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!

[SHarri13]

I don't hate it but really can't see the appeal. The touristy bits just seem a bit tragic and soul-less.

[Birdsgottafly]

Last month a woman was raped there and then in-prisoned, because she had, had sexual relations outside of marriage, if she is pregnant she will have to give birth, what's not to love about the place?

[Cutitup]

Of course, there is a wealth divide. But so there is in England! Compare Kensington Palace with a council estate in Margate. Compare the bankers with social workers in the UK. And we live in a democracy. The wealth divide in the US is even worse.

The fact is, the migrant workers in Dubai earn a lot more money than they would at home so they are, in fact, better off.

Also the desert outside Dubai is beautiful. I know I mentioned shopping and spa treatments (which I admit sounds shallow) but I simply can't afford to have those goodies here.

[wimblehorse]

Have a friend who holidays there several times a year. Fine as she enjoys the restaurants, service, kids clubs/nannies, etc. She keeps trying to arrange us to go away there with them & doesn't get that even if we could afford to go there are a million places I would rather go to. Going to the same place again & again especially such a shiny fake built from blood one when there is a whole world to explore is such a missed opportunity IMO. Still, each to their own

[Sallyingforth]

What is there to hate?
OP You know the answers already, or you wouldn't be posting here to ask for justification.
If you want to go than bloody well go, but don't expect us to salve your conscience for you.

[caramelwaffle]

Someone living in a council house in Margate is free to come and go as they please. Even if she is female.

They may even have some wealth.

[MorrisZapp]

You can afford to fly to Dubai, but you can't afford a spa treatment in the UK? Why not get those goodies here, and save the airfare?

[BoffinMum]

Dubai is the cheap boob job of the beach world. Plastic, fake, ridiculously unsustainable and too hot. And Sharia law underpinning it all. Not a place I would go if I could help it.

[FreudiansSlipper]

i know migrant workers earn more money than they would at home

but the are treated terribly, just because you pay a desperate person a wage does not mean you can treat them like an animal

i have cousins who have worked in the hotels there to send money home the were treated very badly, no sick pay, a contract that they could not get out of basically slavery

[eretrew]

I've never been but it does look an interesting place to visit.

[twistyfeet]

The migrants workers treated like slaves and living in appalling conditions 10 miles outside of the glitter and the bussed in to work outside in the 50 degree heat.
Bet you didnt see that side OP.

[Beehatch]

This piece by Johann Hari might give you some clues OP. I know it is quite an old article, but these truths hold I believe.

[Cutitup]

Also, if you knew the history of Dubai, visited the creek and saw all the history of the trading routes between east and west, you would not say that it has no culture. That is just ignorance.

It's just that most tourists don't seek it out. I do.

Also, I have a friend there who was astounded by the plight of the Indian workers on the construction sites in Dubai. She decided to take her and her family to India for the summer to 'help out'. She came back thinking that the Dubai workers had a far better lot of it after seeing what some of the Indians had to live with living in slums, washing in rivers full of raw sewerage and sleeping 12 to a room. She is the most liberal person I know but she returned to Dubai thinking: "they have a far better deal here".

[MorrisZapp]

Yup. Margate lady will have free healthcare, education for her kids, freedom, and her human rights protected in law. And a temperate climate. And the BBC. And no death penalty.

Sounds pretty good compared with Shariaville.

[WilsonFrickett]

Please link to your evidence about wealth divides?

[FreudiansSlipper]

i could see workers queuing up for water, all shared a pipe from one tank from our 5* hotel

it is not even hidden how badly they treat migrant workers or woman of course

[MrsOakenshield]

google 'ecology Dubai' and have a read. Then come back and tell us what's so good about it, other than the fairly shallow and vacuous things you've already mentioned.

[zatyaballerina]

Slavery, racism, misogyny, homophobia, imprisonment of rape victims for being raped, jeez what could it be?

[WilsonFrickett]

But your premise has nothing to do with conditions in India. Just because there is terrible poverty in one country, does not mean another country which perhaps offers money to a particular type of people is a luffly place. I feel incredibly sorry for anyone who is forced to be an economic migrant simply to feed their kids. But I feel more sorry for people who are forced to be economic migrants in Dubai and similar countries.

[FreudiansSlipper]

yes India does have slums because it has a huge population the vast majority are very very poor

Dubai does not have a huge population and the people have a much higher standard of living. they do not want to treat their migrants workers well as it would take away their power and they see them as lesser humans who they do not have to treat well just pay them a basic salary

but why not they should be grateful

[SomethingOnce]

I know I mentioned shopping and spa treatments (which I admit sounds shallow) but I simply can't afford to have those goodies here.

Nooo, it's not shallow - those things are really important and y'know what? You're worth it.

And if you can't afford it at home, it's definitely ok to exploit others miserable poverty to get it abroad.

[Lemonandrose]

Because there is more to a holiday than sunbathing and shopping?

[JaceyBee]

My best friend lived there for a year for work. I went to visit her for a weekend. It is the most soulless, spiritually bereft place I have ever been. A monument to all that is wrong with capitalism. Nothing, nothing is off limits if you have the $$$. They have a whale shark in a tank in one of the shopping malls. A fucking whale shark!!

I asked to see the 'old town'. It's a piece of wall about 2ft by 5ft. That is all that remains! We did go down to the creek, in the souks and away from the main touristy areas but it's still nothing to write home about.

All the ex pats seemed like horrible, braying sloaney wankers. I guess it would be ok if you liked shopping (and were absolutely minted!) but personally I don't go on holiday to shop, that's what the internet is for!

I know this is a massive generalisation and I don't mean to be bitchy but I think the only people impressed by it tend to be very shallow and not particularly worldly or curious. Basically it's a godforsaken shit hole and it makes me fucking cringe.

[wimblehorse]

take her & her family to India for the summer to "help out"
What, by running a charity project for Indian construction workers? Or on holiday...