LETTER TO MY SISTER – Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
A bit of a lull in the office. I guess it is that time again, where we are close the tournament and I start to hate my work and wish I was a barista.
The weather is getting cooler, which means that I’m cold. I have to wear a cardigan outside sometimes. Inside it is still arctic because of the air conditioning.
Last weekend I had quite a nice time doing some more sightseeing. I went to Abu Dhabi with Moira and a friend of hers. We went by Uber and it took a bit over an hour. The main objective was to see the famous mosque and the Art Centre building designed by Zaha Hadid. But then I found out that the Zaha Hadid building hasn’t been built. So mosque only and then the beach along the Corniche and dinner at a Turkish restaurant.
The mosque is quite famous and big on the scale of things. We had to borrow abaya’s to cover ourselves up. They were so unattractive that I didn’t even keep the photos for comedy value. It was funny to see how people adapted them. Some people, presumably French, wore their scarves as belts. Narcissists tied knots in them T-shirt style to get a bit more shape. There was one lady on the larger side and it was quite figure hugging. I thought all these things defeated the purpose a bit but they seemed to get away with it. My hood fell back at one stage and a security guard came and told me to put it back again.
The next day I went back to Sharjah on a photographic expedition with Sue to see the Blue Souq. People are a bit down on Sharjah, but culturally it is quite interesting. So I visited three Emirates in two days without even trying too hard.
Mum and Dad and I are cooking up a cunning plan to have an exciting Christmas morning. I proposed a trip to Sydney and then flying back on Christmas morning. Dad counter proposed overnight at Rotto and coming back Christmas morning, but it has been reduced by Mum to breakfast at Frasers. Which is still pretty good.
Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is big and obviously a place of significance for Muslims. It is beautiful on the outside and impressive on the inside. During Eid more than 40,000 people pass through the building. It was designed by a Syrian architect, took over ten years to build and was finished in 2007 so it is relatively new. It is easy to get to from Dubai. Access is straight forward unless you are there during prayer time so check before you go on the timings. Women, once appropriately covered can walk through the building apart from restricted areas such as the men’s prayer room.
#LetterstomySister
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