So Scorchingly Hot And Nowhere To Hide
This story is the second part of my previous article Missing Abu Dhabi.
I worked in Abu Dhabi for 5 years, and I learned to love the place, the people, their food and their culture. I will always remember Abu Dhabi, and forever cherish in my heart the pleasant memories I had for it.
My first week in Abu Dhabi was the loneliest. I wanted to go back to my country immediately on the very day I arrived in Abu Dhabi. The people could not speak English – we could not understand each other. Their customs and culture were totally different from ours. I could not eat their very spicy foods, and the climate was very hot and dry.
I worked as a Site Engineer in a contracting company for ADCO oil and gas projects onshore. As a Mechanical Engineer, I was assigned in the renovations of pumping stations, oil gathering stations, water injectors, dual wellhead oil installations, and in pipeline constructions.
This month of June evokes in me a very nostalgic memory of Abu Dhabi. I remember how we worked in the desert every day under the scorching heat of the sun. Summer in Abu Dhabi usually starts in March and ends in September. It is in this month of June that the climate becomes very hot and this hot climate extends up to August. The ambient temperature during these months can soar up to 70 degrees Celsius! During these days, the desert is like a big oven with baked, red-hot sand dunes. No houses, no trees, no vegetation for shelter whatsoever! It is all sand dunes all around that stretch miles away – so wide, so high, so lonesome, and so scorchingly hot and nowhere to hide!
I could never forget the experience I had when we constructed a pipeline in Asab oilfield one summer. As usual, a British piping inspector working for ADCO showed me the right of way, and my workers marked it with pegs. Our big Kenworth truck loaded the pipes from ADCO’s warehouse and delivered them on site.
We started work immediately upon issuance of work permit. It was a windless hot day! I saw the water vapor ascended from the top of the sand dune mountains around the area like flames of fire. The temperature was extremely hot that I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to go inside our car – but it was not around. I wished there was a tree or any small vegetation where I could take shelter, but there was none. It was barren all around stretching miles away. It was so wide, so high, so lonesome, and so scorchingly hot and nowhere to hide! I started to faint and was about to collapse when our car arrived.
That was the worst experience I had while working in one of the deserts in Abu Dhabi. I withstood the extreme temperatures from 60 up to 70 degrees Celsius while working in Habshan and Bu Hasa oilfields, but the temperature in Asab oilfield during that certain summer day was terrible! It could have been more than 80 degrees Celsius! I thanked God that I was fortunate enough that our car arrived just on time to rescue me.