Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The bus ride from Dubai to Abu Dhabi - only $6 - was about two hours, and the bus was completely full. Abu Dhabi is another large city in a neighboring emirate to Dubai and, although it doesn't quite have all the glitz and glamour of Dubai, certainly deserves it's reputation as a top-notch international destination. Many international oil companies are headquartered in Abu Dhabi, which has been described as the richest city in the world, where the average per-capita net worth is $17 million.

Since it was so hot out, I took a taxi directly to the Abu Dhabi Marina Mall, occupying a great position for some outstanding views of the Abu Dhbai skyline and the Emirates Palace. I had a nice walk around the mall an relaxed a bit before heading back out and taking another taxi ride to the Emirates Palace, a $3 billion monstrosity of a hotel (really a Palace). This hotel looks like something straight out of Las Vegas. I hear rooms at this hotel start at $500/night and it's used primarly as a conference hotel for major international organizations.

I then walked along Corniche Rd on the waterfront from the Emirates Palace about halfway down. The waterfront hosts bike paths, several beaches, restaurants, and stages for music entertainment. Unfortunately it was too late to get some nice pictures of the skyline, but the skyscrapers backdropped against the beach were spectacular. Since even at this time of night it was still oppressively hot out, I took a taxi to the Abu Dhabi mall and spent most of the rest of the night getting some work done. At about 10:00 I found a cab to take me to the Abu Dhabi airport, which was far from impressive (extremely crowded and just not very nice). At 2:45AM I set off for a 4 hour plane ride to Istanbul, hoping I'd get enough sleep to carry me through the next day.