Wednesday outings

Our mission for the day was to visit the new museum/gallery setup on Saadiyat Island. We snoozed big time this morning, crawling down to another delicious breakfast.

Not many teams in the breakfast room but lots of bags gathering in the foyer when we headed out of the hotel to catch a taxi. After yesterday’s episode with the ‘I’ve-been-in Abu-Dhabi-for-four-months-and-don’t-have-a-clue-where-anyting-is’ driver, we set about asking the concierge to brief the driver on taking us to Saadiyat Island. He did and the driver nodded in agreement. We asked him to drive on the ‘outer’ highway through Yas Island and on to Saadiyat, indicating the road on the map.

After a few minutes I got the feeling that we were heading into the city, which we were. It is also the way to go to Saadiyat, but we didn’t want to go that way. We stuck with it, planning to cruise through Yas Island on the way back.

We get on to Saadiyat and the driver just keeps going. We’re just about off the island and I ask him where he is going and that we want to go to the cultural museum. He didn’t know of it and was just happy to keep driving. U-turn and we spotted sign boards directing the way. Signage here is not great – but there’s probably a good reason for it, as you’ll see.

We get to a security gate and the guy tells us that nothing is open yet… That probably explains why the signboards are poor (borderline non-existent) and the driver has no clue. The meter was already on about 50 dirhams (R100). Really odd that the concierge at the hotel didn’t say, “Ah, Saadiyat Island… it’s really nice to drive through but nothing is open yet”.

So, we headed back into Abu Dhabi city as Zelle and I wanted to find a ladies salon (all signed ‘saloon’ here) to get henna tattoos on our hands. I’d found a place last year so I kinda knew the area to look around. We went from café to a residential flat to a ‘saloon’ to another to another to another and finally a woman directed us to Noora’s Saloon, on the first floor of a nearby building. Zelle and I went in while Steven and Lizelle had coffee at a really nice place on the ground floor.

Henna tattoos rock. It’s a lovely feeling as they’re being painted/drawn on and it’s a fun souvenir that fades within two weeks or so. We selected patterns that we liked and the lady artfully created the tattoos that start on our right forearms and run down to our fingertips. Just before we left, a lady came in. She’d had henna done yesterday and her hands were beautifully decorated – palms too. Hers was really dark – I hope ours come out like that too.

With this checked off our ‘to do’ list, we grabbed another taxi to take us across Saadiyat Island (again) and on to Yas Island where the Yas Marina Circuit (race track) and Ferrari World is located. I drove through last year and there wasn’t much as everything was still in progress. The transformation in a year is remarkable! Our really cool driver, who is from Nepal and has been here for four years, was a gem. He pointed out some sights, drove slowly on the bridge over the track so we could have a good look, swung past the hotel area (the one hotel has lights on the outside that change colour – on at night only and seems like it is really stunning to see) and took us in to Ferrari World where he waited for us to check out the section where we could go without tickets.

As you go from the one building into the main Ferrari World building there’s a walkway over the road and the ‘music’ playing is the sound of F1 engines on track. There are lots of speakers around because you hear the changes in the sound direction from one side to the other and all around. There’s a Ferrari store with all kinds of Ferrari mementos (very pricey, as you can imagine), but cool nonetheless. They’ve also got a modern Ferrari F1 car on display as well as an old one on a sort of wall. I took some pics (see below) for my uncle – he’s a big F1 fan… only he’s a McLaren supporter (I used to be religious about F1 – especially Schumie). Our driver took us past other features still under construction on the way out. There’s a really super looking roller coaster track which he says is the fastest roller coaster. It is open, but not on Fridays. You’d have to go into Ferrari World to access it.

And then he brought us back to the hotel.

We saw Cyanosis in the foyer; haven’t seen Alex’s team yet – I don’t know whether they’ve arrived. Cyanosis landed in Dubai and were collected by Brian’s cousin who brought them here.

We then hit the pool, which is h.e.a.t.e.d. Can you believe it! It’s divine. The only fault we can find with this place (aside from mostly clueless taxi drivers) is that the pool is too much in the shadow of the hotel – not a spot of sun there. Lounging in the shade hasn’t got the same appeal.

We bought rolls and cheese and tomato yesterday so we had a little picnic. We also brought a bunch of funny cold drinks to try – Tango Apple, Power Horse, Irn Bru and Pocari Sweat – the latter being the one we saw in the advert on the plane before each movie. What a silly name – just had to get some! Power Horse tastes like a more subtle Red Bull; Tango Apple is a sorta apple something; Irn Bru is a little similar to Iron Brew and Pocari Sweat was my favourite. It’s on the same page as Game, but not the orange/naartjie flavour. Like Game/Rehidrate without a strong, distinctive flavour. Smooth and thirst quenching. We may try to get more tomorrow to take on the race.

We met an Aussie team out here – Giddyup. They are very sweet. We all moved across the lawns to the sunny section. Sun isn’t as frying as at home – nice to dry off and warm up.

We’re now chilling before dins. Will probably have dins with Cyanosis and hopefully also Mzansi, if they’re here, which they should be. Lots of teams are wandering around now with loads of bags being shuttled here and there by hotel porters and ever-friendly staff. The Souff African guy who was here last year running the hotel gym is still here. He is originally from Bloem. It’s nice for Willem to chat to the Lizelles in Afrikaans; we’ll probably have drinks with him tonight.

Tomorrow we have the race briefing (I’m not sure what time) and then we’ll work through the registration and kit-check stations. And then more time at the pool. Tough race *grin*

Linda, haven’t seen any birds yet.

I got a local SIM card yesterday and my data thing is activated on it but it isn’t working… I’ll give it to Alex later because he’s better than these cell phone things than I am. By the race we should have it figured out so that I can post after each stage.

Bye.

[Update: Saw Cyanosis at dins and they’re all good. Haven’t seen Mzansi at all. Nic saw them this afternoon – all seem fine. Team briefing is at 08h30 and kit checks start from 10h00]

Uncle, a pic for you

Getting my henna tattoo

Zelle's henna tattoo - still fresh and wet

Drinks to try

Yummy - drinking 'sweat'

Lounging lizards ;)