Playing Tourist

I feel that I am both resident and tourist here in Abu Dhabi.  Perhaps it is fact, not just how I feel.

I work here, live here, have the residency visa in my passport, have a bank account and an Emirates id card and driver's license.  Makes me resident.

But I've not visited here before, and I'm here for 15 months (fyi, short in comparison to most contracts and people that come to work here). Makes me a tourist.

So I have decided to start working down my list of things to see and do here in Abu Dhabi.

Yesterday afternoon (Friday, January 4th) I ventured over to Abu Dhabi's Heritage Village.  It's not a large venue, but in a smaller space it captures the essence of the Bedouin lifestyle.  Heritage Village sits across the Corniche beach.  Not to distract from the point of this blog (to share about Heritage Village itself), here is a photo from Heritage Village of part of the Corniche. A contrast to the Heritage Village buildings and grounds, and a contrast to the jet skis showing off just off the Heritage Village beach.

I've mentioned camels and how they make me smile. Well, turns out that they have a camel at Heritage Village. Saw it and smiled immediately. They are such a kick. You can pose with this camel, or even ride it around for a few minutes. I didn't go for it yesterday, as my lower back was feeling achy and watching the camel walk around, looks like you sway quite a bit; but hopefully another time while I am here in the UAE.  I don't know if all camels are as talkative as this one was. Lots of braying (best word I can describe). I think his handler might egg him on a bit, as it makes the camel all the more engaging.  And I kept hearing this squeaking noise.  Turns out it was the camel. He was moving his lower jaw back and forth, and when going one direction, it seemed the sound was his teeth rubbing together.  I am not sure who I was more enamored with, the camel, or the handler who had such a classic Bedouin look to him:

Heritage Village has tents that are used in the desert. They are made up of burlap sides, and cloth (ceiling/roof) made out of goat and camel hair.

There are also stone buildings, and building with walls and roofs made up of palm branches.

There isn't much parking right next to Heritage Village, so I parked in a lot a quarter to half mile away.  The sun was starting to go down, and I captured some great colors.

I've mentioned the malls here. This is the Marina Mall (right near Heritage Village ... again, a contrast!), which is a large one.  As much as heights give me pause, I need to go up in Marina Mall tower at some point and get a look at the scenery from high above.  The breakwater area and small harbor is protected by levees made up of giant boulders.  The Gulf is behind the mall, as well as off to my right, in this photo.