Thursday, August 25, 2011

A little culture in Abu Dhabi

Decided to get a little culture so I had this brilliant idea of taking the kids out in blistering/crazy-humid heat to an OUTDOOR Heritage Village to walk around.

It was pretty cool and we'll go back when the weather cools. I'm pretty sure we either lost Cameron's new water bottle or it got stolen off the stroller. There one moment and gone the next!

It is an example of how Abu Dhabi was with tents or buildings for crafts, pottery, museum, clothing, agriculture, etc...






































I think Alexander was enjoying the air conditioning in one of the buildings.


















Brochure about it.


















Abu Dhabi was a big fishing area.



















Broken pottery makes up the design of this fountain base.





































Our first Abu Dhabi camel! You had to walk across hot-as-burning-hell red sand to get to it and I had sandals so looked from afar as the big kids ventured up.



















Alexander was of course fascinated by the poop and took a picture.


















lonely horse there too.


















There was a mosque and a separate Ladies mosque.


















A museum with mannequins wearing different coverings. This one has on a
Burqa (the face covering). Some women wear them here and they can be different. Some like this or the black cloth where all you see are the eyes or completely covered. It is up to them on what to wear.



















I had no idea there were this many dates.


















Or this many fish in Abu Dhabi.





































Not sure the animal. A cow or some kind or bull? All he had was a thin rope separating him from us. We walked by quickly.


















Outside the village is the Abu Dhabi Theater. It is open inside, like a covered stage kind of thing.


















On our way out of the city, I snapped a pic of some of the great architecture.


















Beautiful fountains at some of the intersections.

We then headed to ACS to pay for PE uniforms and then grocery shopping and home to the pool and dinner.



















Brian then got to head out for a Luxury Dhow Dinner Cruise for work. No spouses :(.

So this amazing non-stop array of seafood was wasted on him. He said there were plentiful seafood appetizers, non-stop lobsters and more.

Sigh.....maybe I'll take my mom when she visits!!



























































He complained that flash prevents him from getting a good picture. You can see the skyline of "The Corniche" in the background.



















While he enjoyed great food and company....I ventured out on my own with three kids to the convention center for another night of "football". The kids had a blast and they both played for 2 hours straight...barefoot and with a variety of cultures.

Man, these people can play! At one point, there was a circle of older guys (in their 20's??) doing fancy moves. It reminded me of breakdancing circles from "back in the day". One person does a move and then the next person tries to outdo them. There were guys balancing the balls on their head, neck, back, doing handstands with balls on their toes and flipping around without letting the ball touch the ground. Wish I took video.

We didn't get home until 12:00!



















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2 comments:

Crystal said...

No spouses! That's wrong. I warn you now that I am partaking in one of those Executive dinner cruises tonight with hubby and I may be posting a few pictures. I've never been on one and have been wanting to do the one in Bellingham. I'm sure it will not be as elaborate of fare as the one Brian went on.
That was some cool looking culture. Although the Burqa mannequin looked like she had a mustache. :-) Just saying. Keep posting, I love reading about the area and learning about it along with you.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I thought the same thing about the Burqa mannequin with the weird creeper stache.

Thank you for doing this blog... I love reading your posts and living your strange journey vicariously.

Megan B.