Ferrari world (or not)

Today was Kim’s big day at Ferrari World. I had as much interest in that as I have in Hello Kitty Land or Lego Land. Incidentally, Lego Land is opening up in Abu Dhabi but I think it might melt away in the 45 degC heat during summer.

The hotel had a free shuttle to Yas Mall adjoining Ferrari World so I went along for a walk around the mall and to buy some fruit and breakfast cereal to avoid the crappy and expensive pastries at the hotel’s cafe tomorrow morning.

We walked around the mall briefly together and ate lunch before taking a taxi to the Viceroy hotel which came highly recommended as an impressive sight. While it was really impressive from the outside, there was something not right from the inside. Perhaps it was the lighting, the finishing detailing or even being short of an extra coat of paint (one can see the roller strokes and different shades of white).

We taxied back to Yas Mall and Kim continued to Ferrari World while I went to the supermarket. Fruit like apples of uncertain quality was around AED12/kg so I opted for cut fruit (pick and mix, including mangoes, nectarines, pineapple, grapes etc) for AED20/kg. It seemed better value. I filled up a large tub for about NZD5 whereas in Auckland I would have got only a small tub of very boring fruits.

I spent the short afternoon in the gym and pool before using the free shuttle back to Yas Mall where we met up for dinner. We had Iranian mixed kebab and a mix salad (with hummus and baba ghanoush), which turned out to be divine.

We walked around the mall a little more looking at all the beautiful but useless things that people can buy. He had had enough walking for the day and couldn’t wait to be on the shuttle back to the hotel.

We managed to get through the day without suffering too much in Abu Dhabi’s 44 degC heat. Most of what we had to do was indoor and the little time we had outdoors seemed quite dry (unhumid) but very hot.  This (and Dubai) isn’t my kind of place; I’m not into the bling-bling.