If your moral compass is OK with you wishing death on a fellow cyclist, it’s probably broken…..

I worked/lived there for 6 months about 10 years ago.
I came home for Christmas, but as others have said it can be a bit soulless, and truly bizarre at times.
For a short break with sun/sand I think it’s OK – it’s definitely a place of the haves and have-nots though.
Couple of decent touristy places to visit – Wild Wadi water park was good fun, Dubai Museum was interesting – but could be so much more.
Not sure what alcohol prices are like now – but my colleague had a shock when a pint of Guinness cost him nearly £10…..

People who holiday in Dubai generally encapsulate everything that is wrong with society.

It’s about 20 years since I went there (twice) for business.

It sems funny looking back to remember when Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Maktoum (the man currently in the news over his daughters kidnapping) came to give a speech to our conference. In that speech he told us about his plans for “Dubai Internet City”. This was amusing as all of us were having major problems at our hotels getting a connection..

Things will have moved on from then.

Dunno how much you want to spend, but how about Sri Lanka?
We spent a week there while on honeymoon & loved it.

People who holiday in Dubai generally encapsulate everything that is wrong with society.

Ah nice more judgment. A few people here seem to have gone so I and them are “everything that is wrong with society” (do you actually believe that, you typed is so i assume so?) I feel like your judgment is everything that’s wrong with society. I know you should insulte people but what an idiot!

Only ever been there with work, we had a company conference there a few years back at the start of January. On the plus side I was running round the marina in T-shirt and shorts when it was cold and miserable back home.

Not my cup of tea, but loads of people absolutely love it.

OK, I apologise for my post. I started trying to say the world would be a better place if no one chose to holiday there, ended up with a very long-winded rant, and then scrapped it and in the process, ended up butchering my text into a death wish.

Anyway, I know pretty much anywhere in the world you could find ethical issues with. To my mind though, the direct link between the product (tourist infrastructure) and the effect (slavery, dead humans), is orders of magnitude clearer in the case of Dubai (and other UAE cities) than anywhere else in the world.

This place has become an absolute pit.

Advice required for a holiday….get labelled everything that is wrong with society by a bunch of smug, middle class angels who have NEVER contributed to anything remotely unethical.

The horses are so high in here that you could probably jump straight off onto the top of the Burj Khalifa.

Ah nice more judgment. A few people here seem to have gone so I and them are “everything that is wrong with society” (do you actually believe that, you typed is so i assume so?) I feel like your judgment is everything that’s wrong with society. I know you should insulte people but what an idiot!

I’m just fishing.

I care about my human rights – and I can’t get a bl00dy beer there – that’s what is most criminal about the place.

I’m just fishing.

So you don’t believe it, and you’re just trolling. wow, what a sad existence. This thread has really outed a few people who represent the worst aspects of Singletrack.

@johndoh – you can get a beer in Dubai 🙂

you can get a beer in Dubai

Well I know you can, but it isn’t very easy. It was further complicated for us as we stayed at a friends’ house so we didn’t have a hotel bar to spend inordinate sums of money on drinks at either.

Ah nice more judgment.

@joepud says one of the most judgemental folk on here without a shred of irony.

Anyway, I know pretty much anywhere in the world you could find ethical issues with. To my mind though, the direct link between the product (tourist infrastructure) and the effect (slavery, dead humans), is orders of magnitude clearer in the case of Dubai (and other UAE cities) than anywhere else in the world.

This.

and I can’t get a bl00dy beer there

The place is full of pissed expats getting in trouble for doing ‘inappropriate’ things in public whilst smashed!

The place is full of pissed expats getting in trouble for doing ‘inappropriate’ things in public whilst smashed!

See above 😉

Genuinely, I appreciate the comments and human rights etc is something to be considered. Not completely wedded to the idea of Dubai. Just so long as it is as stress free as a holiday can be, warm and has a decent beach / pool then all is good so will certainly check out some of the other suggestions people have made.

