All my life, people have asked me ‘What’s it like living in the UAE? and until recently I could only say that I didn’t know, because I’d never been. I spent the first 18 years of my life in a small South East Asian country called Brunei Darussalam, and when people found out, they invariably thought it was one of the Emirates. Since moving here, I’ve been unable to go a day without being stunned by the differences between these two countries – made all the more shocking when I consider how much they have in common.
On paper Brunei is very similar to the UAE, and Abu Dhabi in particular; they both have lots of oil, they have both been British protectorates, they’re both surrounded by larger countries, their populations are proud and their leaders are deeply respected. You’d be forgiven for expecting the biggest difference to be the climate. But what I’ve learnt since coming here is that oil alone is not enough to define a place and its identity.
Brunei understands the need to diversify its economy away from oil, but it has never put its money where its mouth is. Its leaders seem content for it to remain a small, stable and comfortable backwater. There is something pleasant about this, if it’s all you’ve ever known. In the time I lived there, Brunei’s capital only had a few streets, and much of its population continued to live in stilt houses on the waters of the Brunei River. If you went to the shopping district, there would be the Indian restaurant, the internet cafe, the DVD store and so on. As far as I was concerned, it had everything I could ever need.
When I first came to Abu Dhabi, many things blew me away: buildings sprung up over night, supermarkets were stocked with an incredible selection of goods and the streets were lined with countless thriving businesses. I was struck by a wave of nostalgia – it all seemed too much. ‘I don’t need ten kinds of milk!’ I would think to myself, while I wondered at how anyone could possibly want an entire supermarket aisle dedicated to bread. ‘How am I supposed to find my way around if they’re always building new stuff?’ I would despair as I got lost in the streets of the UAE’s capital. Everyone appeared to be in a hurry – they had places to go, people to see and I felt as though my internal clock was running too slowly for this place.
What I realised was that Brunei is stuck in the past, and moving here was like being hit with a quarter-century’s worth of jetlag at once. As I adjusted, I realised that if I could love Brunei, I could easily make a life for myself here. Abu Dhabi has its own considerable charms – it’s fast pace of life is bracing, its ambition is inspiring, and the choices here have replaced my lethargic comfort with a panoply of new experiences. Every once in a while, I long for the percussive sound of rain on a corrugated-iron roof, or to lose myself in the jungle – but now when people ask ‘What’s it like living in the UAE?’ I can answer: ‘It’s brilliant!’
