Home  The All New Blog Abu Dhabi: Our ancient heritage - 1972
|
|
Abu Dhabi: Our ancient heritage - 1972 |
|
|
|
Written by Stephen Baines
|
|
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.
We drove on to the heritage centre. It's been set up to remind both the people of the Abu Dhabi and the visitors exactly where they have come from. Inside are some of the tents and huts that were Abu Dhabi up until the early 70s. The whole city has been built in just 30 years, and to realise that within my lifetime they have moved from bedhuin people to some of the richest people in the area. No one has a bad word to speak of the leader. He's done well for the people of old Abu Dhabi. No one does speak against him, as they believe that he can do no wrong. The huts and tents were amazing to see, with the city in the background as a mindblowing contrast.
They've achieved so much in 30 years - one only can imagine what they'll achieve in the next thirty years, and quite what their people will make of the pictures of the city in 2004.
|
|
