Would you visit Dubai ?

Winty

Hello

With a new story every week in the press about the behaviour of westerners, would you visit Dubai or do you feel it’s not worth the hassle when you have to always act the way you are told.

Now before the flood gates open “it’s their culture and you must obey it” and "if you don’t want to respect their traditions don’t go”

I understand it’s the way they do things over in their country, I feel they are trying to establish a tourism industry and like Vegas they should put the customer first or if not just ban all non Muslims like they do in Mecca and Medina.

I have been to the Emirates and did not like it; they want our money but look down at us for our way of life.


http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/british-tourist-faces-jail-over-kiss-on-cheek-2099240.html

bonerm

Wouldn't mind seeing it on a stop-over to Australia/SE Asia. Can't really say I'd be that bothered to see the place for it's own sake.

If I was there I wouldn't have any problem respecting their customs. For one thing I realise I am a citizen of the world not just the white western enclave that is portrayed to us in the Western Media, and for another I can go 3 or 4 days without a drink or a fry-up or resorting to TIB.

Also I'd imagine they're trying to create an globally recognised economic city, not just another Vegas. You don't build skyscrapers for tourists.

OutlawPete

If someone paid and Cheryl Cole came with me, sure .. why not.

vicecreamsundae

likewise, if it were a stopover i would check it out, but have no desire to go there.

mainly i just don't feel particularly interested in what it has to offer -sunbathing, designer shopping and flashy restaurants etc. okay i know there is probably more to it than that, but it just doesn't sound like my style. i'd be interested in looking around, seeing the architecture but that's about it.

certainly wouldn't feel particularly safe or free there, as an unmarried woman. the stories of being given lashings after being raped are rather disheartening..

FlutterinBantam

It's a lovely place, much 'freer' that the rest of that area.

They are very civilised people, it's just that they don't like drunks and yobbos which means it's never going to be a 'Blackpool'.

orourkeda

OutlawPete wrote: »

If someone paid and Cheryl Cole came with me, sure .. why not.

Once you dont get caught nailing her on the beach

ejmaztec

Dubai doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. That whole region's made enough money out of us as it is, and I wouldn't want to encourage them by giving them some more.

OutlawPete

orourkeda wrote: »

Once you dont get caught nailing her on the beach

Yeah

Did they get out yet?

GavRedKing

Id like to go see it alright for myself.

orourkeda

OutlawPete wrote: »

Yeah

Did they get out yet?

I'm not sure. Serves them right for fornicating in this way

Xavi6

I'd love to go. The club scene is meant to be quality.

xp0

No, Dubai is full of foreigners.

Rylan

Would never go there. The whole city is built by slave labour.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

Dave!

Wouldn't mind checking out the mad buildings and beaches and sh*t

But don't really have any desire to explore it beyond that

Sure it's it full of Brits anyway?

Wibbs

Rylan wrote: »

Would never go there. The whole city is built by slave labour.

One of the main reasons I wouldnt go either. That and it should be a dictionary entry for the definition of hypocrisy.

Xavi6

Dave! wrote: »

Sure it's it full of Brits anyway?

Didn't stop you hitting up Oz

Hagar

Sand, it gets in everywhere. No thanks.

force eleven

xp0 wrote: »

No, Dubai is full of foreigners.

So's Bundoran....

MaybeLogic

Was there 3/4 times for works.
Couldn't stand it. Just full of rich reople meeting each other in soulless air-conditioned hotels (it's too hot to be outside in Summer) and splurging out in over-sized shopping malls.
The last time I was there the construction workers were on strike and I was sickened looking up their pay (if they got paid at all) and conditions.
Then I noticed somestories in newspapers about how people would be travelling there or passing in transit and using some new technology, customs officers could detect minute quantities of hash in peoples luggage, not even visible to the naked eye, and dish out 4 year sentences as standard.
I've never been back since.

SugarHigh

bonerm wrote: »

Wouldn't mind seeing it on a stop-over to Australia/SE Asia. Can't really say I'd be that bothered to see the place for it's own sake.

If I was there I wouldn't have any problem respecting their customs. For one thing I realise I am a citizen of the world not just the white western enclave that is portrayed to us in the Western Media, and for another I can go 3 or 4 days without a drink or a fry-up or resorting to TIB.

Also I'd imagine they're trying to create an globally recognised economic city, not just another Vegas. You don't build skyscrapers for tourists.

Wasn't the empire state building famous for being almost empty?

"1 Times Square" is also completely vacant it's just a billboard.

