The day I discovered Indian Street Food

I was roaming the busy streets of Tourist Club Area in search of a more "authentic yoga experience", flip-flopping away through garbage and lunch leftovers scattered all over sidewalks (really, something you never get used to even after living for a year in the UAE - here people generally '"litter" where they eat'), when I came upon a window display of the kind of food I've never seen before: they were mostly pastries, but not the common pastries of Abu Dhabi. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try after my yoga class, which, by the way, was a bit too authentic for my liking. But when I came up to the window again, I realized that I didn't even know what to order: there wasn't a word of English, either written or spoken.

Luckily, I saw an Indian woman smiling at me (and probably wondering if I'm mentally challenged) so I asked her to help me order something. First thing she asked was whether I like spicy or not. I immediately remembered the spicy tom yom soup that I once had on a street in Thailand that was so spicy that my eyes watered.
"A little spicy is okay", I told her.

She was there with her husband and three kids having a "street food night" and her youngest son, sitting on top of a table, helped translate for me. First, the chef behind the window handed me a small metal bowl with a ball of pastry swimming in some kind of vegetable soup. It turned out to be a "panipuri", "pani" for water and "puri" for a hollowed out fried crisp.

Surprisingly it was very light and so delicious! It's filling consisted of tamarind water, onions, chickpeas and something spicy: a distant relative of salsa on a tortilla chip (and a perfect post-workout snack!). The chef handed me another one with his bare hand (my American germaphobic mind freaked out a little) that was stuffed with similar ingredients but without the water, which made it somewhat bland. Then he passed on a plate of chaat to the lady and she handed me a spoon, inviting her family to join too. I took a few bites and decided it was rude of me to dig into their dinner like that, so I asked them to order something else for me to take home. Once the chef handed me a paper bag of samosas for the Frenchie and I paid my 7 dirhams (less than $2) I thanked the family and flip-flopped back home. Oh, the samosas were a thousand times better than Lulu's! ;)

Desert Dogs

Recently, we decided to get a puppy and learned that it’s a rather painstaking process. For those looking to buy, adopt or to bring their buddy into the UAE, here's a little bit  of wisdom:

Buying a pet within the UAE pretty much limits you to two sources: adopting a shelter dog or buying a puppy from a pet store. Shelters are plentiful in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai and are great places to find dogs and puppies that were brought in from the streets or abandoned by previous owners. Strays of Abu Dhabi and Friends of Animals DXB are two of my favorite humane organizations.

I would never buy a dog from a pet store. I visited several pet stores in Dubai and saw some very miserable looking dogs sitting in cages in their own excretion. The pet store employees claim that their puppies come from the breeders, typically from Hungary and South Africa. A responsible breeder would never sell their puppies to a pet store!

Alternatively, you can buy a puppy from a reputable breeder, but as of yet there are no serious dog breeders in the UAE. I contacted several breeders around the world to seek their opinion. As it turns out, many professional breeders are experienced in shipping their puppies internationally, after quiet a bit of detective work to find out if you would be a good parent. Serious breeders usually have litters for the sake of raising show winners, thus they strive to produce the healthiest, best-looking dogs they can. Breeders sell their show dogs to other show homes or for breeding purposes, but whenever a dog does not meet the show requirements, typically because it’s smaller than the standard or has a different occlusion, it is sold as a pet.

We chose several breeders from Europe, Russia, and Southeast Asia based on their kennel’s reputation and distance from the UAE. Be aware that some breeders do not want to vaccinate or microchip their dogs because of health issues these may cause, so they may decline the sale. Also, the UAE requires that all pets enter the country in the cargo compartment of the plane. Mentioning this in my email to breeders also eliminated some of the more favorable options :(

The UAE pet import law is stricter than in most countries and requires the following to bring your dog into the country:

- The dog must be older than 4 months old. Although when we visited the Dubai pet stores, they advertised some puppies to be 3 months old…
- Arriving strictly in the cargo of the plane (this would set you back anywhere from $300-$1500)
- Rabies and Combo vaccines
- Microchip or tattoo
- Pet import permit. Can be requested online through the Ministry of Environment & Water website and usually takes 2-3 days to process. The Ministry requires that you email a copy of vaccines and official health certificate to them
- Certain countries require a rabies test

When you pick up your dog from the cargo area at the Abu Dhabi airport (terminal 2), you will be asked to pay around aed300 in fees and additional aed400 for the animal. A veterinary doctor will inspect the paperwork and the animal, after which you will be allowed to take your dog home.

LEAVING UAE WITH YOUR DOG
Several airlines, including KLM and Lufthansa, allow small dogs to travel out of the UAE as excess luggage, which lets you save a lot of money. You'll need a health certificate to export and a re-entry permit if you are planning to come back to UAE later. Easy breezy!

The Men Who Built the City

These are the slums of Abu Dhabi - labor camps which thousands of immigrant workers who built the UAE's shiny skyscrapers call "home". Where the exploited laborers are bussed daily between their work sites and the camps, that sit far away from the tourists' eyes. Many of the filthy facilities have been abandoned by their sponsors, leaving the workers with months of back wages, no water and electricity and no money to return back home.


In an abandoned R.H. Camp a man holds his court decision which says that his salary must be paid to him.



The only source of water is this rusted water dispenser, filled with non-potable underground water that gives the workers upset stomach.





Pictures courtesy of Saher Shaikh, founder of AdoptaCamp programme, one of the few which works to improve the lives of UAE laborers.

al khaleej al arabi

While the torturous heat of Abu Dhabi summers makes it easy to spend these 4 months cooped up indoors, for certain nature lovers the summer can feel like solitary confinement. Next year we'll do what many other experienced expats do: plan a month-long getaway to some place cool, but for now, we're left with 6am treks to the beach in an attempt to beat the heat. Even at such early hour the water is already too warm to be refreshing, but it's still a nice break in the routine.

