Whilst a lot of pictures have been taken of the Burj Dubai (the tallest building in the world) or the Emirates Palace hotel, Abu Dhabi is a city of contrasts. You've got modern constructions everywhere but there's some areas that modernisation forgot. Here are some photos from the back of our place and I will add more to this later: photos from the hood.



Do you think these people knew they had the same kitchen wallpaper???



Does this guy pay rent for the pavement?

The path for the new at the expense of the old.



We live in the building in the background.

After living here for over 8 months now, we finally made it to the biggest tourist attraction that Abu Dhabi has to offer: The Grand Mosque. It is the fourth largest Mosque in the world and reportedly it was going to be the biggest until the Sheikh declared that it shouldn't be bigger than Mecca. Ok, but what's wrong with the second largest mosque in the world me thinks? But apparently the mosque is covered with the largest piece of carpet in the world.
The mosque is amazing, no matter where you look, it demands open mouths and photos to be taken. The turrets are tall and reach upwards and the domes look amazing high in the sky. Once you get inside the main prayer hall, the walls are opulently decorated and the carpet is smooth and makes you want to take a piece home for your living room.
Instead of going on about it, you should just check out these photos. Unfortunately, I don't think the photos do it justice like seeing it in the flesh.



... oh and yes that is Jen in a traditional female Emirates Abaya.


This is a wall with the many names of Allah. You can't write his actual name so there is one space left blank... so these might be his nicknames?

Rather phallic, isn't it?

Yes...there is surfing in Dubai...no it doesn't compare to the likes of Oz, etc. but the season is just around the corner and there is a stretch of beach out by the Burj Al Arab hotel (sailboat hotel) that gets some waves...Nick and I have been out a few times making an early morning drive up from Abu Dhabi. Definitely improving those surfing skillz

Boy it is tough fasting between all meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we survived :) . Ramadan was a time that we were forced to be clever and cunning. We developed ways of eating or drinking without any noticing. Our cunningness ranged from driving and sticking your head down below the windows, ducking into empty rooms or toilets to scoff down whatever snack or water we could, or, the more obvious and somewhat dimwitted idea, putting food in your hand and doing a forced and easily noticeable cough.
The toughest part was when I met a friend at the pub at 6.30pm but the bar couldn't serve food or drink till 7pm. Try it sometime, there is absolutely nothing to do in a bar with no food and drink. It becomes like a friend's living room with their parents sitting in there with you; that kind of awkwardness.
p.s. Think about the ramadan fast and spare a thought for Muslims living to the far north in Europe. Devout Muslims would need to fast for sometimes 16 or more hours because the sun sets only for a few hours!

Iftar buffets are the best and worst thing for everyone during Ramadan. They're the best because it is the meal that Muslims break the fast with. A day without food and water would make me absolutely want to gorge myself on delicious food at the absolute first possibility; the worst aspect. One might think that people fasting for a whole month each and every day may lose weight but we've heard that many in fact put on weight because they eat twice as much during the twilight hours to compensate for a day of fasting.
And this leads me to write about the Iftar at the Shang Ri La hotel in Abu Dhabi. It is a beautiful hotel with an amazing buffet. Sushi counter, grilled to perfection fish, steaks, kebabs, a wide range of curries, pastas and salads and even a sugar fest to end the meal. The dessert buffet was one of the largest I've ever seen with three chocolate fountains and endless cakes, desserts, baclava and sweets.
...no wonder diabetes is on the rise

I was checking out the www.adrenalinesportslive.com website which will be held in October in Abu Dhabi....trying to see if I can some how get my foot in the door to work at this event and saw this. Thought it was ironic that a brand that manufactures razor blades has been confirmed as the official 'wristband' sponsors of the event. Could make for some interesting 'cutting edge' wristbands for an event, sounds dangerous.

SuperMax confirm as Official Wristband Sponsors

Super-Max, is a family owned brand that was founded in 1949, and has since grown to become the second largest manufacturer of razor blades in the world. Sold in more than 125 countries today and across all continents -almost 1 in 5 blades used worldwide are Super-Max blades.

Nick is even older than I am, but I am getting old... turning 27 this August :) We initiated a bit of a 'birthday week' this year, thanks mom! And it was an exciting week where Nick felt probably too much pressure to do something nice for it. The week included our white water rafting adventure and time at the casino then on the 9th we went out to lunch at Coopersmiths with a drink at the new Bondi Beach Bar in Old town and then dinner at one of my Fort Collins favorites, Cafe Vino. The food is great, obviously the wine is pretty good too. We had planned to stay out and have a few drinks at some of the bars in old town, but with getting old...we were both falling asleep by midnight..sad.

I got lots of goodies, but more importantly, my mom and aunt baked a huge cake, it was delicious. I haven't spent my birthday around my parents since 2004, so it's been a while! We opened presents and a ipod nano along with a new rock climbing harness were the favorites.
I suppose replacing some cameras were presents as well.... my 'stolen' camera with a new one as well as our 'broken' one with another waterproof..thankfully we're all set again ready to snap
away.

Besides getting to ride on a Nick's first school bus after white water rafting, he also got a chance to experience a county fair while in Colorado. We tried to enter him into the donkey rodeo and while 'open to all', he didn't seem keen on making and appearance and representing his home country. Anyways there's nothing better than some elephant ears, cotton candy and a hot dog on a stick for dinner :)

Blackhawk and Central City, CO are located just a short drive into the mountains from Denver it's an old town where Colorado's casinos are located. We had signed up with the players club the last time we visited and they sent us a free room voucher for a night so we took advantage of it right before we headed back to the UAE. And like the couple other times we've been there the 'house' didn't beat us. We came home winners, not big winners, but still winners!

I think the key is not gamble all day and all night long...take your time, have a few drinks and slowly play your money until you win more :)

We arrived with my parents, dropped them off and then during the day we went over to Vail and did the Vail Pass to Brekendridge ride on road bikes. Our first time on road bikes and wow they are fast. It's mostly downhill, although at one point we did turn around and go back up to get a bit of a workout. This path down to Brekenridge is beautiful, I love the greenery and as I type this here back in Abu Dhabi, I think back to it and it makes me sad :(.

A storm came through and thankfully we were faster! We sought shelter at a bar for some food and drinks, let it pass by and then we scooted on our way back to Brek. Although we didn't realize that a few happy hour margaritas and a bike ride back to Brekenridge, which was a steady incline, would be so difficult :)

In the evening we beat the pokies and came out on top about a $100!

The next morning Nick, my mom and myself headed Idaho Springs for some whitewater rafting. My mom said it was something she wanted to do all summer and has done before...but it was a long time ago. We headed out for a couple hour tour of Clear Creek and had a great time. It definitely would've been more exciting earlier in the season as the water levels were quite low, but we all enjoyed it. The funny part was that while in Costa Rica we wanted to go, but then I got my lip split open and couldn't, so to make up for it we got the Costa Rican rafting guide in Colorado instead...go figure!

After a week of roughing it...not really..at least we were busy each day with studying and the surfing, it was time to indulge a little. For the last 2 nights we stayed at the Marriott in Herradura beach and was blown away by this property. By far the best hotel we've stayed at yet. Maybe not the best food, it was okay, but the hotel itself including an amazing pool was really awesome.

We just relaxed by the pool, snuck in to eat the food when the cooking demonstrations were over in the afternoon, did some water aerobics (even Nick joined me), played some putt putt, took a final Spanish lesson and of course ate. It was too bad, that we didn't find the restaurants down at the Marina the first night as they had much better food then the Marriott itself.


What a way to end a vacation!