I am very much a doer on holiday and like to go somewhere with places to explore, things to do etc but Mrs D likes to sit by the pool/on the beach and do nothing. Doesn’t matter to her where in the world we are or could be, that to her is a holiday and being married I have long accepted that she is right in these things. So we compromise – we go to places where she can lay by the pool all day and I just deal with it 😀

do love it when people get sensitive about their choices, it’s almost like they know but can’t just say “but i don’t care” they go to “someone else is doing it”.

People who holiday in Dubai generally encapsulate everything that is wrong with society.

But they’re okay and their families are having a good time, so what’s wrong? I know people who’ve run businesses from Dubai for tax purposes (not paying it). How could there possibly be an issue?

(Irony mode off for a sec, my main issue is it just seems so naff and Daily Mail readery, the sort of slightly upmarket Torremolinos that would make my head explode with boredom. Actually, I’d probably have a good time in windmill tower and Sierra Nevada’s just a short strike. Whatever. That’s all of my sneery look down the nose prejudices on the table. Can I say that fewer daily mail readers in the world would make the world better? I don’t actively think they should die, just maybe stop wanting to read the daily mail?)

I understand some of the comments above about visiting places like Dubai and yes you can read about what’s going on there but for me what has really hit home in the past is when I’ve actually visited a couple of countries – that opened my eyes more than anything I could have read (for example, poverty in Kenya & Cuba).
And I’ll throw Cape Verdi into the pot as worth considering.

Yes, we are not oblivious to the various faults of Dubai hence the request for alternate suggestions. That said do you think all the nice hotels in the UK all pay minimum wage and treat their staff fairly and don’t rely on and exploit cheap foreign labour

Good god man open your eyes and actually look.

Can highly recommend Malaysia.

We did 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur then flew to Borneo for an 8 day tour, climbed mount Kota Kinabalu, saw some of the real bits of Malaysia and some fantastic river boat wildlife spotting.

We then spent the last 5 days at a seriously nice hotel, lazing around the pool/beach etc.

Funnily enough we flew back through Dubai for 2 nights and decided we would never go back.

I’ve been to Dubai on holiday.

We took a desert 4×4 safari, and the conversation with the driver was enlightening. He has a pretty cushy job, quite a high level and he’s still sharing a room not seeing his family for 11 months of the year.

As you get more into it, it’s more and more like a caste system of workers. The construction labour workers being at the very bottom end, with the crappest of conditions, potentially open to people trafficking etc.

Despite how nice it was to be able to feel warm, and eat nice food and swim in a pool in February, I don’t think we’d go back.

I know for a fact that me and my partner wouldn’t be welcome there. The fact that being gay is a criminal offense and is punishable by either prison, flogging or death makes me want to stay away. But then that’s what happens when religion takes over a country.

@joepud says one of the most judgemental folk on here without a shred of irony.

That maybe your opinion but I haven’t said anyone who goes on holidays to dubai is “encapsulate everything that is wrong with society” or said “world would be a better place without you.” just because someone has decided to go o holiday.

My old man lived in Dubai for 16 years so I got to visit 4 times.

Exploitation aside it’s great if you love going from air conditioned building to air con car and back again.
It’s like Milton Keynes in the desert. Soulless.

Concrete and sand. Pretty much it.

Went there in 92, it was just about beginning the build up, not long after Gulf War 2 there was a lot of Americans in town who couldn’t barter with the locals which meant we couldn’t barter with them, so the lacoste RIP offs weren’t as cheap.
Wouldn’t go back unless I was paid to go.

A good choice for you might be Dahab on the Sinai.

“I am very much a doer on holiday and like to go somewhere with places to explore, things to do etc but Mrs D likes to sit by the pool/on the beach and do nothing.”

In that case I am not convinced you would enjoy Dubai (ethics discussion put aside) as you are mostly sat in a hotel complex, eating and drinking and lounging. I know there are ‘things to do’ including sky diving and 4×4 on sand dunes, but there might be far better options out there.

