Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Abu Dhabi is very different then any other place I've been. First of all, there are few women here. There are officially 2.5 men for every women, but it seems more then that. Seriously, from my observation so far it's like 1000 per 1 women. More women come out in the evening when it becomes cooler. Commuting to and from work in the daytime you see only men. Crowds of workers, usually from other asian countries are milling around. When you reach downtown you might notice one women. If she is Muslim, she'll be wearing a full black burka showing only her eyes or face. Otherwise she is usually Filipino or Chinese. Even in the hotel, which caters to Westerners I only see one or two women. Who by the way, are older and don't look like they're on vacation. I've been told that women get what they want here.
5 times a day beginning at day break they broadcast prayer songs. Through loud speakers attached to mosques plays the traditional mournful singing. People don't stop and bow towards Mecca like I thought they would. Nobody does anything. It's a reflective moment, especially early in the morning. There are mosques everywhere. Most of them are a little bigger then a house and some are much larger. The biggest and most beautiful building I've ever seen is just outside of town and is like a little city. No mosques are allowed to be bigger then the most important one in Mecca. Non Muslims are not allowed to enter a mosque.
There isn't any urban sprawl in Abu Dhabi. It goes downtown, residential area, then blistering desert. That's probably for water management. There is lots of trees and green spaces in the city. The Cornish is a long boardwalk along an inlet that leads to the Persian Gulf. It is about 10 blocks away from the tall buildings of the city. In between are parks, roads, sculptures, etc. The boardwalk overlooks a long beach for westerners so people can wear swimming suits, bikinis are not allowed. I think there are two separate beaches for Muslim people, one for men and one for women. The water used to be farther up where the buildings are. They moved the beach back to create more usable space. A big time developer began building offices and hotels on the other side of the park, separate from downtown in the newly created land. The sheik at the time, sultan Muhammad al Zaiyed, the creator of the UAE stepped in and said, permits or not nobody can build here.
There will probably be lots of big soap opera stories like that for me to hear about.
Tomorrow Ramadan starts. That means eating or drinking is forbidden from sunrise to sunset, including twilight hours. That goes for everyone. I can do it, but my co-workers say to be quick and very discreet about it. I'll have to actually hide, like a crackhead, and drink my bottled mineral water…"from the foothills of the Massafi mountains". The businesses will have shortened hours, restaurants will be closed. It's very likely that I'll be fasting whether I want to or not. That will be interesting. I'm glad I'll be able to be a witness something like that because I've never seen anything like that. It lasts for about a month, maybe I won't be so enthusiastic in a couple weeks.
Traditionally Muslim families break fast together at the end of the day. Nowadays, it takes a long time to get home because of traffic. The workers will get together and eat under the trees. It's hot here, so driving home without drinking all day is dangerous.
People drive fast. The cops don't care about speeding, that is for the traffic cameras. People figure out where the traffic cameras are and slow down. If there aren't cameras, Audubon rules apply. Most cars won't let you go faster then 212.5 km/per hour, that's about 140 mph. The cops are only there to fill out accident reports.
There aren't any billboards. Strict Islamic laws ban images but I'm not sure if that is the reason. There are images here just not big advertisements. There is a lot of ornately designed windows and furniture. The buildings all clean and very stylish. From the pictures you can see that marble and custom lighting are very popular.
Joseph S
