As we were making our way to the Musandam peninsula last week-end, to enjoy a day on a boat looking at fjords and dolphins, my wife reflected that when we leave the region, we won’t have very many pictures of daily life in the UAE. So we’ve decided to make a conscious effort to log some of the everyday moments in our lives.

As a first step, she took many, many, many roadside pictures as we were making our way back from Musandam, until Ras Al Khaimah, when it became too dark outside.

Just another note: we don’t see burned out cars every day. Actually, apart from Saudi Arabian highways, where they are very much part of the landscape, i’d never seen one before in the Gulf. We have no idea what it was doing in this really remote region. Each of us have their theory of course. Mine involves wrongful deaths and covering up tracks, but maybe i’ve watched too many CSI episodes …

Liwa Oasis is the historical seat of the Bani Yas tribe, whose descendants rule over Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It’s an amazing swath of green in the middle of the desert (see here) next to some of the most beautiful (and cliché) desert I’ve ever seen. (see here)

The history of the Arab peninsula and the Gulf is fraught with feuds, battles, warring tribes and factions within tribes. So Liwa must have been a fairly dangerous place to live in, and very tempting with its abundant natural resources of water, salt and palms. Traces of this time can be found in the few remaining forts and fortified houses along the Liwa main road.

In keeping with classic UAE administrative kafkaism, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage has spent money restoring these but forgot the marketing part: there are NO signposts to these forts in Liwa itself, and they are mentioned in only one of the tourist guides i’ve seen (the Abu Dhabi Petit Futé, in French, also available on the iPhone) The author explains he’s had to piece together information scholarly articles and maps to find them. He does a good job of describing how to get to them (although we’re still looking for Fort Attab!) But if you don’t read French, here are the GPS coordinates for those I’m showing here:

• Jabbana Fort:  23° 3’45.17″N  54° 4’17.56″E
• Mezzaira’a Fort:  23° 8’20.06″N  53°46’49.76″E
• Al Hamily house:  23° 7’36.42″N  53°45’16.19″E
• Qutuf Fort and Mosque:  23° 6’38.57″N  53°43’48.87″E

Wilfred Thesiger stopped at Qutuf Fort in March 1948, after surviving three days with no food on one of his crossings of the Empy Quarter. Even though Liwa is still obviously an outpost of civilisation, it’s hard to imagine, so close to us in time, what his experience must have been like. Although I’d like to think he sat down in the easy chair in front of the shack to reflect on his life and travels…

Since ADACH did such a great job to restore the forts, they are very well worth the visit. If like us you are spending an extended week-end in Liwa, make sure you take at least half a day to visit them. Just take care of your kids, as there are no safeties on the internal ladders and wells!

Liwa is the legendary oasis of Abu Dhabi. It marks the last “civilized” place in the Emirates before the vast emptiness of the Rub Al Khali, the largest uninterrupted sand desert in the world.

The oasis is a crescent of green about 100 km long, a horizontal gash in the map, in the middle of absolutely nothing. North of it is the half rock / half sand landscape common to most of the UAE. But past the oasis, facing south, the view changes dramatically to glorious seas of dunes in yellow and ochre, touched with wide salt flats. You can really see the change in satellite photos:

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Here’s a gallery of shots to show the diversity of the oasis. Despite being literally in the middle of nowhere (the road to Liwa is absolutely straight for 80 km…) it’s very active with most of the date farming in Abu Dhabi happening here, and even…a fish farm.

The desert is in the genetic make up of Emiratis. Most of them will spend some time camping, or out on the farm of relative somewhere when they get a chance. So it’s no surprise that crazier members of the younger generation, when they are not out racing on the highways of Dubai or Abu Dhabi, head out to the sand in quads and dune buggies.

Moreeb dune, in Liwa Oasis, is one of the high points of the sand racing craze (just look it up in YouTube). On a recent visit, unfortunately, no races were planned and the site was deserted. But we were lucky enough to find a bunch of enthusiasts, having lunch next to their machines (and their Porsche Cayenne.)

