Faiths Corner Stone

Another image from sunset at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque  in Abu Dhabi.

Golden Minaret

Golden Minaret Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

This Image is  from sunset at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque  in Abu Dhabi.

Faithful Sunset

Faithful Sunset Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

This Image is From the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (UAE), and in my opinion the best thing to see  in Ab Dhabi.  We had  planned to go at sunset.  During the Day it was just too hot to be walking around any where out side even for a brief time as I learn.  we  had taken a Taxi to the Mosque  and we got there at the perfect time.  The Sun was sinking in to the haze from the heat, changing  the sky to golden color.

A Sheep in Snakes Clothing

Sheep in Snakes Clothing Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

The Lone Viewer

The Lone Viewer Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

This IMage Is from the Top Floor lounge  at  the Jumeirah At Etihad Towers.  I really like having  the window frame crate  that nice  framing in the shot although it’s not always easy to get them squared up in the frame and still get the subject  you want.

We had  run  all over  town  and I felt very disappointed in what we had seen so far and  more so the fact that I hadn’t taken any pictures  so  it was nice to be back at the hotel and just relaxing, and even better  when I felt like I got some good shots up  in this Lounge.  When we  booked  our  trip to Abu Dhabi my GF was excited because she loves Sex in the City and wanted to see the hotel  they  were at  in  the second movie. One of the  problems we had  though was  the hotel was so nice  that  you couldn’t just  go in  it was all fenced in with guards  and you could only enter the grounds if you were staying there or  if you had something to do there.  Coming back down from the lounge we  spoke with the concierge and had  him make us a reservation for High tea.  After a short time relaxing in the room we  hopped in a taxi and headed over to the Emirates Palace for tea.

Boxed In

Boxed In Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

The Taxi Stopped in Front of the Abu Dhabi World Trade center and we  hopped out and went inside.   The cool air conditioning was a relief  from the  oppressive Heat.  Looking around it was a typical  Mall all known stores like H&M  there was a Movie theater, food court and even a shooting range, but one thing it didn’t have was people. we were the only ones there  we  walked around the entire mall because there was suppose to be an indoor Souk.  Finally we asked a store clerk and they  said it was in a building Across the street from the mall.  We headed back down to street level and Across the street  into a building that didn’t really seem to have Ac  so  it was very warm  inside  it was kind of a bazaar.  there were vendors  set up  through out the building  but the shops were so spaced out that  it felt more like a bad mall than a Souk.  I was expecting more like the grand Bazaar in Turkey  or the Medina in Fez but it was very lack luster.

After Leaving the Souk we tried to walk down the street because we were in more of the downtown area.  There was a mosque 3 blocks away, 3 Blocks  which proved to be all we could take walking in that heat.  We reached the small Mosque and  hailed a cab back to the Hotel to relax.    The Day had  been a Complete Bust  I hadn’t seen any thing of note and exploring  those site in the heat  had  wiped me out.  The  was  not much left  on our list of things we found to do there, but one of them was  to  go to the top floor  where they had a lounge and 360 degree view of the city.

we took the elevator up to the top with a family that  had a little girl and boy.  The city had a misty Haze over it from the heat  but  it was still a very nice view.  Me and my GF walked around to see the entire view  as I tried to snap pictures here and there  just so I could photograph something that  day.  The Kids we rode the elevator up with had  broken away from their parents and were playing with the telescopes and  peering out the window.  As I came around the corner I saw the little girl standing on the stone ledge of the window  looking out as the light poured in through it.  I raised my camera and tok a few  picture  before her mother came  around the other side and said ” time to go”   we  did  one more lap around the lounge and  heeded  down stair too.

 

Pull up a Chair and Sit Down

It was 108 fahrenheit as we  Stepped  out of the Fish warehouse and  headed  to the right under the shade of the building.  This Fish Market  turned out to be a Bust so we decided to go to a Carpet Market that the hotel concierge had Mentioned.  On the Map we were given  it appeared to be Really Close  so we left the shade of the building and stepped into the oppressive heat of the sun.  we were in a pier like area  so there was not really block  but we walked  maybe 2-3 blocks  and the sun was just unbearable, worse than that  all the buildings within sight were very non descript and the map I had was very undetailed so I was just guessing where we were headed.  Sweat was dripping down my forehead  by the time we had walked the 4 blocks to a road.  Looking down the street I had a really good Idea of where we wanted to go but I was not 100%  and with the Un relenting Sun beating down on us I stuck out my hand and  got a taxi.  I pointed to the carpet market Circled on the map and the driver nodded and headed down the road. The Market was  the building I though it was  but  took a few mins to get to because we could only make turns at certain points.  The Taxi came to a  stop in the middle of a square strip mall like area  with every store  in the square  selling carpets.  When I got  out of the taxi and took  the area in  I saw 15  men  stand  up to greet us or  come out of their store.  Right away I knew this is not what we wanted and  this was  gonna be like the fish market where we have vendors all over us, but it was too late the cab had already left.  We quickly had  8  people next to us  “please  come this way” “come see  our Carpet” “What Kind of Carpet are you looking for”

