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| Of skyscrapers and pavements Abu Dhabi. I had never heard of the place and was convinced that we were heading to a dusty one-camel town of huts and tents. We bought a book before coming out to the UAE, which left me with the overall impression that groceries were hard to come by, camels were a road hazard and women were not to be seen – or heard. I felt better after finding websites, which not only proclaimed it the capital city of the UAE, but also an island city! And then of course, the photos of the Corniche with the famous Hilton Blue Towers in the background, huge fountain roundabouts and the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf. A dream destination... Well, more or less. It is an island - but not a tropical jewel, hidden in mists and volcanic vegetation-rich foothills. First and foremost it is a piece of desert that sizzles and blisters in the Gulf waters. Next, it is the capital city, thanks to the enormous wealth of oil found in and around the area. Not exactly a rosy foundation for beautiful cities...
As you cross from the mainland to the island, you can see the solid skyscraper horizon in the distance. All too quickly you are swallowed up by the rushing traffic and when you look again, you are right in the middle of the city. Space is at a premium on the island, so buildings reach up high, for the ever growing population. It is a city crawling with construction sites. Old buildings are usually in some stage of demolition, to make way for taller, shinier monsters. And the streets glow with the heat of the steel, glass and concrete glaring down on them. The Corniche is a lovely strip of road running along the water’s edge, with a wide sidewalk for health enthusiasts and pedestrians. Palm-lined, fountain-strewn and regularly watered to keep the grass green. Once a public beach, it is now closed while undergoing major reconstruction as it is being widened to accommodate a new entertainment and parking area. The actual city centre is a suffocating, building-upon-building, bustle of pedestrians and traffic. Huge city blocks squash in as many 20-story buildings as possible and parking becomes the curse of having a car. The back streets between the buildings are clogged by cars first parking on either side of the street, then down the middle of the road – leaving barely enough room for traffic to pass down either side. The tall buildings are interspersed with mosques, with their characteristic domes, crescents and tall slender minarets from which a muezzin summons the faithful to prayer.
Life on the pavement It is very humid and you can feel your finger tips burn as they defrost. Feeling pleasantly warm gives way to feeling hot and muggy. It’s a mix of coastal humidity and hairdryer-hot winds. Your skin starts to prickle and your clothing starts clinging. The temperature is probably 40º C plus. It will hopefully cool down to low 30s by the evening. A couple of hints as you walk along: Tip 1: Ninety percent of the men on the street are going to be using the pavement as a large spittoon; much as your average smoker feels that any area ‘outside’ is one giant ashtray. If winter-cold sniffs make your skin crawl, get ready to wince from one end of the street to the other. Throat catching gurgles are followed by globs of spittle and mucus projected at high speed. Don’t worry that you might get splattered, they are pretty accurate. Just try not to step in it. Tip 2: As a ‘western’ woman, walking on the streets will attract attention regardless of what you are wearing. The staring can start off as embarrassing and turn to annoyance and eventually acceptance. I don’t try to outstare anyone and generally avoid eye contact. Besides, you need your eyes on the pavement… Make-up in the summer is an optional extra. Tip 3: Try walking closer to the shops than the road. Walking near the road will give every passing taxi driver high hopes that you would like a ride and he will perform some frantic hooting to get your attention – even if you are walking in the opposite direction. Tip 4: The schwarma vendors on the pavement will have your mouth watering with their spicy smells. They serve up a really delicious and cheap fare. To enjoy your meal, don’t look too closely.… Now, should you decide to turn off the main walking area and saunter down one of the narrow alleys between the buildings and go to the ‘back side’ of the buildings, lift your head up. You very quickly forget just how tall the buildings are. Looking up and seeing two tall buildings converging will remind you. You may not be able to see all the way to the top of the building because of all the laundry precariously balanced on make-shift washing lines.
Out of the alley and you will see that the buildings all follow a similar pattern of having the first couple of floors taken up by businesses and retailers, with the residential apartments on floors higher up. These bottom floors house eateries, barbers, tailors, translators, travel agents and laundries on the ground floor. Signs above small entrances on the sides of buildings claiming to be the gateway of a ‘supermarket’, stock an amazing assortment of groceries and necessities. We have fondly termed the supermarket below as us ‘The Hovel’. They have a system of ‘you phone and they deliver’. We have them deliver our five gallon drinking water. (Tap water is not safe for drinking.) If you are wondering what that smell is, wander over to the green metal dumpsters. They are usually over-flowing and leaking Garbage Ooze in large puddles. (Garbage Ooze is the juice trash eventually starts to sweat out which the sun refuses to suck up.) The other side of the coin Not a pretty picture? Then why would anyone want to live here? It’s an amazingly safe and crime-free city. As a woman, I am perfectly safe to walk anywhere at any hours. The garden across the street comes alive in the evenings with mothers taking their children out to play in the cooler hours. Bag-snatching, muggings and rape are almost unheard of. There is a ‘Lost and Found’ section in the newspaper, where people actually advertise the wallets or jewellery they pick up! With the summer heat we are starting to experience, we have taken to leaving the car running while we run into a shop or take-away. We have even had someone park us in and leave their keys with the building watchman so that we could move their car out the way when we wanted to drive out. Although a city plagued with litter-bugs, the municipality has multiple teams that start sweeping the streets at 6am and you can see them still working until late in the evening. The inner-city roads have three lanes in both directions, widening to five lanes at traffic light intersections to allow for slip-ways to the right and u-turn and turning lanes to the left. There is an efficient network of police, ambulance and fire-fighting services. And I guess the number one reason: It’s tax-free living!
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