The Year of Walking Dangerously

There is only one thing worse than being a driver and having to contend with the insane traffic in Dubai, and that’s being a pedestrian. I read in Saturday’s national paper that 26 people have already been killed this year crossing roads in Abu Dhabi. Twenty-six people in only 72 days – and that is just in Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, according to the Dubai police, one person is killed every 48 hours in a traffic related accident. And, if that isn’t shocking enough, 97 people have died in various other kinds of road accidents in that emirate; 26 of these were pedestrians.

Apparently this is not a new problem either – last year 2022 pedestrians were hit by vehicles across the country, according to statistics from one of the Emirate ministries. The UAE has one of the world’s highest death rates (per capita) due almost solely to traffic accidents. They compared this to the number killed last year in NYC, which was 136, kind of a huge difference given the population size. I’ve noticed that many drivers here seem almost totally unaware of other drivers on the road, so fast, aggressive driving, sudden lane changing, swerving, cutting others off, never signaling and tailgating are the norm. It is even worse because many locals have all the windows of their vehicle tinted black, including the entire front windshield, so you have no idea if they see you, and even worse, you can’t give them the evil eye when they cut you off because you can’t see them. It is crazy and extremely frustrating. And don’t get me started about the Indian truck drivers who basically still think they are driving in India. They can barely stay in their lane and their philosophy is basically if their vehicle is bigger than yours, you’d better watch out.

I always thought Quebec had the worst drivers I’d ever seen (in NA that is, the Italians are a whole different story) because it always seemed that as soon as they spied you strolling across the street they would speed up to try to peg you. The drivers here make Quebec drivers look like the Sunday church crowd.

What I’ve noticed is that in the UAE, many drivers don’t even slow down at pedestrian crossings, despite all sorts of consequences – fines, demerits, even jail. It’s so bad that people are actually afraid to cross the street – hotels warn tourists to be extremely cautious when trying to cross the road – not exactly the promotional banner you want to be waving to encourage visitors.

While I’m on the topic of driving, there are a couple other unusual things about the Dubai road system, the first being the use of U-Turns (or as Sharuk, my affectionately named GPS navigation voice - says “make a legal u-turn at the next light). The U-Turn in the UAE is a standard part of the road system. Most intersections throughout the city have two left turning lanes, one for the U-Turn and one to turn left into the street – of course, you never quite know which drivers will decided at the last minute that they need to make a U-Turn, cutting you off or nearly pushing you into the median. The problem is, if you miss your U-Turn, you probably need to drive another 5 miles before you can even consider turning around so there is no easy way to avoid the U-Turns.

The other irritating thing is the length of the traffic lights in Dubai. At minimum, most lights are 3 minutes long, but often longer, depending on the intersection. Usually each lane has a minute or longer to allow its vehicles to move through the intersection and so you must wait while all 4 directions take their turn. The best advice I’ve received is to put your car in park/neutral and have a magazine handy, because if you have to wait at 5 lights in one trip, you could use that 15 minutes much more productively than just staring at the red light for 4 minutes thinking you are going to lose your mind if someone doesn’t move soon! I have taken this advice, and while it might not be particularly “productive” I’ve found these spare few minutes to be a great time to catch up on my celebrity gossip, so I am now keeping a copy of the latest trashy tabloid nearby, just for some mindless entertainment! It’s better than most of the drivers who whip out their blackberries the second the light turns!

At the end of the day, I think maybe staying home might be the best solution. : )

To Cover or Not to Cover?

I just read the most interesting factoid in last month’s issue of National Geographic Traveler. I bet you will never guess what all the of the following cities have in common: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Dresden, Dublin, Geneva, Lison, London, Marseilles, Milan, Moscow, Rome, Seville, Toronto, and Warsaw? If you live in Ohio you might know the answer, because all of these are cities and towns in that state. Kind of amazing. I didn’t believe it at first, so I actually looked some of them up and sure enough, they were all listed, so I guess it must be true – we all know the internet doesn’t lie.

Not that this fascinating bit of trivia has anything to do with Dubai, except for the fact that not many people really know where it is either. Most people think it’s in India or in that vicinity, and when they discover it’s not there, and that it is actually in the “Middle East”, they immediately ask me whether it’s safe, whether I feel safe and whether I have to cover my head/face. My answers are yes, yes and no. I have learned a lot about covering in the short time I’ve been here, from many of the Arab women I’ve met. We have several working in our office, one who is an Emirate and the other is from Kuwait - and one wears a full black abaya and one only wears a head scarf. She tells me that Kuwait women are very liberal and that many do not wear a scarf or cover at all, and she hadn’t until 2 years ago when she got married, out of respect for her husband but that it was her choice.

