Believe me when I say that each day I am here I am continually more and more surprised by the things I am seeing. Today our journey took us to Abu Dhabi, which is located an hour and a half South of Dubai. Just to give you some perspective, Abu Dhabi is seen as the older, wiser brother compared to the flashy, some-what irresponsible younger brother, Dubai. It is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and while it doesn’t directly control Dubai, (there is a loose federal government) it has some influence on them. It is much more conservative than Dubai in regard to alcohol and religion but is still very diverse and progressive. It is a very interesting place.
Our first stop today took us to Emirates Motors, the largest Mercedes dealership in the world. IT. WAS. AWESOME!!! They had every high end Mercedes available right now including a Maybach (sticker price was around US$1 Million) and 3 Mclarens (sticker in the US$600,000 neighborhood). There must have been over US$4 Million worth of inventory in the showroom ALONE. They took us through their service facility, where the aim is to service 360 Mercedes per day. In days past, when a customer came to retrieve their car from EM, they would have to wait while the mechanic found their car in the massive service garages which would take on average 45 minutes. They implemented RFID technology to cut that wait time to 5 minutes by being able to find the customers car instantaneously. At the end of our tour we met with the owner of the dealership who, by the way, also owns the Manchester City soccer club (not the same as Manchester United). He was the most unassuming, gracious, and accommodating rich-guy I think I will ever meet.
We next travelled to the Abu Dhabi Colleges of Higher Technology. This was the most technologically advanced school I have ever seen. They utilize BIG touch screen TVs all around the campus. They utilize teleconferencing to connect students at all 18 of their campuses around the UAE, as well as international professors to the students. It was quite amazing to see. They have schools dedicated to business, medicine, and engineering, and it is FREE to all Emirati nationals, with the tab being picked up by the government. This was an informative and interesting meeting but was dwarfed in comparison to what was to come next.
We next went to the Emirates Palace, the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. The outside was simply gorgeous; with fountains….you know I won’t even try to describe it, wait for my picture post. One thing that has surprised me is that every hotel I have been to has had a Christmas tree in the lobby. This is a country that is predominately Muslim, but is very tolerate, and even accepting of other religions. It particularly surprised me though that Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, remember very religiously conservative, was as grand as it was. It rose 5 stories in the middle of the lobby and was the center piece of the hotel. In the back of the hotel was an exhibit dedicated to the future plans of Abu Dhabi. They are trying to make it the cultural center of the UAE, and to some extent, the Middle East. The key feature is four (yes 4!) waterfront museums including branches of the Guggenheim, and the Louver. And these buildings are EXTREMELY artful in their own right.
Our next stop was to the Grand Mosque. I believe, I will never in my life, see another building so beautiful ever again. I will again ask you to wait for the picture post. Initially, we were asked to leave by security as visiting hours were over. Our group has 4 people (including 1 of our professors) who speak Arabic. After them flexing their “Wasta” (similar to schmoozing prowess) we were let into the Mosque. I will let all the pictures do the rest of the talking for me.
After the LONGEST day of my life we stopped by Masdar on the way back to Dubai. Masdar will be, once completed, the first carbon neutral, no waste, completely sustainable CITY in the world. Including residences, businesses, hospitals…everything is contained in the city. It will basically be like the city doesn’t exist from an environmental standpoint. Since it was late, and the project is still in its infancy, the presentation we received was a little vague but the message was received. Mardar aims to be the model for future cities in regard to living “Green.”
We have been going for about 12 hours today but it was all very rewarding. It is 10:00pm and I am on the bus back to Dubai, hungry and tired, but extremely fulfilled from an educational perspective.
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