the Grand Mosque Masdar City model

The following was originally written Tuesday the 23rd of February!


So a recap of the last few days:

After arriving Friday evening and having a quick bite to eat at our beautiful hotel, we got to bed relatively early, being exhausted from a good amount of traveling coupled with the time difference. Saturday we visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

(Sheikh Zayed is the late ruler of the Emirates, he established the country in 1971 and led the vision for the growth and diversification of the economy...he was uneducated, as, for example, Abu Dhabi used to be just a village of pearl divers, who stopped diving for pearls when the Japanese invented synthetic pearls...Abu Dhabi was basically settled in the 50s when fresh water was found on the island...desalination is now the second largest industry after oil). The Mosque was quite an engineering feat, with the largest carpet in the world, and it is a structure that was built in about 10 years and is enormous, though not very detailed, and used largely as a tourist attraction; it has only been open for 2 years. After that we went to the Marina Mall, and finally back to the pool for a relaxing afternoon.

Sunday was our first full day. It is also the first day of the week, as Friday is the holy day so their weekend here is Friday/Saturday. We went to SNC Lavalin, a construction company, and to the Canadian embassy, where we met the Canadian ambassador and received some very interesting insight on expats working in Abu Dhabi, along with interesting details such as the 26,000 Canadians working in the city and the fact that Australians have quite a large presence in the city. In the afternoon, we visited Masdar City, which is the first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city in the world. Largely an experiment for renewable technologies and what a fully sustainable city could look like. They are testing 41 different solar technologies, they have an institute for research which involves 88 students from 42 countries, and also a 10 megawatt solar firm, of which 3 mega watts is currently being used for the construction of the city, and the rest is currently going back to the Abu Dhabi grid. The city, when it is completed, will require 280 mega watts of power, so there are other technologies that are being developed as well for extra power; unfortunately they can't use wind as it's right next to the Abu Dhabi International Airport, and there are many other elements of the city to critique as well. For dinner, we ate at a Lebanese restaurant and met with some people working in Abu Dhabi, so were able to hear about things such as why Dubai is not by any means in serious trouble, why there has been a large shift in focus in growth to Abu Dhabi, and why fundamentalists haven't yet attacked the city, which stems from many reasons from laundering of money to a hidden drug trade.

Monday started at Etihad Airways, currently one of the largest airlines in the world which connects North America, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia like never before, creating Abu Dhabi as a hub of the world. We met with the CEO, CFO, and other executives, and had a fascinating tour of their 12-month-old facility. We also met with the Director of the National, Abu Dhabi's English language newspaper, which is only 2 years old. The rules of the media are quite different in a place controlled by a monarchy, and news is more about in-depth analysis than breaking news, as everything has to be passed through the government. Yesterday, Monday, we did several things, including a meeting with the COO of the largest public hospital in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center, managed by Cleveland Clinic. Sheikh Khalifa is the current ruler of the Emirates and the eldest son of the late Sheikh Zayed. If you've kept in touch with the area, you'll know that the tallest building in the world was named the Burj Khalifa after this man. We also went to the New Medical Center, a hospital started by a Dr. Shetty, an entrepreneur who owns 26 horizontally integrated businesses and is one of 3 people in the Emirates to have been offered citizenship. Emiratis make up just 15% of the population here, and it is impossible to achieve citizenship (except for these exceptional 3). In fact, businesses cannot be majority-owned by foreigners. The Abu Dhabi government must own over 50% of any business started in the UAE. We had a chance to go to the Emirates Palace, which is quite astounding, and I finally got my first taste of beach sand.

Today we visited Studio Twofour 54 (which doesn't represent beer for you Canadians, it represents the coordinates of Abu Dhabi). We also went to Mubadala, the firm whose mandate it is to invest the government's money to deliver a financial and social return. Driving into Dubai today was quite fascinating. The development that has gone on here is capitalism on crack to say the least.Anyway, the food, the people, and the experiences have been great so far. Many details I have left out, but Im sure you get the idea of what a fabulous opportunity for our whole group.

Wild Weather

Yesterday was a day of contrasts. In the morning a couple of us went with a friend of mine to ride four wheelers in the desert. There was a bit of a sand storm. To be able to ride the four wheelers among the dunes we had to buy sunglasses because of the blowing, stinging sand.

That evening, as we gathered by the fountains by the tallest building in the world, we were astonished to see a display of lightening, followed a torrential downpour rain - something unusual in a desert!

As we walked thru the mall we witnessed an unusual sight indeed, water flooding out of some high end clothing boutiques. Clearly the Mall of the Emirates was not designed with this kind of rain in mind.

On the way back to our hotel, the driver had to navigate around large puddles, make that, small lakes of water on the highway, a new experience for him.

Abu Dhabi: le début

Après un trajet de 20 heures, nous sommes arrivés à Abu Dhabi vendredi le 19 au soir. Notre hôtel est sur la Yas Island, une île artificielle qui fait partie d’un projet de 36 milliards de dollars. 36 milliards! À côté de l’hôtel se trouve le Yas Marina Circuit, celui qui a remplacé le circuit Gilles Villeneuve de Montréal pour l’édition 2009 du Grand Prix. Pour un instant, je me suis senti indigné, et un peu jaloux qu'on ait été détrônés ainsi. Mais bien entendu, ici ils ont l’argent pour faire un circuit qui a de l’allure!

