Tag: <span>supercar</span>

Date: 14th April 2010

I was so looking forward to today. After Vishu celebrations at home with family, I called up our usual taxi driver and headed to the final stop in my sightseeing itinerary of UAE.

Since I was leaving from Musaffah, Yas Island wasn’t very far — 15 minutes or so by road (it’s around 30 mins from Abu Dhabi city).

The US$30 billion plus (yes!) Yas Island is the flagship project of Aldar Properties. It’s such a huge undertaking that you might as well visit Aldar’s website to see what all they plan on building out here.

But the Middle East story remains the same. What was once nothing but desert sands is now being turned into a gargantuan construction site offering the best of everything to the world.

Though still far off from completing everything envisioned, some of the tent pole attractions are nearing their opening dates — like Ferrari World.

Set to open before the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ferrari World is set to be the world’s largest indoor theme park. And this being themed after Ferrari, it will also house Formula Rossa — the fastest roller coaster in the world. How fast? Up to 240kmph (or 149 miles) with the power of 1.7 Gs pressing against your chest! Scary.

If you are wondering what is so impressive about this monstrosity, well, photos from the ground below are not going to do it justice unfortunately. For that, you should see what it looks like from up above.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi construction timeline — Images source: www.ferrariworldabudhabi.com

Crazy isn’t it? That they actually built something this futuristic and alien, on such a scale!

(Question: How are they going to clean the roof?)

After driving past Ferrari World, the taxi driver took me to the attraction I was mainly here for — and the only one fully complete on Yas Island.

Yas Island Marina circuit hotels — Some of the (barely inhabitated) hotels on Yas Island

Road to Yas Marina circuit Yas Island — Nearly there…

Yas Marina circuit track bridge — The Yas Marina Circuit

Yas Marina circuit track tarmac — Home to the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 race track…

Yas Marina circuit Abu Dhabi panorama — … which also has a man-made marina in the middle of it…

Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi building — … and the most strangely-beautiful 5-star hotel on earth

Last year, at the inaugural race held in Abu Dhabi, seeing the Yas Hotel all lit up on TV made for quite an impressive sight. The only day-&-night race (starting in the evening) on the F1 calendar, Abu Dhabi had to one-up the Singapore F1 — the first night race — and also one held along their Marina Bay (albeit a natural one).

I asked my driver to drop me here and come back around 7:30pm as I was going to be here for a while.

Since I had some time before sunset and the Yas Hotel lights came on, I checked out the docks first. Also because visitors aren’t allowed access on to the tracks, so I didn’t really have much choice.

Yas Marina hotel docking bay — I don’t know how one gets their boats into the Marina…

Yas Marina dock black yacht — … guess only rich playboys are privy to that information

Yas Marina hotel dock panorama — (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

Yas Marina racing teams yacht Sun tower — The FIA GT1 championships were happening that weekend

Yas Island yacht Al Bandar residences background — Al Bandar residences in the background

Abu Dhabi plane fly sky — One of the many planes setting off from the near by airport

Yas Marina sun tower — The Yas Marina circuit Sun Tower

Yas Marina circuit do not signs — Photography is allowed though

The sun was setting, which only meant the lights were slowly starting to appear on the Yas Hotel.

Yas Hotel under lights — Decided to go to the other side

Yas Marina hotel golf car — How workers get around at Yas Marina circuit

Yas Marina docks big yachts — Big-ass yachts

It was past 6pm by this time and the lights were finally starting to show.

While I made my way back to the other side, I met a group of Indian workers who have been working on this ‘alien invasion of the desert’ since the beginning.

They told me how all this was nothing but sand when they began a few years ago… and how they managed to flood a desert and turn into a artificial marina.

Yas Marina Indian worker labourer — Rakesh from Lucknow, who witnessed the change in landscape

By the time I was done with our conversation, the skies had turned near-pitch dark, which only meant one thing — the Yas Hotel was now in full bloom.

I had seen it from a distance on my second day in Abu Dhabi but I’m so glad I chose to see it up close!

Yas Marina hotel lights reflection night — Quite a desert jewel

It was past 7pm now, so I made my way back to the entrance of Yas Hotel.

