or so and then headed out to another soccer game.  While you watch the videos, keep in mind that most of the people who entered their cars are amateurs.  They hold the professional competitions throughout the year.  Anyway, if I am still in the area next Friday, that is one event I’d like to see again!  Enjoy!

Sporty Pants

The other night, one of the teachers mentioned that there was a free soccer game going on in Abu Dhabi.  It was Syria Aleppo vs. Al Jazira Club (Abu Dhabi’s team).  We were all very excited about this and decided to check it out.  The Al Jazira Club stadium was little closer than we thought, so we got there about 45 minutes early (like a good teacher should, wink, wink).  Upon entering the stadium, we noticed that we were the only people there, with the exception of the players warming up on the field.  It was a beautiful stadium.  You could tell that it was new, sparkling, waiting to be shown and, like so many places in Abu Dhabi, had the Sheik’s portrait up on both sides of the stadium walls.

Needless to say we stayed and watched the players warm up, which was a fun experience, and being that no one had kicked us out yet, we enjoyed the stillness of the stadium.  As people starting trickling in (and it was a trickle), the music started and the players began to retreat into the players box.  A local man came out and said a few words, everyone cheered (including the six of us) and the games began.  As I mentioned, the two teams playing were the Syrian Aleppo team and the local soccer team, Al Jazira (no, not named after the Middle Eastern TV station). While the game was going on, I looked around the stadium to people watch and quickly took notice of the fans in the stands.  Well, maybe I should rephrase that and say, I quickly took notice of the men in the stands.  Up until about the last 20 minutes of the game, we were not only the only ‘Western looking’ people in the entire stadium, but I, and the three girls I was with, were the only women in the stadium.  That was kind of interesting.  We definitely got the looks, especially from a few of the players (which we didn’t mind too much – hee hee).

It was a fun evening, the stadium was beautiful and one of the girls even managed to sneak a couple shots in of a few of the cute players.  Though one of them caught us and ending up posing for the pictures (subtlety); so I guess it can’t be considered ‘sneaking’.  Whenever a goal was made, they would stand up and cheer, chant Arabic phrases (I think) and sing.  It was neat seeing this take place.  It was so very different from back home.  There was no one chucking snowballs at Santa, painting their chests, getting drunk and onry, etc.  On the other hand though, I laughed a little too loud at a friend’s joke and got a few stares (damn women and their giggling).  Half way through the game a nice Syrian gentleman (or at least he was rooting for the Syrian team) who was sitting in front of us even brought us ladies some water.  Oh, and I will not bore you with the ‘sticky’ details, but yes, it was freakin’ hot.  Even at 10pm in the evening.  I mean, really?  I am bringing a towel next time I go!

A Desert Safari (minus the machete) . . .

I was introduced to a great website called Cobone.com.  It is like Groupon, where you can purchase items and deals at a reduced amount of the original cost.  On a whim, I decided to purchase a desert safari with a few other friends.  Now, what would convince me to go into the desert in August in 95% humidity?  Boredom.  No, actually a few girls had done it over the weekend (which is Friday and Saturday - which is really screwing me up) and said that it is really cooler in the desert.  I had read that it gets cooler in the desert, but my version of cooler and others, is usually drastically different.   Needless to say, I figured why not.

After downing a Dramamine, the fleet of Land Rovers picked us up at our lovely (and increasingly expensive) Yas Hotel.  After organizing the tourists in their SUVs, our driver hopped in, took off his head wrap and threw on a red Ferrari hat.  After the four of us looked at each other because a local man just took off the mysterious head garment they all wear we decided, this was going to be awesome.  Oh man, were we in for it.  He was a wild one.  We had a short introduction and discussion on where we were all from and found out that our driver's name was Sultan.  Okay, let me just say that at this moment I realized were I really was.  The illusion of glitz and glam in this modernizing city can fool you sometimes, but at this very moment, it was finally solidified where I was.  I mean, are you serious??  Sultan?  The way he pronounced was not how we do with the emphasis on the first syllable, but he pronounced it with the emphasis on the last syllable.  Either way, the dude’s name was Sultan.  I digress…

We drove out to some area that eventually led to a back road which led to the desert (sounds like a bad horror flick).  Throughout our drive to this unknown back road we found out that Sultan had a pretty good sense of humor, which was lucky for us because our sarcasm and Katrina’s questions about his marriage and availability of rooms in his two homes saved us from being left in the desert.  After a few minutes of driving into the desert, we met up with the rest of the group.  The drivers, we found out were mostly his brothers, cousins and friends all let the air out of their tires and the dune bashing began.

