DUBAI

[Question10]

I have booked a holiday to Dubai in a 5 star hotel on the palm. The plan is to stay in the resort for the week & enjoy the pool etc. AIBU to worry about going to Dubai? One of my friends has told me that she would never go there because of their strict laws and she’s got me worried. I’ve done some googling and I’m still a bit worried. Will I be able to wear a swimming costume at the pool? Do I need to cover up? If you have been to Dubai before, I would really appreciate your opinion.

My biggest complaint in Dubai is lack of sockets in apartments

And if mumsnet hatred for Dubai was based on this alone then I would say fair enough! But it’s not. There’s always the faux outrage over ‘womens rights’ and immigrant workers amongst other things. Take a long, hard look at the UK. Women are treated awfully here and so are plenty of workers.

A gay person/couple would be totally safe in Dubai so long as there were no PDA’s (which is heavily frowned upon for hetero couples too)

It's also the fact that same people usually happily go or would go to other places where homosexuality is criminalised.

Homosexuality is illegal, but there is a big gay scene and I know several same sex couples, including married couples, who live there quite happily.

I gotta say I agree with this. if visiting a church or any other place of religious worship, it's only common decency to not have bits hanging out...

Not stellar with human rights

I had some of your concerns, we went and it was great. nothing to worry about. But I do feel a bit guilty about the ethical aspect of supporting their economy.

Read my post again. I’m not making excuses and if that was the only reason mumsnet had for the staunch hatred I would understand, but it’s not.

I wouldn't go to any country that has enough human rights issues to have its own page on Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch websites.

It would be like going to South Africa for a holiday in the days of apartheid.

The Emirates generally treat migrant workers appallingly, and anyone who stays in the hotels etc built by those migrant workers is part of the problem imo.

have its own page on Amnesty International

Doesn't every country have their own page on AI website?

Likening visiting Dubai to going to South Africa during apartheid…LOL. Batshit MN response at its finest 😂👏

I didn't feel unsafe or that you couldn't sit round pools in swimwear - drinking was expensive and poor quality in my opinion and food a bit mixed but again expensive for what it was. Accommodation though --superb, sea not nice for swimming and not great beaches either.

I personally didn't like the general vibe, very bling and a bit subservient and all based on shopping -actually quite boring - but each to their own .

Are you as assiduous in your travel morality in other parts of the world? Because women and migrant workers are treated like shit in a whole heap of countries. Would you travel to the US for instance? Indonesia?

OP I’ve been many many times for work.

I feel so much safer there than in UK. No drunks, no on street harassment, much lower crime, etc. You’re safer with a Dubai police officer than you are with a British police officer, sadly.

The only big must do is do not kiss or even touch a man (even husband) in public. You can get arrested for public kissing, to them it’s a bit like flashing your genitals at passers by.

Anything you wear in UK is also acceptable anywhere in Dubai, I mostly wore shorts and t shirt or a knee length dress. If you want to cover up, buy a pashmina out there, you can buy silk or cashmere for what you’d pay for polyester in the UK. The shopping there is fantastic, don’t buy much before you go, just go the mall out there.

Yes it has human rights issues but that will not affect you, and there are very few countries in the world with perfect human rights records.

Have fun and say hi to the waterpark for me.

And by the way I always felt very respectfully treated as a woman in Dubai. It was refreshing compared to the UK, frankly. No man in Dubai would dream of manspreading his legs all over me the way happens daily on UK trains. People opened doors for me and were helpful. It was nice.

Gets a bit hot, a minor detail but not ideal for people who aren't keen on hot weather

@Yusay the mall is very, very expensive though.. I’d shop before I go. 😅

There's been a programme on bbc2 the last 3 weeks about Dubai, the third one explains drinking etc laws. It should be on iplayer.

I feel like I need to add that I am big promoter of maxi dresses for comfort and skin safety in summer. I hope it did not give anyone idea shorter dresses can't be worn!

You can touch a man in public. I mean full on snogging is going to upset people (you'll get told to stop not arrested though) but kisses on the cheek are fine and you can hug/hold hands FFS.

@LakieLady - are you planning on leaving the UK given it has its own amnesty page? I can't see a Micronesia page, maybe you could move there?

I'm not excusing issues Dubai has and I'm not blind to them but having just come back from South Africa, to compare UAE to Apartheid era South Africa is ridiculous and it is Islamophopia
You never get these threads when people talk of holidaying in lots of other countries which have similar human rights concerns, it's just Dubai. Go look at the Amnesty report on Thailand for example.

Turkey has an awful human rights record.

From Amnesty’s website:

In July, Türkiye’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, rejected the applications by dozens of women’s organizations, bar associations and others to annul the 2021 presidential decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention). The Court’s decision effectively rubber-stamped the unilateral withdrawal by the executive from this treaty. An appeal against the Council decision to reject the applications was pending, while several separate applications by women’s rights organizations had still not been heard by the end of the year.

I wonder how many of the Dubai critics are quite happy to go to Turkey on holiday.

In true Mumsnet fashion though, the OP didn't ask for a full run down of human rights records throughout the world. She asked if she would be okay to wear her cossie in the resort in Dubai.

Yes OP, you can.