Fireworks FAIL

So, all week out here it's been nothing but a huge celebration of Eid and National Day.  National Day is similar to our Fourth of July in which everyone celebrates the now 38 years that the UAE has been a nation.  That's pretty cool in my mind and I was all about getting into the spirit.  People decorate their cars with stickers and pictures of Sheikh Zayed, lights are put up all over the city, flags are flying on every building, etc.  It's a neat experience to say the least.

To end the celebration yesterday, Abu Dhabi announced that they were going to put on the World's Largest Display of fireworks.  The fireworks were supposed to begin at 8:30 PM and last for 45 minutes.  They were to be launched from five different locations along the Corniche road, and were supposed to go more than 6000 feet in the air (that's more than a mile high). 

I was really excited to go see them and be a part of the National Day celebration, so I decided to meet a few co-workers at their apartment building, go up to the roof top (17 floors high), and watch the fireworks display in all of its glory.  Well, 8:30 rolls around and no fireworks.  8:45...9:00...9:15...Finally, at 9:30 (an hour late), we hear a boom, but can't figure out where it's coming from.  As everyone crowds to the edge of the roof to look and finally see this awesome display, I noticed we were all squinting trying to actually figure out where it was coming from.

Finally someone picked up on a flash of light and we all focused our attention to the only building in all of the city that was blocking our view.  Directly behind the building was where the fireworks were being launched from.  At first we were optimistic.  Since they were going to be shot more than a mile high we would have no problems seeing them once they got above this building.  Well, that didn't quite happen, and all we saw was an occasional flash behind the building.  As time went on, we were expecting other locations around the Corniche to be firing off more firewroks, but no such luck on that either.

Long story short, this was not the World's largest fireworks display but rather the World's largest FAIL.  What a waste of time!

Here's a link to the awesome video I was able to take to show the sheer awesomeness of these fireworks.

Awesome Fireworks! (careful it may take a while to download)