Places you would not expect valet parking: HSBC

Only in the UAE would a flea market be held in a five-star hotel ballroom

The above photograph is of strangers sifting through my belongings. It's hard to believe, but I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the last four years living in Abu Dhabi. At the same time, living in small spaces and in such close proximity to people who do so much with so little (labourers etc) I have been thinking a lot about my consumerist ways and how they have nothing to do with true happiness and becoming a lot more interested in changing them. The decision to pare right down like this, happily,  coincided with the announcement that the Sheraton Corniche would be holding its first "night" charity flea market, so a friend and I decided to split a table and get rid of our junk. (Her junk was a little bit nicer than mine; it involved Jimmy Choo shoes)