Reflective..

Mosques everywhere here in central AbDab, this is one of the many I pass on the way to the supermarket, in reverse..

Salam Street Construction: Night and Day..

Salam Street is one of the main roads that makes up the grid that is Abu Dhabi, and they're completely reconstructing it. As yet, I'm exactly sure as to what's going on but it makes for an interesting (read: frustrating) journey if you're in certain parts of the city, especially when the temperature starts creeping above 45C.

By day..















A walkway that connects one of the few places that you can cross, on foot anyways..



And by night..

No Kissing on the Beach..

These balmy Ramadan afternoons completely lend themselves to the relative solitude of the Corniche Public Beach. Yesterday I met Redmond, a lifeguard that told me a story about some people that pushed their luck at the beach, via affection and cheekiness. While on holiday from Dubai, they had come to the beach and were kissing in the water. They were kindly reminded that this was inappropriate public behavior and asked to stop, to which the man's response was to take off the woman's bikini bottoms and wave them above his head like a flag. Needless to say this didn't go down well, and to cut a long story short their boisterous behavior led to them soon becoming ex-residents of the UAE.

This post has more to do with my affection for the Hipstamatic iPhone app than kissing, but I do love this beach..

To all my friends..

Hank would have been pleased with GMP, as am I, and is any other Non-Muslim resident of the UAE that enjoys the freedom of being able to legally indulge while living within a society that does not condone alcohol.

Alcohol (or intoxicants of any kind) were forbidden in the Qur'an through several separate verses revealed at different times over a period of years. At first, it was forbidden for Muslims to attend to prayers while intoxicated. Then a later verse said that alcohol contains some good and some evil, but the evil was considered greater than the good. Finally, "intoxicants and games of chance" were called "abominations of Satan's handiwork, intended to turn people away from God and forget about prayer", and Muslims were ordered to abstain. Muslims interpret these verses to forbid any intoxicating substance. Whether it be wine, beer, gin, whiskey, or whatever, the result is the same, and the Qur'an outlines that it is intoxication which makes one forgetful of God and prayer, which is harmful.

I must admit that (some of) my own personal experiences with the 'demon drink' would very possibly serve as a solid testament to this ideal of abstinence, but that said, I'd have to also add that I'm pretty happy to I have a GMP right across the street from my building.

Firstly, there is no front door to the building, or any obvious indication that this is an establishment where alcohol can be purchased. To enter you have to go out the back..





Once inside, it's like a little Disneyland, only there's beer, and it's cheap. A lot of the cases are around 100 AED, which is about $30 AUD..











For anyone that 'got' the title reference, I'll finish this one up by with the original script for Barfly, which just happens to read as amazingly well without Mickey and Faye, as it does with..

Green Mosque

A short night-walk through the neighborhood in a new city can uncover unimaginable beauty..





Postscript: I've noticed a couple more of these in the last few evenings while out and about, and I know there's the famous 'Blue Mosque' in Istanbul. It's made me wonder, is there a relevance to the way that the place of worship is lit?

Corniche Beach

I finally made it, to the beach that is..

The Corniche is a long road that extends almost 6 km along the waterfront of Abu Dhabi city. There are many gardens and parks that separate the two lanes, and it (in itself) almost serves as a physical buffer between the mass of urban skyscrapers that make up the city, and the gulf.

One thing any avid beachgoer needs to know before packing the sunscreen and towels is that, while the UAE has over 400 km of coastline, only 10 km are designated as being 'public', and the Corniche Public Beach certainly served to illustrate that fact, all 600 metres of it.

The Corniche walkway and entrance to the beach, note that the few shops that surround the small Plaza are closed due to Ramadan..







The water is clean and warm, a gorgeous light turquoise colour, and as salty as a Turkish dinner in a Tokyo studio apartment..









This was me. It was kinda strange being able to pull up a spot so close to the water and not have to worry about moving my stuff as the tide came in, because.. there is no tide..





Perhaps another thing worth noting as that running on the beach is considered inappropriate, as it may 'disturb the people'. These guys were kicked off the beach for doing it..



Oh sweet and (ever so) perpetual sunshine, I shall be back..

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

I done did a touristy thing!

Sheikh Zayed Mosque is the largest mosque in the UAE and the eighth largest mosque in the world. It is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), the founder and the first President of the United Arab Emirates, who is also buried there.

The first thing that I was taken by was the amazingly brilliant "whiteness" of the structure, it practically glowed against the developing haze of the morning. That and the amazing symmetry of the design, and the obvious care to detail and maintenance that was put into every inch of the place. Apparently The main dome is the largest in the world and is 87 metres high with a diameter of 32.8 metres. There are a total of 82 domes in the mosque, and are of traditional Moroccan design..









Next we met our guide that took us on a short tour and explained some of the amazing facts about the construction and purpose of the building..



She told us so much that I can't remember, about numbers of columns and materials used, but by this time I was distracted by the (insides) of the incredible domes that sat above us, each one of them uniquely designed and containing a part of the Qur'an (written around the bottom)..





The Mosque can accommodate up to 40,000 worshippers, with both inside and outside areas. This, dare I say courtyard style area during Ramadan, especially on the main day of worship (Friday), may hold up to 28,000 people..







It's no secret that countries in the Gulf are notoriously hot, and the Muslim prayer (the Salaat) involves the worshipper touching his nose and forhead to the ground. Taking into account these facts, a special kind of marble that absorbs the heat was chosen to construct the white tiles in this area, therefore making it bearable for the worshipper to perform the prayer ritual without burning their face. That said, the coloured parts of the area were not made from the same heat absorbing material, and the difference in temperature (to touch) between the two was quite extreme..



Next we journeyed inside, and again were amazed at the the beautifully constructed room that separated the main Prayer rooms..








We then visited the main prayer room, which contained the 'World's Largest Carpet'. Needless to say, the entire room was breathtaking..









The centerpieces of the main room however were the incredible Chandeliers, one of which again, is also the worlds largest..











Our final stop was to one of the two Women's Prayer rooms, off to the side of the main hall. A question was asked as to why there were rooms specifically for women only, and I was a little surprised to hear the reason being so as simple as that if there was no opportunity for segregation, that worshippers may become distracted by the 'beautiful' people next to them (our guides actual words)..







(Yet another) amazing thing about this room was the way that the design of the roof was mirrored in the design of the carpet..





This room also contained a shelf for the Qur'an, which was only to be touched at special times of worship..





There were several Islamic Prayer Clocks (Azan) around the building, which showed the times of prayer throughout the day. The clocks follow the patterns of the sunrise and sunset, and so change each day..





By this time we were just about done, but I managed to shoot a few more things on the way out.





Very possibly my favorite pic of the morning..