Abu Dhabi p.2

Times for regretting to not have a decent camera and the skills to wield one properly: countless

No, we did not get a chance to visit Ferrari World. We pined continually to regret that fact much later. We passed it, though, as we fled. Much of the Abu Dhabi we had seen were from behind windows. Here, we had ached to ask the driver to bring us instead to the beach with its caramel sand and emerald waters.

                 

The driver, Emon, let us down at the Souk Central Market, giving us his number in case we had wanted to visit the other tourist spots. 

    "Getting Taxis are hard, so you just call me and tell me where you are. See you!" Were his parting words to us. We did not see him again, as we had gone to meet a cousin whose boyfriend offered to take us around the city. But we are grateful to him nonetheless. Where else should anyone depend on in strange places but with the kindness of strangers?

              

 "It is dangerous in Abu Dhabi!" our father warned us once, when we had asked for him to take us there, "it'd be so easy for you to get raped!" It's damaging to learn when one's parents often say things that are untrue to not to frighten you into safety, but for a more self-serving purpose.

 It was a necessary lesson to learn in Abu Dhabi.

A palace for everywhere you turn

 "Truth is, men are frightened of women!" Our cousin Jam told us when we met up, "If you just as much get offended by them and complain to the authorities, they will go to jail!"
     It had been years since we had seen her last. We all found it appalling that the farther we were from each other, the sooner and easier it was to become closer. She and her boyfriend took us sightseeing with what little daylight remained. They took us to hotels with ceilings gilded with gold, where only the sheikhs could afford to stay, and took us to the mall to meet long lost aunts and uncles, and took us out for beer that night where I was in high heavens over a can of beer that i usually encounter in bottles and wallowed in its higher alcohol content.

(better pictures are with my sister, and when i get around to uploading them i will put them in other posts, a picture at a time, with a few hundred words of the thousands of stories they are supposed to tell because i went on too much about me already)

We said our goodbyes in front of another hotel in the city, and buried ourselves in the sheets, watching Indian channels on the TV. "Tomorrow, let's look for God." I told my sister but then in the middle of speaking I felt that it was better to sleep so I slept instead. We slept long, and woke up to a leftover shawarma and falafel breakfast.

Sadly, we did not have enough time to look for God, because we needed to be at the airport. We only saw His great white temple in the distance and my sister took a picture of it from a bridge, from behind another taxi window.

We were two lost children in a desert oasis, surrounded by all the treasures we could not touch, too blinded by grief to feel desire. Maybe that was our story. Maybe there would be a sequel, and we would return under brighter clouds and in very different shoes, and not just pass through this city made of gold in a straight line looking only in the direction of home. Maybe someday we will have adventures here, but maybe someday.

Abu Dhabi was beautiful like a dream, but one that had to end, quickly.