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Written by Stephen Baines
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Monday, 30 August 2004 |
Wow. That was the totally unimaginative thought that went through my mind as we went through the gates and into the palace complex. Wow was also my second thought, and many more thoughts that went through my mind during the afternoon. In fact it's probably fair to say that very little else went through my mind all afternoon as I struggled to take in the sheer size and beauty of the place. I'd be told what it was like, but the reality was... Wow.
Phillipose's car drove of up the sandy temporary drive towards the palace, and then down into it's belly. The car park is underneath and some 500m long. I didn't dare to ask how wide it was - needless to say there was plenty of parking space, even allowing for the 19,000 workforce on site trying to get it ready for the end of the year. We stepped out of the car and put on our hard hats. It then was a longish walk to the first control room for the palace. You know, 30-odd 34" monitors for CCTV, a dozen or so workstations, and the racks with the fibre switches for the palace, plus the control/indicator gear for the 96 lifts in the palace.
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
Today the training went well. The power was back and the air conditioning functioned as it should all day. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
At the end of the day Manar offered to drive me down to where the Conference Palace Hotel is to get a better look around the outside (I should get a chance to see inside later this week...) and then have a look at some other things around. Every time I go past The Conference Palace Hotel I'm blown away - it's huge. When it opens later this year it'll be their major 7 star hotel and used for the GCC meetings. Tonnes and tonnes of coral pink marble have been used in its building, and it stands there as a modern monument to what the city has achieved in just 30 years. It looks like it has been there a 1000 years, already. It doesn't look like it's only been being built for a couple of years. I had the pleasure of being there as the sun was setting behind it, and you couldn't wish for a more beautiful sight as the sun dived behind the building a the silhouette stood against the flickering sea.
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
Today was the start of the second week of training. I was hoping that now the back had been broken, it would be a little easier this week. Little was I ready for today.
The day started easily enough, Manar picked me up, I got to the hotel, we went upstairs and set everything up. The first hour went fine. In fact, the first hour went plenty fine. I said that due to the way this course was nearly all theory and they had worked with Continuum before we'd probably make good time. Stupid mistake.
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Thursday, 26 August 2004 |
Tonight was possibly the funniest night I've had whilst here in Abu Dhabi.
I was taken out of town for the night, to a restaurant outside of Abu Dhabi city for reasons that are not that interesting. On the way we drove past the new mosque that is being built - I thought I was being driven past a pastiche of the arabian nights, it was absolutely huge and amazingly spooky at night. The dark sky with the white marble mosque, easily the size of St Pauls and possibly some, towering up such that it needs aircraft warning lights on it. I've got to see it again in daylight - though I have a feeling it won't be quite the same.
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Wednesday, 25 August 2004 |
The temperature and humidity fell drastically today. It was down to 40C and 65%RH, which made it feel very much more comfortable today. The result was everyone was less tetchy and more got done today. And come the end of the day I still fell quite with it.
The choice at the end of the day was simple; go back to the hotel and eat something at one of the restaurants there, or head off for the souk and The Lebanese Roaster. Tough call.
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