Man—ok, so, if Dubai is amazing, Abu Dhabi is TRULY amazing. The growth here has been unreal. Check the pic of the little seaside village….that was Abu Dhabi in the mid-1960s. Now, there are well over something like 5000 towers (and our client’s stuff is in, like, 65% of them). But whereas Dubai is huge, spread out, wide streets choked with traffic and very car-oriented, Abu Dhabi is much more of a pedestrian-oriented city, and it’s generally cleaner and more laid back (and less hazy; Abu Dhabi the city is on an island and so the sea keeps the air much cleaner). And more wealthy…MUCH more wealthy. All the local guys we met with said it’s more relaxed here because Abu Dhabi has the oil, so they have the money and they are more easy-going/less concerned with puffing themselves up by being The Biggest----because they are The Baddest. But there’s not enough hustle and bustle here for Farhan; he prefers Dubai. Hey, whaddya gonna do?
Day 1 we were inside one of the District Cooling plants, repleat with our client’s gigantor chillers, then we were off to see the places to which they furnish chilled goodness, so we got a nice tour of the city, had a great seafood lunch with the help of food-picker-outer Mini (note to those who will host Farhan someday: crabs, and possibly scallops, do not agree with him). We didn’t get inside the Emirates Palace Hotel, but one of our awesome JCI dudes Anil promises to take us there next time (apparently there’s so much 24k gold in the place it’s even on the washroom fixtures).
Day 2 was busy busy busy, interviewing some customers (though, not as many as we thought. We got to one customer location and they had to cancel on us on the spot. They told us that Sheik Sultan showed up unannounced---he's the brother of the President of the UAE---and everyone had to scramble. Boy, if I had a dirham for every time I've heard THAT one....) and some employees---fascinating people, really. Lots of them are from India, however we spent some time with Taher, Palestinian by birth, carrying a Jordanian passport, who cannot go back to his native Jerusalem to do anything about their three homes there; Yasser, a Syrian by birth who grew up in Germany, and so many others….all very cool, very friendly people from far and near.
In fact, note to all my American pals who will read this: you gotta come here and visit (maybe not in the summer). The UAE is so nice, so clean, SO safe (when we went inside the Sheik Zayed Mosque---third largest in the world, THE largest in the world to allow non-Muslims to visit without some pre-arranged invitation,---we could bring still cameras, but not video. So I left my video camera on the floor of the car, and I think Taher only locked the doors so we’d feel better, because there is virtually no crime at all here..and I felt totally secure about it). I mean, not once did I feel anything but welcome here. English is very widely spoken, and…you see people who look very different than you, people who look like all the bad guys we see on our evening news at home, but they are just---people. Very proud, very successful, with wonderful, and deep traditions.
So, the Sheik Zayed Mosque. He was the founder of the UAE, very much beloved by his people (he's the guy at the top of this blog entry, and his picture is everywhere we went), and he's buried there. Anyway, it is more beautiful than it is huge. Chandeliers unlike any I've seen, and semiprecious stone inlays everywhere; on the pillars, on the floor of the massive courtyard, amazing. And of course, there was a surreal moment... We take off our shoes and walk in the door (Farhan tells us to roll up our pants a little, then they will think we are true Muslims), and as we step in two guys--light-skinned like me and Ryan--in traditional attire walk past, and one they look over as one says "hey guys, what's up?" in a clear, southern california voice. Then they stand there just a little behind us, complaining about the attention to detail inside! "Dude, did you see all the gaps between the marble and the stones? Man, they gotta kick it up a notch and deal with that soon. Not cool." At first we thought they were joking, but nope--they had issues! It took all we had not to explode in laughter at them. Anyway, we got a great look around, Farhan and also Taher explained the significance of some of the details we saw, and how the prayer service works....and it was fascinating, but it was also clear that these guys really enjoy their faith, they gain a lot from it, and it shows in how they live their lives.
Anyway, it was a great day, and the visit to the Mosque was an ultrahighlight (thanks in no small part to Farhan's wonderful explanation of what we were seeing), and I hope you enjoy the pics.
I have to give a very special shout-out to Farhan Qureshy, an absolutely delightful, professional, wonderfully insightful and knowledgeable gent who steered us through all that the UAE had to offer us. Great working with you Farhan, very much looking forward to seeing you in Chicago in August!
Our nighttime flight to Doha brings us to another country, another culture, another set of adventures, and after our shoot today I think there is a Qatar Cultural Festival that begins tonight we might have to go and check out.
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