all roads lead to abu dhabi

I've had more opportunities during this trip to the UAE to live life drive in the fast lane. When Captain Scott had to leave for a few days, I was given the keys to one of the company cars so that Tophi and I could get to work each day. Those few days went by accident free, and now it appears that I can be trusted behind the wheel. Visitors don't normally drive when they come to the Emirates. Local drivers are notoriously aggressive, but I have had training during my years on Long Island. A recent survey asked UAE drivers (mostly men) what they thought about their driving abilities. Almost 25% of those surveyed admitted that they engage in "risky" driving behavior -- the other 75% lied.

Recently, Tophi and I had the pleasure of taking the Sharjah Transport bus from Sharjah to Abu Dhabi. The trip takes about 2 hours and costs $15 round trip. As we crossed through the familiar portion of Dubai, there's a sign that reminds drivers that ALL roads lead to Abu Dhabi, so there isn't a need to be in a certain lane (read: stay in your own lane, you reckless driver, you.)

We arrived at the Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station after a little over two hours of riding in a packed motor coach. Tophi tells me that the bus was better than he expected.

Abu Dhabi's Sheik Khalifa recently declared that the city be divided into zones and sectors to aid navigation. There are no longer street names; signs like the one shown here are oh so helpful.

We walked past an air quality monitoring station that read, "Breathe Easy. We are monitoring the air."

I found the entrance gates to this park to be interesting. I think that they are tea kettles.

Abu Dhabi has its own share of unfinished projects. The Abu Dhabi Swimming Beach Extension project used dredging machines to increase the beach area.

Abu Dhabi's Corniche Street Beach is divided into different areas: private, family, and public. You have to pay to use the private and family beaches. The paywalled beaches were pretty empty.

We walked down to the Emirates Palace Hotel, but we didn't try to enter. There was a big event, and we would have looked quite out of place. The hotel was originally intended to be a sheik's palace, but he turned it down. I guess it wasn't big enough...

Tophi thinks that this is the service entrance to the Emirates Palace.

Abu Dhabi has its share of superlatives, too. This flagpole is the world's tallest, over 139 meters high.

Abu Dhabi was a refreshing change after seeing Ajman, Sharjah, and Dubai. The people in this emirate seem more active and must enjoy a higher quality of life. There are fewer unfinished projects, so Abu Dhabi doesn't have a skyline of construction cranes.

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Posted in: abu dhabi,anticipation,leisure photos,traveling

February 4, 2010: the haircut

In my rush in December to catch a cab to catch a train to catch the AirTrain to catch the plane home (that I nearly missed), I forgot something... my trip to the city for a haircut. The last two weekends at Webb were too busy to go get my hair cut, and I even considered waiting until I got home. Any chance of getting it done at home was smashed when I learned that my preferred barbershop at Shabangs had "burned down."

Eh. I've grown my hair out to ridiculous lengths before (Kirk's head is nodding in agreement), but I had to do something about it today.

Enter the curious dramatis personae. I began looking for a barbershop online on Monday in preparation for mum's Sunday night arrival. Search string after search string wasn't producing results. I had some tough constraints. I didn't want to go to Dubai for a haircut, and I wanted the place to be someone reputable. I eventually gave up searching online and decided to ask the front desk.

"Rola! You want to go to Rola," replied the man at the front desk with a heavy Pakistani accent. I asked him what and where was Rola, but he just pointed me towards the bellman. After some exchange between the two, the doorman hailed a taxi, rattled off a directive for the driver, shoved me in the front seat, closed the door, and away I zoomed for "Rola."

The ride was thankfully short -- mostly because we sped around all of the other cars. After pulling up to a high rise's dirt parking lot, the driver turned off the meter and waved towards the "salon" entrance. I looked above the door; I couldn't see a sign that said "Rola." The driver obviously sensed my skepticism and walked me to the door. The manager was inside talking to a lobby of employees -- no other customers. The taxi driver confirmed that the "salon" was open and facilitated the start of my haircut.

"Do you speak English?" the manager asked as he gazed around the room. "Oh, well, then I will translate." One of the stylists stepped forward, and I stammered to describe what I wanted done to my head. The manager called for a catalog. "Here, point at a picture." My confidence continued to shrink. None of the pictures looked quite like what I would normally have done. I settled on one but emphasized that I wanted it to be slightly longer.

