Last days in Abu Dhabi

Christine and I on our camel ride in the desert

On Thursday we had the day to ourselves, and it was quite slow and nice--a trip to the Corniche (the beach) and then a trip to the Abu Dhabi Mall (mall three in three days!) But our Friday and Saturday were wonderful. As the Emirati (Islamic) weekend is Friday and Saturday, Chris and Randy had the days off and really treated us to *real* Abu Dhabi experiences. On Friday we got up early and headed out to the racing track… that is, the camel racing track. There were no big races on when we were there, but we got to drive around the practice track and the real big track and watch the men running their camels for practice. It was preeeetty cool to see, and all the camel jockeys really liked seeing Anastasia hanging out the window too; men love babies here… what gives?

The sign that says "Camel Races". Lol.

A big pack o' camels racing

That evening we gathered along with a few of Christine’s friends from school and a lady came to do henna for all of us. Mum and I both got a foot and a hand done… maybe you’ll get to see it at Christmas! It was nice to have a girly evening and chat.

My hennaed hand in the desert.

On Saturday we started the day out by going to the Grand Mosque built by Sheik Zayed. It was absolutely amazing. It’s made of marble from Greece, and all of the columns have inlaid stone. All of the decoration is marble, precious stones, or gold; there’s no paint. Plus, the central area (the men’s praying room) has the world’s biggest dome (I’m not sure about that… maybe the world’s biggest mosque dome?), the worlds largest carpet, and the world’s biggest chandelier. It was all pretty big. And absolutely beautiful. Oh, and we had to wear abayas and shelas into the mosque, so I got to try out the traditional dress. Woohoo!

The worlds biggest chandelier under the world's largest mosque dome... and over the world's largest carpet.

In my abaya and shela in front of the courtyard of the Grand Mosque.

In the evening we got to go on a desert safari with Christine and her friend Leanne; it was action packed: we petted camels, we went dune bashing (scarier than a rollercoaster, but not like riding on top of the buses in Nepal), we rode camels, we smoked shisha, and just chilled listening to Arabic music and drinking tea and eating dates.

Chris and I in the desert after dune bashing
Me and a camel do the myspace thing.

The camp at night with the dunes and nice lights.

However, during all of this, Mum had gotten all wonky and sick; we ended up spending the night in the hospital, but the doctor gave her antibiotics for an infection and she’s so much better today. Oh, and I must note that it has been raining the past three days we’ve been here! It’s usually a one-day-a-year event, and so the streets are flooded and it’s quite cool outside; Mom wanted the coolest time of year, and not only have we gotten the coolest time of year, we got a flood to go along with it. What a trip! Now, after letting Mum spend the day resting, we’re ready to head on to Germany!

A jeep drives through the flooded streets outside Chris and Randy's apartment... since there's not much rain in the desert, the drainage systems aren't really built for it. eek.