Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Nathan Loyd's Last Day in the Middle East:

On Monday (March 3rd), we went to Mass at 645am and Julian interviewed one of the priests (Father D'Souza from India who wished to remain anonymous) for his research paper. Notre Dame paid for his trip to the UAE and Oman so he could do research on the Catholic Church in the Middle East. We then took an early morning bus to the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi.


630am


Bus to Abu Dhabi, only $5

2 hours and 5 dollars later, we arrived in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city of Abu Dhabi is on an island in the Persian Gulf and is connected to the UAE's coast by bridges. Once at the bus station, the first thing we wanted to do was to check out the 'Iranian Souq' which was highly recommended by Nathan's travel book 'Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the UAE'...we negotiated a price with a taxi driver (none of the taxis outside Dubai have meters). We told him to take us to the Iranian Souq and he gave us a confused look and asked if we were sure. So we took a taxi across the city to the port area where the book said the souq was located. The taxi dropped us off near a series of dilapidated shops and stalls, all selling either pots, pans, or plants...nothing else. We aimlessly walked around for an hour and judging by the picture in Nathan's book of a souq filled with Middle Eastern treasures, we decided that the taxi driver was probably mistaken and didn't really know where the Iranian Souq was. We hailed another taxi and told him to take us to the Iranian Souq. 20 seconds and 5 dirhams later, he dropped us off in the same exact spot that the first taxi dropped us off. Strike one for Nathan's travel book.

Our frustration developed a hungry appetite, and so we checked Nathan's travel book for a recommended and affordable Arab restaurant. We found one called 'Al-Boom' which sounded very Arabic and it said it was only $10-15 for a meal. Taking another taxi across the city, he dropped us off at the Le Meridien Hotel. It turns out that the restaurant was a revolving one on top of the hotel and the hotel receptionist downstairs had to call it to make a resevervation for us. Taking the elevator to the top floor, the sign said the restaurant actually served European food, despite the Arabic name. Oh well, the view over Abu Dhabi was nice so we stayed. The host actually pulled our chairs out for us and placed our napkins on our laps. I don't know why rich people can't do this for themselves, but okay. The host later said that the slippers I were wearing weren't allowed in the restaurant (even though rich Arabs wear them...?), but they'd make an exception for us because we were the only ones in the restaurant. We looked at the menu, and the cheapest meal was about $17. Expensive, yes...but we thought our money would at least get us a lot of food. Wrong. The waiter brought our food out and our plates looked more like modern art than actual meals. Nathan paid about $20 for 2 pieces of sushi and some cheese. Strike two for Nathan's travel book. Oh well, at least we ate as much free bread as we could so we could get our money's worth. Oh, and the view was nice.


That meal cost about $20


At least the rotating view was nice


Corniche

Frustrated again, we decided to walk it off on the corniche by the water. Nathan's travel book had a map showing a clock tower by the water a few hundred meters up the corniche. Every emirate in the UAE has a clock tower, so they're a pretty big deal. An hour later of walking in the blistering Arabian sun, we came to the spot where the map said there was a clock tower. There was none. Strike three for Nathan's travel book. He ended up throwing the book off a bridge. At this point we really started to hate Abu Dhabi.


This is where the clock tower was supposed to be


At least the water is nice


We hated this city


Don't let the smile fool you

It was only 3pm (we arrived at 11am), but we had had enough and decided to cut our trip short. We took the next bus out of the city back to Dubai. Though we did get to see the Grand Mosque from the highway, so that was pretty cool I guess. And I fell asleep on the entire bus ride back to Dubai so that was nice too.


Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I fell asleep after I took this. I woke up back in Dubai.


Muslim


Hordes of Indian workers


Back in Dubai

Back in Dubai, we got off the bus downtown and tried to hail a taxi to go watch the sunset on the beach. We tried to hail a taxi for almost an hour. Eventually we gave up and walked around. We finally found a taxi and went home, though we missed the beach sunset. Nathan decided we should cook dinner for my relatives here so we went to the supermarket first and spent $70 on food. We got home and it turns out they already had dinner planned. Shoot. What a day.

Not that I'm complaining about anything that day. Kids complain. I don't.

Esto Vir.