Intercontinental Hotels Intercontinental Abu Dhabi

... but there happened to be a vege option on the list of "normal" food which turned out to be better than any of our previous proper vege choices. <br><br>Abu Dhabi may not have had a lot of sun (it was 8:30pm when we got there), but it certainly has a lot of heat. We sat out on the deck having a little drink to celebrate our arrival and it must have been still 30 degrees at almost midnight.

Greetings from Abu Dhabi Airport!  This short post is about the first part of our trip from Kathmandu to Cape Town.Kathmandu airport is very disorganized.  We arrived back at the airport three hours before our flight, and ended up needing almost all of that time to check in ...

... all the same as the made appearances on various peoples heads on the photos and even joined in the surprise Happy Birthday rendition to Bellie and Little Al sung by the waiters. With the "falcons" finished it was time to head to another hotel and a bar called Cheebas, where quite a few more drinks were consumed, but more amusingly we actually met an Arab guy who said he owned 3 falcons and could arrange for us to see them. To be honest the guy seemed a bit dodgy to me ...

... and was priced as such. I think what the five stars actually referred to was the patch of sky that could be seen through the cracks in the ceiling. Unfortunately, we were not given much choice in the matter of where we stayed if we chose to spend the night ashore. For security issues we were limited to about five hotels all up and Le Meridian was the cheapest one on the list. For all of its shortcomings, the hotel did achieve the objective in that it allowed me to ...

... air watching the kids splash with a football in the warm sea. When they started playing with a live throbbing jelly fish I thought it might be time to leave (if jelly fish can look angry, this one did). We were getting a bit fed up with the ring of South Asian workmen who appeared to be spending their lunch break quite openly gorping at us. It is not something we are unused to, my friend and I. We remembered fondly the good times in Sri Lanka, when one ...

... reaching 48 during the day and going down to a cool 38 at night. Far too hot to be out and about on foot and as Eddy doesn't like shopping or shopping malls, I have kept up the tradition of spending money and have spent some times in the malls, getting out of the heat, well that is my excuse anyway. Prices are not cheap, in fact so far I have only found three things that are cheaper than Australia, petrol ...

... I've seen any cats in India. This one looked terrified, probably for good reason - guards inside, mongrel dogs outside.<br><br>Once I was sat by the gate, I tried to read, but it wasn't really happening. First off, I was trying to read a guidebook, not the most enthralling material, particularly when you're on you way home. Secondly a small boy was charging around yelling in Arabic. Generally, I find Western kids (or, more accurately, Western parents) come out badly ...

... to land 7 hours later. Typical. I needed the entertainment to stop me from committing small-child-icide towards the kids sat behind who insisted on kicking my seat. Grrr. Other than that it was a good flight - the food was good and the map system pointed the way to Mecca at all times. You know, just in case. Interestingly, I did see a man with a bruised forehead, presumably from praying too hard. Abu Dhabi was hot, even at 9pm, and more humid than I was expecting. I know ...

... bus since it only cost $2US vs. $50 or $60US. When we arrived at the bus station that is when the fun started. Did I mention that this is a very VERY Muslim country and there are men fully decked out in white long dresses and women covered up Head to toe with only a slit for their eyes, yeah a little creepy since I got really scared by one later today at the food court because when I turned around looking for Andrea I was very surprised to see what I thought was a ninja, yes I ...

... on. Ha ha. We snuck a hug and it all felt very illicit. That night we went to a popular local expat hangout called the Captain's Arms. Wall to wall poms getting trashed on Fosters. Not a pretty sight. After a fairly scary (but typical) taxi ride we stopped off at our favourite take-away joint: Caracas. Go there for the best pizza in the world. The Hutches acted like tourists taking photos of the uncooked pizza, the store front and the smiling cook (now ...