Dubai, why the hell do people even go there?!

A Norwegian woman has spoken out about the 16-month prison sentence she received in Dubai after reporting a rape incident to police.
Interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv was on a business trip in Dubai when she says she was raped.

An Australian woman, Alicia Gali, was jailed for eight months in 2008 for having extra-marital sex after complaining to the police that she had been drugged and raped by three co-workers

Currently, the law stipulates that, to gain a rape conviction, there must either be a confession or for four adult male witnesses to the crime.

A British couple, Ayman Najafi and Charlotte Adams, were jailed for a month in 2010 after they shared what Mr Najafi described as an “innocuous peck on the cheek” in a restaurant. A witness said they had kissed on the mouth.

The thought had crossed my mind.

Draconian laws with even more draconian sentencing.

Bonkers.

Dubai, why the hell do people even go there?

it is on the way to Australia
Money
Jobs
Money
Money
Hot Sunny & Sounds Posh
Money

$$$, that’s why.

My mate worked there for a year, sounded 100% terrible but he earned about $100,000 tax free and paid for very little while he was there.

In comparison he now works with me here in Vancouver, amazing life style but gets paid $60,000 and we pay $$$ for everything…

Edit: MikeW beat me to it

Female can be very vulnerable in those countries if they are being naive.

$$$$££££££$$$$$££££££$$$$£££££$$$$$

The more extremely Muslim a country is, the more you’ll earn.

A teacher in Riyadh can earn £100k tax free. The problem was, my wife wouldn’t have been able to leave the compound without being accomapnied by a male relative and wearing a hibiya (sp?)

Dubai is a mirage as few understands it. Its a hit and run place you just dont stay… I dont even understand why some people bought a holiday apartment there when there are a hundred places better .. Behind those glamour people see on telly and papers Its kinda sh*thole with cheap petrol and money 🙂

As with all things, your experiences will vary.

I’ve been there several times, for months at a time, and I’ve never had any trouble; although I’ve only ever been there in a professional capacity, and never with my family. Their economy relies on westerners, so they tend to have a slightly more relaxed attitude than they otherwise might.

I still don’t like the place, though. Oman is much nicer. And Kuwait is much worse. You pays your money, you takes your choice. Unless you’re going there with work, in which case your boss takes your choice!

Not somewhere I’d choose to go on holiday. There are too many other nice places in the world to go.

This is an Arab country and even though Dubai is very relaxed compared with other Middle Eastern cities, women are still second class citizens, and in any case involving an Arab and a westerner, they will always look after their own. Dubai can lead you into a false sense of security as all the trappings of a western country are there and freely available, but you still need to be cognisant that they are not as liberal as we are and still are living in the dark ages in terms of their culture and society. They are quite tolerant to ex-pats, its within their interest to keep ex-pats sweet, but there are always lines to be drawn.

I assume people go because their moral bone is much smaller than their makes shit loads of money bone

It’s pretty obvious why folk go there to work. The real question is why anyone would go there in their leisure time.

Unfortunately I have a feeling that the tourism side of Dubai will decline as the impressionable masses head off somewhere else (perhaps somewhere that will allow them to give their partner a peck on the cheek in a restaurant!)

The people in Dubai don’t like the Flintstones…….
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But the people in Abu Dhabi do

😉

its a shit hole of a cesspit

Replace women with black we would be banning, sports , travel etc.

Weird this world.

Hear hear IanW.

Except from what I’ve heard you’re likely to get a hard time there if you’re black or of Asian sub-continental origin too.

+1 IanW and Chapaking.

Muslim friend of mine takes his family there for a holiday every year. He tells me there are many Pakistani/Bangladeshi there that leave their country for the promise of a decently paid job. When they arrive they have to hand their passports over for 5 years so cannot leave, and get used as slave labour on the construction sites, living conditions are appalling.

yet he still goes back for a holiday staying in the slave labour built hotels?

