Palm - Sundance - NYE - What else did you expect!?
Discussion
http://www.ahlanlive.com/sandance-nye-traffic-nigh...
..and that's why we went to a bar 10 minutes walk from home and then we watched people try and get home for the next 5 hours from our balcony.
Dubai doesn't do stuff like this at all well. Never has, never will.
..and that's why we went to a bar 10 minutes walk from home and then we watched people try and get home for the next 5 hours from our balcony.
Dubai doesn't do stuff like this at all well. Never has, never will.
I landed at 15:30 yesterday and the taxi drive was most happy he didn't have to go along SZR. WE had friends over, drove 5 minutes to the junction of MotorCity / Al Qundra road, watched the fireworks (Global Village / Burj Khalifa / Festival Centre / Palm) turned round and went home. A very pleasant and relaxing night.
Gawd knows why anybody would try and head down towards the Palm / Burj etc on new years eve as traffic will always be a nightmare.
Gawd knows why anybody would try and head down towards the Palm / Burj etc on new years eve as traffic will always be a nightmare.
I went to a friends in Old Town - stunning uninterrupted view of the Burj.
We missed the traffic getting in around 6pm, through Business Bay, and then had about 10 minutes of slow traffic getting home at 2am as we hit Al Ain road heading toward DSO.
I heard under half of the ticket holders actually made it in to Sandance.
We missed the traffic getting in around 6pm, through Business Bay, and then had about 10 minutes of slow traffic getting home at 2am as we hit Al Ain road heading toward DSO.
I heard under half of the ticket holders actually made it in to Sandance.
Got to AUD at 7:15 straight through to the buses, new this was too good to be true. Got to sandance 11:50 so much for a 15 min journey
There where no traffic controls until about 10:00 when a police car turned up and blocked the slip road from the beach road to the palm and we where one of the last buses to get through only any other 1hour 50 to go. Traffic on the palm was a mare with no management at all, the promised bus lane did not exist and there was no one checking car pases until about 11:00. Loads of people got of the bus and walked even though they where told there was no pedestrian access through the tunnel. About that time a there was a police check point in operation at the entrance to the tunnel which pulled all the cars out of the queue and sent them up the slip road to do a loop and back down the other side of the palm.
At this point it was like a scene from a zombie movie hundreds of people running down the road banging on the all bus windows to get in. Some idiot opened the bus door from the inside, bus was stormed. A couple of guys on the top deck blocked the stairs which helped but the bottom deck was rammed. The bus won't move with the doors open and they could not close due to the people. We got stuck for several minutes with more people surrounding the bus as all the other busses moved of through the tunnel. There was a lot of pushing and shoving on the bottom deck to throw people of the bus so the door could shut.
After that it was straight through to sandance with lots of people getting of the bus without wristbands who thought they scored until the got the got to the security check.
Best bit no bar queues, worst bit the whole was a farce with the organisers saying it was the authorities who arranged the transport and the authorities blaming on to many people turning up so it did not work and between them not even a traffic cone.
There where no traffic controls until about 10:00 when a police car turned up and blocked the slip road from the beach road to the palm and we where one of the last buses to get through only any other 1hour 50 to go. Traffic on the palm was a mare with no management at all, the promised bus lane did not exist and there was no one checking car pases until about 11:00. Loads of people got of the bus and walked even though they where told there was no pedestrian access through the tunnel. About that time a there was a police check point in operation at the entrance to the tunnel which pulled all the cars out of the queue and sent them up the slip road to do a loop and back down the other side of the palm.
At this point it was like a scene from a zombie movie hundreds of people running down the road banging on the all bus windows to get in. Some idiot opened the bus door from the inside, bus was stormed. A couple of guys on the top deck blocked the stairs which helped but the bottom deck was rammed. The bus won't move with the doors open and they could not close due to the people. We got stuck for several minutes with more people surrounding the bus as all the other busses moved of through the tunnel. There was a lot of pushing and shoving on the bottom deck to throw people of the bus so the door could shut.
After that it was straight through to sandance with lots of people getting of the bus without wristbands who thought they scored until the got the got to the security check.
Best bit no bar queues, worst bit the whole was a farce with the organisers saying it was the authorities who arranged the transport and the authorities blaming on to many people turning up so it did not work and between them not even a traffic cone.
glad i missed it.
mine was a distinctly last minute affair but all the better for it. went for a greek meal in manchester, a few pubs then spent the bulk of the night at a quirky little social club in levenshulme. full of people from 8 to 80 - great tunes, darts, snooker, dancing, cheap beers! then ended up at a house party til 7am, good times!
mine was a distinctly last minute affair but all the better for it. went for a greek meal in manchester, a few pubs then spent the bulk of the night at a quirky little social club in levenshulme. full of people from 8 to 80 - great tunes, darts, snooker, dancing, cheap beers! then ended up at a house party til 7am, good times!
We went to a black tie ball at the Montgomerie Golf clug, a ten minute walk home... no taxis and no traffic.
Sadly no fireworks either, absolutely no view of anything and not even a TV screen to watch the main event on.
Still, given that some poor sod had a heart attack and died at 11.30 the mood was a little subdued at midnight anyway!
Sadly no fireworks either, absolutely no view of anything and not even a TV screen to watch the main event on.
Still, given that some poor sod had a heart attack and died at 11.30 the mood was a little subdued at midnight anyway!
k up, it's bad enough getting on and off the Palm on a 'normal' Sandance.Gassing Station | Middle East | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff