Grab a friend's hand and promenade

Abu Dhabi has a long, Gulfside promenade called the Corniche that runs the length of the city between the municipal beaches the and primary road along the water (think Lakeshore Drive, if you are familiar at all with Chicago). It has been spruced in recent years into a spotless jewel of a place, well-lit, well-shaded (in parts), utterly walk- , bike- or roller-blade-able. Unlike the beaches, it costs nothing to stroll in the evenings. K and I took a turn last night and got a snapshot of our fellow city residents along with skyline views.

There was a rainbow nation of families, some with tots on bikes or trikes. There were joggers and bladers taking advantage of the evening breezes (it gets down into the 80s these days, and it's scary how temperate it feels). There were women in abeyyas, tennis shoes and iPod earphones power-walking in their veils. There were men in bathing suits and towels slung around their necks; teenagers giggling; working women still in uniforms strolling in pairs; moms lugging coolers and a few bored security guards.

As always, there were groups of southeast Asian and Arab men walking around holding hands. To jaded American eyes, the way men worldwide hold hands can't help but look homoerotic. And when I say worldwide, I mean worldwide, not just a few from out-of-the-way places that haven't heard about modern homophobia yet. Guys throughout Africa, the Middle East and southeast Asia hold hands with each other without thinking twice. They interlace their fingers, or hold on to a few fingers, adjusting and re-adjusting their grip in a way that's shockingly (to us) intimate. But they are not big homos (for the most part). They are just holding hands. (Much like our soon-to-be former president pictured here...)

There was a lot of hand-holding going on on the Corniche on Friday, and most of it was male-male. I'm always most intrigued by hand-holding etiquette in groups of young men walking together. In a posse of, say, five or six guys, two will be holding hands as they chat with their fellows. You'd never see the same group all hand-in-hand (sort of like a moving game of Red Rover). In fact, you never see more than two guys at a time holding hands. I suppose there's not room on the sidewalk. But I can't help but wonder how a guy decides which of his friends to hold onto. His best homie? The closest guy to him at the moment he feels like holding hands? Is it OK to switch who you're holding hands with over the course of a given evening? Do you hold hands with the person you're chatting with? Or the person you want to pull into the conversation? Of course, if you really are a 'mo, you're totally psyched. You hold hands with your boyfriend in public and no one blinks an eye...

Naturally, I was on the lookout for women doing likewise, but didn't see much. Women walk arm-in-arm in greater numbers than they do in the States, but they don't hold hands like the men.