I put that in my post then deleted it. Even worse, he has cousins in this situation (he and his wife are teachers by the way)

I assume people go because their moral bone is much smaller than their makes shit loads of money bone

Insightful, thanks.

One of my customers (married to a very rich Football person), has a holiday home there. I’m guessing that the authorities would never jail a couple with a high profile as it wouldn’t be good for the image of this country.

It’s truly shocking what these women have had to endure.

Slavery issues aside, they do some cracking champagne brunches.

Like the rest of the world then

love the flintstones joke 🙂

At the risk of being hypocritical, lets not start slagging off slave labour. How do you think the bikes we ride and clothes we wear are made? The foundations of western lifestyle is built off the back of slave labour. The conditions for the labourers there are pretty dire, but they still come in their droves due to the cash they earn. Dread to think how bad things are in their countries of origin for them to consider working in Dubai. We like to slag things off here in the UK but the more I travel the world, the more I think that the UK is probably the best country in the world to live, even compared to the states.

lets not start slagging off slave labour

No lets slag it off and the way our lifestyles are supported- bit for accidents of birth it could be us.

while buying stuff made in sweatshops in Asia

Given how the system works I am sure if you look hard enough [ or perhaps not even very hard] into my purchases you will find such an example as it is unavoidable…..I should not be bothered then? I cannot speak out? I am hypocrite unless I go to Dubai and exploit this personally?

I am quite happy to take a hit in restructuring the world to a fairer and kinder place though it seems fairly obvious the majority are happy to continue till the oil runs our and the planet is **** and turning a blind eye [ in fact not even thinking about it lest they feel abit guilty] to how it is all made…..I shall stop there before i go on a Kaesae style rant 😉

How do you think the bikes we ride and clothes we wear are made? The foundations of western lifestyle is built off the back of slave labour.

Don’t know what bikes you ride but non of the ones I design are made using slave labour.
I recently visited a helmet factory in china. Staff there work 8am to 5:30pm with a 1.5 hr lunch break where they all go have a sleep in the dormitory.

sounds good Brant, what about the ones they didn’t show you?

Orange bike is not made from slave labour.. Its from yorkshire? 👿 .. Or are they ? 😳

..still dont get the flintstones thingy ❓

And yah slag the slave labour.. Its not very good .. It could easily be me 😡

Always the optimist Smith!

I’ve been there on work and thought it was a complete cesspit, a monument to greed and consumerism built in a desert. I don’t even get the tourist attraction bit, it’s crowded, expensive, and the beeches / sea are polluted with human excrement as the sewage system can’t cope.

It is impossible to live in the western world without purchasing products that are produced by people working under conditions that we would consider unacceptable.

Brant – do you know where the raw materials your bikes are from and under what conditions they were processed, what about the mines the raw materials came from. If you’ve investigated every step of the supply chain and are satisfied, then that is great and there should be more like you out there.

Not having a go, I’m just as guilty as anyone. We are very lucky not to have been born in those circumstances.

It could be argued that the correct response is to deal with em, and through that mechanism apply pressure to bring about change, and that doing anything else is merely a cop out, ……No?

.still dont get the flintstones thingy

But the people in Abu Dhabi do

But the people in Yabba Dabba Do

We’ve got a campus in Dubai, it is 100% greed. Quite a few regrets involved in that project but hey, it’s been a good learning curve.

sounds good Brant, what about the ones they didn’t show you?

You seem to think that as far as factories or manufacturing goes, if it’s not in the West then it’s slave labour. I don’t think this is necessarily the case.

No but they do exist and there are a lot of them that would be considered very poor by most standards. I’d also expect those bad ones not to feature on any tour.

“shit hole” “cesspit”? You guys are so cruel – why taunt them with something they haven’t got. Dubai doesn’t have have any shitholes, cesspits or sewers

Thats why they have to re-enact that coca cola christmas advert every night