It was just crazy.  It makes four wheeling and doing doughnuts in the iced over parking lots in Vail, look like a walk in the park.  He was everywhere; we even managed to go down a few dunes that dropped off the face of the earth, sideways.  It was nuts.  I am glad I took the Dramamine because I was a hurtin’ pup!  Man, was it bad.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I had not taken something.  However, it was still an experience!

After a half an hour of dune bashing, we stopped at what looked like camel farm.  We got out, I bent over in agony, snapped a couple shots of camels (and Sultan) and headed back into the Rover for another half hour of topsy-turvy nausea.  We finally came to an area that had a fenced in camp with dirt bikes, snowboards and two camels.  Seriously, it was like something out of a movie.  A few times throughout this adventure, Heidi (new friend from Pittsburgh – I found the one other sarcastic PA person) said, “I can’t believe this is my life right now.”  And it is true. I felt the same way.  It was just surreal.  What made it even more amazing was that I got a chance to see these local men acting like ‘the boys’.  There is such a mysterious air around many of the locals here, especially the men.  With me on high alert not wanting to make a royal embarrassment of myself, it was refreshing to see the guys acting like a bunch of guys with SUVs and dirt bikes in the desert.  It doesn’t matter where you are, however the difference, of course, being that they were in their Kandooras (robes), speaking Arabic and surrounded by sand dunes.  But hey!  Men, will be men.

After a trotted up the sand dune with snowboard in hand, I admired the gorgeous landscape.  Well, maybe I should rephrase that and say, after a good 10 minutes climbing up a giant sand dune in my bare feet, gasping for breath, sweating like someone had just shoved me into an oven on 350, I made it to the top and admired the view after picking my lungs up, shaking the sand off them and putting them back in my chest.  It was amazing.  Just amazing.  I did not bring my camera up, fearing it would get lost, but take my word for it.  Simply amazing…

After a few minutes, I stuck my bare feet into a rope strap that had been bolted into the board (if I can make it down Spring Mount with my snowboard binding detached from my board hauling a toboggan during my Ski Patrol test, I can do this!) and attempted to make it down the hill.  I did fall halfway down, but man, that was one more thing I could officially check off my bucket list.  The majority of people headed into the camp for drinks (non-alcoholic, of course during this holy month of Ramadan J) and the four of us (Heidi, Katrina, Carrie and myself) got onto two camels and snapped a few photos.  A word of advice, when on top of a camel, lean back as the camel gets up and sits down.  It was make your life , and your gut much easier.

I was still pretty queasy at this point, so we headed in and grabbed a few waters and a soda.  The soda helped, which was nice.  Dinner was also very nice.  It was a traditional Iftar with dates, coffee, salads, rice, meat, etc.  We sat on rugs, which were scattered around a platform.  The platform, we later found out, was for the belly dancer who normally performs, but was not there this month because of Ramadan (this Ramadan is really encroaching on my Starbucks and entertainment). After dinner they turned the lights off and we gazed at the stars.  The moon was a light orange and was just over one of the dunes.  It was breath taking.  While the lights were still off Heidi and I snuck off to the little coffee area and grabbed a few drinks.  The lights came back on after about 15 minutes and were asked to head back to the cars.  Luckily our guy was one of the owners and we had front door pick up.  No hiking up sand dunes, which the other had to do because their drivers decided to park their SUVs on the highest dunes.  Heehee

We got back into the truck, headed back to the roads (while going about 60 mph though sand back roads) and back to our hotel.  We thanked our rambunctious tour guide and sauntered back to our rooms.

It was an experience of a lifetime that I hope all of you will get to see at some point in your life.  It is something I will never forget and I hope you enjoy the pictures and video!  Enjoy!!

Letting the air out of the tires

Camels hanging out...

The boys hanging out

The sultan and his girls :)

Desert Ladies

Some random house in the desert, huh...

