Abu Dhabi is a much gentler and calmer city compared to Dubai and yet I find myself very drawn to its old school charm and laid back trance. We arrived in the city in the late afternoon and checked in immediately at the International Rotana Inn (IRI) at the corner of Salaam and Hamdan. It is crucial to memorize this as there are about 5 other Rotana hotels in the immediate vicinity of our hotel. The IRI is a 3-star hotel and it was the only one available when i booked on the internet a month before our trip. Most of the hotels were booked due to the GETEX exhibition that would be held from Nov. 1-3 at the Beach Rotana Hotel and Towers. Thankfully though, it turned out to be a nice, clean hotel and I heaved a sigh of relief upon entering our room. It may not have been a 5-star hotel but it was twenty times better than the Ramee in Dubai (sorry, talagang hindi ko makalimutan!). The highlight of the day was dinner at Soba Restaurant at the Le Royal Meridien Hotel (you must also be particular because there is a Le Meridien Hotel -- walang Royal!). The host, servers and even the chef was Filipino. Even if Mom made a comment that their tempura tasted like Camaron Rebosado, they were still very cheerful and the chef even prepared a sumptuous dessert to compliment our yummy dinner. The walk back to IRI was also very refreshing. It prepared us well for the NIGHTMARE AT BEACH ROTANA.
After a good night sleep, we got dressed in our suits and headed for the GETEX exhibition. As we got down the cab, the doorman greeted us with a wide smile up until the time we asked him where the exhibition was. In his most optomistic tone, he said HE WASN'T SURE but he believes that the GETEX was cancelled. I let out a nervous chuckle and asked him to get the Customer Relations Officer so that we could get the directions to the exhibition hall. When Katia, the Hotel Manager herself, came out to see us, we knew we were in trouble.
Apparently, the GETEX was CANCELLED the week before and the organizers failed to inform us of this very important development. When Katia got the GETEX organizer on the phone, she admonished me for not checking their website a week before the event so that I would know that the exhibit was cancelled. Hello, the week before, nasa Dubai na ako!!!!! I was visibly upset and was trying my darndest best not to scream and curse my lungs out. I asked her why she didn't email me since I was already in their mailing list, she reasoned that since I was only a visitor AND NOT AN ACTUAL exhibitor, I didn't deserve the courtesy of an email. Can I say it? P_ _ _NG_ _A NIYA! I travelled halfway around the world and she could not even offer me an apology (kahit ba galing sa ilong eh).
Thank God for people like Eldwin Dormitorio. Eldwin works as the Employee Development Coordinator of the Beach Rotana and seeing how distraught we were, Katia felt that Eldwin would be the best person to talk to (or even bitch to) since he was a fellow kabayan. Eldwin explained to us that the GETEX was cancelled at the very last minute because they couldn't get a permit from the government. NAJAH, another organizer, was able to get the exclusive rights to host the educational exhibit and it was going to be held right after GETEX. No way was NAJAH going to allow GETEX to spoil their party! So even if the GETEX organizer was bitchy to me, I now understand that she too was under extreme pressure having to cancel her event only the week before. We ended our short meeting with Eldwin assuring me that he would get all the details for NAJAH and make sure that we would be able to attend the event. This was of course important to us because.......eh yun nga yung whole point of this trip diba?
The rest of the day was spent at the Abu Dhabi Mall, just adjacent to the Beach Rotana. My mind was just blank while accompanying Mom on her round of 5 shops for the whole day (super bagal). Ang sama talaga ng loob ko. I couldn't breathe sa sobrang disappointment. I was left thinking....if I had known about this maybe 1 or 2 days before we were about to board that Emirates flight, would it have changed anything? Was I obliged to check their website a day or two before we left even if my communications with the GETEX organizer began 6 months prior to the event? Talagang I couldn't get it out of my head. Until 6pm that day, I was pissed as hell.
As soon as we got in IRI after the mall, Eldwin calls me and assures me that our trip will not go to waste. He facilitates an invitation for us to attend the NAJAH exhibit on Nov. 4, the day of our departure. It's a good thing we leave at 10:00pm that evening. We would have the day to attend NAJAH then head straight for the Dubai airport after.
To celebrate, we decided to have dinner at the Emirates Palace. As per MFV, the EP is more impressive than the Burj and a hundred times classier. I, of course, can't say the same as I did not have the opportunity to enter the Burj. But let me just tell you, the EP is beeyootipool. Huge, Imposing, Lavish, Grand --- naku, all the superlatives you can think of. You feel so small being inside the EP.
As we were looking through the menus of the restaurants there, we were floored by their prices! Pero kailangan panindigan na diba? So we settled on the Le Vendome Brasserie and their international buffet. OMG. Eat til you drop. It was really so good!
On the way home, we had a minor incident with our limo-cab accidentally ramming into some C or E class Mercedes Benz. Naku, they were so civil, even the owners of the brand new Benz! They exchanged numbers and then that was it. Ok ba? If that happened to anyone in Manila, I'm sure they would've landed on TV Patrol or Saksi.
We had 2 whole days to gallivant around the city since NAJAH was due to start on Nov. 4 pa. Those days were spent going around the Marina Mall and the Al Wahda Mall. Not very productive days but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. We were reserving all our energy for the PATTS reunion on the eve of the 3rd and NAJAH on the 4th.....
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