Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital

Out past the Abu Dhabi Airport, somewhere around the camel farm and the saluki breader is the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital. Falconry is the national sport of Abu Dhabi, the Saker Falcon is the National Bird and falcons are the only animal allowed to travel in the cabin on Etihad airways (truly, Manuel has had falcons next to him in business class) so it's only natural that the world reknowned falconry hospital should be here. The tour of the hospital is a little-known "must do" in Abu Dhabi. Every year the hospital expands so that it now does boarding both of falcons and other pets, there's a laboratory, ICU, surgery, small museum, coffee shop, conference center, catering hall, flying ring and it's still growing...

Here are some fun facts about the falcons...

A gyr falcon (typically white from Siberia although now they tend to be more brown do to interbreeding) goes for around 300,000 AED (over 82,000 $).

Sheikh Khalifa has over 200 falcons in his collection.

Falcons need visas to travel to different countries which they stamp in their passports.

Breeding can only be done in NATURALLY cold climates. So all breeding here is by artificial insemination.

Falcons in captivity need to have their claws and beaks trimmed as they can grow too long causing bumblefoot (infected cuts in the pads of their feet).

The birds falcons typically hunt are ghaboor which are themselves endangered.

The tour is simply amazing -- they greet you with dates and tea in a waiting room with astro-turf covered stands for the falcons and couches for the humans. Once you're in with the falcons there's a treatment room where you can watch them perform pedicures (clipping and filing the claws so they're the same shape as before, otherwise they'll find it difficult to get their balance). The birds are out during the procedures. An anesthesia mask covers their entire head. You can also hold them and help feed them. Then you can look in on the surgery and the ICU (there were no patients there when we were there). Afterwards we were served a lovely lunch. All in all a great visit.

I know I posted a while ago about 'hot kisses' here in the Emirates...well top news today is that a British couple is in court after kissing in a hotel restaurant at 2 am. An emirati woman said she and her children witnessed this. The couple was arrested and charged with indecency as well as consumption of alcohol. They claim their kiss was not hot....in fact it was a kiss on the cheek.

How come no one arrests the Emirati woman for having her children out at 2am? Isn't that against any child welfare laws??? Honestly, it is scary living here when you read stuff like that.

In the good news column...the Abu Dhabi triathalon was yesterday with an amazing finish at the Corniche. They had crowds of people and beautiful, if hot, weather. Apparently they delayed the start by 45 minutes to have pictures with the sunrise as the participants dove into the water off the Emirates Palace. That might explain the weak and swooning athletes crossing the finish line under the noonday sun. It was also interesting to see a primarily white group of athletes. It's almost like cross-country skiing :)

Wakestock Abu Dhabi

I've said it before, but it bears repeating...the Emiratis are great at making the desert entertaining. This weekend Abu Dhabi was host to Wakestock a British wakeboarding competition they held down on the Corniche in tandem with free concerts at night. Friday was seriously windy impeding the competition, but yesterday morning Cordelia and I sat out at Cinnabon and drank coffee while watching the sea-snowboarders. The night before Cordelia had been at the concert.

In other news...

I'm not sure if I blogged about the brand new idea here -- wearing seatbelts in cars. Seriously, road accidents are a major cause of death here and they now are campaigning hard that people actually wear those belts. This morning the National reported that starting soon every baby born in the Emirates will go home with a free car seat. If you have the money....

Updates: The Burj Khalifa is still closed with no word on a reopen scheduled.

A jinx on the Dubai Mall??

Before I begin on the Dubai Mall...I have an update on Sheikh Mubarak and mourning...he was in his late 70's apparently and the first minister of the interior for the UAE. The family has been receiving a long line of visitors just across 15th from us next to Mushrif park. The flags are at half mast and there's a tank out the side door. There's a long line of cars entering and I saw one woman walking out in a short black dress (hmmm that's definitely not kosher). The radio is still on muzak but we were at a big party at one of the clubs last night with alcohol and music. So, I'm not sure of the fine print on the ban on that stuff. I guess it depends on your wasta.

Now ... about the jinx. I'm beginning to wonder if all those trips to the Dubai Mall over Christmas break left the mall with some bad mojo. First, the Burj Khalifa shut down the observation deck (still closed at the moment) and now the aquarium has sprung a leak. What are the chances??

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/582391-aquarium-leak-sparks-dubai-mall-evacuation

Check it out...

Mourning

We just found out that Sheik Mubarak bin Mohammed al Nahyan just passed away. He was one of the older guys in the ruling family and the father of Sheikh Nahayan who is the minister of higher education among other things. I'd never heard of Sheikh Mubarak before and when I went to the internet to find out more, there really isn't any more. All the middle eastern news agencies report his death and an official three days of mourning. No age, no cause of death (not even the 'go to' - natural causes. Nada. We do get three days of mourning. In the old days that would apparently translate into a total shut down of schools, offices, industry and commercial enterprises (ie woo hoo three days of vacation). But Abu Dhabi is more progressive now. So the latest manifestation, so far, means: yes, there is school and yes, there is work. But Radio 1 and their raucous disc jockeys Simon B, Danny and Sheena have been silenced and in their place there is the equivalent of arabic muzac. There's apparently a complete ban on alcohol and we'll see about music and dancing. In two nights time we have the American School's gala---It's a brazilian carnival. Dry and Silent. Hmmm sounds like a blast.

We'll see how this develops...

Just back from the homeland

I'm just back from a quick week's trip to the US (NYC and Rhode Island). It's great to be back in the warm weather and 'home'. It's a little sad I, so far, can't find any winter olympics coverage on the 100 odd TV stations I have here. Also, while I was gone--the closed the Burj Khalifa indefinitely. Seems there's a stuck elevator...no word on the passengers that were in that elevator when it got stuck over a week ago. I guess I was lucky!

A few reflections from my trip...

1. People are much more interested (I mean really interested with actual pertinent questions AND follow up questions that prove they're, in fact, listening) in my experiences in the middle east as opposed to those in France.

2. The train ride from NY to Rhode Island is absolutely beautiful. How some developer hasn't found a way to move the train tracks that go right along the sound is both surprising and reassuring. (the picture on the left was taken from the train).

3. Snow is enormously fun when you're only in it for the pretty part and you have nowhere to get to and no need to shovel.

4. It's a REALLY long trip from Abu Dhabi to NY.

Like no other store in the world...

Bloomingdales opened in the UAE yesterday at the Dubai Mall. I can't help but remember Galleries Lafayette's ill-fated venture in NYC a bunch of years ago...let's hope this ends better. What I do know is --- Emiratis love malls and they have some terrific malls (who would've thunk I'd be waxing poetic on malls...oh how far I've sunk). But hear me out...some of the features of the Dubai Mall:

The Burj Khalifa visitors center. Tallest building in the world. Been to a mall with one of those?

Aquarium and underwater zoo. Also cool.

Candylicious..blatant ripoff of Dylan's Candy Bar. This far from the true land of jelly bellies, we'll take it.

Kinokuniya. Largest bookstore in the Emirates

Dubai Fountain...like watching Niagara Falls set to music. From 6pm every 20 minutes this baby shoots off sprays of water to the tune of anything from Andrea Boccelli to local folk music. Pretty amazing.

Outdoor restaurants surrounding an artificial lake with said fountain. Very pleasant indeed.

And now, drumroll please, Magnolias Bakery (inside Bloomies). The real deal. They ship in their special flour and sprinkles from NYC. Life just got a whole lot sweeter.