Dubai: Amazing Place

[ckissick]

Check out the link below to see what's going on in one corner of the Arab world. Capitalism run rampant, they certainly aren't wasting time with IEDs there.

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm

[Komenda Fan]

Amazing what you can do when you have a bit of money, isn't it? Everyone I know who has been there loves it. I will have to schedule a trip sometime soon. The Burj Dubai sounded like one of those fantasy projects that would never get built, like Frank Lloyd Wrights Mile high tower, but its already exceeded the height of the world's tallest man made structure and just keeps going!

[craigster59]

At $4.00 a gallon/$122 a barrel, I'm sure a lot of projects are getting "greenlighted"..

[Seric]

I can't wait until their shallow oil fields are gone and they are paying us triple what we pay now.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Precisely why the king is pushing for all these projects and to make the area into a "playground for the rich". So the country has something to keep a booming economy going when the wells go dry.

Gotta' hand it to him - he's got more forward-thinking vision than our bumbling idiot "leaders".

[charleskieffner]

i hear heads roll there on fridays! and hands and feet and fingers! i'll bet lawyers are cheap there! they are more than likely useless!!!!!

[Rearden]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Precisely why the king is pushing for all these projects and to make the area into a "playground for the rich". So the country has something to keep a booming economy going when the wells go dry.

Gotta' hand it to him - he's got more forward-thinking vision than our bumbling idiot "leaders".

The world's most fabulous real estate bubble.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

i hear heads roll there on fridays! and hands and feet and fingers! i'll bet lawyers are cheap there! they are more than likely useless!!!!!

Lawyers are very expensive there actually. Last one I instructed (a Brit) billed his time at GBP 800 per hour - which is USD 1,600 per hour +/- at today's exchange rates.

[SXSMAN]

I keep meaning to post pics and the story .

Was there back in January .

My wifes cousin has a apartment in Dubai Marina . Next time I'm back I'm sure I won't be able to see any water because the other buildings will cover the view when done .



That's construction dust , looks like haze .











Rather cool place . Two thumbs up . Always felt safe also .

SxS

[BGCarrera32]

Amazing what you can do when your government doesn't tax the daylights out of you...

[LakeCleElum]

Been there, visited both 7 star hotels....Thought it was a great place until I spent a day with a friend from England who is there long-term as an advisor to the AE Police.

Consider:
1) Last year, a German couple were jailed for 3 months for kissing in public
2) Men and women attend almost all functions in separate groups - even weddings
3) All magazines, internet and even emails are checked and censored...
4) Some AE states insist hotels put hidden cameras in the televisions to monitor activity in the room you rent!
5) Some AE states allow no alcohol what-so-ever. You can be arrested for bring a bottle of wine to your hotel room.
6) The weather, heat to 130 and constant haze.
7) Working conditions - Construction workers are brought in from India. Low pay, no safety procedures, and they are bussed out of town at night and housed in tents.
8) I was there during "Ramadan" - Can't find a place to eat anywhere. Cannot be seen eating in public!
9) Citizens pay no taxes - How does this attract me to vacation there????
10) Drivers are crazy and the Police are Lazy!!!!!

After 2 days, I had seen most of 2 states and was ready to leave.....Leaders want this to be a tourist destination. They will have to drastically change their culture to get my tourist dollars!

[JV911SYDNEY]

Originally Posted by Komenda Fan

Everyone I know who has been there loves it.

I've been 3 times an i LOVE it (my Mrs is turkish and we go to turkey every year)

Would recommend without hesitation.

Originally Posted by craigster59

At $4.00 a gallon/$122 a barrel, I'm sure a lot of projects are getting "greenlighted"..

they dont have much oil esp compared to other gulf states...aparently only 7% of their GDP is from oil

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

i'll bet lawyers are cheap there! they are more than likely useless!!!!!

on the contrary there are a lot of highly qualified, highly paid locals and ex-pats from US, UK & Aus there in finance, law etc etc

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

1) Last year, a German couple were jailed for 3 months for kissing in public
2) Men and women attend almost all functions in separate groups - even weddings
5) Some AE states allow no alcohol what-so-ever. You can be arrested for bring a bottle of wine to your hotel room.
6) The weather, heat to 130 and constant haze.
7) Working conditions - Construction workers are brought in from India. Low pay, no safety procedures, and they are bussed out of town at night and housed in tents.
8) I was there during "Ramadan" - Can't find a place to eat anywhere. Cannot be seen eating in public!

1) UAE esp dubai is very liberal...i doubt they were arrested for "kissing" (maybe in iran or syria) My Mrs and I are very affectionate and were so in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

2) Again UAE is very liberal, although the locals have a different culture and its natural for them to to attend functions seperately. not foreigners though

5) not so. despite being Muslim, alcohol is available all over the UAE. It is more prevalent in Dubai, having more of a tourist focus, but, alcohol is essentially available in most hotels, which have a licence to sell alcohol.

6) It is hot but its the humidity that gets you. Not a real prob for me coming from Aus

7) Very true. Workers (vast majority is indian)live in tents or dorm accomodation and are bussed into worksites each day. For professionals, working conditions are top notch

8) As a foreigner you should have no problem getting a feed. Again, tourist-focus and the one rule for foreigners one rule for local thing applies

Artsy shot of Burj al Arab:

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Been there, visited both 7 star hotels....Thought it was a great place until I spent a day with a friend from England who is there long-term as an advisor to the AE Police.

Consider:
1) Last year, a German couple were jailed for 3 months for kissing in public
2) Men and women attend almost all functions in separate groups - even weddings
3) All magazines, internet and even emails are checked and censored...
4) Some AE states insist hotels put hidden cameras in the televisions to monitor activity in the room you rent!
5) Some AE states allow no alcohol what-so-ever. You can be arrested for bring a bottle of wine to your hotel room.
6) The weather, heat to 130 and constant haze.
7) Working conditions - Construction workers are brought in from India. Low pay, no safety procedures, and they are bussed out of town at night and housed in tents.
8) I was there during "Ramadan" - Can't find a place to eat anywhere. Cannot be seen eating in public!
9) Citizens pay no taxes - How does this attract me to vacation there????
10) Drivers are crazy and the Police are Lazy!!!!!

After 2 days, I had seen most of 2 states and was ready to leave.....Leaders want this to be a tourist destination. They will have to drastically change their culture to get my tourist dollars!

Sorry but the above is simply not correct in many areas. Have been based out of Dubai the last 5 weeks.

Consider the truth:

1. Possible, PDA (public displays of affection) are not really allowed in most of the muslim world. Many Europeans sunbathe in the nude at home and if they were getting "frisky" here in Dubai they very well could have been put in jail. That said, if they did the same thing in many places in America the same thing can very well happen.

2. Not totally true in Dubai or any of the UAE. Saudi Arabia this is correct. It does happen at some functions but not all. How much do you know about the muslim culture? This is NORMAL in their world!!!!

3. Sorry, not true at all. Yes some websites are censored but thats it. I have come in and gone out 15 times in the last 5 weeks and this is simply not true.

4. Thats possible and I know that it happens in Russia, but its not widespread. I know that most hotels in the UAE are not even allowed to have cameras in the elevators. Trust me, I have been in the "security ops HQ" and know where they have cameras in one if the best 7 star hotels in Dubai.

5. All religious muslims are not supposed to drink. What part of this do you not understand? You can have booze all over the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. Saudi, Kuwait, Yemen and so on they will put you in jail for it. You know the rules, stop *****ing over it.

6. You are also describing most of Arizona, Nevada and Southern California in the Eastern part of the state. Bullcrap about the haze. Just flew out of Dubai yesterday and vis was over 50 miles. This is something called WEATHER and it changes every couple of days everyplace in the world.

7. You mean kinda like our workers from Mexico? BS on the "housed in tents." There may be a few in temp housing like this but most are in apartment compounds.

8. Do you even do any research about the places you visit? Ramadan is a period of feasting for devout muslims. Why would the restaurants be open if there are no customers eating? The muslmins can eat before and after the sun goes down. You as a tourist can get food in ANY HOTEL, so learn about their customs and stop your *****ing.

9. You are finally totally correct on this one. They want people to come and visit then leave, or stopover on a journey elsewhere. There are many countries in this part of the world who have no taxes.

10. You are also describing a good portion of America and some places in Europe.

They could care less about your US $$$ and will never change their culture to attract anyone. Do you travel very much? Countries do not change their culture to attract ANYONE. Right now Dubai and the UAE are so stuffed full of people from Europe, Asia and Russia that they could care less about the $$$. The Euro is so strong now that tourists are flocking to Dubai and the people there are very happy about it. They are not missing you and your $$$ by the way.

Joe
(who is in Bombay India right now and heading back to Dubai to stay in one of those 7 star hotels tonight)

[SXSMAN]

Joe
(who is in Bombay India right now and heading back to Dubai to stay in one of those 7 star hotels tonight)

Lucky Bastard !!!

Doesn't suck to be you , SxS

[Joeaksa]

SxS,

Sometimes its good, and sometimes its not so good. This has been a very good rotatation and cannot complain. The pool at the hotel we are staying at is a very good location for sights to see, and the souks (markets) have been nice to us, so enjoyed it a lot.

Supposed to head home in a week (been out 5 weeks now) but may get extended until 1 June. Worse places in the world to be as we are heading to London then Nice France in the next week or so.

Still, I am not at home and at times am envious of you guys who sleep in your own bed every night. Plays hell on trying to have a relationship with this job.

Joe

[Mule]

They can build hotels to the moon. It'll never be Monte Carlo. Dubai will be to muslims what Dollywood is to rednecks.

[URY914]

50 years ago they were riding camels

[Eric 951]

Was there last Feb. for work and found it quite lovely. I went by myself and felt completely safe the entire time.

What ws most interesting were the varying groups of people I met--Indians, Pakistanis, Lebanese, Iranians, Brits, Germans, all working on the same project.

My field crew was all Indian/Kashmir/Pakistani. But when I went out on the town with the GC supt., whom was Lebanese, we met up with 2 hot Iranian girls he knew..and we all drank alcohol together.

Here are some pics--the one has (2) crane cables twisted...that was an interesting day as one operator was Arab and the other was Iranian.

[Mr_Wizard]

I have been to Dubai numerous times (30 day restriction on Kuwati Visas) and it is not all peaches and cream. Yes the oceanfront is beautiful if you have the moola. Take a walk 2 block away from it though, it is just like every other middle eastern crap hole.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That can be said of so many other places too though. The nicer, more affluent areas are typically always right along the waterfront. Heck, from the beach to about 4th street here in Long Beach is nice, but the quality of the neighborhood and socioeconomic demographic starts deteriorating pretty markedly after that the further inland you go!