Dubai for a holiday

[user1492877024]

Apologies in advance for posting here instead of the travel section, it's just that I know AIBU gets more traffic. DH and I are considering visiting Dubai for a week and I was wondering if anyone could advise on the best time to visit, places to stay and eat etc. Am struggling between visiting Omen or going to Dubai. Has anyone visited both places?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Fionne]

Op, Oman is wonderful. You’d have a great holiday here but youre fast running out of time to do it anytime soon weather wise.

Dubai your also have a nice time but it’s a different kind of place altogether.

Message me if you’d like more in-depth info on Oman.

[TheHulksPurplePants]

But I am always utterly amazed when people say they love Egypt. A filthier hole full of more slimy, unpleasant, untrustworthy men (and invisible women) I cannot imagine.

I know!!!! Horrible, horrible place. But again, you can't judge a place after a week's holiday.

[Fionne]

We can't go to Dubai, even on a stopover due to DH's meds, unless we get special pernission from the UAE Health People. Or risk arrest.
Far too much hassle for us. Never fancied it much, but each to their own.

I’ve suggested before that based on my personal experience you really are making way more of things than need be.

[Areyoureallykidding]

For those negatively commenting - have you actually been to Dubai.

I have just returned to the UK after spending 11 years working and living there (ex DH is still there) and a wonderful place to visit. It is not 'souless' by any means.

Time to visit OP, if you prefer the cooler weather is now to May - June to September blisteringly hot and plus you have Ramandan for one of those months.

Places to visit:

• Burj Khalifa and certainly a trip to the Observation Deck to watch the sun rise.
  
• Dubai Museum
  
• Jumeirah
  
• Water parks (absolutely fantastic)
  
• Irish Village
  
• Big Red Bus Tour
  
• Dubai Mall
  
• Mall of the Emirates
  
• A Friday brunch at Saffrons in the Atlantis Hotel
  

And so much more

[Fionne]

I'm now curious as to how disabled Emeratis get about?confused

Very easily. Buildings are accessible.

[Fia256]

We went on a family holiday with our young children a couple of years ago and stayed at the Atlantis the palm. We had a brilliant time and there was that much to do in and around the hotel we didn't really leave there much! We went during Ramadan, and the Atlantis was very relaxed and tourist friendly so the covering yourself up and no eating during the day didn't apply there but they just stressed to us if we did go into Dubai to obviously be aware and respectful which we did.

We visited the Dubai Mall and went into the aquarium there, we also went up the Burj Khalifa, and sat outside the mall/burj for dinner one evening and watched the water display which is fantastic. If you don't stay at the Atlantis, definitely visit there as it is just fantastic!

[yetmorecrap]

I thought it was somewhat dull unless you just love malls , I also thought the food was crap with an odd exception , and the price of drink was off the scale . However accommodation was amazing. It was 48 degrees in May when we went and to be honest too hot to lie around a pool and the sea was not nice. I can think of way better places BUT if you want some great weather November to say March and like shopping a lot and Americanised eating and don’t like a lot of authentic ness, then it may well fit the bill. Sort of Floridaish but closer and more expensive when there

[19lottie82]

I’m just back from visiting for the first time and I loved it!

It’s expensive to eat and drink though. Restaurants were about double and you were about £10 a drink. My OH is tee total though, so ai don’t really bother drinking much when I’m holiday with him.

[SandyY2K]

I've been to Dubai. ..but not Oman.

I liked it. You can check the weather on Google.

Not read the thread. ..so apologies if I've duplicated anything.

Places to visit. ..

Ski Dubai
Wild wadi
Dessert safari
Kidzania

We also took a trip to ferrari world in Abu Dabi.

You can go to the Beach too.

A trip/flight up the burg kalifa is another tourist attraction.

There are places to go Quad biking.

I find it a really easy place to holiday. It's also very safe.

There are more things to do depending on the age of your kids.

[user1492877024]

SandyY2K

I've decided on Oman tbh, although, I would like to visit Dubai some day. Thanks anyway.

[SandyY2K]

Your welcome.

[whitecandles]

TheHulksPurplePants

I really don't think you can compare sexism/human rights abuses in Dubai with sexism/human rights abuses in Korea.

I have lived in both. And yes, Korea has a LOT of problems, but its entire economy is not built on actual slave labour.

Women don't get arrested in Korea for having sex with men they aren't married to.

I am not denying that Korea has a ton of problems with sexism, but compared to Dubai, it is nothing. On a day to day basis, for the average westerner, Dubai might seem less sexist, but for the people who actually live and work in the country, Dubai is far worse. At least in Korea, there are subcultures for women to escape to. Plus, Korea is improving day by day.

[TheHulksPurplePants]

I live and work in Dubai whitecandles , and the economy is built on oil & gas, not slave labor, they aren't selling slaves.

Now, if you want to say their infrastructure was built by poorly paid Asian workers, you would be correct. However, Korean infrastructure was/is also built by poorly paid Asian workers, from China, Thailand and Vietnam, not to mention poorer Koreans.

Women (and men) may get arrested for extramarital sex, but it's rare and only enforced in extreme circumstances, usually resulting in deportation. It is a Muslim country.

I worked with an adoption agency in Korea and the amount of racism, sexism and downright horrid behavior I witnessed against children whose only crime was to be born out of wedlock was horrendous. Rotting in orphanages, beaten by relatives who didn't want them but were forced to keep them, spit on in the street. I walked past a woman being beaten by her husband in the street and was told to stay out of it, because it was ok and his right. I've never seen that in Dubai. Sure it happens behind closed doors, like anywhere, but it's not as accepted and expected as it is in Korea.

[whitecandles]

Hulk And I too have lived and worked in both. I also think my meaning of slave labour was perfectly clear.

