Abu Dhabi recently decided to ban dogs in (most) public places. So my dear pooches will soon get their very own bike basket to cruise in on the Corniche.

Of course I'll secretly keep bringing them with me to restaurants and let them sit in a bag under the table, feeding them little bites of my meals. 

At night, when no one can tell a difference between my dogs and stray cats, I'll keep bringing them to parks and let them run around the playground.
Now, I consider myself a responsible dog owner and I always pick up their poop, but with so many strays around, really, what's the point of banning them? At least the domesticated ones are mostly clean and have their shots..

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.