Today we went to abudhabi. This is the correct spelling. It is also spelled Abu Dhabi, two words.
Our guide today, Hi-Sam, was Egyptian. He has been in Dubai for 4 years. He was quite knowledgeable. Our first stop was the mosque. It is the first in the world. Not because it is the biggest, (trust me, it was big) but because it is white. The outside is white marble from Greece and the inside is white marble from Italy. It took 11 years to build from 1966 to 2007. It is only 11 years old. It cost 1/2 billion dollars and utilized about 25,000 workers. The mosque was paid for by the royal family and they still maintain the facility. It also had semi precious stones inlaid in the marble like the Taj. This mosque can hold 41,000 worshippers at a time. Usually on Friday about 10,000 come to worship. This mosque also has the biggest carpet in the world. I can’t remember the size but it weighed 47 tons. It was woven as one piece but they had to cut it in order to get it in the building. That seemed strange to me, like they did not think it through before they started the project. Obviously, I do not know all the facts.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the 7 Emirates. The 7 Emirates became a country in 1971. There are 12 million people in the Emirates. About 10 million come from other countries in both capacities of workers and wealth.
In 1958 oil was discovered in the desert. The land belonged to the government, so the government owns the oil. The Royal Family runs the government. There is a connection here. The ruler (see his name below) was a very clever person. He is known as the Father of the Country, and he ruled from 1971 until his death in 2004. He took the oil money and invested it in roads and other forms of transportation, as well as skyscrapers. All this to attract foreign business. He also invested in education, saying it was not an expense but an investment in the future. Today’s pride is that UAE has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The illiteracy rate has been less than 1% since 2014. There is no tax on land, or homes. However, just this year January 1, a 5% VAT tax was added on things you buy. The Emirates have a president. He is the son of the former ruler. The royal family does not consist of just a few people, but it could be 100s of people. Each of the 7 Emirates have their own royal family. There are no kings, only princes. The founder of the UAE is Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi. His son is now the president.
It was very, very hot today. Each day upon waking and looking out the window, they is a lot of haze. It really never burned off, even though the sun was very, very hot. Electricity is generated by gas now, but they are working on using the sun as the generator. Sounds like a splendid idea as hot as it is here. It has been close to 100 during the first 14 days of our trip.
We heard again today, that Dubai is working on a new building that would be taller than the Burj Kaliafa, and it should be ready for the Dubai Expo in 2020.
Our guide took us do the 74th floor, an observation deck, where we could see the royal palace and the government palace in Abu Dhabi. Both were Impressive. In the Third picture is the Fairmont hotel. The picture was taken from inside a not exactly clean window. Anyway, The Fairmont looks like a gate to the ocean. It was beautiful. The other pictures did not come out.
Our first stop was at the Ferrari world which was an amusement park. We only stopped for a coffee and rest rooms and pictures.
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I could not publish this last night. We are now on our way to Oman and the Shangha-la hotel. I hope I have good pictures today.
Thanks for joining us in the UAE.