Day 1 in the desert

After what seems like a lifetime I am finally unpacked in my hotel and fed at a table with a knife and fork (for the first time since Thursday night !)

I was up at 5.30 this morning (1.30 UK time !) and on the road out of Abu Dhabi by 6.30 – the journey takes about an hour and a half – which some people commute I’m told (they must be mad, apart from lorries and palm trees there’s nothing to look at and nowhere else to go – I saw one service station in about an hour !).

This is the view from the rooftop pool at what will become my second second home (if that makes any sense…….the hotel I stayed in last night is generally where they book you into if you want a change of scenery at the weekend and head back to Abu Dhabi) although I was told by someone that they will book you into anywhere and you pay the difference between what it cost and what they would have spent if you had stayed in Madinat Zayed……which will be an interesting experiment at some point !

Madinat Zayed is lovely, or rather it looks lovely, I haven’t had a chance to find out what it’s actually like yet.  I had falafels for lunch, which were cheaper than chips (even if you could get chips……) and they tell me that the laundry service is very good value – apart from that and the fact that I have a perfectly reasonable office, a mobile and a laptop on the way, there isn’t much to tell you about my work environment yet.  I’ll follow it all up with some pictures at some point soon no doubt.

The drive to the hotel takes about 20 minutes which seems like a long time but at least half of that is down a long winding road with speed bumps every 400m.  Lord knows why there are so many of them other than the bit where the camel racing track is, they must get a lot of drag racers here or something.   The camels are something else – I’ll get some pictures in the next day or so but for now you will just have to imagine the downs at Newmarket as the second string are led out for training.  Hundreds of them spread out in a line, blankets on, all on their way to the track for training.  You have to see it to believe it !

Then the hotels looms out of the dunes like some kind of palace (again, pictures to follow…….).  The only thing that spoils the atmosphere is the rows of street lights down the road to the hotel and the massive power cable pylons running right through the middle of the whole vista !

Once inside the hotel it really is a palace (smaller than your average palace but a very nice small palace none the less !) – I’ve got a nice room, sadly without a balcony (but I think I might be grateful tonight because there is a wedding going on outside (it was about 8.45 when I had finished my dinner and came back to write this and the singer had just arrived and the guests were drifting in………

On a down side, I have to check out of here on Thursday and go back to Abu Dhabi and then next week stay in a different hotel further down the road from here because…..wait for it…… the camel racing and camel beauty contest (?) are on next week (some kind of camel festival…….your guess is as good as mine !) and the hotel has been booked solid for that particular week since last year and the corporate scroungers who keep the place going for the rest of the year are out on their arses !  I don’t mind really, apart from the packing and unpacking that is, which is going to be a pain !

Today’s inventory:

Cigars – about 4, but it’s coming down slowly………honest…..

Alcohol – there is a licence here at the hotel but to be honest I didn’t fancy a drink this evening – I know…..I can hardly believe it myself !

Gym – just the one hour tonight (I dipped my foot in the pool earlier and it was like a warm bath…..I’m not sure I will enjoy trying to do actual exercise in that, It may just have to be for recreation !

Food – Falafels !  AED 3 each (and I probably didn’t need 2……but I hadn’t had any breakfast your honour….).  Dinner at the hotel was really nice.  A buffet with masses of choice – what more could a man ask for !

Money – AED 6 for 2 falafels !

Weather – a pleasant 20 deg with a cool breeze and not a cloud in sight !

Lastly, the photo of the day –

The view from my bedroom window – not a light anywhere in sight.  I’ll take one in the day time so you can see sand !

Good night everyone - and don't forget to "click and close" !  All money raised goes to a good cause..........