We arrived around 7am in Abu Dhabi and the airport procedures went smoothly. As we stepped from the terminal, we were hit by the 39C heat and 80%humidity and my glasses misted up. We caught a taxi for the 20 minute ride to our hotel, Le Meridien in the city. It’s hard to describe Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. It’s surrounded by desert, consists mainly of huge buildings, and there’s a massive amount of construction going on. And it’s HOT. The temperature is much higher now (around 40C each day and very humid) than when we were in Oman in April. Even at 8am it’s an effort walking any distance without working up a sweat, let alone carrying anything.
After booking in and showering we walked around the hotel, looked at the beach and pools, and were relieved to get back inside. The hotel is about 30 years old, opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1972 and starting to show its age. And, although it has its own beach, the view across the bay is filled with industrial complexes, hotels and a construction site. Apparently within 1-2 years it will be demolished to provide space for a new highway into the city. It includes a number of restaurants, swimming pools and a small beach, with a beautiful view of the small bay and the new multi storey business centre under construction and industrial complexes. Imagine a hotel perched near Botany Cemetery, in Sydney, overlooking the container terminal and you get the idea.
After a rest (we seem to need a lot of those), we walked to the nearest shopping mall, the former The Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society building, about 5 mins away for a look. A 5 mim walk in this environment is a big deal. Hardly anyone walks anywhere, and the place is constantly filled with traffic. No cute little mini electric cars though. The mall was on of the older ones and mainly seemed to cater to locals, Emitatis and wealthier foreign workers. They had some nice men’s and women’s fashions in addition to the traditional clothing.We have purchased a ‘Preferred Guest’ package, mainly because there is little other choice. It includes breakfast, internet, morning and afternoon tea and cocktail hour in the evening. We took advantage of the afternoon tea of sandwiches and drinks, and promptly fell asleep for 2 hours – what jet lag?
Around 6pm we went for a swim in the bay. The water looked inviting but was quite warm and salty, so after very little relief, we jumped into the pool which was at least less than 30C. By the time we showered and changed, it was time for cocktail hour, so we dressed up and headed to the Royal Club Lounge. There were few people there, but it was free drinks and food (smoked salmon canapés, lamb kebabs and vegetarian spring rolls). We grabbed some snacks and had a couple of Campari and sodas to start the evening.
We chatted with an Australian who was working for an IT company and in Abu Dhabi for a couple of weeks. The discussion with him about doing business in the Emirates was quite interesting, but the rate that he put away the free white wine meant that after a while he became less and less coherent, so we took our leave and headed back to the room – that was dinner.