These pictures were taken at the hidden gem of a beach on the Yas Island.

Meena Fish Market

The Meena Fish Market is a very smelly place that harbors fishermen selling their catch of the day. If one can hold their nose, a trip to the market can prove to be a wonderful experience. As you walk through the stalls displaying the freshest frutti di mare, be prepared to haggle - haggling is an art learned through practice in these areas - then take your purchase around the corner to one of the many grilling stalls. Ask the chefs to add some vegetables and spices and in about 30 minutes you'll have dinner suitable for kings!

(not that either of us speaks English especially well, but I find these misspellings charming)

These Colors Don't Run

Most locals ( and by this I mean Khaleeji, or "gulf" people) are true to their "Arab hospitality" - they are generally courteous toward Westerners. On those occasions that I've been invited to a local family's house, usually for work-related reasons, I've always been greeted warmly, offered plenty of food and drinks, and even left their house with a gift once.

The Frenchie is more like the rest of Western expats in the city - he rarely gets to mingle with the locals. Of course he would love to, but when it comes to diversity, Abu Dhabi reminds me of Brooklyn, where every neighborhood has its color that doesn’t run.

Don't Kiss and Tell in Abu Dhabi

UAE is a relatively peaceful place, courtesy of the country's strict judicial system and a few misleading statistics. It is also a very rich place. Most expats strive to come here to earn some money and go back home, so any misconduct resulting in imprisonment and followed by immediate deportation, is likely to ruin any plans for early retirement.

Not surprisingly, the rules are obscure. While everyone knows that kissing in public is punishable by a month in jail and deportation, as we learned from the recent incident in Dubai, no one really knows if holding hands or hugging is considered a crime. When I came to Abu Dhabi the Frenchie had already been here for over a month and I missed him dearly. I dreamed of squeezing him tightly and planting a big smooch the minute I saw him, but we were pretty sure that would get us in jail. So instead, we just waved each other "hello" at the airport, he took my luggage and I followed him to the car.

I had to practice this type of self-restraint for many months after my arrival. Unsure of what behavior is acceptable and what would get me in trouble, I stayed away from initiating hand shaking with men, wore only pants in public and kept distance from my beloved as we strolled the mall. Then we visited Dubai. We're now back to being ourselves. Okay, not entirely as we still don't kiss in public, but I certainly no longer shy away from wearing skirts.

First time at a Hyper Market

Hyper-markets are big box stores that sell everything from groceries to clothes and appliances. Two big ones are Lulu and Carrefour, but, as nearly everything in this city, each store targets a different social group. Lulu caters to the Indian and South Asian population, while Carrefour is more favored by Westerners.

The first time I walked into a hyper-market, I was amazed to see bags of spices sitting in the middle of the grocery section floor. Before we moved to Abu Dhabi I secretly imagined how I'll walk through the traditional souks in search of hidden gems: spices, silks, dates. Of course, all of these are readily available in faux souks - modern malls intended to look old, and those hidden gems are priced appropriately as well.

I love this place!

"I love this place!" - I shouted excitedly to the Frenchie as we sped down the Corniche in his spanking new "beemer" on a recent Saturday Drive.

And what's not to love? Just mere days after landing at the Abu Dhabi International airport, I had a fantastic job; still jet-lagged from my recent move across the globe, I'd pull myself to a little silver rental in the mornings and drive through the ever-sunny Arabian desert to my corner office on the island. During those 30 minute drives I'd sing along to the oldies, so lovingly selected by "Duckworth and Daisy and a little bit of Rakesh" on a local radio every morning. Then, the Frenchie would meet me for lunch at a nearby bakery. We'd laugh and gossip over a slice of quiche and our weekend plans would be drafted during those lunches, too. We loved spending weekend mornings basking in the sun over a newspaper and coffee, and in the evenings, we'd set on to explore this exotic city: its' sounds, smells, and people. Gosh, I really, really, loved this place.

As I muse over those days, it seems that we live in a different country today. Gone are the lazy afternoons in the sun, replaced instead by quick runs from an air-conditioned car to air-conditioned offices, home, malls, and restaurants. We stopped seeing our life in Abu Dhabi through pink colored glasses, too. Behind the facade of a shiny new city we discovered there’s a different Abu Dhabi; a city where ignorance and overindulgence are a way of life.

Welcome to Abu Dhabi

The morning buzz of construction work is audible through tightly shut windows of our company flat. It's a typical Saturday morning and the city is alive with action after pausing for just one day, Friday, the official weekend in Abu Dhabi. Situated on the turquoise-blue Persian Gulf, Abu Dhabi is a mix of skyscrapers and hotels, world renowned museums (think the Louvre and Guggenheim) and labor camps where expats from surrounding countries work night and day for low wages. Dubbed "the richest city in the world" by Fortune 500 magazine, and sitting on one-tenth of planet's oil, Abu Dhabi is the new land of opportunities.

My jet lag is in full gear and, having arrived three days earlier, sleeping through the night is still an ultimate goal to achieve. Being sprawled out on a bed through the day means that all sightseeing takes place after sunset. My sleep pattern has reduced our plans to mostly dinners with friends, followed by attempts to find our way back home through the maze of newly constructed highways. Driving in Abu Dhabi is an exciting affair - locals breeze by at the speed of light, disregarding any posted speed limits and police and yet pushing above 120km in our rental Yaris sets off an alarm indicating that we're going too fast. The general rule is to stay in a right lane if can't keep up with others and although Americans are free to drive sans International Driver's Permit, I've decided to not take my chances the first week and to instead allow the taxis do the work. Curiously enough, often they're just as clueless.