The whole covering thing seems very mysterious and a bit oppressive to we westerners, but it’s really not that big of a deal over here, I’m learning. There seem to be a million different acceptable ways to cover, some wear the full abaya, some only a head scarf, some are ornately adorned, some are very plain, some women cover just their hair, while others cover their entire faces, except for their eyes. One of the major misconceptions about the hijab (covering of the body, except the face and hands) is that women are forced to wear it by their parents, husbands or other male family members. In fact, the exact opposite is true. What parents or men want has nothing to do with it. Arab women feel that they exert their own liberation by making a choice about whether to cover or not. When a woman is covered, men cannot judge her by her appearance but are forced to evaluate her by her personality, character and morals so she is deliberately making that choice. I thought that seemed very reasonable and logical – and on a very practical note, I thought it would be awesome on really bad hair days!

Anyway, now that I’m used to seeing them, I’ve been studying Arab women to see how differently they express themselves despite covering. And, like everywhere, women here spend a lot of time and energy on the details and on those things you CAN see – eyes, lips, nails, hands (lots of beautiful hennas), beautifully adorned abayas, feet, you name it. They definitely show their personalities through what they wear and through careful detail to all the other pieces just as much as any western woman does.

Of course, some countries in the Arab world are definitely more stringent in what they condone and tolerate with respect to women, and not all (like Saudi Arabia) are so lenient. I would say in general though, our western perspective on this is definitely more skewed towards very conservative, when in fact, their sense of individualism is much more similar to ours than you would think.

Journey to the Sandbox (or Welcome to Dubai)

So, my great adventure to the middle east is officially underway and I admit, the first thing I had to do when I arrived was look at a map to see where Dubai was actually located in the UAE. Until it became my actual destination, I hadn’t really given much thought to exactly where it was – I just kept hearing it was the “New York of the Middle East”, which doesn’t really give a good description of location.

I now know that Dubai is one of 7 emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates. The others are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Dubai is definitely the most westernized, with a very high percentage of ex-pats compared to the other emirates, I think as high as 75-80%. Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate and also the most powerful, since it is the capital of the UAE as well.

I’ve officially been here for 5 weeks now, just enough to start forming an initial impression, but not nearly long enough to know if there is any substance beneath that, which will be my mission to try to figure out in the year to come.

For western visitors, I think the UAE is a good choice if you are uncertain or worried at all about this part of the world. It is safe, with very little crime, all the comforts of home (and then some), and is also quite exotic. Dubai itself, which gets the lion’s share of press, is first and foremost a shopping mecca – rather than having a mosque every kilometre (yes, we are back to metric here), they have a mall, which is spiritual in its own way to some! The glitz factor is high, with hundreds of designer boutiques, swanky top-chef restaurants and high-end hotels. It is amazing how all the Emiratee women, although they are completely covered, are adorned head to toe with designer goodies - handbags, sunglasses, shoes, jewellry - anything visible and not covered by their black abaya is generally sparkling and expensive.

However, I was relieved to see that it is still possible to practice my limited bartering skills at some of the local souks (markets), haggle over the price of a pashmina, or head out to the desert sands for a camel ride under the starry skies. I think in general though I will have to venture to the other emirates if I want to experience a little more of the cultural aspect of this region. For example, the emirate just to the north of Dubai, Sharjah, is one of the most conservative emirates – unlike Dubai, where you can drink and buy alcohol, in Sharjah it is completely banned, even for expats.

Apparently this is the best time to be in Dubai as well, from a weather perspective. Coming from the depths of winter in North America, it seems like perma-vacation to me right now, with warm temps and sunny skies every day. However, everyone keeps warning me not to get too comfortable because the coming months will bring blistering temperatures, as high as 140F and above 50C. I guess this shouldn’t be unexpected given it IS a desert, however, the problem is that Dubai is right on the Arabian Gulf, so it is also extremely humid. I can’t quite imagine what it is like to be in heat that intense, but I’m sure I'll be telling everyone very soon. Apparently it is against the law to work if it gets above 50C, so despite what the thermometer on your car dashboard might say, the official government temperature never goes above 49!