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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Khalifa City

As mentioned in some previous posts, I live in a bedroom community about 25 kilometers (that is approximately 15 miles for my readers in the United States, Myanmar and Liberia, the only countries on Earth where the metric system is not recognized) Northeast of Abu Dhabi city proper. The suburb is named after the current president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, son of the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Sheikh Zayed is the photo with the red background.










I don't know that much about Sheikh Khalifa but he seems to be doing a good job running the Emirates. The late Sheikh Zayed is responsible for the creation of the UAE and is considered the father of his country. I have researched his history, he has my admiration and respect as a man who had nothing but the best interests of his countrymen in mind. He was a kind, charitable man who on occasion used to drive large Chryslers out on the sand dunes, my kind of guy! The US could use men like him in the government! Here is the Wikipedia site for Sheikh Zayed


Anyway, Khalifa City is divided between A and B and according to yet another Wikipedia Site there is a New Khalifa City planned. I live in KCA and I have joked about it being a desolate moonbase, but there is a lot of activity out here and soon it will be a cultural and social center for Abu Dhabi.





This is an actual photo I snapped from my back window today. Although I took liberties with some photo editing software, you can see what I mean when I say this area is in the "development" stage. The Moonbase tag is not too far off the mark!







Not that this area is without some beauty. I captured this amazing sunrise from my back window last December, it was truly breathtaking to see in person. The tall structure under the sun is the Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH, OMAA) control tower and in the foreground the large crane marks the spot of the ambitious Masdar City  project.


So things are happening out here. It's kind of quiet out here in the "sticks" for now and I am bored many times, but this area will be place to be in a few years!











4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The US had men like Sh. Zayed, Their names were Lincoln and Washington and Kennedy...

You had very good men create your country. Its just that you had insane men take it later on. I'm waiting for that to happen here. It seems to be an inevitability of a nation.

I'm pretty sure that Khalifa city is SOUTH of Abu Dhabi island. Remember that the Corniche is north, so when you drive to KC, you are infact driving south. It seems like the other way around. But if you keep in mind that the water is always north, things get less woah!

As for Kms and miles... A mile is simpler to understand... or maybe thats just the Americanized me talking. Kms seem (to me) to distort reality.

Glad to hear KC is starting to take shape. I remember when it was sand dunes and we were kids and went out in Nissans to see the land markers of the new soon to be city. Weird. That was... over 16 years ago.

Neil Roberts said...

Sorry to correct you BiT, but from KCA to the Corniche is almost exactly due West, and to where Ace is positioned from the Corniche is slightly North of East, so ACE is right.

By the way .. miles for me too (British Imperialist!)

Ace said...

I consider Mussafa to be South of the Island. Neil is correct about the Corniche being almost due West of KCA and the airport. I would have been more correct to using ENE as a bearing from the city.

After a year and a half here, I still have to convert metric measures to imperial in my head before I can grasp the concept.

Miles are more natural to me as are feet and inches. A KM is a little over 1/2 mile, to get degrees F I double the degrees C and add 32. Rough but close.

I still do dirhams to dollars in my head, too. Divide by 4, divide by 3 and pick something in the middle. For example 60 AUD/4=15. 60 AUD/3=20. The answer: about $18 USD.

Ace said...

I forgot to address the inevitable rise and fall of nations that ABIT brought up.

Yes, I admire the founders of my country too. They were great men with the vision of a new country where the common citizens has a say. Like Sheikh Zayed did.

I continue to be a Patriot for my country, but I fear things have gotten off track. The power mongers that run the USA now have strayed far from the original vision. The people got lazy too and forgot their obligation as citizens to resist this this taking of power by their government.

The USA is in a decline for many reasons. Maybe it is as inevitable as the Roman Empire. I am sad to see it. I consider it as a mixture between failure of the citizens to choose their leaders wisely and complacency after the fact.

The UAE is a young country, you have have the future ahead of you, be careful not to make the same mistakes we have.