When I asked them if they were racing, they said : “No racing, just toys, for fun …”

I’ve been playing around with my new iPhone 4s. The camera is incredibly good, and the processing power allows the editing apps to pack a nice punch. Actually, I use the photo stream to share the pictures with my iPad, and do the editing using that: more screen real estate, better control.

Anyway, I’ll find a way to post more frequently my iPhone pics, since i haven’t been using the dslr all that much lately.

Here are a couple portraits for starters.

Heritage village in Abu Dhabi is a strange little place, off of the Marina Mall bridge. From the beach, you get a great view of the corniche. If you go a little further, you get to see the large flag up close, next to the National Theater.

The village itself is a reconstruction of life in Abu Dhabi before the petrol boom, and an assortment of little museums and tourist shops. I’m not sure when it was built, but it is not aging very well. Some of the pieces in the museum collection as well as the reconstruction of different types of dwellings are very interesting, but dusty and a bit run down. And since it is an obligatory stop for all cruise ship city tours, its continuously filled with gaggles of chinese or german tourists.

I do hope that the Emirate decides to invest a little bit, maybe once Al Hosn fort is complete. In the meantime, a few random shots of the area, starting with the obligatory bizarre translation. There are about a dozen of those placards around the village, with one side in Arabic and the other in English, carrying excerpts from Sheikh Khalifa’s speech on the 40th anniversary of the UAE. All of them have some bizarre turns of phrases, but “Factors of Retail” was the most absurd yet funny in so many ways.

Inside one of the halls are a number of pictures of Sheikh Zayed, some of them I’d never seen before, which is rare considering most places run on the same 5 or 6 shots. This one looks like Shaikh Zayed performing Umra (there are a couple like this). Some have him visiting a girl’s school.

The other place I’ve seen very interesting shots of him is the Vehicle Licensing and Registration office – if you ask to go to the men’s room, it’s on the ground floor, in a disused suite of offices – and there are rows and rows of pictures of the Sheikh with Police and Army units. Because it was in a Police building, I haven’t taken pictures, but next time you go renew your license plate, do check it out!

The hall with the pictures also houses a few models of dhows, and posters outside will explain the various types (if you can wade, again, through the broken english).

Finally, on the beach behind the village, you can rent those water bikes. I have to say that the colors and the setting were screaming SEVENTIES to me, and I came home wanting to watch reruns of the Prisonner. And people say there’s nothing to see in Abu Dhabi! Sheesh.

So Wax Tailor came to Abu Dhabi. If you don’t know him, go and listen to some of his stuff here (careful, the site has music on it). It’s ok, the blog can wait.

Like it? Me too. Not earth shattering, but very nice intricate stuff with tons of little finds.

I was very curious what a concert would be like. When I realized that there would be maybe 50 of us in the little garden he was playing, I went and grabbed my camera from the car – where else can i get stage access to try out my concert photography?

I hadn’t brushed up on technique at all, so the shots where mostly miss with a few hits in between.

So a nice evening – although I’m not sure Wax Tailor and his band appreciated it as much. He did mention more than a few times that we were his smallest big crowd of the tour. It does go to show that marketing is extremely important to things like this…

Oh well, he probably won’t be coming back to AD anytime soon. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

Abu Dhabi is busy growing as a city and a capital. For a long time, it was lagging behind Dubai, and in some respects it still is. It has a much more provincial feel to it. But it is also much more deliberate in its approach. A capital city should be a center of culture: so A.D. is building a whole island dedicated to culture. Saadiyat today is a strip of sand with a huge highway running down the middle. Tomorrow it will be the home of 5 museums, including the Louvre and the Guggenheim.
As a preparation exercise, TDIC, the company that’s charged with developing tourism and culture in A.D., has entered into a partnership with the British Museum to present an exhibition on the “Splendours of Mesopotamia“. It’s housed at the Manarat al Saadiyat hall.

It’s an impressive exhibition. The British Museum hasn’t skimped on the pieces on offer. The pieces are well presented clearly labelled and well lit. The series of – free – lectures and workshops is well made and interesting.