It was not what we wanted at all, since  we had  no Taxi and I didn’t want to poo poo  some thing with out trying we  said ok and  choose a random store and walked in  the owner followed us and  turned on the lights as we entered.     The space felt small inside  but there was Rugs stacked all around the room, I gave it a quick  look around but this was just not what I was looking for, and in my opinion the rugs were not even  of the highest quality.  What I was Expecting was a more open air BAzzar  type  feel with  higher quality hand crafted  rugs, More like from this post I did on my Trip  to Turkmenistan we  left the store and walked along the square to find a Taxi  as the  other store owners  followed us and  kept asking us to go to their store.    When we reached the Road the vendors finally relented and  we stood  there baking in the sun  for a few mins till we saw a cab  to flag down.  Discouraged by our  last two stops we told the driver to head to the Abu Dhabi World Trade Center  which had a large Mall and Indoor Souk, so down the road we went……

Alone in the Palace Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

I had not Done much Planning  for my trip this year, and the few times I had looked up Abu Dhabi it didn’t seem like there was much to see  it  was more hospitality, shopping and just relaxing  kinda place.  On the way back from breakfast  My Gf  stopped to ask the concierge what she should see  and more so  if there was a Souk (open air Bazaar).

The concierge  said there wasn’t a Souk  but there was a fish market and Carpet market, and then  there was an indoor market  at the World Trade Center. We Decided to  try and see them all and went and grabbed our things from our room and  jumped in a Taxi.   I told the  Taxi driver  we wanted to go to the fish market and he looked puzzled and I showed him on a Map the concierge  had gave me,  The driver  still looked a little puzzled but  said ok and we headed out.    About 15 mins later we were driving  near a pier area and the taxi pulled up to a chain fence  with not to much else around.  The taxi driver says this is it  the pier  and  points to a plain looking concrete building  thats it over there.  I say ok and pay  him and  we  start walking  over to the building.  it was only  about a block away  but the heat was  Brutal  over 105  degrees  and I was  so  glad to walk into the building and be greeted  with  some cool air  even though it came with a fishy Oder.  Entering the building it was  a large open warehouse  with about 40 Vendors all with Tilted  ice filled stalls   displaying  their fish. We stuck out  like soar thumbs and from the moment we walked into the space we had  people  coming up to  us  asking us to  come  over to their  stall and see their  fish.   It didn’t help that there were only about 4 other people there to buy fish, so the vendors we really aggressive to make a sale.  We walked around the space   felling we  didn’t want to miss something   just because it didn’t appear interesting right from the start.

We  walked around the space and  had  vendors on either side asking us to stop and look or even taste  there   fresh  fish.  I kept thinking  you’re  barking up the wrong tree,  does it  look like I  I am from here and  have some where to  go back and cook fish, but I politely  repeated no no   just looking or not now, as the next  guy would come up and ask, and some  trailed behind us  asking in unrelenting fashion. It was not a visually stimulating place  but I could have gotten some  good pictures  but  its  very difficult for me to shoot in my street   style if I am the center of attention.  I didn’t take a SIngle  pic in the short time we were there  because it felt uncomfortable with people trying to hawk thing to me.  We left and  decided to  head  over  to the carpet  market, but more about that tomorrow…..

This Image is From The Hotel Across  The Street That we visited Later and as we walked around the property  I just loved the way the light was pouring  between in through the marble support Columns. I stopped to take a shot  as my Girlfriend  Kept Walking and  as I turned back around  I saw her a ways  down the hall lifting her  hair off her neck from the heat.  Her  White Dress Contrast  Great Against the Dark Shadow  of the hall way that lead back into the hotel

Waiting with a View

Waiting with a View Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore

A Simple shot  of  the end of the hallway AS I woke up the next  Morning to Go down to the ground floor for Breakfast.  I love the reflection on the floor  and  the blue light as you look out the window and over the palace and into the gulf water.

Just over the Hedge

Just over the Hedge Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore