To not get why people hate Dubai so much?

[Cutitup]

What is there to hate?

I think it's a great place to have a holiday. Great restaurants, great service, fab shopping and spa treatments.

I do understand the problems of domestic and construction staff being exploited but this is not a problem unique to Dubai. I just don't get the vitriol, the 'it has no culture' etc.. I say get out of the bitter farm and play with the hay!

Also they "often" have their passports taken away and have to Work for free for years. Lets not forget that eh?

Your last post CutitIp made me think of Nazi propaganda. They used to make similar assertions re. The Jews. That wasn't strictly true either.

better option from starving to death in a slum ...yeh that's a real choice - anything is a better option than that - doesn't make it fair or right - it 's much better for the people making money out of their low pay and long hours

Living in a labour camp is oh so lovely don't you know? We have volleyball and a music group. That totally takes my mind off my family, who are 1000/ of miles away. I am just helping to build a 7 star hotel so that rich people can come stay, complain about the heat and go shopping. I'll put up with sharing a toilet with 30 people so I can send, oh no nothing, back home as I have t work for 2 years to pay off the debt to the recruiter....

Do you work for the Dubai Tourist Board, OP?

The fact is that a lot of labourers have great jobs there. They often live in labour camps

You can't possibly work for the Ministry of Irony.

Has anyone mentioned the money laundering yet? Everyone from Al Qaeda to the Russian mafia launders their dirty money through Dubai.

I did, a little while back.

Portofino that is exactly what I thought. Would never visit Dubai for many of the reasons that have been mentioned. But the main reason is because I am a woman. Not going somewhere where my rights are less than that of a man.

labour camps

They look lovely and cosy buggers should be grateful I say

I had a colleague who was from the Philippines. His son became dangerously ill. Our boss, Indian, refused to return his passport because he wasnt due leave for another 18 months.

Our receptionist, British, was offered an interview at Cambridge. Our boss drive her to the airport himself.

It was a cruel and inhumane existence for the majority.

I'd like to know how many pompom wavers know any UAE Nationals socially?

I've heard their off the record opinions of most expats. It's not pretty. But they get good PR advice.

Bluestocking, yup.

My reason for not going to Dubai is their appalling human rights record, and the fact the place is built on the proceeds of sex and drug trafficking. Conker, to be be fair, you don't have to travel very far to have less rights than a man.

Porto complete hijack but I found Cuba very interesting. Yes, you do have the issue that only those with contact with tourists can earn dollars, but when you look at markers like healthcare and literacy it does really well. And 'musician' is a profession, just like any other registered profession which I loved yes, I also do shallow so if someone has talent they can just do music and draw a state wage.

and I went to Spain this year yes is hate seeing Brits be loud and drunk abroad or treating people with disdain

did not see any such behaviour

I found Cuba depressing. I have been to far poorer countries but I felt the people had given up hope. It's a beautiful country but has a sadness behind the flamboyance :(

I love all the justifying on these threads, as though all the things that make Dubai good for you cancel out how utterly shit it is for others.

That is my question. Why not Jamaica? Do you not think the locals in Kingston Town get pissed off that tourist money is spent at the Sandals resort only and not among the wider population of the city

You cannot even begin to compare Dubai and Jamaica.

Were you there recently Freud?

True Portofino. I am reading a book called The Land of the Invisible Woman at the moment and while it is written by a female expat in Saudi and not Dubai it has had quite an impact on me.

You're still not really selling it to me OP. They have shopping, restaurants and spa treatments in pretty much every city in the world. Labour camps where expats do charitable work isn't really moving it on to my list of places I must see.

So many expats in Dubai now. I remember when being a white person in Dubai was very unusual and had people gawping in surprise and touching my blond hair to see if it was real.

Older Emiratis for the most part are really nice people - they remember what it used to be like. Sadly, they are becoming fewer and fewer needless-to-say, and those who only know the rich days and therefore tend to be more arrogant are the majority.

The camel racing industry in the UAE is hardly one to admire as a cultual activity what with the tiny child slave jockeys strapped on and all... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_racing

WilsonFrickett it was 2006

even then there were rumours Castro was dead as it was always old footage shown on the nightly 2 hour programme dedicated to him i think the country will change once he has died or it is official

my diving instructor was a surgeon earned more money teaching tourists to dive and that i am guess was still very little

Crumpet - we already went over the camel racing up thread. They don't use humans anymore and haven't for a long time. They use robots.

Thanks for the recommendation for the book, In the Land of the Invisible Women. I have just ordered it from Amazon.

Me too!