Last night I was in an Abu Dhabi taxi whose driver behaved in what you might think is an extraordinary manner. He drove right up to a vehicle that was stopped in front of us, edging ever closer to it, then suddenly braking to avoid contact. He flashed his lights at the car, muttered some curse words and shook his fist at the other driver.
Why? Because the car in front had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to allow some people, including a woman pushing a pram, to cross the road.
The driver grumbled at me as if I should agree with him that this was unconscionable behaviour by the other driver — actually stopping to let people cross the road on a marked zebra crossing.
What to do? I’ve learned that it’s not a good idea to argue with an angry man, especially one in charge of the vehicle in which I am a passenger. So, when I was safely at my destination, I sent a tweet to the cab company suggesting that it should encourage its drivers to do the right thing and stop for pedestrians, especially those who are properly using legal crossings. I didn’t get a response.
For tourists and expatriates alike, one of the biggest challenges of being in a foreign country is adapting to the things you hate or fear but can’t change — such as bad driving, which is endemic in many places. You see something happening, but you know you are powerless to change it.
Now I’m not suggesting that you walk past a crime in progress and not do anything – calling the police would be my recommendation – but I am saying that, to a certain extent, you have to live and let live.
There are only so many times you can suggest to a cafe worker that they should take off their gloves before they handle money, or at least change their gloves before they go back to handling food. The only thing you can really do is to make a mental note not to go to that place again.
Eventually you have to start overlooking the things you may think are dangerous, unhealthy or undesirable, because it’s not your country.
Travel is about experiencing other ways of life. You need to put aside preconceptions, prejudices and personal priorities. You can observe; maybe you can suggest change – as I did with my tweet– but at the end of the day there’s not a lot you can do as a visitor except practice acceptance.
Update, October 12: I don’t you to get the idea that all UAE taxi drivers are crazy. Some of them are perfectly pleasant (if not exactly great drivers). Last night I encountered a young man from Uganda who was polite and a joy to talk to.
