F1 Events

Some guy making a sand sculpture.

With the Formula 1 races being this weekend, there are a lot of events around town. Fortunately for me, I live pretty close to one of the focal points. As last year, they have a F1 Fan Zone in which kids can drive down little mini streets or drive around the Abu Dhabi Track in video game simulators. There are slot car races and other challenges. I thought it was pretty good last year and my kids got to do a lot of the things because we got there early. This year, I complained that it wasn't as good, but I think the problem was just that it was too crowded.

Tia and some car.

Signs said that it opened at 4:00 on weekends and 5:00 on weekdays, but when we got there at 4:30 it wasn't open. By the time it opened at 5:00, it was crowded enough that we couldn't easily visit the attractions. Also there were some technical difficulties with about half of the simulators and the remote controlled cars in the center of the plaza weren't up and running yet so my kids couldn't do either of those. Looking back, it is still pretty good and is worth visiting if they get everything running smoothly though remember that it really opens at 5:00.

Later at night, I went back to see Fatboy Slim perform on the beach at no charge. I thought it might be fun to check that out and was impressed with how cool the whole thing was. I didn't bring my camera so didn't get any photos or video. Once I got there and saw the signs saying no cameras allowed with people checking bags, I was glad. I think that security must not have cared, because it seemed like almost everyone was taking video and pictures. Regardless, I was glad to get the chance to dance around.

Fatboy Slim is happy to be here.

I found it interesting the number of people who brought little kids to the show that started at 11:30. Once I worked my way up closer to the front, there weren't any kids, but I did see a woman in an abaya with her husband (?) who looked really uncomfortable to be there. Fatboy Slim showed a lot of video to accompany his performance and one song had a lot of male and female nudity. It wasn't anything graphic, but you could clearly see their naughty bits When those videos first came up, there was a lot of cheering and it made me wonder how he got away with that.

I had a really good time. I wished that I had taken some photos to post up here, but oh well. I'll make sure that I bring my camera the next time Fatboy Slim comes around to Abu Dhabi and puts on a free show.