Monday, November 25, 2019; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Monday, November 25, 2019; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

We have managed to make it all the way through the Suez Canal, past Yemen and Somalia, and past Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to make port at Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.  There are actually seven Emirates that make up the UAE.  The two that everyone recognizes are Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  The other five are more obscure.  Pulling into the Abu Dhabi at dawn, it is evident that Abu Dhabi is a very modern and well developed city.  It has a very sophisticated skyline sparking with steel and glass in a veritable architect’s playground.  

Everyone on the ship, passengers and staff, has to be cleared by the Abu Dhabi customs and immigrations staff with in person presentation of passports.  This delayed our excursions somewhat, but compared with the fiasco we experienced in Okinawa with Japanese authorities taking 5 hours to clear us, the Emirates staff simply verified our faces, stamped the passports, and then retained them with ship’s staff for further processing so we could be on our way with a copy of our passport’s photo page.  We will get our passports back when the ship leaves Dubai tomorrow.  

Our morning tour was a “Best of Abu Dhabi”, which filled over 12 buses.  This included a driving tour around the city pointing out things like Ferrari World, Corporate Headquarters for Emirati Oil, and the Presidential Palace.  The city is a glimmering example of what you can do with ambition and unlimited cash.  The streets are modern, free of pot holes, and there is no litter or tagging.  There are abundant street murals and mosaic artwork .  Even the cell phone towers are elaborately disguised as palm trees.  There were no evident homeless or beggars anywhere.  

Our first official stop was the Sheik Zayed Mosque, one of a few around the planet that allows visits by infidels.  We were allowed to walk around the courtyard, and to have a peek inside one of the prayer halls, which happened to feature multiple crystal and 21kt gold chandeliers.  It is a huge complex with more domes than you can count.  The entrance was probably more than a quarter mile from the outer walls, through lotus blossom shaped glass domes leading into an air conditioned mega shopping mall.  There are moving walkways in the long tunnels leading toward the mosque, not unlike in some huge international airports.  There is security at the perimeter of the Mosque with metal detectors and x-ray machines that actually work and are manned.  (We have seen plenty of security theater on this trip, but this place had serious security in place. For some reason, they do not allow photography in the huge underground shopping mall outside the perimeter of the mosque.). 

Once inside the Mosque, it was a bit reminiscent of the Vatican Museums in terms of the sense of being rushed through the with hoards of people.  There were guards/ushers everywhere saying keep moving and actually pushing you if you didn’t move as fast as they wanted you to go.  There are a few designated “photo spots” where you can snap a quick picture or two before being herded on the next spot.  They also funneled people through zig-zag cues like at a Disney Theme Park Ride just so they could rescan your ticket multiple times at multiple checkpoints in the complex.  

The place is impressive, to be sure.  Lots of polished imported marble and all the floral artwork in the marble walls is intarsia with semiprecious stones- no gold leaf plaster carvings or paintings.  The chandeliers in the prayer rooms are 21kt gold and crystal.  It can accommodate 40,000 devotees for the five times a day prayers. Everything is spotless and constantly maintained.  

But unlike the Vatican Museums, there were no notable artifacts to be seen.  It seemed like an awful lot of hassle and stress to get a peek at a couple of very expensive chandeliers.  We could have skipped all that hassle and just taken a few pictures of all the gleaming white domes on the outside, and we probably would have felt like we used our time better on something else. 

Our next stop was something called the UAE Heritage Village, which was like a tiny cultural center, but the cultural part, with Bedouin tents and a live camel, was entirely unstaffed.  There were just a handful of plaques to read.  The majority of the complex was vendor shops and a small museum. There was a nice stretch of beach around back with a view of the striking skyline of Abu-Dhabi, so it was definitely worth making a quick stop there.  

The last stop was a fish market very close to where the ship was moored.  There were probably a couple hundred stalls all manned and full of fish, but so many of the vendors had the same fish laid out, it is hard to know who to buy what from unless everyone just has their “usual” fish guy.  

We got back to the ship late, and barely had time to run through the International cafe to grab cold sandwiches, and then head back to the lounge to get our excursion stickers.

Our second excursion was a Camel Caravan experience.  We thought it would be a quick Camel ride but we got piled into a couple of Ford Expeditions and then driven 90 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi, deep into the desert dunes, to a place called The Arabian Nights Village.  This is set up like an oasis in the desert with cabins, a lodge, outside stage area for shows, a tiny zoo, and desert activity center with camels and UTV’s.  

We extricated ourselves out of the SUV’s and when we asked if we could use the bathroom before getting on the camels, they said yes- just pee anywhere.  Well, there was no cover, other than the rolling sand dunes around us.  It was hard to climb the dunes to find some privacy.  Fortunately, they had parked a UTV on the top of a nearby dune that we used for cover.  

We were loaded onto the camels in tandem with Ben in front and Janet behind.  The camels lay on their bellies to allow riders to climb on, but when the stand up, you have to hang on for dear life because the seat tilts nearly 35 degrees forward, and then 35 degrees backward, like a slow motion bucking movement.  Once you’re up, you’re feet are about 5’ off the ground.  A camel’s gait is not nearly as smooth as a horse’s.  It has something to do with the way they move their feet, but it sure felt like the spine of the camel was getting jammed deep into perineum (no man’s land between the thighs) with very little of the rider’s weight being supported by the buttocks like on a horse saddle.  At least for Ben, it was not a pleasant experience at all, but Janet said she enjoyed the novelty, and would do it again.  Ben was glad the ride was just 30 minutes.  

After the camel ride, we got a tour of their banquet facilities and some juice and Arab coffee, which tasted a bit spicy, like it had some cinnamon in it.  Then it was a long ride back to the ship.  

All in all, the camel caravan was a more interesting excursion, but it’s hard to believe they couldn’t have found a way to do that with a much closer location and shorter drive.  As for the morning tour, we would have probably be better off to use the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to get a closer and more leisurely look at the sights around Abu Dhabi.  If we ever return to Abu Dhabi, that would be our strategy. 

We had a nice dinner in the dining room- surf and turf for Janet and leg of lamb for Ben.   Then we walked back into the very modern and comfortable cruise ship terminal to use their free Wifi to try to update our photostream.  The bandwidth available on the ship is simply not adequate to keep our photostream updated.

Tomorrow, we say farewell to many passengers who are disembarking in Dubai, including our trivia partners Linda and Paul.  We have a desert Jeep tour to see a camel market, and will have yet another opportunity to ride camels.  Ben may opt to keep his feet firmly planted on the sand and take photos.