Arabia: what’s it really like?
Mention of the Arabian Peninsula conjures up romantic images of exotic fairytales and far-away legends, of star-lit desert nights and camel-led caravans over endless, pristine sand dunes.
Arabia is one of the most fabled places in the world, but today, the reality in much of the peninsula is vastly different from the legend. The film ‘Syriana’ captures it quite well, if you want a quick introduction; otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to explain the Gulf to someone who hasn’t been there, especially in two paragraphs, but someone has to try.
In the oil-rich states, mega cities are rising out of the desert, dominated by Starbucks and local ‘dish-dashers’ in their 4WDs. These countries require a massive expatriate workforce from poor Asian countries to sustain the royal lifestyle of the arrogant locals, who are the most openly racist people (and most reckless drivers, for what it’s worth) that I’ve come across in visiting about 50 countries worldwide. Workers are flown in from India and Nepal to put up skyscrapers in 45 degree heat, which often kills them, and bussed out of the centre into their far-away dorms at night – out of sight, out of mind.
As you see in the desert that surrounds them, these cities themselves are just mirages; everything looks good, nothing actually works. It’s a third world mentality with first world money, and the result is that everything is done badly, but without consequence. If you pull down an old souq to build a new one, and then you realise that the new souq has none of the character of the old one, what do you do? Tear down the new one and build a second new one, but this time making it look old.
After spending more than a year in a place like this, the first thing I thought I’d want to do was to get as far away from it as possible. But I was struck by curiosity: surely not all of Arabia is like this? There must still be a version of Arabia like the fables, where not everyone owns two mobile phones; where travel is by camel and not Landcruiser; where history is respected, and not torn down; and where someone from India could be an interesting person from a fascinating, far away land, not a virtual slave.
This Arabia, insha’Allah, still exists in Yemen, or at least it does in my vision of Yemen. A week from now, I’ll find out.
Tags: Arabia, Travel, Yemen
Nick