Sun Shades
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hey whats up everyone. The desert is all right. If you want affordable luxury this is the place to go. This is a popular tourist attraction in the winter time. The weather getting very pleasant early in the morning. There are only two seasons here. It is still no place to be without sunglasses because it's incredibly bright. The sun has bleached the desert so it is screamingly bright white when you open the door. Indoors it's almost cold, when you walk by a bank or Lamborghini dealership with large open glass doors, it's like the frozen pizza isle.
Is America the only place with sane drivers? People drive like ANIMALS here. Maybe they once remembered that other people exist, but all the money - I don't know. It's a lot of posturing here, they feel entitled to be one car length ahead and they'll get in an accident to prove their point. The weird thing is, if you make eye contact, they'll back off right away.
When they're is any kind of cue, nobody has heard of a line. It's like hungry fish to food flakes. Remember scenes from a natural disaster and the guys in the truck are tossing life giving water to the dirty suffering masses? It's like that just to be handed a number to see the immigration officer. Even when your number is called, you have to elbow your way to the desk. The locals don't have to wait in line. The officer can ask you a question and then suddenly he's giving a high five to someone in a dik dak (white robe) like they're old friends. They've never met before, that's just how it works here. They're both wearing gleaming white robes with the white head scarf and black headband therefore they're from the same area (Gulf States). Other Muslim regions wear white robes with red, black etc. checkered head scarfs depending on their location. Either way I have to wait.
If anyone can give me some incite or tell me stories about this kind of thing, I'd love to hear about it.
The site manager put it this way; they will not answerer a question that you didn't specifically ask. You could be in a dark room. And ask "Is the door in front of me?" If it is behind you they will just say no. It's a big world.
I was waiting in line at the grocery store with a coworker the other day and a child, about 12 years old, steps in line in front of us with a newspaper. At first I thought he was with the family in front, but he wasn't. He just stepped in line in front of us, probably because we were foreigners. It was just beyond cheeky. To top it all off, the kid was absolutely engrossed in the newspaper. Who reads the newspaper when they are 12?
Apartments are difficult to find in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The landlords often only accept the entire years worth of rent up front. They don't accept checks and you must have a resident visa. If you and your roommates can come up with $30-$40K American dollars, it's not too bad of a deal. It's much better then the hotel apartment rates. However, you don't get any of that money back if you leave before 1 year.
They don't like cameras here. I accidentally went NEAR an area that didn't allow cameras. It was in my hand and the guard confiscated it. Earlier that morning, I had taken pictures of the grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is 3rd largest in the world - a huge stunning building that is just begging to be photographed. It's a memorial to the Sheikh Zayed who died in 2004 and is buried there. He was the founder of the UAE. Anyway you aren't supposed to have pictures of mosques. That rule is subject to interpretation because I've seen images of mosques including the grand mosques on brochures and posters. But what you definitely aren't supposed to have is pictures of your girlfriend in a bikini. In the area I was in, it's considered pornography because you can see her midsection. The secure area that I went to took that very seriously. Lucky for me there were some American interpreters at the guard house. While I was giving my information to them, my camera was sitting on the desk in front of me so I quickly removed the sim card. They told me I could pick it up on my way out and they turned it over to the Emerites. Bye bye camera.
About a 10 days later, after a lot of time and hassle, I got my camera back. The site manager said it was the first time he'd ever seen anyone recover their property. It might have been a religious act that I received it. The cameras menu had been changed to Arabic so you know they were snooping around like a bunch of moms. Ramadan is traditionally a time of clemency. I've heard about people having car debts forgiven. By Islamic law, it's forbidden to loan money at interest.
Other then that the country is very safe. The police will occasionally hand out 1000 AED fines ($272) for eating or drinking (water) in the daytime during Ramadan to set an example. There is no violent crime here to speak of. I've heard of abuse along the lines of indentured servant type situations. There is a huge foreign population from poor countries. Women have to be careful. If you're an unmarried woman traveling alone through the airport, expect to be hammered with questions. What are you doing here, who will you be meeting, how long have you been together, where is he, does he have a car, what does he do, where are you staying etc. They ask you many questions.
There is always a chance that one day you will be asked to leave the country. Apparently it happens all the time. Many times the person has no clue what the reason is. The answer is pretty much always the same… Someone who is close to the Emir (King) simply didn't like you. You might not have even known they were in that kind of position or even known them at all. If it happens, you don't have any choice in the matter. Let's see how long I can keep them off my tail.
The food is awesome. You can get the very best smoothies ever here. It's fruit, in a blender - that's it. No ice, usually no sweetener. Same with the juice you by at the store. Just blended up mangoes for example. It's thick like it would be if you pureed a bunch of mangoes or bananas. Great stuff. You can get shawarmas which are pita bread wraps with gyro meat. They come from the large, cone shaped mass of spices and meat that's slow cooked on a rotisserie. Absolutely spectacular. It's originally from Greece or Lebanon. They cost a little over $1.
