Dubai: The new Gold Coast

Beautifuly written. Thanks.

Though I know this a travel piece and not an article about human rights, any piece about Dubai's opulence should be qualified by telling readers that most of this region's grand projects are built off the backs of guest laborers who are little more than slaves.

Sure enough Dubai will one day change and perhaps the lives of those who actually build Dubai will count for something. Until then it will be a place that will be admired only by those who care for what pleases the eye and loathed by those who are believers in democratic governance and the fair treatment of people.

Muslim is Muslim is Muslim. I know Dubai looks stunningly beautiful; however, this is still a conservative country. If a foreigner (me) breaks a law or does anything they deem improper, I will suffer the consequences. No, thanks. I lived in Cairo, Egypt for two years. Again, no thanks. I am a traveler but those Muslim rules are laws are too far removed from the Western way of life. I will watch a National Geographic special when I want to get up close and personal with Dubai.

Muslim doesn't mean conservative.

In Dubai, you can do anything you would do in Florida, its not like Saudi Arabia and the Shariah laws they live by.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you break the law in ANY country, you'd suffer consequences.

Chuck- you are 100% on the money.

What are the restrictions, if any, on women traveling to Dubai? Do they have to be fully covered? Can they wear western clothes? Can they drive a car? Can they own property? Can they name a teddy bear Muhammed?

All of that development... who is going to live there? I forsee barren vacation lands with minimal traffic and shuttered homes.

Dubai has a long way to go when it comes to personal freedom. Look at the case of the poor French boy who was raped by local men; then they almost arrested the boy for being homosexual... a LONG WAY TO GO!(before that place sees my shadow)

All the luxuries that are being built in Dubai at present and in the past is a result of hardwork from very low earning labourers. There is a lot of human rights violation in terms of payscales of various industries.

Germany had plans to build something along these lines around the beginning of WWII. I wonder if the Trib would have done a puff piece about that in 1940. Of course, Jews aren't allowed in Dubai. Hey! let's go there and build a Catholic Church! Oh wait, damn. Is this thing on?

Who said Jews are not allowed? And there are many catholic chruches there as well mate. Dubai is the most modern city in the middle east. You have too see it to believe it.

--I've always been curious about Dubai, both it's successes and contradictions, and yet, I am reminded of these lines:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Visited Dubai lately, KJG? No, I don't think there are any Catholic churches or any other obvious religious buildings for non-Muslim worship. Like any Arab country or region, Dubai is hostile to Jews. Perhaps Jews are permitted visas for entry, but certainly not with Israeli stamps in their passports. And yes, sex crimes committed by Arab locals are blamed on the victims, if they are stupid enough to report the incidents. The skyline may be stunning. The regime has a long way to go.

KenS wrote:

Visited Dubai lately, KJG? No, I don't think there are any Catholic churches or any other obvious religious buildings for non-Muslim worship. Like any Arab country or region, Dubai is hostile to Jews. Perhaps Jews are permitted visas for entry, but certainly not with Israeli stamps in their passports. And yes, sex crimes committed by Arab locals are blamed on the victims, if they are stupid enough to report the incidents. The skyline may be stunning. The regime has a long way to go.

HAHA! you must be a fool! do you mean to tell me that 80% of the top Fortune 500 companies (according to forbes) which set up shop in dubai ONLY picked NON-JEWISH delegations to go there and do business? that would be funny, you know, at the Merrill Lynch office in downtown chicago- "UM, ANY NON-JEWS WHO'D LIKE TO PARTAKE IN A PROJECT IN DUBAI, PLEASE STEP FORWARD." rrriiigghhhttttt, dubai seems really hostile to me. thats why 80% OF AMERICAN FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES RUN TO DUBAI TO DO BUSINESS

and also, there's christians in all arab countries except saudi arabia. just ask the assyrian population in chicago which have churches established all across the middle east. also, saudi arabia is holy land. would you allow muslims to move into jewish settlements in the west bank? I DONT THINK SO. the real estate is restricted buddy. for the so called "chosen ones"

talkin sense wrote:

