Abu Dhabi Dhows

I found Abu Dhabi to be a strange place. Everything is so new, and there is construction everywhere, with new development replacing buildings that are only a few years old. There is virtually no sense of history or memory of the place.

One exception is the dhows. These are sturdy sailing vessels common to the Gulf and Indian Ocean. You can see them lining the harbor as you near the end of the Corniche, a walkway park curving around the Western side of Abu Dhabi.

Many of the dhows you see there are no longer functioning fishing boats, but have been converted into tourist cruise ships, of which this is an example.

On the other side of the harbor is Al Mina, where the fish market is located. I found this, a legit fishing dhow, pulled up onto the ground. The crew was attending to various maintenance tasks. They are probably Indian; nearly the entire workforce in general are immigrants, and certainly hard labor like this are. This article is an interesting profile of the lives of these men.

After spending some time on the Corniche and the Mina Fish Market, I paid a visit to Warehouse421, a cultural arts center on the outskirts of the city, in a warehouse district. When I read about a 'cultural hub' in a warehouse district, I thought, "Oh, it must be like DUMBO." Nope! The warehouse district is a bunch of warehouses, along with the saddest, emptiest mall in the world, one of which is an art space. Across the street, is a dhow graveyard. Eight or more of these boats discarded in this huge lot. Strangely, it was perhaps the most authentic place I encountered over there.