Le lendemain fut une journée touristique. On est allé visité la Mosquée du Sheikh Zayed, dont la construction commencée il y a 10 ans venait d’être achevée. Elle est énorme – pas aussi grande que celle de La Mecque parce que c’est défendu par la religion musulmane, mais gigantesque tout de même (voir photos). En rentrant, les femmes doivent se couvrir d’une abaya et tout le monde doit enlever ses chaussures. À l’intérieur se trouve le plus grand tapis persan tissé et les plus grands chandeliers au monde: impressionnant certes, mais de valeur culturelle, pas vraiment (on dirait que tout était fabriqué en Chine). C'est un peu représentatif du bâtiment : un manque de détail fragrant et une qualité inauthentique…un projet un peu hâté selon moi.

Le reste de la journée, on a fait un peu le tour d’une partie de la ville. Résumé : les immeubles (dont la moitié sont en construction) sont plus grands et nombreux que les nôtres, et les centres d’achats plus extravagants. D’accord, il y a un peu plus que ça à dire si on regarde un peu plus attentivement…on en reparlera!

Abu Dhabi - The Richest City in the World

As many of you may know, Abu Dhabi was recently listed as the world's richest city by Forbes. While luxury has become somewhat synonymous with the cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, "opulence" and "hospital" are not words that we would commonly see used side by side...clearly this is not the case in Abu Dhabi where locals no longer yearn to be on glitzy VIP lists but rather crave lifestyles of the new local term they coined, "VVIP" - very very important person.

The following are pictures from the VVIP suite at Dr. Shetty's New Medical Center that we visited in downtown Abu Dhabi. The first picture is a welcome sign to the room and the second picture is a separate "waiting room for guests" within the area suite. This doesn't include the actual room of the patient, which also includes an extended sofa like the one seen in picture two!

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My first experience at a mosque

These past few days on our trip, we have constantly been debating the issue of oppression of women here in the UAE. Many of the speakers we have discussed this with have mixed views. When we visited the famous mosque on the 21st, we were forced to cover ourselves from head to toe in the Abaya. This immediately brought up the issue of oppression. Did I feel oppressed by having to wear it? To be honest, I did not. For me it was more about respect than anything else. We were outsiders trying to get a better understanding and appreciation of the Muslim culture, and we were asked to be respectful by dressing modestly. I would expect the same if a group of tourists were entering my place of worship. I did not hesitate to comply, as I understand that the religion has rules and traditions that must be respected, as do most other religions. This one may happen to be more extreme than others, in that we had to completely cover ourselves. However, it was a new, enlightening experience, and I certainly welcome any more that I may have on this journey.

Our first day in Abu Dhabi

Our first taste of the Muslim culture after a restful evening - Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - the largest in UAE and the world's eigth . The mosque was opened in 2007 and named after Sheikh Zayed, the founder and the first President of UAE.

Ladies are required to cover themselves at all times in the mosque.

A short stroll in the Heritage Village...

Enjoying our evening on the rooftop of the 5-star Yas Hotel by the Abu Dhabi race track.

Ahlan wa Sahlan fi Abu Dhabi!

After a quick stop (well, maybe not so quick) in Frankfurt, we arrived in Abu Dhabi, had a wonderful meal at the hotel (see below)... Ready to rest, to try out the pool tomorrow morning, and then head out to the mosque and the beach!!

The rooms and the lobby in the hotel!

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

Cannot wait to see you all at the airport in 3 hours!

Finally, the day we have all been waiting for!

Press coverage of the trip

The trip has received quite some interest among the local media: the Montreal Gazette, Métro and La Presse have all published news article about it.

Le voyage qui est sur le point de commencer a été l'objet d'un vif intérêt parmi les médias locaux: the Montreal Gazette, Métro et La Presse ont tous publié des articles sur le sujet.

Départ imminent!

Nous partons demain! Après une escale à Francfort, nous devrions arriver à Abu Dhabi vendredi à 20h40 heure locale. Programme de samedi: visite de la mosquée Sheikh Zayed, exposé sur la faune et la flore océaniques de la région, et dîner avec des anciens élèves de McGill...

À suivre donc!!

Enjoying the potluck dinner at Prof. Moore's home!

Less than a week away!

The time has almost come!

4 days until we embark on the journey of a lifetime to the United Arab Emirates!

Introduction

From February 18th to March 1st, a group of 24 McGill MBAs and Management Undergrads will head to Abu Dhabi and Dubai with Prof. Karl Moore.

The trip is the second part of the Desautels Faculty "5 Hot Cities of the World Tour". We are all looking forward to meeting CEOs, senior politicians and professors, and getting to discover this captivating region.

We are also very excited to share our experience with you readers, and hope that we can pass along some of what we learn!!! We'll be blogging regularly about the UAE, and sharing our feedback.

Talk later!

Celine, Brenna and Emilie