Worlds Apart

In the early afternoon on June 1st, John and I piled ourselves and our bags into a hatchback Suzuki taxi headed for the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal.  The taxi was easily 20 years old, and it jostled down the potholed dirt roads as the driver laid on the horn.  Seven hours of transit later, we exited the airport in Abu Dhabi and headed to the taxi stand, where we were directed to a brand new Lexus.  After sitting comfortably in leather seats and cruising down smooth highways for 20 minutes, we arrived at our new hotel and into a completely different world.

We’ve made some sharp contrasts before during our travels, such as landing in New Zealand after four months in Central and South America, and arriving in Singapore after two months living in rural Bali.  From these experiences, I knew we would experience some culture shock transitioning between Nepal and the UAE, and Abu Dhabi did not disappoint.  Small guesthouses turned into mega chain hotels.  Streets teeming with life (and livestock) turned into soulless highways and pedestrian free walkways.  Lush mountainsides gave way to arid and dusty deserts.

To illustrate the differences of these two worlds, I present the above photographs.  On the left is the construction happening at a hotel in Pokhara, Nepal.  The scaffolding is made of bamboo and the work materials are piled up on the street in front of the building.  On the right is the construction of a new hotel in Abu Dhabi.  I don’t think there’s any bamboo in site.

Worlds apart, indeed.  Another sharp contrast was the change from Buddhist culture to Muslim culture.  More on that to come.