Abu Dhabi: Cowless and Lovin' It
Flying into Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), we knew we were heading into a very different world. After 19 months of traveling around South Asia we were about to begin a brand new adventure through West Asia (A.K.A. The Middle East). We knew Abu Dhabi was very (oil-) rich, clean and expensive, but we had no idea just what a contrast it would be compared to India.
We flew in at 9:30 AM on Friday, April 23rd 2004 and were met at the airport by our good friend Jen. Conveniently, Friday (along with Thursday) was Jen's "weekend", so we didn't need to make our own way into town and we got to see her right away. It was really great to see her again after so many years.
Jen, by the way, was my girlfriend way back in the day. We lived together for 4 years up until I left Canada in January 1990 and we've remained good friends ever since, which was quite easy considering that rather than a nasty split we simply went our different ways. I stayed with her when back in Victoria visiting a couple of times and she stayed with us in Japan for a week or two back in the mid-90s en route home after an epic 3,000 mile (5,000 KM) cycling trip around New Zealand. It'd been nearly 3 years since we'd last seen each other, back when all 3 of us were in Victoria for a visit at the same time in the summer of 2001. However, we had yet to meet her husband, Louay, who she'd met there in Abu Dhabi during her first year teaching, when they were both working at the same school.
It only took a few seconds after walking out of the airport and getting into a taxi - for the 20 to 30 minute drive into central Abu Dhabi - for us to realize we were clearly not in India anymore. I mean, where were all the rickshaws? Where was all the garbage? Where were the cows? And where were the people for that matter? The streets, or I should say the sidewalks, in the center of town were almost completely deserted. Lots of cars though. All looking shiny and brand new. The roads were wide, smooth, multi-laned and in perfect condition.
The sidewalks as well were incredibly wide and clean - and, unlike in India, you could actually use them. There were no families setting up home, no people setting up shop, no cows, dogs or rats... only the occasional pedestrian. All the buildings appeared to be new. The malls were new. The shops were new. In fact, EVERYTHING appeared to be new. And everything and everywhere was spotlessly clean.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, not exactly. The place felt soulless. Not just soulless, but cultureless and sterile too. It was as if we had stepped into some sort of Brave New World. I mean, Abu Dhabi makes Singapore look filthy - and Singapore is almost spotless!
Luckily we didn't need to keep our observations to ourselves in order to not offend Jen and Louay, as it soon became quite apparent that they felt exactly the same way. The locals wouldn't have liked it, of course, but since we never got a chance to speak to any of them that never really became a problem. This Brave New World was populated by locals who clearly considered themselves superior to everyone else simply due to the fact that they had found some oil under the sand four decades earlier.
So, it now sounds like a pretty terrible place, doesn't it? Well, it might be, but we ended up having an amazing time there nonetheless, almost completely due to the generosity and hospitality of Jen and Louay. Abu Dhabi is definitely not the kind of place I'd want to live or stay long-term, but after 19 months - 19 great months, I should add - in South Asia it was sure nice to take a break from backpacking for a while. It was just like our 2 stays in "Delhi Canada" the year before. And it turned out to be even better than the wonderful "Delhi Canada" due to a totally unexpected gift from Jen: The gift of The Palace.
But, first, back to the day of our arrival. We arrived at Jen and Louay's apartment at around 11 AM and spent the rest of the day, after a one-hour walk around town in the scorching afternoon heat, just visiting, hanging out, talking and eating. Yes, eating. Just like in "Delhi Canada" and Secunderabad, it was exciting to not only have a kitchen to make whatever we liked, but you can't believe how wonderful it was to be able to eat meal after meal without any masala taste; that is, no Indian spice or curry. I love Indian food, but 19 months of masala just about every single day was more than enough for a while. A long, long while.
Soon after arriving at her apartment Jen made us a cheese omelet. And that night she made us a fantastic pasta dish for dinner. Then there were her brownies! And the fresh salads - oh those fresh salads! That's something we had usually avoided in India for fear of getting sick. The incredible food would continue the whole time we were there. Jen cooked. We cooked. We went out. Great food. Great meals. No masala. We were in heaven!
Like I already mentioned, it was wonderful to see Jen again and we spent that first day just catching up. And getting to know Louay once he came home later that afternoon from the private tutorials he had been out teaching. He's a math and physics teacher at the school Jen worked at the previous year (she now works at the President's school) and he does a lot of private tutoring on the side, seeing how amazing the money is.
Louay's from Lebanon and he grew up there during the civil war. He's 30 now and therefore, luckily, he was too young to fight in the war, which ended in 1990. He's a Druze and he comes from a village in the mountains above Beirut. We learned all about Lebanon, the Druze, the war, his family, etc. He's a great guy with a good sense of humor. It was really nice getting to know him. In fact, in the absence of any contact with local people and the complete and total absence of any noticeable local culture (unless you call driving around in brand new SUVs to be local culture), we ended up having much more of a Lebanese cultural experience while in Abu Dhabi than any sort of U.A.E. experience.
Having only slept a couple of hours on the plane (after a night of playing Search For Mike's Passport) we were in a bit of a daze all day long that first day. Or maybe it was just the huge contrast to India and the shocking lack of cows on the streets. The nicest contrast of all was the lack of humidity. In India, and especially Kerala, we'd spent most of each and every day sweating, but even though it was actually hotter in Abu Dhabi it was dry heat and therefore much more bearable.
The next morning, as they would each day, Jen and Louay left for work at 7 AM while we were still asleep. The hours would just fly by during the day there. We were in heaven in that little Apartment of Luxury: a kitchen to cook our own non-masala meals in; BBC News; the local English paper, packed full of news from around the world; and not to forget their nice stereo, perfect for listening to all the CDs Ram had burnt for us over the previous 3 months, including the 4 he'd handed us as a goodbye present on our last day in Kerala: Richard and Linda Thompson's classic "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight", David Gray's great "White Ladder", the latest Lucinda Williams, "World Without Tears", and Warren Zevon's final record "The Wind", which he recorded together with many friends (such as Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne) while dying of cancer the previous year.
And so we were set: a nice space to hang out and relax in while eating our non-masala food and listening to music, watching BBC and/or reading the paper. Perfect!
More about those papers: Unlike the papers in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the local papers were choke-full of international news, which makes sense when you consider that their readers are mainly ex-pat workers from all different regions of the world. A full page was devoted to both America and the U.K., another couple covered India, then a couple more covered "World News". Then there were the sports pages. A full page or two each and every day devoted entirely to European football (soccer); and then there were more pages offering full coverage of the NBA, baseball and even the NHL. Yes, ice hockey coverage right there in the deserts of the U.A.E.! Cricket too was, of course, covered, but it didn't take up 99% of the bloody sports section! Then there was the entertainment section and the editorials picked up from papers around the world. Criticism of just about every country in the world... except, surprise surprise, the U.A.E. A lot like Singapore in more ways than just cleanliness. Now these were good newspapers! I could spend a couple of hours making my way through one of those. And I did. Often by the pool (but that's getting a little ahead of myself).
Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that even though we were doing nothing much all day long, we were doing it full-heartedly and with passion and, therefore, there simply wasn't enough time in a day to do it all. And that was before we'd ever even entered The Palace.
To be continued...
Oredakedo (Mike Cowie)
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