Yas Marina circuits track lights at night — The Yas Marina track at night

As I waited for my taxi, I noticed a bright red sports car make its way around the fountain. I then quickly realized it was the impressive Nissan GTR, the winner of a gazillion “Car of the Year” awards since its debut two years ago.

I went up to the car to get a closer look.

And then, the driver actually looks at me and calls me over. For a second I was like: “Oops, was I not supposed to take photos?”

But as I walked up towards him, the young Arab owner only asked me if he could see the photos I had taken. Then he asked me if I wanted him to park it better so I could take a proper photo!

“Of course,” I said 🙂

We began talking and he (Ali, I believe his name was) told me about his prized possession. Costing around INR 39 lakh, he got it second hand from the US and came to Yas Marina Circuit to find out how much it costs to drive one’s own car on the track.

He even let me sit in the car and get a better feel of the tech-loaded GTR.

Yas Marina inside Nissan GTR steering wheel — The Polyphony Digital-designed on-screen display

Yas Marina red Nissan GTR interior display — This one was an automatic

Yas Marina red Nissan GTR owner — The proud owner

He even asked me send him the photographs and we exchanged each others contact information. By then, I hear a horn beep and I turn around to see my taxi driver waving to me. He had arrived a few minutes back but waited as he saw me talking to Ali.

As we drove back to my parent’s place, we passed by the HQ office building.

HQ office building at night Al Raha Abu Dhabi construction — HQ is part of the Al Raha Beach development

While in the car, as always with this driver, he told me tales about his experiences in this country. As I recounted my evening at the Yas Marina Circuit and the cars, he told me about the spoilt lazy youth and how the Government just throws money at them in the hopes they’d end up with a career one day. I’m sure a lot of what he was telling me was true because it’s not like I haven’t heard about all this before.

Still, the visit to Yas Island was certainly one of the best highlights of this trip. I recommend it to anyone visiting the UAE. It’s only an hour’s drive from Dubai and 30 minutes from Abu Dhabi city.

I can assure you, once Ferrari World and the other attractions open, Yas Island will become one of the world’s ‘must-see’ destinations in a few years time — which is what Abu Dhabi is striving for.

This concludes all the posts on all the sights I saw in the two weeks I spent in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I only have a concluding post which is mostly going to be an editorial piece. Meaning: more words than photos.

Here’s a video I took from Yas Marina circuit:

Previous posts in this series:

UAE 2010: Heading back to the Gulf after 7 years

UAE 2010: Driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai (& back)

UAE 2010: Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

UAE 2010: Heading to Dubai by bus; checking out Bur Dubai

UAE 2010: Dubai Mall (Aquarium, Underwater Zoo & Gold Souk) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Burj Khalifa, At the Top (and Wafi Mall) – Part 2

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Dubai Marina, Jumeirah, The Walk and David Guetta concert – Part 2

UAE 2010: Showing my parents the sights of Dubai; inside Ibn Battuta Mall

UAE 2010: From the desert sands of Abu Dhabi to the corniche

Date: 9th April 2010

(Part one can be found here)

Dubai Fairmont hotel Palm Jumeirah — The Fairmont Palm Hotel and Residences

As we came out of the tunnel, to our right was our next stop.

Once we took a left and got on to “The Walk,” I pretty much knew why people throng to this place. It’s essentially Dubai’s ‘Exhibition Road’ (a once very popular stretch in Bahrain where traffic moves slowly and people, well, come to show off — among other things).

The Walk is part of Jumeirah Group’s massive property by Jumeirah beach. Lined along the stretch are shops, restaurants, hotels and the Jumeirah residences.

Jumeirah The Walk Sofitel hotel — The Sofitel Hotel, Jumeirah

We finally managed to get a parking spot and while there were the usual luxury brands, given this is Dubai, one really needs something too rare to really stand out from the crowd.

And whoever was the owner of this Batmobile-esque Mercedes McLaren SLR, surely had it!

Freakin’ sweet. A supercar indeed!