<quoted text>
HAHA! you must be a fool! do you mean to tell me that 80% of the top Fortune 500 companies (according to forbes) which set up shop in dubai ONLY picked NON-JEWISH delegations to go there and do business? that would be funny, you know, at the Merrill Lynch office in downtown chicago- "UM, ANY NON-JEWS WHO'D LIKE TO PARTAKE IN A PROJECT IN DUBAI, PLEASE STEP FORWARD." rrriiigghhhttttt, dubai seems really hostile to me. thats why 80% OF AMERICAN FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES RUN TO DUBAI TO DO BUSINESS
and also, there's christians in all arab countries except saudi arabia. just ask the assyrian population in chicago which have churches established all across the middle east. also, saudi arabia is holy land. would you allow muslims to move into jewish settlements in the west bank? I DONT THINK SO. the real estate is restricted buddy. for the so called "chosen ones"

Not sure how your postings got off on this tangent, but along the lines that you have started, do not think you will find any Jewish people in Dubai or any other Arab countries governmental leadership, police, military. Many Israeli Arabs are part of all these areas in Israel. Dubai might be the most progressive Arab nation in the region, but it does not hold a candle to the only democracy in the region in terms of political and religious freedoms which is Israel!

It doesn’t matter to me how beautiful it is. You could be talking about Dubai, Israel, Egypt, I don’t care because the crazy Muslims and Jews ruin it all. They won’t get one drop of my blood or one red cent of my tourism dollar.

Ah, the pitfalls of travel writing. The nature of the beast is you write some kind of bland piece on what it feels like to be there for a few days. Unfortunately, in certain situations, all these awkward questions keep popping up. Then again the author at least has done something a lot of travel writers don't have the guts to do -- he's written a piece that makes me somewhat reluctant to go.

On a more political note, does Dubai get away with its little act by being the only even minimally free place in the oil-bearing portion of the Middle East in which to do business? Or does it collapse along with everything else when the subprime/bad debt/worldwide balance of payments crisis reaches Depression proportions?

Dubai is beautiful in a Vegas-Glitz sort of way. Shiny and bright, but only skin-deep. And it definitely creeped me out.

Do NOT go there if you intend to be openly gay or openly Christian. No same-sex hand-holding or handing out Bible tracts! Don't go if you tend to flirt with the opposite sex. Ladies, do NOT dress suggestively outside of the glitzy area. This is a dominance-focused world, and if you challenge theirs, there could be big trouble.

If you stay in western-style hotels, you're OK - they have tried hard to make westerners feel comfortable - but I wouldn't venture very far outside of them.

PJR wrote:

Dubai is beautiful in a Vegas-Glitz sort of way. Shiny and bright, but only skin-deep. And it definitely creeped me out.
Do NOT go there if you intend to be openly gay or openly Christian. No same-sex hand-holding or handing out Bible tracts! Don't go if you tend to flirt with the opposite sex. Ladies, do NOT dress suggestively outside of the glitzy area. This is a dominance-focused world, and if you challenge theirs, there could be big trouble.
If you stay in western-style hotels, you're OK - they have tried hard to make westerners feel comfortable - but I wouldn't venture very far outside of them.

Great post and thanks for stating the obvious. I always like the way Westerners are supposed to over compensate and fawn all over places like this. The only thing keeping them from the Stone Age is their oil money. It certainly is not their tolerance of other cultures.

Excellent article on the good bisiness sense of the ruler of DubaiI am planning a visit to the Jerusalem and the Holy Land. I did not find any
traveling infformation that I coiuld use .

Excellent article on Dubai.It is amazing to find a modern city in the middle of the Dessert.
Any future articles on the Holy Land. We plan to visit nexy April.

Shallow "gee whiz!" reporting, people commenting in sheer racist ignorance -- what else would you expect from the western media these days? Trouble is, the media are even worse here in Dubai (and much of the rest of the world).
The deliberate seduction that is Dubai has fooled hundreds of thousands of western expats and tourists into thinking they live in Las Vegas. You can live here for years getting all the alcohol, shopping, beach time, cleavage, fast cars and cheap gas, dust, tax relief, and jobs you want. Commonwealth citizens, especially, think this is paradise on Earth (things must be really grim in the empire).
But there is no free lunch. The only way you can experience this Nirvanna is to completely switch off your conscience, which many have successfully done.
Dubai is based on a million indentured (no exaggeration) south Asian laborers and servants, ports trafficking in all the world's contraband, money laundering and meeting space for despots and terrorists (this is likely the CIA's most sought-after field posting), and a medeival justice system. The greed, vanity and exploitation flow like rivers.
Many of the comments I've read here about oil, gays, religious tolerance, women, jews, etc. are soooo blind. People, get your facts straight before you start shooting off your mouth. That's an American habit that really pisses off the rest of the world.