Abu Dhabi Race Week
What a whirlwind the past two weeks have been. Once again, I find myself sat on a plane, although this was has been planned for a few months now. In my last post, I was on my way to Abu Dhabi from Copenhagen, and now that I am leaving Abu Dhabi, I’d like to summarize how my past (just under) two weeks have been.
Well, I arrived in Abu Dhabi Monday morning and it only took a few hours for the jet lag to hit. Nothing eventful really happened that day if I am being honest; it was mostly spent catching up on some work and with family. That was the least eventful day, as the rest was a big blur. During that week, I found myself in Dubai on several occasions for work, and then again in Abu Dhabi for work. I have basically visited 4 different airports during my time here. Lots of driving, coffee, and tunes for the road. I did not have any complaints though, especially from a work perspective, as I got the chance to work on some projects different than Doha, which I had been working for the past year, and boy was I happy to finally have a break.
While in Dubai (the first time), I got the chance to catch up with my aunt over lunch. We went to Alserkal Avenue, a very hip and industrial looking outdoor collection of restaurants, cafes, and art galleries. Leave it to Dubai to always have places for everyone and of every purpose. We were initially headed to a Palestinian coffee shop but it ended up being closed with no mention of anything. We settled for some Mana’eesh from the Palestinian bakery, choosing a classic Zaa’tar and a Msakhan one. The Zaa’tar one did not disappoint, although the Msakhan pie was a bit odd. For you who do not know, Msakhan is a typical Palestinian dish of pulled chicken oven cooked with a mix of spices and onions - the most important ingredient! For some reason, the bakery added sesame sauce on top of the Msakhan which was a very interesting combo - nothing bad against it but it is not classic, and I personally would not have it again. After that, we took a stroll and grabbed a coffee at a place called Moby thinks. The venue was a cross between a coffee shop, handcrafts shop, library, and small batch food products from around the world. The coffee was decent but the cookies left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, the vibe of the place was definitely my type, and it would be somewhere I would frequent if I were in Dubai.
Later on during the week, I caught up with my friend Yannick who I hadn’t seen in a few months. I introduced him to my new favourite sport, spinning, which he enjoyed. I have slowly learned that spinning is different from studio to studio, and I am currently on the lookout for a studio in Abu Dhabi to spin at. After our high intensity class, we grabbed a coffee and chatted about how life has been over the past few months, and he invited me to join him on the Spartan race in August 2023 in Berlin. I am very much considering it as it would be a cool new challenge, but time will tell if I end up there. I has been planning on doing the Spartan in Abu Dhabi this winter although had to change plans due to my recovering hand.
Fast forward to the weekend which I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the year. After all, it was F1 Race Weekend, and to add to the excitement, my friends MK and Jana were coming all the way from Canada to watch it. I picked them up from the airport on Friday night and dropped them off at their hotel, and we had a quick catch up although they were overly tried after having spent the day in Cairo.
Saturday morning, I went for a spin class at a different studio and this class was very interesting as it was more geared towards actual cycling. I enjoyed the different experience and would find myself there again later on in the coming week. After spinning, I went to the Lion King musical which my dad randomly had tickets for. It was myself and my sister and the show was a full spectacle. It was nice to be at a production after a few years, as the last show I caught was Harry Potter & The Cursed Child in London’s West End a few years ago. We really enjoyed the story line, the script, and most importantly, all the costumes and effects. You can always count on Disney to put on a full show. I snuck some pictures from the show to give you all an idea of some of the costumes. The show was set in Yas Island’s Etihad Arena, which was an equally nice venue. I definitely appreciated the organization of events in Abu Dhabi which seems to be lacking in Canada in general. I would recommend you catch the show if you get the chance to wherever you may be.
