Today I bought my first bus ticket from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. I’m going to meet a new friend. We departed the Abu Dhabi bus station at 10:15am.
It’s a big, fancy, air conditioned bus with an onboard trolley catering service. There’s an attendant on board who serves drinks, snacks and sandwiches. There are only fifteen passengers onboard. Some people are sleeping, chatting and talking loudly on cellphones. The native toungues are intriguing. The first three rows of seats are reserved for ladies and families. I chose the seat by the window, three rows back from the driver.
Along the road I see palm trees and so much construction of new buildings and highway maintenance. About every five kilometers there is a mosque and a new shopping center with scaffolding and cranes surrounding it. The bus driver drives slowly, so I can see a lot. I know I should relax and enjoy the scenery, but im meeting someone in an hour! Zooming past us are mercedes, nissans, toyotas and porsches.
The air is dry and hot. The sky is blue- grey, mostly due to sand. I keep imagining Sand People will pop out any minute.
The architecture here is imaginative and mind boggling. We just past a circle shaped building. The structures are more than straight up; they are curved, domed, leaning, tiered, nest-like and wavy.
The bridges look like filigree and works of art more than a functional way to cross over the street or water.
There is a lone man out on the sandy median picking up trash. His green suit and head covering keep him visible and cool, I hope.
Entering Dubai, the tall buildings reach the sky, there are signs spreading out across the bridges, colors and textures, shapes and sizes follow the highway. One building even looks like it’s built upside down.
We exit the highway at 11:55am.
At 12:00 driver pulls over and tells me to get out and wait for a cab to my destination, Dubai mall. My next adventure continues.
6:45pm….I had a super wonderful day in Dubai…and I’m on the bus back to Abu Dhabi.