Let's take a moment and explore a very real part of my life in Abu Dhabi. A lot of what I will show you on this blog will be lovely, clean, bright and in some parts a wee bit fancy. But, in real life we know it's not always like that, so welcome to Khalidiya, my home now for the past two years.
We lived in Dubai for three years prior to moving to Abu Dhabi and we learned pretty quickly that the two cities are a whole lot different to each other. One major way is the living, in Dubai there is no shortage of beautiful developments all catering to the western expat community. But it seems that Abu Dhabi is taking it's time and really planning out the expanding city and developments, which is probably a good thing.
By all means outside the city there are compounds and developments which are occupied largely by the expat community, but located outside the city meant hopping in the car and driving a distance to get what you needed. We therefore decided to live in the city and experience the place we were to make our new home.
While that all sounded well and good we didn't realise what a struggle it would be to find an apartment which had somewhat modern amenities and parking. So after many trips to Abu Dhabi and viewing over 30 apartments which didn't really fit the bill, we were defeated. Having seen what felt like everything the city had to offer we decided to take the best out of a bad bunch. Which is how we landed here, in the city only a few blocks from the Corniche, Khalidiya is a traffic nightmare and a lot of the time I feel like we could be living in India.
But, at the same time I love it.
Our apartment is in The Shining Towers, two towers offering residential living and commercial space. It is literally the shiny jewel in a very dirty Khalidiya.
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In terms of buildings it is pretty great, we have two gyms, a supermarket, a mens salon, a woman's salon, dentist and hospital all just a short elevator ride away.
But step all out onto the street and it's a different world. Cars drive down one way streets the wrong way, double parking is a way of life, men on bicycles come at you on the wrong side of the street and in general it can be quite chaotic.
On the flip side it is great for people watching, and the dogs absolutely love walking the streets and smelling what's going on.
We always have an audience of some sort, on this day it was the labourers from the construction site next door. I think they stare more at the dogs than me thankfully, dogs are quite a rarity around our area so we always either get a warm welcome or people literally jump out of our way!
We can't ever agree on going the same way!
 Our shiny tower is the backdrop to alley ways leading to streets full of local conveniences, some of the best and cheapest food around. |
Smart Cafe is my favourite, the best 10dhs Chicken Zinger Burger around...and they deliver straight to our door!
The local fruit & veg shop is conveniently located next to my dry cleaners, where the Pakistani owners love our dogs and will always wave hello when we walk by. The neighborhood really comes alive at night and I love the fact that at 10pm everything is still open and trading, from stationary stores to key cutting to mobile phone shops.
Well, that was a little walk around our part of the world which we ended with a light refreshment because it's only 8am and the pavements are hot and the humidity is high.
Hope you enjoyed stopping by, we always enjoy visitors so come back again!
Amy
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