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Abu Dhabi: The return to Abu Dhabi |
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Written by Stephen Baines
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Tuesday, 07 March 2006 |
It was with a lot of apprehension that I returned to Abu Dhabi. Not because I have unhappy or unpleasant memories of the place, but rather the opposite. It's now some 18 months since my last visit, and I still have very fond memories of the place. My worry, rather, was that on a second visit the magic would be gone, and the place I remember with such affection and speak a lot about would now seem ordinary or even unpleasant.
I needn't have worried. What did surprise me was the sheer contrast with Lebanon that I had left just a few hours before. In Lebanon the buildings were older, some bombed out and being rebuilt, and new ones were growing, but sympathetically with the older buildings, nothing bold or brash. In Abu Dhabi the buildings are all out eye achingly there. No way could you miss the new buildings. No way do they sit next to the older or older style buildings and say "designed to blend in", they say "I'm here for the next 10 years or so, get used to it".
The ride from the airport was the usual slalom course with lots of parping the horn, as apposed to the muted pipping in Lebanon. I can hear the horns here in my room, some 12 floors above the streets, quite clearly. I checked in, complete with large wooden crate, and quickly got unpacked, and took a little wander down the street - just to see if it was what I remembered.
The city looked and felt the same, and I enjoyed seeing the place. It felt pretty much the same as I remembered, much to my relief. |
