Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is having a grand tour of the Middle East. The Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister stayed at the lavish seven-star Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on the third night of his tour of the Gulf. The hotel, which offers a $1 million vacation package, is one of the world's most lavish hotels. Luckily Brown didn't have to pay, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown prince of Abu Dhabi footed the bill. Brown's suite included three bedrooms and a domed living room. Brown wrapped up his tour Tuesday in Dubai.

The battle for the world's tallest building is already a fiercely contested one. How else can you get in the record books? How about picking another category? Developers Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) are working on Capital Gate, a building that will enter Guinness Book of Records as the "World's most inclined tower." The building leans at an angle of 18 degrees, a small amount perhaps but compare that the the most famous askew building, the leaning Tower of Pisa which leans less than four degrees. Creating a building with a lean like this is no easy feat, it requires extra steel reinforcements to compensate for the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the tilt of the building. The tower is part of a $2.2 billion business and residential project.

Another big project for Abu Dhabi. Plans have been revealed for the Michael Schumacher World Champion Tower in the Central Business District of Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, It will be a wharf tower integrated with the water on the seafront and will include a luxury marina. The tower will be developed by Marasi and PYNG. The tower is the first of seven ttowers to be built around the world, one for each of the seven Formula One World Championship titles that Michael Schumacher won during his career.

More bad news for the Queen of England - she has fallen to 12th place on Forbes' list of the world's richest royals. Earlier this month we reported that the value of her London residence, Buckingham Palace, had fallen by a whopping $100 million thanks to declining property values.

Now Elizabeth II is suffering the added indignity of languishing on the rich list, as her measly $650 million fortune puts her well behind the UAE's oil-rich rulers. In the No. 1 spot for the first time is King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, with a net worth of $35 billion, who apparently shot up the list as a result of admitting he was richer than previously thought.

At No. 2 is Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and hereditary ruler of Abu Dhabi, with a net worth of $23 billion. No. 3 is King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, worth $21 billion. And Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, ruler of Dubai, clocks in at No. 5 with $18 billion. See the complete list here.

The over-the-top Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi is offering a $1 million, week-long stay which it claims is the world's most expensive holiday package. The Palace Suite package includes first-class airline tickets, a chauffeur-driven Maybach for the week, a personal butler, daily spa treatments, and day trips via private jet, the Gulf-based Khaleej Times Online reports. The offer is being made as an attempt to earn the hotel a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records, and part of the proceeds will be donated to charities in the U.A.E., the paper reports. The luxe day trips include jetting to Iran to weave Persian carpets and to Bahrain to dive for deep sea pearls, which will then be set for you in custom-designed jewellery.

The Wall Street Journal has tackled a story we first heard about last February, the rise in prestigious license plates in Abu Dhabi. In this growing area more and more pricey cars are hitting the road every day and a prestigious license plate number is a hot accessory. In Abu Dhabi, monthly auctions of worthy numbers, (typically 1-10 and 11-99 are the most popular), bring high bidders and license plate collectors forward to spend millions on that perfect number. Lower numbers are particularly prized as are combinations of digits that are the same as luxury car models. The normal price for five random digits is a $95 registration fee.

Earlier this year, license plate number "1" sold for $14 million making it the world's most expensive license plate. Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Khouri bought that one and his cousin, stockbroker Talal Khouri, paid $9 million for "5" which became the second-largest sum ever paid for a license plate. His brother paid just over $120,000 for the "430" plate to match his red Ferrari F430. While Abu Dhabi might not be as as over the top as Dubai, it is still a booming area and it is the heart of the license plate craze partly because it is the capital of the UAE. The WSJ reporter Margaret Coker was at the monthly auction recently and watched as "9" sold for $4.2 million through an agent purchasing for a man who had been trying for months to get a single digit plate.

As the WSJ reports Abu Dhabi isn't the first place with a license plate craze. Hong Kong has had license plate auctions for years and Russian executives have gone to great lengths to secure custom tags. We aren't immune here in the U.S. either. In Massachusetts where I grew up, low number plates have a certain preppy prestige. Just ask my mother who has moved to Florida and is currently agonizing over parting with her beloved Massachusetts plate "2002" which belonged to her mother.

The latest large structure planned for the growing area of Abu Dhabi, the Seba tower, has a curvy appeal. This 50-story mixed-use tower will include retail space, offices and 316 apartment which will be available for rent by mid 2010. The curved bands around the tower are balconies offering views of the sea and the famous Abu Dhabi Corniche. The curves will be illuminated which will throw flashing "bands of light" against the sky. The tower will be topped with a rooftop terrace that includes a health club and an outdoor pool.

Abu Dhabi is catching up with Dubai in terms of ambitious projects. The latest is their own island project. The Desert Islands will be a tourism destination off the coast of Abu Dhabi's western coastline. It will be eight separate islands including the Sir Bani Yas eco-resort and an onshore gate. The islands will include a nature preserve, a cultural destination and a showcase for world-class environmental, conservation and ecological tourism. The Desert Islands comprise the former Royal nature reserve of Sir Bani Yas Island, Dalma Island and the Discovery Islands – six nearby offshore outcrops, all of which will be linked by a ferry and hydrofoil service, water taxis and sea planes.

