It seems like yesterday when I came(or should I say opened my eyes)to the city of Abu Dhabi, The City of the Gardens.
It has been 17 years now(My complete small life) and there have been not a few but tremendous changes in the overall outlook of the city.
The Country
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
The country consists of Seven Emirates (States). Each with its own ruler (Like the chief minister in India). They are headed by SHIEKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN AL NAHYAN, the president of the country and ruler of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the country. Also known as the Garden City, it is often over shadowed the Business Capital of the country, DUBAI, and the city known to every cricket fan around the world, SHARJAH. Sharjah has also been given the title of the Cultural Capital of the Gulf region.
The other emirates are AJMAN, RAS AL KHAIMAH, FUJAIRAH and UMM AL QUWAIN.
The Emirate.
The Emirate Abu Dhabi, which almost covers half of the country, consists of many cities including the Abu Dhabi city, Mussafah, Baniyas, Habshan, Lulu, Ruwais and of course AL AIN.(There are many more whose names I don’t know)
The City.
The City of Abu Dhabi is an island. It mainly consists of 7 parallel road and 5 perpendicular to them.(I am a maths student)
But even in this small area the city contains everything that a person can imagine about.
One of the main attractions include the numerous cloud touching towers mainly along the Corniche(More about it later).Some of the highest towers include the one owned by the Hilton known as the Baynunah and the newly built building for the NATIONAL BANK.
The city large number of expatriates coming from a number of countries from all over the world. The major population consists of Indians who make up 40 % of the population and can be found everywhere in the city.
Getting around is really cheap. Taxis are available in every place and cover long distances for a very cheap price.
The Shopping
Even though it is not comparable to DUBAI, which is famous all around the world for the SHOPPING FESTIVAL but with some recent developments is not far behind.
Some good place to shop may be THE MARINA MALL. It is a really big shopping mall with shops of countless brands from all over the world, a great food court, 9 cinemas and much more. On similar lines is the ABU DHABI MALL.
Also there is MINA MALL, not as big as the previous two but boasts of one of biggest bookshop in the country. Also there is the MADINAT ZAYED SHOPPING CENTRE
Which is not of much importance.
Then there are many departmental stores, which are quite big. You can find every kind of commodity in these stores. They include the CO-OPRATIVE SOCIETY, THE EMIRATES GENERAL MARKET, SPINNEYS, THE FALAH PLAZA,CARREFOUR and many many more.
You can get some real good bargains in electronics and gold, but probably not as good as Dubai.
And of course how can I forget the SOUQs. They are Old-fashioned bazaars with a delightfully ancient touch offer an entirely different shopping experience.
The old and new souqs linked by a walkway between Khalifa and Hamdan street are a must visit.
LEISURE
People visiting Abu Dhabi can actively participate in a number of leisure activities whether it is BOWLING at the Al MARIAH CINEPLEX or Ice Skating at the ICE RINK. Or if you want to get a bit more sportish you can try the Desert Safari organised by many tour operators which include overnight stay in the desert, Sand-skiing, Camel Safaris and much more.
The Hotels offer particularly good sports facilities including jet-skies, boat hire, diving, water skiing and a host of others.
For those with money to spend there are several private clubs with the facilities to match even the best hotels. These include THE CLUB and MARINA AND YACHT CLUB.
EATING OUT
MMmmmm…
As far as food is considered there is a place to suit every taste every culture and every pocket. Whether it is the keralite cafeterias in every nook or corner or the fast food chains or the Mughlai delicacies, its all there.
Once in Abu Dhabi it’s a must to taste the shawarma, which is a roll of Arabic bread filled with meat made on fire and of course the hommous, that is a paste of chick peas with olive oil .Man, the keyboard is wet. I hope all the other mouths are watering as well.
NIGHT LIFE
Usually night is felt only by 12:00am but for the Kings of the Night, there are numerous places to hang out.
There is the PIANO LEAGUE in the HOLIDAY INN CROWNE PLAZA, then the BALCONY BAR in the HILTON HOTEL, 5th AVENUE in the BEACH ROTANA
and countless others.
WHERE TO STAY
Staying in hotels can be afforded by everyone with a hotel to suit everyone’s need.
For the economical visitors there is the among others KHALIDIA PALACE HOTEL, the INTERNATIONAL ROTANA, the DANA HOTEL (which boasts about its world recognised pub, 49ers) .
And for all those Luxury loving people there are always LE MERIDIEN, the SHERATON, the INTERCONTINENTAL to name a few.
HEALTH FACILITIES
Health care has made great strides in the past three decades. Abu Dhabi boasts of a number of government owned as well as private hospitals well equipped with technologies from around the globe.
Al Jazeera , Al Mafraq , The Central Hospital are among the main government run hospitals whereas New Medical Centre, Ahalia hospital are giant in the private sector.
(By this time in this review most of the readers would have dosed off, for those who are still conscious and not fainted of boredom read on..)
No review on Abu Dhabi will be complete without special mention to some of the very significant places in the city.
THE CORNICHE
As I have said that Abu Dhabi is a island. Corniche is the seaside running over a distance of around 11 Kms starting from the SHERATON hotel and ending at what is called the BREAK WATER. The Break Water offers a wide variety of typical ARABIC ATTRACTIONS from SHESHA(better known as hukkaa to the Indian public) to fresh seafood in the SAFINA, an old ship docked in and being used as a restaurant.
You can also get a spectacular view of city skyline with the cream of it along the Corniche road.
MINA ZAYED
The Port of the city, a commercial hub for tankers and fishing port for many DHOWS, which still set out each day.
It also has a Traditional Dhow offering a ride along the complete Corniche.
THE CULTURAL FOUNDATION
One of the old palaces of the ruler of the country. It was the first two storeys building in the city. Now it has been converted into a cultural centre with the NATIONAL LIBRARY, INSTITUE OF CULTURAL AND ARTS, an Art Workshop and numerous
Important historical exhibits, in addition to a theatre, lecture rooms and studios.
A broad range of cultural events take place almost everyday from film shows to art exhibitions, amateur dramatics to operas.
By this time most of you must have really exhausted out reading about Abu Dhabi but I hope everyone who reads this review gets a clear view of Abu Dhabi in his brain.
For any more queries please feel free to ask.
Hoping to see you seen in Abu Dhabi.
Faisal.
