Today was our second and final day of training at our first venue. Overall, it went really well. After training, we went to a Heritage Center where they had some small displays about what life used to be like for the people living in this area when it was all dessert. It was about 103 degrees and about 110% humidity. We had our suits on from training and we were all completely drenched after this stop! I can actually see the Heritage Center from my hotel window. If you compare pictures, you'll see the big UAE flag from the window of my hotel room and then again when I took it while we were at the center.
Next, we came back to the hotel, changed out of our wet clothes and then Amanda and I went to into downtown Abu Dhabi. We went shopping at the Madinat Zayed Shopping and Gold Centre. Wow! This was DEFINATELY a taste of local culture. We were just about the only non-muslims shopping here. The Madinat Souk was filled with textile stores where you could buy already tailored Abayas or just the fabric to make them yourself. They had other things as well, such as tableclothes and bed linens.
The Gold Souk had - you guessed it - GOLD! Probably at least 150 gold and jewelry vendors. The prices were good but even good prices for gold were too high for me. We sure had fun window shopping though!
Tomorrow is our day off from training. We transfer to our second location which is about 2 hours from here. It is further inland and in the desert. Our guide is telling us that it is much less humid. Our tentative plans are to visit a grand Mosque on the way and then after checking into our new hotel, we're off to a desert safari.
Stay tuned. More adventures to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment