A Fish Shop ...... Abu Dhabi style

I went in detail in an earlier post about getting fresh fish, cleaned, gutted and cooked from the fish market. It really is one of the things I enjoy the most over here, simple food, as fresh as you can get it and a really fun, enjoyable experience.

I went again the other night, this time armed with my Nikon ready to capture as much of the process as possible. The food was delicious, but the fun bit was again being one of the only non-locals there and I soon became popular with the market traders once the camera was out.

Here's a few shots of the whole thing:

One of the fish monger stalls in the market

Some of the different varieties of fish you can choose

The catch of the day and that night's dinner

The man in red gets it ready for cooking!

Make sure there's no bones left in!

Bite size pieces please!

Not quite Harry Ramsdens, probably better!

Salt and Vinegar and a bit of Tartare Sauce sir? No thanks, just spicy, spicy!

For some strange reason, people I know don't want to eat here but i think it's the best. Arranged to take a friend here again recently and told them we would go to the "Fish Market for" dinner. They jumped at it however soon changed their mind when we realised we got our wires crossed. I meant the Fish Market as above, they thought I meant the restaurant by the same name in the InterContinental Hotel!

The first days of Ramadan

I honestly thought, apart from the odd thing, I wouldn't notice much difference around Abu Dhabi during Ramadan, but I am completely surprised by how different things become so quickly.

On the first day of Ramdan I was in Dubai all day for meetings, and literally went 10 hours on just 2 glasses of water, no food and no cigarettes. One of the glasses of water was only because a local Muslim Emirati who we we were meeting with, after we declined, kindly insisted we took a drink, though was fasting, himself. When you are out and about in public, whether in hotels or walking the streets, you just don't eat, drink or light up.

At the office it's different, we have a closed off room set aside where we can eat and drink, and an area walled off outside where we can smoke. In the office, we simply do not eat and drink at the desks during the official Ramadan working hours (10-3), and also outside of this period as longs as our Muslim colleagues are not around.

Out and about it's also very different. The hotel bars are different, they start serving alcohol at 7pm, there is no music and you can't drink in the open air spaces for those that have them. Our apartment over looks a very busy road, in fact the road is constantly busy, 24/7 apart from on a Friday morning. The first thing I noticed on the first day of Ramadan, was how quiet the road was at 7pm when the fast is broken, and how busy it is at 3.30am shortly before the fast is about to start.

It is literally as if the whole place becomes nocturnal and the day turns upside down. It's easy to forget and carry on as normal, I like my coffee and cigarette on the balcony first thing in the morning and walk out there with them both every day, only to remember and walk straight back in!

We are in a foreign country, it may be odd for us, but it is the norm here. It is part of the culture, and you accept it, adapt, make your small sacrifices and live according to it. Personally I find it both fascinating and actually quite honourable. In a world where in a lot of places commercialism has overtaken the importance of religion, faith and belief for most, it's nice to see a period where the priority is given back to peoples beliefs. Things don't stop, they just for this period come second to this religious observation.

Record Breaker

The UAE, mainly Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are constantly raising the bar and creating world records of some type or other. As I have mentioned, Dubai, at half a mile high, is building the worlds tallest tower, at 5,555m long Abu Dhabi had the worlds longest inaugural ribbon and in Liwa a month ago, they broke the record for the largest plates of dates ever, a steel plate 10.06m by 2.03m with over 2,000kg of dates or over 2 tonnes.


Well even though I am in the UAE, I am proud to say I have played a small part in a world record that Britain has achieved. Yesterday on the River Thames, Britain broke their own world record and held the largest ever yellow rubber duck race.

The record in 2006 was held by Singapore who raced 100,000 of our rubber friends over a 1km distance. In 2007, Britain rose to the challenge and broke that record by racing a staggering 165,000 of these loved creatures a kilometre down the River Thames. On August the 31st 2008, Britain, to safeguard their record, raced an amazing 250,000 rubber ducks from Molesey Lock, near Hampton Court Bridge the 1km to Sherriff Boat Club at Albany Reach. The race took around 3 hours, and the sponsor of the winning duck won 10,000 pounds. My part I sponsored 5 of the little fellas, and though it was a tight fought race, doesn't seem like any finished amongst the leading pack. Still, money was raised for a good cause and a world record firmly secured for Britain ............. for now!

The power of air con

With the heat and humidity over here, it makes you wonder some times how people managed without air conditioning. It's on wherever you go. It's on constantly in the flat, constantly in the car, constantly in the office, all the shops, bars and restaurants operate with it on and even the tents that are being erected for the different Iftars have air conditioning units with them.

Earlier this week we learnt why air con is so needed. The air conditioning system in the whole of ADNEC went down and you felt the difference the moment you stepped into the building. Getting into the more enclosed space of the office it was even more uncomfortable. It was advised we all work from home that day, which is just as well as I managed 15 minutes in the office before it was time for another shower and a new shirt!

Farewell Fingerprint

Live music is very popular over in AD with most bars having a resident band playing music nearly every night. As we enter Ramadan music is not really played so a lot of the bands contracts come to an end and new acts come in October.

One of my favourite haunts is Hemmingways at the Hilton, it was the first bar I visited in January when I came to scope AD out. That night there was a 2 piece band from New Zealand playing called Fingerprint.

Have been going there a fair bit since I moved and they are extremely good and very entertaining. They play all sorts of music, blues, soul you name it and have been known to take request, though my constant request for Englebert Humperdink's Please Release Me has fallen on deaf ears!

As well as good band they are also very friendly people and always chat and have drink between sets with customers, whether regulars or tourists staying in the hotel.

Unfortunately it's their last weekend this weekend, so it's farewell Fingerprint, good luck, enjoy going back home and seeing all your kids, and if you ever come back to the desert for another stint, let us know and make sure it's on your web site!

Another very different drink

In an earlier post I mentioned the Fosters Mexican, a pint of lager with salt and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Well, another one has been discovered, which to be fair is more wrong than different.

On a recent night out drinking cocktails, and after one Mojito too many, I plucked up the courage to try a Bull Frog. Why it has the word Bull it in will become clear shortly, but why Frog it's not so clear! The ingredients of this very lethal drink are simple, white spirits, four in fact, tequila, vodka, white rum, and gin, then a measure of blue curacao topped up with a can of Redbull! A potent drink that after a couple you are gone, but still keeps you awake all night! The Bull obviously from Redbull, the Frog apparently because it is meant to be jade green colour. the ones I had were more turquoise and the only green was my face at the end of the night!

The Holy Month

In a couple of days time we enter the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, the Holy Month of Ramadan. Though not confirmed yet it is expected to begin on the Monday 1st of September and run through till the end of September or the first couple of days of October. During this month, Muslims fast and literally do not eat or drink or basically allow anything to pass their lips, everyday from sunrise to sunset. The reason is to teach patience and humility. It is also a month of giving and a focus is on giving to the more needy. When the sun sets, the fast is broken with an Iftar everyday where families and friends gather to eat together.

Over here, everyone is preparing for Ramadan. Marquis are being erected outside the different Sheikhs' palaces for the nightly Iftar, some shops are changing their opening hours, and the working day is different. Officially it is shorter, even for non Muslims.

We are also asked to respect Ramadan and not be seen to be eating, drinking, smoking etc in public.

As I've said before and believe in strongly, wherever you are in the world, you have to respect the local customs and traditions. Ramadan should be an interesting time, witnessing this complete change in the daily life and seeing the discipline of others. From a business perspective, it will be challenging, though I'm sure we'll be putting the hours in and work a full day, some of our clients will be on shorter days and subsequently getting business done will be that little bit tougher, but things don't come to a stand still. In fact, a lot of meetings are held in the evenings when the fast is broken as you have more of a chance of getting peoples attention. let's be honest, who wants to hold a business meeting when both parties have not eaten or drunk anything for hours. I'm can be a miserable sod until I've at least had my morning coffee!

Will keep you posted on how the month goes!