Day trip time. Our destination was Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. In the morning, we had to first buy our bus tickets to Oman. That set us behind a little bit, and we didn’t arrive at Abu Dhabi until 2 PM. No matter, we really only had one thing on the agenda, see the Grand Mosque. Conceived by the late Abu Dhabi Sheikh, the Grand Mosque is just ridiculously spectacular. A mish mash of different architectural styles, it’s huge, gleaming white, with quirky pieces of flair, such as all the columns being in the shape of date palms.

Mosque from outside

Date palm columns

Main courtyard

Entrance to main prayer hall

Main prayer hall, in which lies the world’s largest carpet

And cool chandliers

Having gawked at the mosque, we decided to walk along Abu Dhabi’s waterfront, maybe grab a snack and sit down for some shisha. Unknown to us, UAE did not receive the Asian memo about dense development. Nothing is close to anything. With their cheap gas, nothing could make Emiratis happier than driving long distances to accomplish little tasks. Walking is futile. Main thoroughfares have crosswalks that are basically after thoughts. They’re literally miles apart, making just going to the store across the street a completely inconvenient activity.

It took us something like two hours of walking along the waterfront to realize that there wasn’t very much to the waterfront. We decided to go to a cafe across the street…but yeah, across the street. Half an hour later we arrived, had a watermelon juice, and booked it to the bus station. We arrived back in Sharjah around 1 AM.

But the sunset was cool

Walking to Haroon’s at 1 AM gave us a glimpse into one of the more important aspects of Arab culture. Everything happens later. It makes sense. It’s indescribably hot during the day. Who wants to go outside? Better to nap inside and wait for the sun to go down. And when it does, then it’s time to roll over. Restaurants don’t even open for dinner until 7:30 PM. Stores are closed from about noon to 5 PM. On our way to Haroon’s, we passed countless families picnicking and frolicking in parks. Not just adults. We’re talking about grandparents and little kids. If you hate days and love nights, consider the Middle East.