Welcome to the Jungle

The Guns N Roses jungle, that is. I (sorta) surprised Joe with tickets to the GNR show last weekend. He'd been hinting for months, so I was going to just let him show up from work and turn him back around to go to the concert. However, I had technical difficulties so he ended up buying the tickets. Go figure. The show was at Yas Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. It's a pretty popular venue, hosting the likes of Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Bryan Adams just in the last month, and I think Kanye West will be here soon if he isn't already.

Guess what...the picture below is the fastest roller coaster in the world. (They aren't impressing me anymore). It's called Formula Rossa, is part of Ferrari World, and goes 240km/hr, or 149 miles per hour. You have to wear goggles.

Back to the show.... this is a picture of the outside of the Yas Arena.

And here is Joe with Pete's friend Ryan and his buddies Wesley and Chris. Each with two beers...hmmmmm...

Chris wanted to be in a picture with us.

The inside of the venue is sort of like Lakewood (HiFi Buys...whatever it's called now) Ampitheater but without the seats in the front. They have a VIP section, a Golden Circle, and then General Admission for us lowly expats.

There were a LOT of people at this show! Joe took this of crowd behind us once we got settled in.

While we were waiting for GNR to take the stage, they played "...standin' in line to see the show tonight and there's a light on...heavy glow..." by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I had just taken this picture. Thought it was kinda neat :)

Here's Axl on the big screen:

True to tradition, their last song was "Paradise City." During the song they blew out TONS of red confetti which was awesome.

I think Joe liked his early Christmas gift :)

Abu Dhabi: Sightseeing, an Office Visit, & a Medical "Exam"

On Wednesday we made the 50-mile drive from the Dubai Marina to Abu Dhabi. Most of the capitol city looked like this: Stucco buildings with stores on the ground floor. However, some of it looked like this:

A little less clean! We went to Joe's office villas which are just outside of Abu Dhabi on the Dubai side, and those are very clean :)

Here are some sights we saw while driving (note: these pictures were taken with my iPhone while in motion, so please excuse the haphazard photography)

This "fish bowl" building is called HQ by Aldar developments. It's an office complex near Al Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi. Joe said he can see this building from his office.

Here is the best picture I could capture of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It's the largest mosque in Abu Dhabi and the 8th largest mosque in the world. It's named after the UAE's first President, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who is also buried there. (Sheikh is an honoristic term that means elder or scholar)

The main road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi is also called Sheikh Zayed ("shake z'eye'-ed"). I took lots of pictures of mosques along the way.

I think the next two pictures are of homes along Sheikh Zayed Rd. I just thought they were pretty :)

These buildings reminded me of the Edgewater Resort in Destin.

The highway bridge ramps have colorful tiling:

The last picture is my worst attempt...this is the Capital Gate building peeking out from behind that palm tree. It holds the Guiness World Record for The World's Furthest Leaning Manmade Tower. It looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

The whole reason that we went to Abu Dhabi was to have my medical exam done to complete the visa process at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center. This consisted of a short interview ("Do you have any medical problems? Ok next room for blood please"), a blood draw to test for HIV and probably hepatitis, and a chest xray. I went to the women's waiting area to check in and Joe took Colin to the men's waiting area. (They don't condone gender mingling in public places). The lady told me it was 250 dh or I could pay an extra 100 dh for "fast track." After peering over at the huge room full of women next door, I decided to spring the extra money (less than $30).

They literally rushed me right to the front, I checked in, had my retina scan, and went for my thorough medical interview. Then they put me in front of another room full of women to have my blood drawn and then whisked me over to xray. The receptionist there ushered me into this teeeny changing room and said (over and over) "Only your bra, please. Leave your shirt." I opened the door, went inside, and upon closing the door found a bare-chested woman smiling back at me. Embarassed, I apologized and tried to get back out the door, but she closed the door in front of me and said "No problem! You woman, like me! You not man!" while laughing.

I let her get dressed before I changed, making sure to lock the door when she left. On the back of the door was the funniest sign I have seen in this country so far. It was a stick woman wearing a bra and underwear. There was a huge circle with a line through the underwear and the word NO with about 7 underlines written beside it. Next to each side of the stick lady's bosom were about 4 arrows pointing up and away from her and the words BRA ONLY written in the margins. I was thoroughly amused with this, but Colin had my iPhone so he could watch Elmo, so I couldn't get a picture.

After the xray was done, I went back to the lobby and heard them call #342 back for the retina scan. I would have been #396. Thank goodness for fast track!!