Cookie_Monster

Been to Dubai, its fantastic. So long as you don't act the **** you are fine. I was drunk on the streets plenty of time and was drinking in pubs with locals drinking too. You should see the queue of car outside the offo's, they drive up and hand order and money out the window and get guy to put it in the boot so no-one sees who they are, crafty Muslims.

The Irish bar in the Tennis stadium is quite nice

damoz

Ive been too. It takes about a day for the novelty of the fancy buildings, snow dome, 7 star hotels etc to wear off. After that its a pretty boring place - and i did all there was to do there - ski, racing, dune bashing, water park, Burj etc

I did enjoy the week there, but i wouldnt go back unless i had to. There are nicer, nearer and cheaper destinations in Europe - anywhere in south of france for starters.

Its pretty much a fancy building site.

bonerm

SugarHigh wrote: »

Wasn't the empire state building famous for being almost empty?

"1 Times Square" is also completely vacant it's just a billboard.

Even if they eventually became tourist attractions it doesn't change the fact that neither were originally built primarily for that reason.

Teddy Chips

My Uncle was there at Xmas and was raving about the place. It's definately somewhere I want to check out in the coming years.

WindSock

Was there before for about 2 days. Wouldn't go back, not my cup of tea. Just a load of flash buildings built in the sand. No history or anything.

Cookie_Monster

WindSock wrote: »

Was there before for about 2 days. Wouldn't go back, not my cup of tea. Just a load of flash buildings built in the sand. No history or anything.

change sand to grassland and you have the US

Minstrel27

I have no need or desire to ever go there.

anbrutog

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

FLCP

I just moved back to Ireland after 5 years there. It's certainly a frustrating, hypocritical, unfair land with so many contradictions that sensible discussion of the place becomes hard. I would say that it is a much better place to live in, than it is to visit for a short while - it takes time to get under the skin of the place and see some of the more hard to find aspects of it. That goes for the culture/people as much as the activities/buildings etc.
There are few places where such extremes meet (or come very close to meeting) so regularly and openly. People earning 5 euro a day digging holes seems disgusting on the surface, but (with the obvious exception of labour scams - visa sharks etc which can happen to better paid people too) when guys come by choice, are earning more than they would be at home and are supporting families back home on that money then you see why they do it. I had acquaintances that chose not to go home to their kids more than once in three years, because they would rather save the money. One of my good mates (on the same money as me) chose to share a studio flat with her brother because it gave them more money to send home. Some people's priorities are different.
Having said that, and with some affection for the place, there is a real undercurrent at the moment. I think we are in the middle of a cultural backlash that has been fermenting for years and all the international criticism will do nothing to stem it - when saving face is so important, the more you push them up against the wall the harder they kick back.

bonerm

anbrutog wrote: »

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

Yes, yes it's awful. I'll be sure also to never to visit New York again either because that place was built on the sweat & toil of cheap Irish labour.

anbrutog

bonerm wrote: »

Yes, yes it's awful. I'll be sure not to ever to visit New York again either because that place was built on the sweat and pain of cheap Irish labour.

Not really the same thing tbh..

pickarooney

anbrutog wrote: »

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

Would you go to Washington D.C., Cape Town or any of the hundreds of other places built by slave labour?

GavRedKing

anbrutog wrote: »

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

Wasnt the Pyramids in Egypt built by slaves??? Doesnt stop people going there and turning them into a glorified tourist spot.

ScumLord

I can't wait to go, I'm just waiting for the oil to run out so I can kick sand in their faces and watch them cry as their idiotic city in the desert rots around their ears.

ScumLord

gavredking wrote: »

Wasnt the Pyramids in Egypt built by slaves??? Doesnt stop people going there and turning them into a glorified tourist spot.

No they where built by conscripts only too happy to build a monument to their god.

WIZE

ScumLord wrote: »

I can't wait to go, I'm just waiting for the oil to run out so I can kick sand in their faces and watch them cry as their idiotic city in the desert rots around their ears.

They will just wipe the sand from their eyes then shoot you and then probably let their Camel hump you

Greyfox

Dubai is up their with New York as one of the greatest cities in the world and it's sad to see some people have such a misguided impression of what it's like over their, I couldn't recommend the place more

I met loads of Irish over their and the nightlife is much better then over here (nightclubs on the beach etc), you can even go Skiing over their. Like New York you can feel very safe as theirs pretty much zero crime or drugs

Columbia

Yes, I'd go to Dubai in a second if I had the time and money. It's a place unlike any other, and therefore is worth experiencing in my book.

Sea Sharp

No. What's a holiday if you can't get sh1t-faced without worrying about some crazy mother-fuckers wanting to chop your hands off.

SugarHigh

bonerm wrote: »

Even if they eventually became tourist attractions it doesn't change the fact that neither were originally built primarily for that reason.

Vegas has plenty of skyscrapers built for tourists and the 4th tallest building in Dubai is a hotel.

I have no idea why anyone would want to go there. Even when everyone was raving about it, I never saw the attraction of a load of skyscrapers in the middle of a desert, or flying all that way to walk around fancy shopping malls and buy designer shoes. I have little sympathy for the idiots who went out there acting like they knew it all and are now whining about how awful it is. Isn't one of the golden rules of life that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is?

anbrutog

pickarooney wrote: »

Would you go to Washington D.C., Cape Town or any of the hundreds of other places built by slave labour?

I think I'm being slightly misunderstood here.
Dubai is a city thats been and being built wholesale by slavery and exploitation.
Go back to the dim and distant past and yes I'm sure you'll find numerous examples of cities that were built off the misery of others. I'm sure Dublin over the years has had more than its fair share of exploitation.

But we supposedly live in more enlightened times. I'd wager theres nowehere else on earth at this present moment that practices wholesale abuse like Dubai does.
Personally, it wouldn't sit easily with me sleeping in a hotel room that people have died to build, and those that have lived have suffered unimaginable cruelty and hardship.

And yes, I'll re-iterate it for those in the cheap seats. I'm sure worker exploitation goes on elsewhere. Would that in itself stop me from going there?? No , because theres nowhere on earth being built now quite as vulgar as Dubai that has been built on the back of so much suffering. Dubai , quite simply takes the piss.

WIZE

GaNjaHaN wrote: »

No. What's a holiday if you can't get sh1t-faced without worrying about some crazy mother-fuckers wanting to chop your hands off.

Do you steal Drinks from Peoples Tables

WindSock

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

change sand to grassland and you have the US

Yeah but I felt there was a bit more character in the US. Saying that though, I've only been to NY & Florida. NY is incomapareable to any city, whereas Florida (Orlando) was a bit like Dubai, in the way that it was just concrete thrown over an area in a short space of time to attract tourists. I don't know, maybe I had not such a great time in Dubai as I was on my own and only there 2 days. Perhaps if I went with a group or with someone who knows where to go it may have been better.

helimachoptor

Not a hope, had been thinking of heading over for a few days in the summer with the GF but I wont be.

Sea Sharp

Most Haunted wrote: »

Do you steal Drinks from Peoples Tables

No way man. Think of the backwash.

Pepe LeFrits

Nope.

Had a day stop off in Abu Dhabi and that was quite enough for me.

An artificial, soulless wart of globalisation run off a base of government-endorsed slavery so that rich, odious, vacuous retards can show off their bling and worry about their tan.

No thanks.

D-Generate

As a place it disgusts me for the aforementioned slave labour. Yes the workers chose to go and work there but little did they know that their passports would be taken from them, that they would be put in to nothing more than forced labour camps and their measly wages for working 12 hour days minimum go towards what the employer deems their "upkeep" in these camps.

I don't think it can last as it is that much longer. The region is broke with no natural resources of their own. They hoped to become a tourist destination and a financial centre in the middle east but whilst succeeding in the former they have failed in the latter. Banks that have rushed there have not seen the returns and the Dubai Merc is certainly no opposition to the NY or the Chicago Merc even after investing so much in to it. The only investment bankers that I know that go there now are the ones who just weren't cutting it in London.

Good riddance Dubai!

FLCP

anbrutog wrote: »

I think I'm being slightly misunderstood here.
Dubai is a city thats been and being built wholesale by slavery and exploitation.

The 'slaves' of the UAE send US$10 billion a year back to their home countries - 10% of all overseas Philippines national workers are in the UAE and sent US$584 million home in 2008. Economic migration is a fact, and the unsavory results of it are nothing new too.

I'm not saying the place is perfect, and i know that abuses are more common than they should be, and that Amnesty et al do great work highlighting the abuse, but "illiterate Keralite farmer's son keeps family fed and watered by sweeping streets in the Gulf" is never going to make it onto the front page of the Daily Mail.

Coriolanus

I don't think I would. There's nothing to the place that's unique. I mean, shopping I can do anywhere (and if I was going on a "shopping holiday" New York or Tokyo would be more interesting).
If I want desert, I'll go to Egypt and get in some history etc etc

bonerm

You could have a gawk at this when you're over
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=651041