The 'Marsa Jabel Dhanna' gate, which will include a 150-room beachfront hotel in Jabel Dhanna and will be the destination's arrivals, departure and logistics hub. Sir Bani Yas Island will be at the heart of the destination and the Arabian National Park, which will be home to free roaming animals, will take up more than three quarters of the entire island with resorts, eco-lodges and campsites, and at its center, the Falcon Lodge Peak, where visitors can take lessons in falconry. Dalma Island, will provide a heritage experience with archaeological finds and a place where traditional fishing, farming and aquaculture livelihoods continue. Two of the Discovery Islands will be protected areas reserved for existing breeding grounds for birds and turtles, two will be devoted to exclusive resort and the remaining two islands will provide a 'wild camp' experience delivering the experience of staying on a deserted island.

The first place will be completed in 2010 and the hope is that the resort will attract over a million tourists by the time the resort becomes fully operational in 2017. An exhibition devoted to the Desert Islands has opened at the Emirates Palace Hotel in the UAE capital city.

Ferrari is developing what may be the new "end all, be all" of automotive adventure -- the Ferrari Theme Park, scheduled to open in 2009 on Yas Island, just a 30-minute drive from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The $40 million project promises to offer up everything from roller coasters to a pit-lane team experience, go-karts, virtual reality racing simulators, a racing school, and a g-force simulator that helps laypeople experience the forces felt by race car drivers. An interactive museum will also be at hand, particularly useful for cooling off and waiting for your raging endorphins to ebb.

In addition to the park being a sweet tourist destination for gearheads, the economic benefit will be a great perk for Abu Dhabi, which is currently trying to lessen its economic dependence upon the oil business.

[Source: The New York Times via Newsvine]

The science-fiction-style picture above depicts what British architecture firm Foster + Partners sees as the future of urban living. The walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi will be the world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste city in the world. This car-free zone is being driven by Abu Dhabi's Future Energy Company and will be home to the company's headquarters and a new university. The project was unveiled at the Cityscape conference in Abu Dhabi. The land around the city will be home to wind and photovoltaic farms as well as research fields and plantations so that the city is completely self-sustaining. The development is set to open in late 2009.

[via Building]

Museums, luxury hotels and elaborate residences have all made their luxury stake in Abu Dhabi. What's missing? How about world-class health care. The Cleveland Clinic, famous for offering the ultimate in personal care for those who can afford it, and Mubadala Development have signed an agreement to create Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. The agreement between the two parties was signed at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and the new hospital will be on Al Suwwa Island, located close to the Mina Zayed Port, and across from Abu Dhabi Mall. It is scheduled to be up and running in three years.

I have been steadily watching Abu Dhabi in the United Emirates as it emerges onto the world stage, transitioning toward a Dubai-like opulence. The latest move for Abu Dhabi is the announcement that the Guggenheim Foundation will create a new museum  there for modern and contemporary art. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be designed by Frank Gehry.  It will be the only Guggenheim in the region and the largest worldwide. It is expected to be completed in 2011 and will be built on Saadiyat Island.

As we've noted before, caviar production has slowed due to a ban on wild sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, which has thus far only been lifted for Iran. Now Bin Salem GTE has announced a massive project to produce caviar in the Abu Dhabi Industrial city. The new caviar producing plant will cost over $54 million and the caviar will be produced per international standards and treaties. The first phase of the project will be completed in 16 months and the hope to produce around 32 tons (yes, tons) of caviar as well as smoked fish meat.

We received some great pictures from the "Masters of Excellence" in Abu Dhabi May 8-11.  My favorite was this picture which features the massive Emirates Hotel In the background. The event took place at The Emirates Hotel and involved gala dinners fashions shows from designers and jewelers including Calvin Klein, Harry Winston and Graff diamonds. The event was attended by VIPs from the Gulf region.  As we've seen recently Abu Dhabi is making a bid for the luxury market that has been luring people to Dubai using the same formula of lavish hotels, innovative architecture and well-respected luxury brand names.

 As this article in the Financial Times points out,  Abu Dhabi is the richest of the seven emirates and is now attracting more and more tourists and high-flying spenders. Oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi in 1958 and since then the city has seen tremendous growth.   After the jump, pictures from the events including the fashions shows and some stunning creations from Graff jewelers.

Abu Dhabi is following Dubai's lead and creating a variety of projects to tempt tourists and investors. The latest is the Emirates Pearl, a 47-story tower which will go up on the Khalidiya coast opposite the seven-star Emirates Palace Hotel. The $136.2 million project will have 352 hotel rooms and 104 apartments. There will also be an atrium with five restaurants, a gym, spa and shops. There will be a private penthouse with a helipad and two Presidential suites each with a private entrance and swimming pool. The design is yet another twisting tower of glass, an architectural style that seems to be all the rage lately. Construction is set to begin this summer and is expected to take two years.