I sat down, and my non-English speaking barber started clipping. Hair fell in every direction. As my hair began to take a new shape, I started to relax. Mid sigh of relief, it was over. The barber had done a nice job, and I was pleased with his work.

Now to checkout. Back at the hotel, I was thrust into the taxi before I had a chance to exchange more US dollars for UAE dirhams. I only had 30 dirhams after I paid the taxi driver, but the $70 that could become 210 dirhams was sitting in my pocket. The receptionist asked me if this was my first visit. He reduced the price of my haircut to 50 dirhams from 80 dirhams. PANIC. I slowly took out my bank notes knowing that I didn't have enough. "Do you take credit cards? US Dollars?"

The receptionist smiled and asked me how much I had. "For you, 30 dirhams is enough." I apologized and told him that I would return again. I rushed out of the salon feeling terrible about shortchanging the salon 50 dirhams.

I was "broke," so I couldn't take a taxi back to the hotel. It was a nice walk, albeit a humid one. I decided to walk through the local neighborhood rather than sticking to the main roads. Old neighborhoods in Sharjah are laid out like staggered bricks. Unlike the strict New York City blocks, the streets zig-zag their way from the highway to the beach. I darted along through the neighborhood pretending to know my way.

Pretending being the key word. Shortly after going deep into the neighborhood, I realized that I was much farther away from my hotel than I had originally perceived. In the distance, I could see the radio tower that is near the beach. I searched the horizon for more familiar sights. Mosque minarets dotted the neighborhood skyline. Aha! I recognized the minaret that rises from a mosque near Scott's villa. I started making my way towards the minaret, Scott's villa, and the road back to my hotel, the minaret as my guide the whole way.

There, that's my short plug for Islam. Muslims believe that Islam was the first religion, and devout followers accept no other religion. In fact, a follower from another religion who converts to Islam is said to "revert to Islam." (This is another reason why it is of the highest shame to convert to another religion.) No worries, I won't be "reverting" any time soon.

Now, I'm going to go clean the loose hair out of my ears. I guess that feeling is the same no matter where you get your hair cut.

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Posted in: anticipation,culture,sharjah

kite surfing

My boss, Captain Scott, is an avid kite surfer. When I went over to his house last weekend, we watched a few kite surfing videos. There had been wind in the forecast last week, but the wind never arrived.

Today was a different story. There was wind and plenty of it! Scott used his lunch break to go down to the beach, and I joined him after work. I didn't get to surf today, but I'm hoping to try it before I leave at the end of February. It was so cool to watch. I uploaded a dozen photographs to my Picasa site. When I went down to the beach after work, the sun was already pretty low. I love the way the light looks during the last 30-45 minutes of the day. When I'm at Webb, the sun hits the building and trees with a dazzling orange glow. I can't wait to take pictures of that!

Here's a sample of the album from the Picasa site.

Sharjah continues to provide great scenes for me to use my new camera. I might post a few more pictures to the album tomorrow.

For now, I'm going to surf into my sleep in anticipation of Haida's docking.

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Posted in: anticipation,kite surfing,leisure photos,sharjah

January 3, 2010: "A Whole New World"

Last night on the way back from seeing Avatar with my best friend, we swapped expectations for our upcoming semesters. I gave my standard rundown on my internship and my understanding of Dubai and Sharjah. "All expenses paid. Classic motor yacht. Mostly drawing organization. Living within walking distance of work. Sharjah is the most conservative emirate. Radically different from life here..."

That's where I caught myself. I've probably explained this internship to fifty different people, and each time I've managed to gloss over the "radically different" part. As we talked more in the car, a second conversation began in my head. I began to realize the gravity of traveling to a foreign land with a truly foreign culture. It sounds trite, but I actually started to consider the things that I take for granted here in the states. Walking around town. Speaking freely. Visiting any website without fear of censorship.

My internal monologue abruptly lapsed back into visions of a magic carpet ride in a whole new world. There's an adventure awaiting me in the UAE. There will no doubt be a two-month interruption of my typical American life complete with its dietary and lifestyle habits, but the opportunity is unparalleled.

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Posted in: anticipation,censorship,culture