The U.A.E. turns 37 ...

The 2nd of Dec 2008 marks the 37th National Day for the United Arab Emirates. Being a newbie in this desert country, it's only fitting for me to head out and join in the festivity and see just how the Emiratis party.

The morning papers reported that at 8:30pm sharp that night, a display of the world's BIGGEST fireworks show will be held at the Emirates Palace. It's scheduled to last for a good 45 minutes and it's suppose to be the Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the U.A.E, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's gift to his people.

Since it's a holiday that day, my colleagues and I had an early dinner and headed out with our bicycles at approximately 8:00pm. The cooling night breeze was very welcoming to say the least. It was also bloody good thinking to cycle there since traffic at ALL intersections were badly jammed up (as can be seen in Photo 3). Even the cycling paths were filled with throngs of pedestrians ... tourists, foreigners and locals alike. Navigating our two wheelers through this massive crowd ain't easy I tell ya.

The usual silence of the night was shattered with constant blaring honks from vehicles, air horns and the vociferous Arabic music. Almost every other vehicle on the road was 'decorated' with stickers or washable paints of green, red and black ... the colours of the U.A.E flag. Locals especially teenagers will pile themselves in 4x4s sitting at the window edge or popping out of sunroofs. Some donned Halloween masks as they sing and dance the night away.

The atmosphere was simply shockingly crazy ... the people party as if it's their last day on earth. A lot of them were armed with party foam sprays and were actively foaming passing vehicles. Others can be seen roller-blading and even horse riding on the streets. You can imagine the mass of cars, pedestrians, cyclists, roller bladers, horses :p ... all headed towards the same place ... the Emirates Palace. Gun shots were also heard every now and then because apparently, the locals are allowed to purchase firearms. Kinda dangerous if you ask me. Fortunately, police personnels are also aplenty throughout the way to control the crowd and served well to prevent any excessive rowdiness.

At precisely 8:30pm ... a LOUD BOOM was heard ... signalling the start of the SHOW. The fireworks illuminated the night sky majestically and everything came to a standstill as we watched in awe, this magnificent vibrant colourful display. Cameras started clicking away in attempts to capture this special moment permanently.

Sparkling lights of red, blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, white etc contrasted well against the black canvas of the night's darkness. It was nothing short of mesmerizing indeed. Further down the road ... near Port Mina I think, another exact fireworks show was being synchronised with the one at Emirates Palace and the timing was perfect to the last second. Two shows being simultaneously held to divide the crowd I suppose ... very considerate of the organizers if you ask me.

We OOH-ed and AHH-ed for precisely 45 minutes before the show came to an end. The completion of the fireworks is by no means the end of the party. NO WAY ... the people continued partying in the streets as the bunch of us made our way to 31 Baskin Robbins for a well deserved treat. My sweet tooth was well satisfied with a serving of Coffee Crunch ... a blend of coffee ice cream, whipped cream and crunched waffle. Yum Yum. :D

By the time we got home, the time was almost 11 pm as we bid goodnight to another day in the U.A.E. HAPPY 37TH BIRTHDAY U.A.E.!!!

P.S. Also in Photo 3, noticed how the local women were all dressed up in their abayas ... I wonder if there's how JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series got her inspiration for her Dementors. You can see how a Dementor looks like here and here's a closer shot of a typical local woman in her abaya. Muahahaha.