Jumeirah Beach Residences apartments — Jumeirah Beach Residences

Jumeirah Beach Dubai Marina sunset — The (not so great) beach

After watching the sun set, we went back to the parking lot.

Jumeirah Beach Dubai Marina stretch Hummer limo — Before you ask… yes, petrol is cheap out here

Since it was time sunset prayer, Azhad and Jassim made their way to the prayer hall like good muslims, while I waited out looking at the slow moving traffic.

After prayers, we moved on.

Jumeirah Residences flats apartments towers — Passing through Jumeirah Residences

Jumeirah Residences big elevator lift Azhad — Big elevators for big people and their big cars (not Azhad)

Jassim told me that we needed to crossed over to the other side as he wanted to show me something. I didn’t really know what or why but I figured it would be more buildings.

It was buildings alright…. but I never expected this!

Dubai Marina at night panorama — Panorama consisting of 7 shots

Beautiful.

I really wasn’t expecting a sight like this in, of all the places, Dubai. I was looking forward to seeing all this when I go to Singapore in September and in Hong Kong next year, but in the middle of a freaking desert? Wow.

Now I get what Dubai Marina is all about. It’s like the guys at Emaar Properties (the same folks behind Burj Khalifa) visited Marina Bay in Singapore and Hong Kong’s Kowloon Bay and went: “Hmmm, very bretty… very nice… we like… we want also.* ”

And then came back, spent a few billion, dug out a lot of sand and half a decade later — voila!

Dubai Marina stairs Jumeirah residences — The steps we came down from (Jumeirah residences in the background)

Dubai Marina at night Azhad — Azhad talking away

Dubai Marina building lit up yacht — Private yachts can be rented for cruise parties

Dubai Marina steps up — We went up to take a walk across the bridge

Dubai Marina crossing road — We crossed the bridge road over to the other side

After being mighty impressed with the world’s largest man-made marina, we headed back to ‘show-off boulevard’.

Jumeirah The Walk at night cars bikes — Back at the The Walk

We set off into town and made our way to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for tonight’s David Guetta’s concert.

Twin towers on Sheikh Zayed road traffic from metro — Kinda looks like New York’s Chrysler building — but of course Dubai had to out-do NY, so they made two!

Dubai Rotana towers hotel at night — The Rotana Tower Hotel

Upon reaching the venue, we figured we still had some time to enter so we decided to do dinner. Jassim parked his car near Emirates Towers and we made our way to Nando’s.

Dubai Metro station exterior — They have these ‘space stations’ (a.k.a Metro stations) all over the place

Inside Dubai Metro station traffic — Trying to take photos while on the travelator

Dubai Metro station train late night — The trains have no driver by the way — it’s all automatic

Dubai Nando's chicken dinner — What I ate at Nando’s

Me and Jassim had a good meal, Azhad didn’t 🙂 … and wanted to get home quick!

So after seeing our friend off at the metro, me and Jassim went back to the car to get ready for ‘the party’.

Emirates Towers office hotel at night — Emirates Towers in the distance

Dubai offices at night Burj Khalifa — And there she is in the distance

After finding a parking spot, we walked towards to the concert hall where there were a lot of guys with heavily waxed hair and girls with heavily waxed skins.

And boy were we glad we bought our tickets well in advance! The show was sold out and many were around seeking extra tickets. We got in around 11pm where an opening DJ was was warming up the crowd.

The man himself didn’t hit the stage until 1am. And just when he was about to… disappointment. My Nokia E72 with the 5 mega-pixel camera dies out on me. All I’m left with is my mom’s basic 2mpx Nokia and even that was low on battery.

Sorry, but these grainy photos are all I have. (Some are from my friend Jassim’s iPhone)

David Guetta Dubai 2010 concert lights — This is when he hit the stage

Grainy photos won’t do the concert justice, so just watch this if you want to know what the atmosphere was like:

To sum in up in one word: AWESOME! This was one of the best concerts I have been to. The crowd was insane! Over 10,000 people packed into one massive hall. And I would so pay to see David Guetta live again!

David Guetta left the stage exactly at 3am, the time when all of Dubai has to shut off it’s loud music and stop the sale of liqour.