As with most events here, there is an attempt to link the Mesopotamian history to that of the UAE and of Sheikh Zayed. Although it may seem contrived at times, one thing is clear: Zayed understood that no country can have a future if it doesn’t think about its past. I sincerely hope that exhibits like this, and the future museums, will help ground Emiratis, especially the younger generation, in a sense of belonging to a wider world.

Between the workshops and other visits, my wife and I have probably been there once every week since the start. If you haven’t been there, you have until the end of June to go and visit. It’s free, and really, really well worth it. Also do try the Fanar restaurant. (those of you who follow this blog know that I don’t recommend restaurants unless I really like them …)

A few weeks ago, TDIC kindly agreed to let me take some pictures inside the exhibition. Thanks to everybody who made that particular visit possible, and especially to Mitra Birgani who accompanied me while I was there. I can only apologize that it took me that long to post the pictures.

all the rights on the pictures reserved to the British Museum.

Although Dawn of History is actually a very good exhibition, it can be a bit of a disappointement if you go by the title alone. The subject here are the first archeological expeditions run in the region, by Danish archeologists under the patronage of Sheikh Shakbut and Sheikh Zayed, from 1958 to 1972. In this sense, it is the Dawn of History in the UAE. So if you were looking at in depth details of the cultures in the region in the stone age, you’re likely to be surprised at seeing some old style bakelite telephones, a couple of passports and a used pack of Rothman’s blue cigarettes.

I’ve said in other posts I think it’s a great thing that the UAE is opening itself to arts and history. I also think the country is doing a pretty good job of it. What Dawn of History makes clear is that this is not a new trend. Shakhbut and Zayed already had a notion of anchoring the country in its past and in its region more than 50 years ago. Not long by our standards, but literally a lifetime ago for this region.

Eventually, it will be nice to have an understanding of the political thoughts underlying these actions. But we are probably still too close to the events, and the country is still too young. Let’s hope future historians find the subject interesting enought to devote some time to it.

In the meantime, enjoy Dawn of History for what it is: a clear glimpse of the makings of a modern nation.

And once you’re down there, go next door to see – Mubarak bin London: Wilfred Thesiger and the freedom of the desert, another great exhibit.

I was in Al Ain over the week end for a Car Rally with the French Speaking association. Fun time all over (got in third, with only two adults in the team … woo woo). On Saturday, I stopped by Al Jahlil fort before heading back, to visit the two exhibits there. The permanent exhibit is called Mubarak bin London: Wilfred Thesiger and the freedom of the desert  and the temporary one, running until the beginning of May, is called Dawn of History.  I’ll write about Dawn of History in a next post, once I’m done with editing the pictures.

Wilfried Thesiger (1910-2003) is one of the last British explorers with strong ties to the Arab world, in the lineage of Lawrence of Arabia. He crossed the Rub al Khali (empty quarter) a few times in the 1940s. Among the friends he made in what was to become the UAE was a young man, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who would become the founding father of the new nation.

In a reminder of the character and hardship of the region, the exhibit is spartan, with an exclusive focus on the pictures. The only extraneous material is a glass case containing samples of Thesiger’s arab gear, his bullet belt, and his Leica camera. The agency in charge of the project did a great job: lighting, signage, ordering … everything is perfect, and the visit is short enough to maintain my 6 year old’s interest – hats off!

The collection on show includes about 100 pictures (I think …). Wikipedia says Thesinger’s lifetime collection of pictures tops 20 000 shots. I don’t know how many of them are from his Arab period, but the curators certainly did a great job in chosing the best. From my perspective, the exhibit works as well from a historical as from an artistic point of view. One gets a great sense of history – with shots of daily life in the Arab world in the 40s. At the same time, all prints show a magnificent sense of composition and lighting, which makes them gorgeous works of art.

Unfortunately, the bookshop was all out of the english language catalog. The book looks like it’s as well made as the exhibit – and seems to include all the pictures … oh well, a trip to Magrudy’s should fix this.

I didn’t take pictures this time, because it seemed kind of pointless. I really, really encourage you to go and see for yourself.