Abu Dhabi is about an hour and a half from Dubai airport by car. It is the capitol of The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the seat of government for UAE. The conference had booked me a room at The Armed Forces Officers Club some distance from the centre of Abu Dhabi. It’s exactly what the name says and more. It is a huge compound with conference facilities 3 or 4 restaurants, a shooting range and a score of activities – including a lady’s only sports club!
Hotel room view in Abu Dhabi
I start with a picture of the view from my hotel room. I did this in my posts from NYC and Charlottesville so it’s in line with my previous presentations 🙂
Both this room and the room I stayed in Dubai a couple of days later had directions to Mecca …
Detail from my hotel room in Abu Dhabi
The next shot is taken in front of the compound. The hotel wing is on the right and the officers accomodations are on the left. You don’t get the any real sense of the dimensions of the place from the picture, but I just think it’s a pretty cool picture!
The Armede Forces Officers Club, Abu Dhabi
There wasn’t really very much to see for me in Abu Dhabi. When I asked people at the hotel they said that I should go and see The Marina Mall shopping centre. There’s a shuttle bus driving there a couple of times a day from the hotel. When I got there people told me that there were a couple of other malls to see in Abu Dhabi, but I didn’t have that much time to explore.
Our conference host invited all participants for dinner on a dhow, the arabic version of the chinese junk (thanks to Simon for the reference). The dinner was spectacular and very very good. I can’t remember that I’ve ever been served that much food in one dinner!
Starters
Lobster
A couple of meat dishes
There was more, but I didn’t get any useable shots of those dishes.
After the conference I was transported to my hotel in Dubai, but you’ll get more on that later.