The distinction for me is pretty obvious.

1. The vast majority of Korean infrastructure was built by poor Koreans (which was most Koreans, because until the 80s almost everyone was poor). They were not, however, slaves. Poorly paid, absolutely. Probably badly treated. However, that is not the same as being a slave.
   

1. Korea was not built as a destination for rich tourists to swan about in. That is my issue with Dubai. It was built by slaves, continues to be built by slaves, and one of its main sources of income is tourism. It is VERY easy for us to therefore stand against slavery by simply not visiting Dubai. Not so in Korea, since it is not really a tourism hotspot, and by not visiting, you are not really standing against anything. While working conditions are pretty shitty in Korea for most people (white collar workers included), it does not have slave labour on the same scale.
   

1. Korea is a collectivist culture, and with that, comes a culture of looking after one's own friends and family first. You can fall over in the street/get hit by a car/get attacked and 9 times out of 10, no one will help you, woman, man or child. It sucks, but by the same token, it does mean that your friends and family do really take care of you, far more than people do in the west. I don't particularly like it, but it is what it is. So when people don't get involved in a man beating his wife, it's down to that.
   

I do not know any Koreans who think beating your wife is a man's 'right'. Maybe 30 or 40 years ago people thought like that, but I dare say people in the UK did too. Sometimes Koreans will say stuff like that to stop you intervening because they are embarrassed. But I know plenty of Koreans who will, instead, call the police, report it to a station guard or whatever. Getting directly involved in other's business is not the done thing. It is absolutely not 'accepted' or 'expected' to beat your wife, it just that people's reactions might not be what you think they should be.

As for saying you saw a man beat his wife in Korea but not in Dubai - that's quite meaningless. I haven't seen it in either country, so does that mean it never happens? Of course not.

The adoption thing in Korea is a massive problem, and I wish there were some solutions, but it seems unlikely given the culture.

Yes, there is sexism/racism in Korea. It fucking sucks. I deal with it every day.

My argument, however, lies on the fact that there is very little we can do to change Korea, as westerners. If no tourists ever went to Dubai, the slave labour would disappear far more quickly. Not so for any human rights/sexism problems in Korea. I just don't see the point in going to hotels/malls etc that you KNOW were built unethically, as if that's totally fine. Korea, like most places, has its problems, but I don't feel like I'm supporting those problems by living here. If I went on holiday to Dubai, I absolutely would be supporting those things. And it is so simple not to do.

Korea is a country that is changing rapidly. Even 10 years ago, when I arrived, it was a very different place. To say stuff like 'men beat their wives in Korea and no one cares' is just sensationalist crap. Like every country, some people give a shit, some people don't. Korea has only been a modern country for a couple of decades - my husband (Korean) is only in his 20s and he grew up in what we would consider to be a garden shed. You can't just expect that a country like that will change every sexist/racist/whatever attitude overnight. You can, however, expect rich westerners to maybe by-pass Dubai as a holiday destination, considering its origins.

[TheHulksPurplePants]

whitecandles if you lived in Dubai you'd know that they aren't slaves. Slaves don't get paid, the workers here do. Poorly, yes, but paid. And if they aren't, they can go to the police. That wasn't the case when I moved here 12 years ago, but it is now.

Everything you just said about Korea rapidly changing, applies to Dubai as well, you can't expect a formerly strict Muslim country to change overnight, and you especially cannot expect it to change with no influence from the outside world. Tourism is key, not only to lessening the countries dependency on oil & gas, but to modernizing the country. Laws & attitudes have changed drastically over the last few decades because they've had to.

It's absolutely hypocritical to allow Korea to have its "flaws" but not the UAE.

[EastDulwichWife]

We went a week ago. It's quite boring and there's not very much to do.

But if you want to lounge around a pool, enjoy the sunshine and do little else, go for it.

[MsGameandWatching]

Or you could:-

Go up the burj khalifa
Watch the water dancing while having an amazing meal
Go to the water park
Take a water taxi to the souks
Drive out of the city for an hour and canoe amongst the mangroves
Do a desert safari
Take a river cruise on a Dhow, night and day, both are worth doing.
Go to the Malls
Eat at any of the amazing signature restaurants that can be found in most of the hotels
Go to bar 44 in Grosvenor House for amazing cocktails and food with an incredible view
Go to Ferrari World and the Yas water park - the best one
Go for an incredible brunch
Go to Abu Dhabi - only a 90 minute drive and see the Emirates Palace and the heritage centre.

[19lottie82]

We went a week ago. It's quite boring and there's not very much to do.

You’re joking, right? If not, you obviously weren’t looking very hard.

[PatsyClineSilVousPlait]

The hotspot for anyone who missed Apartheid South Africa first time round. Enjoy.

[NinjagoNinja]

[NinjagoNinja]

So, top things to do in Dubai: eat, shop and go up really tall things.

[k2p2k2tog]

I wouldn't cross Dubai off the list because of the slavery. women's rights etc etc.

I would cross it off the list because there's bugger all to see and do apart from hotels and shopping malls.

[19lottie82]

there's bugger all to see and do apart from hotels and shopping malls.

That’s a pretty ignorant (and untrue) statement, especially if you’ve never been there

[EastDulwichWife]

I'm not joking at all. If paying £40 to go up a tall building and wandering round a shopping mall is what you like to do than by all means, you'll enjoy it. We did those things, watched the fountains, ate out, visited the other 'top sites' etc. But I didn't find any of that particularly interesting (more like being in Vegas).

Abu Dhabi has more to offer culturally, I found. Fantastic mosque, the Louvre, etc. But still, there's little to do for more than 4-5 days.

[MsGameandWatching]

So, top things to do in Dubai: eat, shop and go up really tall things.

Yes that's what my post said, except it didn't