A Trip to Abu Dhabi

Getting from Dubai to Abu Dhabi is quite easy these days, with a regular, full-sized bus, and several smaller buses that run between the times when the full-sized bus departs.

I was in Abu Dhabi several years ago, and found that Abu Dhabi taxis were cheap (unlike Dubai taxis) and plentiful. Now, however, the Abu Dhabi taxi seems to be an extinct species. Taxi stands are fairly close together, but at all of them, I saw a large number of people waiting, and no taxis. I finally walked the fairly long distance from the bus terminal to my destination.

Jaywalking has been in the local newspapers lately, with stories about the Abu Dhabi police arresting most jaywalkers and fining them heavily.

I saw many police cars in Abu Dhabi, and even more jaywalkers who proceeded to jaywalk directly in front of the police cars. So the stories, like most announcements in the local newspapers, must be about some future events. As of current date, the police I saw in Abu Dhabi had absolutely no interest in jaywalkers.

A friend had SMSed me to come at 6, and, having allowed what I thought was a reasonable amount of time, the lack of taxis meant a 90 minute walk, and I arrived just as the 90 minute long event which my friend wanted me to see was ending.

So I took the bus back to Dubai. Again, I had to walk from my Abu Dhabi destination to the bus terminal.

On returning to Dubai, the bus from the inter-Emirates bus station to my flat runs every 30 minutes, so, after two hours, four of them arrived to take me home.