Dubai and Abu Dhabi

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The Emirates are quite crazy places. I have spent the last 5 days here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and often I cannot believe that I am in the Middle East. Many parts about this place are very Westernized, for instance all the Western fast-food chains are present in abundance, and when you go into a pharmacy, nearly all the brands are familiar to me. On the other hand, it is not uncommon to see women fully covered in black, being led around by an Arab man dressed fully in white.

The population here is formed of an enormous ex-pat population. Something like 20% are Arab citizens, the rest being foreign ex-pats. At times it is hard to believe that I am not in India based on the number of Indian ex-pats here. There are also very large Philippino populations. I've been told by a number of people that the Arabs suffer from very high rates of obesity since their nomadic lifestyle is no longer well suited to a fast-food, no-exercise life. Many of the ex-pats who come here find themselves living far more opulent lifestyles than they would have back home. But there is some conflict between Western ex-pats and locals since their values do no always align, and you have drunken idiots doing things like getting arrested for having sex on the beach. It is after all a very conservative country at its core, even if there is some flexibility sometimes for drinking. Even now, it is illegal to co-habit without being married. So some progress is still needed.

If there was one thing that would keep me from working here for any extended period of time it would definitely be the weather. It is absurdly hot and humid. Unpleasantly so. On this trip I have experienced much hotter weather, but with none of the humidity that you have here. That was a big surprise for me. I figured desert = low humidity, but the moisture seems to roll off the sea and make Dubai sweltering, even at relatively low temperatures. As soon as you walk around outside, you are drenched in sweat. I ended up planning my walking around so that I could hop from air-conditioned mall to air-conditioned mall.

In my time here I have spent a great deal of time inside malls. I can full-well understand the appeal since outdoors isn't so nice. The malls here are quite upscale, with luxury stores selling Gucci, Rolex, you name it. They do also have lower-priced stores like Carrefour (think European version of Walmart). Without fail there is a million dollar plus car sitting outside in the valet parking. The amount of money flowing through here beggars belief. Much of the social life here revolves around things that happen inside malls. During the summer, the weather is even more intolerable, with highs over 43C (110F) from June to September.

Only in Dubai would you get a huge indoor skiing slope in the middle of the desert. I was seriously considering it, but I figured for 40 dollars, it would be better to just save that money for India or something like that.

While I was in Dubai I stayed with Abhinav's cousin and her husband. Our discussions about the ex-pat life in Dubai were quite revealing. They were great hosts and set me up with a transit card for the metros and took me out to eat on a number of occasions.

Sandwiched in between my time in Dubai I went to Abu Dhabi for three days. I finally was able to stay with a couch surfer, and she was awesome, giving us pretty much free reign and the freedom to come and go as we pleased. Took us to an awesome Lebanese place too with spectacular stuffed vine leaves. There was another couch surfer there at the same time and I spent most of my time with him. He had been traveling through a lot of interesting places and we had a lot of good discussions. In the evenings we went to a bar in the bottom of one of the hotels in Abu Dhabi, where you could have easily thought you were anywhere in the US or Canada. We watched the Glasgow Celtic tie in a football match.

Abu Dhabi is also super wealthy, but the level of crazy is turned down just a notch. They seem a bit more mature in their expenditures. If you want to think about the Emirates in terms of birth order, Dubai is the middle child, and Abu Dhabi is the oldest child. Abu Dhabi is better planned and thought out, while at times it seems Dubai was planned by an infant with a handful of crayons.

Apparently there is some bad blood between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. During the recent recession, Dubai had been building the tallest building in the world, the previously-named Burj Dubai. Unfortunately with the downturn in the markets in the recession, there were no longer domestic funds for the construction of the Burj Dubai, so some money was provided by folks in Abu Dhabi, which the pre-condition that the Burj Dubai would be renamed the Burj Khalifa, after the ruler of Abu Dhabi. This was a huge embarrassment for the people of Dubai to have their huge world's largest phallus looking over all of Dubai, but carrying the name of the Abu Dhabi ruler. Up until its unveiling, the name change hadn't been made public and the signs still read Burj Dubai.

The infrastructure in Dubai is pretty good. There is a main metro line that goes down the trunk of the city, and then feeder bus lines that head away from the metro. There is even a bus out to where I stayed. Some bus stops are air conditioned as well, since it is awfully unpleasant to be standing out in 120F weather.

I saw some absurdly ridiculous buildings, including the Emirates palace in Abu Dhabi that is like a 10 star hotel or something like that. The girl I surfed with took us there and we walked around, and saw the gold vending machine too. The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is also awesome. Made entirely of white marble, it is quite a sight to behold. The marble inlays are as good as anything on the Taj Mahal, but done within the last few decades. I hadn't realized these skills still existed in the general population.

While I was in Abu Dhabi I wandered around the Central Market and ended up at a tea store (as you do), and talked with this Nepali guy for a long time. He was telling me about what Dubai was like during the Great Recession. Many people just left, leaving all their belongings, cars, apartments, the lot. Apparently the cities were absolutely jam-packed, and are now (though it doesn't seem like it) relatively sedate. Just like everywhere in the Emirates, he spoke great English. It makes it quite easy to travel around here with all the English speakers. And now on to another English-speaking nation, India.

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Photos

What happens to cars here
It is a desert afterall

Comments

[Nate]

So sick that you got to go to Dubai. Older child mature and middle child not.... :)

[Chris and Nikki]

Absolutely fantastic picture.