Crammed In

Dearest Rachel –

I can’t say that, on this last ‘full’ day of my trip, I’m giving the upcoming event my full attention.  I’m too concerned with making sure everything I have has been packed away sufficiently.  And once I got it all together, I read what I should be bringing ashore – including swimwear and beach shoes – and had to unpack those particular things in order to be properly dressed for the occasion.

This tour is going to be fairly short – only four and a half hours; we’re going to have to cram a lot into that short amount of time – and a good thing, too, as we didn’t make it into port until after one in the afternoon.  It occurs to me that I won’t be able to make it back in time for dinner.  That’s not a big deal as far as my appetite is concerned, but I’m just now realizing that I’ve already had my last meal with my table mates, and none of us knew it at the time.  As far as they’re concerned, I’m going to slip away like a Haibane taking their Day of Flight.

Ah, well…

For once, I’m down to the theater with time to spare, although not without some drama – I’m down a flight of stairs before I realize I’ve left my passport back in the room.  When I return, I see the excursion ticket lying on top of it, as well.  Good thing I turned back.

On the other hand, once I get my excursion number and settle in to await being called, the individual in charge of dismissing each group in turn sends virtually everyone else off before walking over to us and pointing out that we won’t be leaving until the top of the hour, despite being asked to assemble at a quarter after; leaving us to cool our heels for the next forty-five minutes.  He suggests KB. do going to get a coffee, or ‘second lunch.’  I sweated g v, they’re just fattening us up for slaughter, right down to the last.

No one else takes him up on the offer, and shortly thereafter, he concludes that all of us who have signed up for the tour are present (which, considering the assembly time we were given, shouldn’t have been so much of a surprise), and offers to let us head for the bus a half-hour ‘early.’  We’re more than happy to take him up on it.

I had understood that the kayaking was to be the last stop after a series of photo opportunities; maybe it’s been decided that, since this is the literal headline event, it should be the first thing we do, in order to make sure we get the chance.

I would never have known that Abu Dhabi had a Louvre, were it not for this shore excursion (and some input from Lars when I was telling him about it). Yes, it’s affiliated with the one in Paris; otherwise, it would have been a particularly audacious thing to name the place after the original, claiming to be its equal.  The thing is, this one has a lagoon around it that empties into the Arabian Sea, as well as enough steel in its dome to actually outweigh the Eiffel Tower.  I’ll give the Emirates credit; when they want to compete with the West in terms of cultural wonders, they don’t mess around.

Of course, we never really got inside the building – just underneath the dome in a couple of places – so I’ve no idea what works of art (apart from the building itself) they might be housing. As activities go, this was a fairly leisurely trip, but we did cover about a mile; one of the other guests had their GPS on, and it said they had traveled about 1.59 kilometers. All this in a little under an hour.

From here, we got back onto the coach, where Mahmoud proceeded to give us a few more tidbits of information as we went along.

Further inland, they have a lot of creativity with their buildings;

That circular building, in particular, is supposedly the headquarters of the Emirates’ public buildings commission, which seems appropriate.

Mahmoud mentions that Abu Dhabi is considered to be one of the safest – and cleanest – cities to either visit or live in.  To be sure, given that there are thousands of cameras throughout the emirate, one can hardly be surprised, but, as with Singapore, the results speak for themselve.  At the same time, they don’t have much in the way of taxes, apart from the V.A.T. on goods and services.  When you run a large trade surplus (thanks to oil and tourism), it’s not really necessary to demand too much of your subjects, I suppose. The one unusual thing is that their ‘subjects’ are a distinct minority; ex patriot workers outnumbered, actual Emirati citizens by a factor of almost 9 to 1. Mahmood himself is Lebanese expatriate, although he’s married to an Emirati woman.

The Corniche is the main promenade of the city, but it’s a little spread out.  It can be walked, but in the heat of the day, it’s not exactly advisable.

And it’s at this point we’re starting to make our way back to the port (the sun is going down, and we’ve been out and about for over four hours – we’ve crammed a lot of sightseeing in that amount of time), and I realize there isn’t going to be anything more for me to film. So once we’re off the bus and back at the terminal, I set myself down on a coach outside the terminal, and try to sum the day – and the whole trip – up.

That’s probably more than I should have tried to do. It’s why I’ve been doing this all throughout the trip, because I knew I’d forget too much of it along the way. This way, I’ve got indelible memories, recorded one way or another, to remind me what everything felt like in that instant, more or less.

I really wish I had more of these; I really wish I had more of them with you in them.

But all I can do is keep assembling them for now and going forward, I guess, and ask you to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck, because I’m still going to need it.