Abu Dhabi: Day #10 The Rival

Like Dubai, Abu Dhabi also has a place where residence can park their yachts ..

The most obvious difference, is that Abu Dhabi marina is more open and breezier without being surrounded by tall buildings.

Marina Mall

And the nearby Marina Mall. It's one of the city's landmark with its tent-like roof, one of the biggest mall in the city at 122,000 sqm of retail space.

By this time, shopping malls started to look all the same. So we went inside and took few pictures, had some snacks, and didn't buy anything.

We were the Masters of Window-Shopping.

Here's what we learned about the city, compared to Dubai:

• Abu Dhabi is the capital city of UAE, but it is second behind Dubai as the most populous city in UAE. 
• Among seven sheikdoms of UAE, Abu Dhabi is the largest geographically, occupying more than 80 percent of the UAE’s total area (26,000 square miles or 67,340 square kilometers).
• Abu Dhabi still has oil.  Lots, as in the most reserve in UAE with 92 billion barrels.  Yaaaaayyyyy!! The value of oil, gas and oil products exports in 2013 reaches up to AED 490 billion - while Dubai reserves only 4 billion barrels.  Abu Dhabi sits on approximately eight per cent of the world’s oil reserves, and has the fifth largest natural gas reserve on earth. It produces approximately 2.5 million barrels of oil each day.  Abu Dhabi is way, way richer than Dubai.
• Correction for the last sentence on the above point: Abu Dhabi emirate has the highest GDP per capita, and its 420,000 native citizens have a net worth of US$17 million dollars per head, making it the RICHEST citizenship on EARTH!!
• It is GREEN.  Pleasant to see the green environment that makes the city looks more established in old-fashioned way.  Dubai?  Dubai is beige-ish.
• Having said all the above, Abu Dhabi looks more conventional.  Can't describe why.  Perhaps it is because the city looks quite old with less spectacular things ..

.. er ..

.. I shouldn't jump into that conclusion this fast.

Less spectacular things in Abu Dhabi? What about the fact about being The Richest on Earth?  The White Mosque?  The Emirates Palace? The Ferrari World?

And the fact that when Abu Dhabi builds buildings, they build masterpieces in architecture.

Two of the most unique buildings we passed by during this trip:

ALDAR HEADQUARTERS

Because it's so awesome, it managed to turn our head 360 degrees all around and we had no time to press the camera shutter button.  This building really looks like a giant disc, or more like a giant burger.  As the first circular skyscraper built in Middle East, Aldar HQ has won a handful of architectural awards, including Best Futuristic Design (Building Exchange Conference, 2008). 

CAPITAL GATE BUILDING (ADNEC)

This is how it tilts

‘The Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi’ leans westward at an incline of 18 degrees.  In June 2010, the Guinness World Records certified Capital Gate as the “World's furthest leaning man-made tower”, more than four times The Leaning Tower of Suurhusen (Germany) which currently sit as the world's most leaning tower that is unintentionally tilted.  And for sure it also beats The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italy).

One noticeable landmark building:

ETIHAD TOWERS

Etihad Towers

The complex has one of the tallest buildings in Abu Dhabi. We took this picture from Emirates Palace across. (updates: The towers were used as a filming location for the 2015 film Furious 7. In the film, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) steal a Lykan HyperSport and drive it through three of the towers.)

.. and the one that we have yet to see, projected to complete in 2016:

ZAYED NATIONAL MUSEUM

Located on Saadiyat Island, the architecture takes inspiration from the dynamic of flight and the feathers of a falcon, the design reflects Sheikh Zayed's love of falconry and creates an iconic symbol for the nation.

It would be totally .. totally .. o well, just look at this image ..

A day in Abu Dhabi might not be enough to explore. But I was glad we were able to cover most of its incredible attractions that certainly could rival Dubai to some extend.




.. to be continued to Day #11 Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.