So on the next day, we departed for Abu Dhabi. BY PLANE. Yeshhhhhhh. I think we had enough of bus trips for awhile...if you remember the looonnng 12 hour bus ride that my friends and I took from Saudi to Qatar.

Anyway, I forgot to mention...except for Saudi, all of us had to wear business suits for all corporate visits. That makes it almost every stop we were at, and almost every day. =.= Yes, you may be wondering...the heat! But the thing is we don't really get affected by it, since most of the time we are either in the bus or in the company. And having such hot weather all year round, EVERYWHERE is air-conditioned, at least in the companies and places that we visited. I have actually became fairer after coming back from the Middle East. I know, unbelievable huh.

Anyway, Day 6 now. By the time we arrived in Abu Dhabi, it was already afternoon. And the heat was soaring. Imagine this: Around 33 degrees celceius (I seriously think it was 38 that day), with hot air blowing at you. With business suits (i.e. formal blouse, blazer, long pants and black covered shoes for female, and long sleeve, blazer, tie, long pants and formal shoes for male) It's worse than standing at the back of an air conditioner where hot air blows out you know. That was how we felt once we stepped out of the airport.
Anyway, we went to a mall to have our lunch. And boy, was it great to be in some familiar place. A MALL. It's grace from above man. To think about it, I am so used to seeing malls around me everywhere, whether in Penang or in Singapore; and would step into one ever so often. To not see one universal looking mall (ie tall buildings, with fashion, food and accessories shop, not short Middle Eastern style buildings) for 4 to 5 days was weird.

After the lunch, we were splited into two groups - one went to Sorouh, a real estate developer company, and one group stayed in the mall till 4 plus. I choose to go to Sorouh instead of be in the mall cus I felt that since we made it all the way to the Middle East, I might as well gain as much knowledge I can here.

The talk given by the Encik in Sorouh was interesting, but the thing is we were sooo tired cus we were already in the 6th day of the trip. Many of us were secretly dozing off in the meeting room that we were in. The main takeaway I got from this visit is that networking is very important in the Middle East. Sorouh establish good relationships with the Shiekhs in the government, and therefore manage to get a couple of projects from them. The 2nd thing that I got out of it is that in UAE, the locals are very blessed, similar to the locals in the other GCC countries. The government will actually buy land from property developers and build houses for the locals. Hmm.

The bus picked us up from Sorouh, and went to the mall to fetch the rest. Then we were off to Zayed Sport City for a visit. Zayed Sport City was developed by Capitala, a Singapore company. In Singapore, the company is called Capitaland, and develops many malls, among other things. (For the Penangites, to give you a sense of familiarity, Capitaland took over Gurney Plaza a few years ago.) It was a good talk, with the normal presentation and Q&A session. The reason they developed the sports city is to develop the sporting culture in the Middle East. Mind you, in the Middle East, they do not have such a culture, where every now and then you can go play basketball, tennis or badminton with your friends.

We got a chance to tour around the place. And yesssssssshhh!!! Tennis court!!! WOohoo!! They had Abu Dhabi Open in January this year, where big stars like Roger Federer(No. 2) and Andy Murray(No. 4 or 5) played on that tennis court. Capitala sponsored the tournament. But I have to say, I would have expect the tennis court to be bigger and more grand. But nonetheless, it was a breathe of fresh air from the usual company visits we had.

Yes...the very tennis court that the tops in the world played at! :DDD
Alvin & I
Darrick & I...always ready to take funny pics with me ;P
We also had a chance to see their bowling alley, and played a few games too! Yay. Imagine playing bowling with our suits, without socks. :P For those who didn't play, they went to visit the ice skating ring.

Night fell when we stepped out of the bowling alley. We still had one more stop to make before heading to our hotel. It was a dinner hosted by the Reem Investments CEO, Mr Bambang. Frankly, I was sooo tired that I just wanted to faint that day. I was glad that some of my friends know that and noticed that, and asked me how I was feeling. Instead of talking to the people who hosted us dinner, I chose to sit in a corner, minding my own business. Thankfully, I had Weining and Darrick with me, who offered to take food for me (although frankly, I was sick of Middle Eastern food already. Grilled meat, humus, and raw veggies for the n-th time? Not my thing man. Me don't like grilled meat for every meal.) The HR Director of the company saw that I was sitting there (feeling sick), and came over to ask me whether every thing is fine. He then oftered me tea to drink. It's sweet to have a few caring souls around, when the vibes around you make you stun and feel cold. (I won't elaborate on this now. I will tell you if you ask and I trust you)

Singing the Singapore staple Tamil song.
I don't think any of us understood what it meant.
Hur.

Anyway, we ended the night with us singing the templated-set of Singapore songs. I think we sang 5 to 6 songs. The people from Reem Investments seemed bored looking us sing, but we got instructions from the boss (our Prof), and we just followed it.

And yes...finally, after the day ended, we went back to the hotel, with Elyna as my roomie. :)