I would love to visit Oman for the mountains, but I think it needs lots of reading to see just how ‘lazing on the beach’ friendly it is, it is certainly very conservative in dress (and against the law for same sex couples etc). I suspect like Dubai it is fine for ladies in a resort, but probably not for beachwear at the local beach.

Jordan is actually a really good shout, if your wife is happy to just laze around within a resort but you can do day trips to really interesting sights.

Longer-haul, consider Cancun or other Yucatan resorts where your wife can do pool and beach and you have organised day trips snorkelling, Mayan ruins, swim in cenotes, and a load of theme park type stuff.

For the ethical, Costa Rica.

In that case I am not convinced you would enjoy Dubai (ethics discussion put aside) as you are mostly sat in a hotel complex, eating and drinking and lounging.

Exactly the point I was making. What you describe is what Mrs D wants so I just go along with it :). I am not the decision maker when it comes to holidays anymore…

The fact that being gay is a criminal offense and is punishable by either prison, flogging or death

Yeah, but it’s warm and sunny with nice hotels, pro’s and con’s you see, its not an easy choice!!

My cousin is the principal training officer and chief pilot for emirates on their A380’s and lives out in Dubai, he’s worked for them for years after leaving the navy as a pilot and has the sort of lifestyle and apartment that you read about in glossy magazines, he’s offered first class flights and all the trimmings that go along with it but no, just no, not a chance in hell id ever consider setting foot in that country.

OK, I apologise for my post

Which is nice to see from someone on here for a change.

Alternatives to Dubai:
+1 for Costa Rica (not sure if there are direct flights from UK, used to go via Miami), great place for kids, Pacific coast for surf, plenty of resort-type accommodation with pools too.
+1 for Yucatan coast, again lots of big resorts with pools and beaches but also interesting sights.
Caribbean is traditional Christmas choice and has direct flights.
+1 Malaysia, though obviously further.
Sri Lanka and Thailand also options, not exactly blemish-free ethically but better than Dubai. I don’t go to India these days though.
Jordan and Oman also good suggestions.

There’s loads of water sports activities etc, not a lot to see locally other than desert!

There’s a few fake sights you can go and visit eg we had dinner at a fake fort in the desert – all a bit daft if you ask me, but I suspect most tourists love it.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EHETZM]IMG_8581[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

Edit – I can’t get the quotes to work, I’ll try again later

As for the drinking side of things – me and Mrs D don’t so there is no issue there :). Caribbean is a good shout though and will look into it as well as the various Far East destinations.

I would absolutely love to visit Dubai, out of curiosity if nothing else.

In practice, the only way you’d get me there is at gunpoint. It’s probably nestled between Turkey and North Korea in terms of places I’d least like to actually be.

it’s rubbish. nothhing but sand, aircon, and gaudy malls that are like capitalism distilled.

So, Las Vegas then?

That said do you think all the nice hotels in the UK all pay minimum wage and treat their staff fairly and don’t rely on and exploit cheap foreign labour?

Well, yes, unless they’re breaking the law, and “cheap foreign labour” is subject to the same laws as everyone else. Sure, some will be operating illegally, but that won’t be the norm.

If you’re equating UK hotels with Dubai… well, wow, I’ve got nothing.

It’s probably nestled between Turkey and North Korea in terms of places I’d least like to actually be.

Really?

I love Turkey – amazing country and people (ok their current leader is a nut job).

I’d also love to visit North Korea, pretty unique place.

Had a amazing motorbike touring trip around Turkey many years ago, just two of us on bikes with a map. One random town we arrived in turned out to be where they trained tourists guides; only it was miles from anywhere where tourists went, so two english speaking blokes turning up were hot property. We became local celebreties overnight and invited to give a talk in the local Uni the next day – was quite a surreal trip.

1. Ethically I couldn’t do it
2. As a holiday experience it appears to be a bland culture free flop ‘n drop.

I guess if your stomach is strong enough to handle the former your palette might be banal enough to withstand the latter. My hunch is the overlap is pretty significant. My imagination is too strong to manage either. Fortunately I married someone with similar priorities and we make our holiday plans together.