In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that there are no addresses in this country. This fact makes it really colorful trying to find places.
I was in Abu Dhabi today looking for a conference hall. I searched the internet for more than two hours last night trying to find GPS Coordinates of the building or something nearby.
No luck.
As a last resort, I got directions from Google Maps. Because of all of the building in the area, they were useless.
Another challenge to finding places is remembering street names. Below are examples of some.
Sheikh Zayed Bin Zayed Street
Khaled Bin Sultan Street
Zayed the First Street
Hazza Bin Sultan Street
Nhayyan Al Awwal Street
Stopping for directions is pretty pointless. Folks assume you know your surroundings and rattle off landmarks and names that mean nothing in isolation.
I wonder if the lack of addresses has something to do with the desert. There are no landmarks in the desert. Just mounds and mountains of sand that shift with the blowing wind. Somehow the locals had to figure out where they were and where they were going. I'm guessing, when they starting building the cities, creating a way to find them for outsiders wasn't considered.
So, round and round we go.
It just occurred to me (ding dong, ding dong) to search for a gps app for my phone. I found several. I'm hopeful that my days of driving blindly are over.
While driving around, I saw some amazing sights though.
The bluest water I've ever seen.
Yas Island.
The Port of Abu Dhabi.
And Ferrari World.
So, all was not lost.
Excuse the pun.
Now that I have these handy apps, I hope to spend less time sightseeing and more time efficiently getting from point A to point B.
Have a great day!
I was in Abu Dhabi today looking for a conference hall. I searched the internet for more than two hours last night trying to find GPS Coordinates of the building or something nearby.
No luck.
As a last resort, I got directions from Google Maps. Because of all of the building in the area, they were useless.
Another challenge to finding places is remembering street names. Below are examples of some.
Sheikh Zayed Bin Zayed Street
Khaled Bin Sultan Street
Zayed the First Street
Hazza Bin Sultan Street
Nhayyan Al Awwal Street
Stopping for directions is pretty pointless. Folks assume you know your surroundings and rattle off landmarks and names that mean nothing in isolation.
I wonder if the lack of addresses has something to do with the desert. There are no landmarks in the desert. Just mounds and mountains of sand that shift with the blowing wind. Somehow the locals had to figure out where they were and where they were going. I'm guessing, when they starting building the cities, creating a way to find them for outsiders wasn't considered.
So, round and round we go.
It just occurred to me (ding dong, ding dong) to search for a gps app for my phone. I found several. I'm hopeful that my days of driving blindly are over.
While driving around, I saw some amazing sights though.
The bluest water I've ever seen.
Yas Island.
The Port of Abu Dhabi.
And Ferrari World.
So, all was not lost.
Excuse the pun.
Now that I have these handy apps, I hope to spend less time sightseeing and more time efficiently getting from point A to point B.
Have a great day!
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