At the top of a dune with a 'sandboard'

Get ready for lift off . . .

What the??

Sunset in the desert

Oh, and a friend told me that the Philly Inquirer had an article on Iftar and Ramadan yesterday.  Check it out: http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20110818_The_Ramadan_fast__humbly_observed__sweetly_broken.html

Iftar; If, what?

I realized that I did not share my recent Iftar dinner I participated in last week.  Now, you may be asking yourself, "What is Iftar?"  Well, if you weren't asking yourself that question, I bet you are now!  No?  Oh well...


Iftar is the meal that the Muslims break their Ramadan fast with.  It is essentially dinner.  It usually includes certain fruits, juices, dates and varied dishes but could depend upon the region you are having Iftar in.  I believe that traditionally fast was broken with water, dates and some juices.  Then the bigger meal would be later in the evening.  However, every place is different.


I went to the Iftar buffet at my hotel.  A girl I was speaking to mentioned that usually the hotels had the better Iftars, so why not?  After bumping into a lady who also wanted to do Iftar, we headed into the  restaurant got started!


Before I even started walking around, I had to take a picture of the table.  It was simply done, but still very pretty with a small dish of dried apricots, figs and dates.  After admiring the decor I decided to walk around and see what they were offering.  They had several stations with varying foods.  The stations included a juice bar, 'salad' area, hot dishes with finger foods, soups, desserts (hot and cold), breads and some meats.  The juice area had traditional drinks like Arabic coffee, rose water juice, a coconut concotion, mango juice, a yogurt drink and a few others.  I hit the 'salad' area first.  Now, when I say salad, we're not talking the sald bar you find at a typical American restaurant.  This was a Middle Eastern 'salad bar' on steroids (very expensive steroids).  It had several homemade dressings (no, they did not have blue cheese), bowls of veggie based dips like hummus and baba ghanoush, veggies, a litle bit of cold and salted seafood (squid, anchovies, etc.), cheeses, and a few other tidbits.  Needless to say that a person could have just spent a while eating from the salad area.

After grabbing a few pieces of seafood, cheese (for those of you who know me well, I know this is shocking) and exotic eats I headed over to the soup.  They had several soups, but I chose the soup in the coolest container, yes it was a tough decision.  The gentleman scooping the soup out of this large teardrop-shaped stainless steel  container was very kind to add all of the accompaniments that went along with the small bowl of  soup.  It was a lentil soup that was absolutely delicious and I was even lucky enough to get the recipe from the executive chef!  Yeah!  Although I did not hit it up, the bread station was pretty amazing as well.

The next area of attack was the hot dishes.  Here they had about 10 to fifteen chaffing dishes lined up with various Indian and Middle Eastern foods.  They also had two chefs making homemade falafel, or any other dishes you might have a hankering for.  Next to the dishes were a finger foods area and they even managed to squeeze in an 'Italian' area with spags and mac 'n cheese.

The meat station was mall, but made up for it in the fact that they had a succulent (love that word) cooked whole lamb over a bed of rice.  Yes, that makes me happy.  I had a few pieces of that and a few bites of the lamb kebab next to it.

The desserts were absolutely stunning, however I am not the biggest fan of Middle eastern sweets.  I a few pieces of this and that.  There was a lot of honey based desserts and phyllo used.

It was all very pretty.  I finished off with a date or two, which I found out is usually how they break the fast, but why veer from tradition of not doing what I am supposed to?  They had a beautiful date set-up with bowls of dates, a palm tree with dates acting as the trunk of the tree with a flowing mist of smoke (dry ice) pouring down from the base of the trunk onto the bowls of dates below.  It was magical...too bad I found out that I am not the biggest fan of dates.

Needless to say, after a cappuccino, I was a happy camper.  The foods were great, there were some neat new dishes I had never had and a few foods prepared different from how I've had them.  So, if you ever find yourself in the Middle East during Ramadan, do not fret.  Hit an Iftar at sunset!

A shopping blip . . .

So, this may not be blog worthy (because this is a travel blog after all) however this pertains to a cool pair shoes and if that's not awesome, well then I don't know what to tell you other than stop reading right now...


Anyway, tonight a bunch of us headed over to the ADNEC Convention Center for an exhibit featuring crafts and traditional goods.  I read about it in the complimentary magazine I found in my room and online at TimeOut Abu Dhabi (which is turning out to be a pretty handy website).  It looked like a local to-do, so I figured, why not!


After a traditional Iftar meal (well, as traditional as you can get in a convention center) for $5, we headed into one of two halls.  Oh, and I have to mention as a side note that they sell corn in a  cup!  Like, you can get a medium or large cup of corn with butter, salt, pepper, spices, whatever.  I mean, is that not just awesome??


Sorry, but c'mon.  Fantastic...


Anyway, after 5 minutes we hit nirvana . . . a shoe stand.  After deciding I could not afford one of each I narrowed it down to two pair.  I managed to get him down from 250Dirham each to 270 for both pair.  Although I am sure they are worth far less than what I paid for them, I was proud of my first haggling and my cute pair of sandals.  I have to say, however, that my favorite moment of that shopping experience was when one of the nice Indian men asked me if I liked shoes.  I must of given him a look that said, "Are you actually asking me that question?"  After a smirk on his part, I replied with a, "Do I like shoes?  Does the sun shine?" (with my palms facing the sky, which I thought was a nice touch)  I got a giggle out a few of them and made my purchase.


The rest of the stands consisted of Sponge Bob artifacts (don't even ask), dresses, incense, jewelry and a few other odds and ends.  They are a pushy people, but it was especially interesting being only one of maybe 15 white people in the entire convention center.  Oh, and when I say they are pushy, I mean the foreign workers.  The local Emiratis don't really 'work' as much as they help out, volunteer, or work for the extra spending money.  I will be working with Emirati women, but they get paid double or even triple what I do and they do it for the extra spending cash.


Anyway, that is my shoe shopping (think Carrie in Sex in the City II) moment.  You can check them out below:

I am off to a Desert Safari tomorrow.  There is a great website that is kind of like a Groupon for Abu Dhabi.  It is half off ($30) for a half day safari with dune driving, sand boarding and dinner.  I figured I would torture myself even further and hang out, outside.  My mother has my last will and testament, so I should be good.  But who gets the shoes??


'Night . . .

Little tourist, big city . . .

Well, I finally decided to venture out into the baffling heat to see the sights of Abu Dhabi. 

However, before I indulge you in the beautiful sights of the Grand Mosque, let me explain something to you.  I am sure I am beating a dead horse at this point, but I can't articulate the seriousness of the heat situation over here.  The only way I can explain it to you is by giving you this scenario: Imagine sitting in an actual sauna, in your clothes.  You pour water over the hot rocks and then someone holds a space heater up to your face.  Now hold this situation there, in your brain for a second, and add in that it is Ramadan and drinking or eating is forbidden.  Not U.S. forbidden where you can sneak a sip of water in your car, no, you will get fined if you are caught.  So, I just thought I would enlighten you all with that piece of visual information, just because.

Now, I can continue with my 'Day out in Abu Dhabi'.  A few friends (nice group of girls I've managed to meet) and I decided to do the Big Bus Tour of Abu Dhabi on Thursday.  After purchasing our tickets at the hotel (I hope my apartment comes with a concierge), we were told that the Grand Mosque closes at 12noon, and if we wanted to head inside, we should take a taxi over right then and there to get in, on time.  So, after a 40 minute taxi ride at 50 Dirham ($13), we were dropped off at the entrance to the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque.  It is one of the largest mosques in the world.  It is constructed of Italian marble, gold, Austrian crystal and semi precious gems.  Needless to say, they now how to fancy-up a church around here.  We swiftly walked to the mosque, as to avoid melting out in the heat.  We were kindly shown the women's entrance where we were given Abayas to put on.  I had my own scarf, threw that on my head and went into the courtyard.  Words can't quite explain the grand scale of this building.  Not a single inch of this place had a speck of dust on it.  There were constantly people (discreetly) walking around with dry mops, keeping the floor clean.  In order to step out onto the courtyard, it was politely suggested that you remove your shoes.  It amazed me how many people did not abide by this.  I guess they didn't get the memo about 'when in Rome'. Anyway, we walked around the courtyard, roamed the hallways and ended up the gorgeous (and air-conditioned) inner sanctum of the mosque.  Apparently it can hold up to 41,000, with the main prayer hall holding up to 7,000-9,000.  The chandelier is the largest in the world and is adorned with precious and semi precious stones embedded into the Austrian crystals.  Th rug is also the world's largest handmade rug (I wonder what Chrissy's wholesale price on that would be).  After walking around we head out back into the entrance, threw our clothing into the basket and caught the bus onto the next stop.

The Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque

One of the entrances to the mosque

One of the pools surrounding the mosque

(I wonder what the fine is for 'accidently' falling into the pool?)

Marble columns inlaid with colored marble flowers

One of the hallways

The open courtyard in the middle of the mosque

The inside looking out

A sign inside (the men and women pary seperately)

The inside looking out into the courtyard

One of the walls inside the mosque.  The inlaid colored
marble is actually raised up to give a 3D effect

A tour group standing in front of a door inside.  Tours are free and given by local Emirati

to inform people on the religion of Islam.

The entrance looking into the grand prayer hall

One of seven chandeliers.  They are made with crystal, semi-precious and

precious gems along with 'a little' gold.

Looking odwn the grand prayer hall

A pretty little nook in the wall

Myself and two other girls (Heidi and Carrie)

Contemplating the degree of sweat I am collecting underneath my Abaya

Can I get an Amen for air-conditioning?

Standing in front of  one of the entry ways into the mosque

The Big Bus pulled up just in time and we headed up to the upper level, air-conditioned deck.  We plugged our headphones in, turned the channel to 'English', sat back and enjoyed the ride.  An added bonus was that the bus company allowed us to drink water while in the bus.  What a treat!  The entire loop was 2 1/2 hours and we were able to hop on/hop off.  The trip was intended to be a chance to see the city, more so than getting off and exploring.  We did, however, have every intention of getting off at the Iranian Souk (outdoor market like Zern's).  Upon pulling into the Souk entrance and not seeing anyone buying anything, and realizing that it was 115 degrees, we quickly agreed we would hit the Souk up at a more appropriate (and tolerable) time.

A funky bridge (I bet their tolls don't go up a dollar every year)

Ah, yes. My employer...

The Carpet Souk

One of th emany Abu Dhabi skylines, inlcuding the Abu Dhabi beach

One area of the Corniche

A view from the Corniche looking out into the gulf

Another view of the skyline (They have a few skylines)

The Emirates Palace (the world's most expensive hotel to build)

Date Palms (they are practically the national fruit)

They are everywhere!  The bags around each bunch of dates catches the dates as they fall.

I saw this back by the bathrooms in the mall

This was the old leader and these are his sons, th new leaders
(These signs are everywhere)

Rosa Parks would not be too impressed with little sign

Hum, I don't think I saw one of these in Schwenksville...

The tour ended up being worth every penny (or dirham), because it actually gave us the chance to see and situate ourselves into the city scene.  Although the city is similar to NYC, being that it is on an island with gridded streets, it is still a little overwhelming.  So, it was nice to get our bearings and see what there is to do.  They even have an attraction called Heritage Village, which is a working traditional Bedouin village that tourists can visit and interact in.

A few other things I'd like to share, to make the experience more relateable:  they drive on the 'correct' side of the street (those British didn't leave their stubborn driving habits on the city), you do not jaywalk!, it is polite not to stare or smile at a local Emirati man unless you intend to leave the impression of being a flirt (that has been tough;)), you can wear what you were at home with minimal limits, haggling is expected at many markets and souks, you can pretty much eat and buy the same things you would at home (although what's the fun in that?) and I've noticed that I do get some looks and stares (I'm guessing they got the memo on how awesome I am).

I've included some pictures and video, so I hope you enjoy them.  I took most of my pictures at the Mosque, as we did not get out of the bus often to get snapshots of other sites.  I will get back to the interesting spots when I can actually physically walk outside for longer than 15 minutes without passing out.  I also thought I would include a video of some drivers practicing on the racetrack last night.  How cool, right?

Driving by the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque

Inside the mosque out in the courtyard

Inside the mosque, in the grand prayer hall

A short video of the cars practicing at the Yas Marina Circuit

Enjoy!!