The UAE National Day celebrates the creation of the United Arab Emirates on December 2nd, 1971. It’s quite impressive to see the throngs of emiratis driving down the Corniche in their heavily decorated cars.

This year was the 39th anniversary, so we’re all bracing to see what it will be in 2011 – for the 40th anniversary. In the meantime, here are a few shots taken that day.

While Abu Dhabi is definitely a very pleasant place to live, Bahrain has more cultural heritage – and it has done a lot to preserve it. The reversal of fortune between the two countries is actually stunning. Bahrain’s major lifeline today is Saudi tourism, after being the first country in the Gulf where oil was found. It’s rife with political unrest. On the other hand, the UAE are quickly becoming an international financial, industrial and logistics powerhouse. An uncharitable explanation for emirati’s “we want it bigger than everybody else” attitude is that the country is so young it has had no time to develop proper taste. I rather suspect that a more nuanced explanation can be found in the fact that in 1960, Bahrain was thriving – with and airline and an international airport, and there where no doctors in Abu Dhabi or Dubai…

Times have rolled around, but whatever it’s current circumstances, Bahrain has a lot to offer. Maybe not yet as an actual tourist destination, but at least to those who live there and take the time to look around.

One of our favorite week end jaunts, and a great treat for visitors, was a walk through the renovated quarter of Muharraq. A maze of small streets hides a few gems that are well worth the visit.

And if you want to see more, here is a link to my flickr set.

Here is an interesting video of what Abu Dhabi sees itself becoming in the next 20 years. For anybody who would think to scoff at such grand scale transformation, i’ll refer you there, a picture of AD in 1989. And now, … they have a plan.

These are some random shots of Abu Dhabi, taken from my flickr gallery. You can find the full set of pictures over here