After the show, I went practically next door to the Yas Marina circuit to meet up with MK and Jana for the F1 Qualification race. The race was exciting but the results were disappointing to myself and MK, as we were both rooting for Mercedes with Ferrari as a runner up. We had some tasty sourdough donuts from Here-O, a Dubai-based doughnut shop, which we enjoyed during the race. After the race, we decided to walk to Yas Mall instead of waiting in lines for the shuttle. Afterall, the weather was finally pleasant (to me at least, I am certain Jana would disagree) here in the Gulf. I took them for a bite at ShakeShack since we do not have it in Canada, and they were not disappointed by the classic ShackBurger. On the other hand, I grabbed a hot chicken sandwich which was delicious, and the vanilla milkshake went along with it really well. We then split up for the night as I had to go home to work on some things while they decided to head to the Kendrick Lamar concert, who was headlining that night for one of the F1 Race Weekend shows.
Back at home, I had to finally face my (then) upcoming (now, started) vacation and had to arrange some flights and accommodation. I succeeded at the first although wasn’t as successful with the second, as I still did not know what my day to day would look like, plus, I do enjoy the last minute!
The next morning, I picked my friends up again as we were going to breakfast with my family. So a few years ago, when they were getting married, I randomly found out that Jana and I are distant cousins through my Mom, and our uncles knew each other very well - love how small the world is. They met for the first time and we had a delicious Lebanese breakfast at Beirut Sur Mer, which I unfortunately do not have pictures from. After breakfast, we grabbed a coffee at home before heading to the races again. This was race day, and the excitement was crazy for the final Grand Prix of the year.
Although the championships for the teams and racers had already been awarded, second place was going to be determined during the race. The race was preceded by a flyover of the Etihad F1 Livery airplane, which I ironically flew on into Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the week, as well as a short demonstration by the Al Forsan aerobatics (is this the right word?) group. The race then started and unfortunately was boring, without much action or fighting going on - I mean, not a single safety car! The battle for second however was very close and we were very glad when Charles Lecrec took second place in the race and the season. The fireworks display at the end of the race was amazing, and definitely surprised my friends as it made the Canada Day ones look like nothing. Following the race, I wanted to show the traditional side of Abu Dhabi, away from the glitz and glamour, and decided on the old but newly renovated fish market. MK and Jana were very impressed by the fish, prawns, and Tom-Yum soup we had, which had no business being at an Egyptian hole-in-the-wall fish spot. We had the food at Virona, which I would definitely recommend you all to try, but I am also certain that all the other restaurants would not fail to deliver a delicious meal. We concluded the night by having UAE’s favourite drink, Karak. Karak is a chai based drink which is mixed with condensed milk, and it blurs the lines between a drink and dessert. We bid our farewells as it was getting rather late, and we all had things to do the next morning.
The coming days were very hectic, which began with a work day that ended at 4.30 in the morning followed by another late evening, as I was responsible for preparing for a demonstration for a potential client. I did not think I would find myself doing all-nighters after university but here I was, and did not mind it as much as it was a group effort of trying to get things done. Well it all paid off as the presentation went very well, and everyone was very happy with the results. I would have to say however that Thursday was the most hectic. It was my last day of work for the year, and it started with a trip to Dubai to be at the airport there for a series of meetings, followed by a visit to the barbershop, catchups with my aunts, uncle, and grandfather, spinning, and most importantly packing. I have to say that packing was definitely the biggest challenge though, as this is where my lack of planning caught up to me and found myself having to pack for a range of cold and warm weather. I was successful at it in the end, although it came at the cost of going to sleep at 3.30 in the morning with a 9.30 flight. Oh, let me not forget, that I also launched my blog officially in between that hectic Thursday schedule, which is very exciting.
Overall, my time in Abu Dhabi was great, despite how hectic it was. This was the longest time I have spent in the UAE since either May or June, which is mind-boggling as I am living there. Anyways, I am now en-route to Istanbul, running on less than three hours of sleep, drafting this post.
Stay tuned for my next posts which will be more daily travel journals, mixed in with some other content I have planned. In the meantime, let me know if you have ever had a hectic two weeks like mine? How was it like? Have you caught an F1 race before, or a musical production? Where? Leave a comment below and till then, stay positive and see you in Istanbul.
