Staying in Dubai may not seem to be a pleasant thing for most people all around the world would have think about. Overlook about what you have study, observed, and noticed; those luxurious buildings and artificial islands are all just smoke and mirrors. There are so many things been wrong with Dubai that I have decided to come out with a list that you should read first before getting yourself moving to Dubai.
1. You will find that there is no standard address system implemented there and this caused delivering mail to the door not possible. In fact, it makes many thing become impossible. The taxi driver who been there for only two days, and having learned English from aged Beatles albums has no clue where your home is. He will not going to tell you of course, he’ll just keep calling and saying, “Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah.” When you buy something that requires delivery they don’t have an tackle line, but a box where you’re expected to pull a map. Not able to draw a map? Clarify like this: I live about the road following the airport road, but prior to the roundabout. Go before you reach the mosque and make a U-turn.
2. The federal government blocks all websites that it deems “offensive” towards the “religious, moral, and cultural values” of the UAE. That is hard to swallow for a freedom loving American, but I get it. I do not realize, nevertheless, why all VOIP entry and associated web sites are blocked. You’re welcome to call using the analog support supplied by the government-owned phone monopoly, however it will price you a whole lot more. So, in fact, your frequency of calls is going to be significantly diminished if you are able to manage them whatsoever. The federal government states VOIP is obstructed for security factors, however even the residents of communist China and North Korea have enter to these inexpensive calls.
3. It is really hot outside. Not Florida in July warm; Hot as if you were locked in a car in Florida in July with sufficient humidity to make it feel as though you are drowning. Hot as in 120 levels with nearly 100% humidity. Do not look towards the wind for relief. This may be the equivalent of pointing a hairdryer on full blast directly at your face. Pour dust-like sand on your head as you do this and also you get the picture.
4. You will find too little of trees, plants, and grass – or living creatures apart from us insane human beings. Do you actually see a bird pant? I have. In my viewpoint, human beings had been not meant to live in such a place. If we had been, there would be adequate drinking water and shade. The only real greenery close to are the roadside gardens planted by the federal government, who waters the hell out of these in the center with the day. Thanks a lot! Didn’t you say we need to cut straight down on our drinking water consumption simply because you’re unable to keep up using the need? I’ve an idea: let’s all move someplace where it is not 120 degrees outdoors.
5. This country prides by itself so much on its glitz and glamor that it set a picture of its 7-star hotel on the license plate. Yet, the public toilets with the king-of-bling Gold Souk district are holes within the ground without any toilet paper or soap. Hoses to rinse your nether areas, however, are provided. This causes inside a lot of water on the floor that you should stand on to pee. Try squatting without having touching something and maintaining your pants from touching something either. Oh yeah. It’s 120 degrees in there as well.
6. This nation encourages companies to employ people from other bad nations to come right here and work. They’ve them sign contracts which are a decade long when consider their passports. Even though taking passports is supposedly illegal, the federal government knows it happens and does nothing to enforce the law. These poor people are promised a particular pay, but the companies neglect to tell them they will be deducting their price of living from their paychecks, leaving them virtually penniless – that’s, when they choose to spend them. Businesses hold back again salaries for months at a time. Once the employees strike for their pay, they are jailed. Protesting is illegitimate, you see (apparently this law IS enforced).
These people will in no way make sufficient to purchase a ticket home as well as when they do, they do not have their passports. They stay crammed in portables with tons of others, in extremely unsanitary conditions. The kicker: they are constructing hotels that price more to remain in for one night than they will make within an entire year. Things are so poor that numerous laborers are willing to throw themselves in front of vehicles simply because their death would provide their loved ones affluence with the type of diya, blood money compensated to the victim’s loved ones as mandated by the federal government.
7. Things are very expensive here. I am sick of those who are saying that. I read the letters to the editor page with the paper and people say to individuals who complain about the cost of living increasing here, “Well, it’s cheaper than your native country or you would not be here.” The only point less expensive here is labor. Sure, you can hire a maid – but a bag of washed lettuce will cost you nearly $10.
8. There are visitors cameras everywhere. I consider this cheating. Where are the damn cops? I drove close to this town for weeks before I actually even saw a cop. Trust me, they require visitors cops here. People drive like idiots. It’s perfectly alright to change left in the right lane, but speeding even just a few of kilometers over will get you fined. These cameras are positioned strategically as you arrive down hills, or just as the rate restrict alterations. Before you understand it…BAM! Fined. Forget to pay the bill and your vehicle will be impounded..
9. The clothing some of these women put on makes no sense to me. I understand that as stuff like your religion you are required to dress in a specific way, but a black robe which is longer than your jeans and turtleneck and cover your head when it is 120 degrees outside? In the fitness center some women put on five layers of clothing…sweatpants and t-shits more than sweaters with headscarves. However the men’s clothing makes absolute feeling: white, airy, and nothing below but their skivvies.
10. People stare at you. I’m ill of getting stared at. I am stared at by males who’ve never seen a fair-skinned blue-eyed lady before, or who have and believe we are all prostitutes so it is okay to stare. They stare at me when I’m fully covered or with my husband, as well as follow me around. It’s past creepy and has brought me to tears on more than one occasion. The staring isn’t restricted to males, possibly. I am stared at angrily by female prostitutes who think I am running in on their territory by having a few drinks with my husband at the bar.
11. Prostitutes? Oh hell sure, you will find prostitutes. Tons of them. So, allow me get this straight, I can’t appear at a naked image of an individual on the web in the privacy of my home, but it is alright to go out in public and purchase a few for that evening?
12. Alcohol can only be sold in hotels and certain private clubs. A person must own a liquor license to consume in the privateness of their personal house. To get a liquor license you must get signed approval out of your boss, show a certain degree of salary that determines how much you are allowed to purchase, after which submit several mug shots (aka passport photos) for approval. Pay the fee and also the extra 30% taxes on each buy and you might drink in your house. Then once again, you are able to just pick up a couple of bottles in the airport duty free on your way in to the nation, but two is the max. Why not only drive out to Ajman wherever it’s a free-for-all and load up the SUV? It is easy sufficient, but crossing the Emirates with alcohol is illegal – particularly within the dry emirate of Sharjah, which just happens to just between Dubai and Ajman. Go figure.
13. Not only you need to get your boss’s approval to acquire a liquor license, but you should also get the company’s approval to rent property, have a telephone, or get satellite Television.
14. Back to the craziness about the roads: If I see a single child standing up and waving to me out the back again window whilst flying straight down the street at 160 kph…what happened to seat belts?
15. When will be the weekend again? Allow me get this straight: the weekend used to be Thursday and Friday, but no one took off all of Thursday, just a half evening truly. Now the federal government says Friday and Saturday would be the weekend, but some people only take off Friday, others nevertheless take a half day on Thursday, but some may just take a half evening on Saturday rather. Anyway you slice it, Sundays are workdays and small company could be accomplished Thursday through Saturday.
16. You will find couple of satellite tv operators:. The movie channels showing movies which are aged and outdated. Numerous of these went straight to video back to the States. Every sitcom that failed in the US may be bought and is played here. Old episodes of Knight Rider are advertised like it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread. The Television commercials are repeated so frequently that I’m established not to buy anything I see promoted on TV here just for the principle of it.
17. The roads are horribly created. Driving ten minutes out with the method to create a U-turn is not uncommon. People are not capable to give directions most with the time (keep in mind reason #1), and also the maps are little help because most have couple of road names on them, if any. Wherever is interchange four? You just have to hope you got on the freeway in the right location and start counting simply because they are not numbered. Miss it and you’ll likely wind up on the other side of town before you can turn around and go back.
18. Taxi drivers are dangerous and smell. Taxi drivers work really hard here to make a living simply because travel by taxi is nevertheless fairly inexpensive, even though the cost of living isn’t (see cause #7). Because of that you might have a driver that has had little sleep or even the time to shower themselve. Many of these drivers have just as much difficulty finding their way close to when you do, but add to this a third-world nation generating style and severe exhaustion and, well, remember to buckle up for safety.
19. Speeding is definitely an Emirati sport and Emirates Street is just an extension of the Dubai Autodrome. I know I keep mentioning the highways, but truly, a lot of the city’s problems are encompassed by the erratic and irrational behavior displayed on its streets. Visions of flashing lights on even flashier, limo-tinted SUVs haunt me as I merge on towards the highway. Nearby nations are somehow able to get the sun-protecting dark window tint denied to us lowly expats and use it to hide their faces because they tailgate you incessantly at unbelievably high speeds, their lights flickering on and off and horn blaring repeatedly. It doesn’t matter whether you are able to get over, or if doing so will be particularly harmful, they are just wanting to get you off the road to overtake you. Don’t even think about giving someone the finger; the offense could land you in jail. Tailgating is, unbelievably, legal.
20. Dubai is far from environmentally friendly. Actually wonder how harmful those artificial islands are doing to the sensitive ocean ecosystem? Coral reefs, sea grasses, and oyster beds that had been once living things of guarded marine lands lie choked under a barrage of dredged up sea sand. Think about the waste that occurs from erecting buildings on top of these sand monsters and from the people that occupy them coupled with using the shortage of an efficient recycling program and you have an environmental disaster in your hands. Couple to this more gas guzzling SUVs than fuel-efficient cars on the road and also the need for 24-hour powerful air-conditioning and its evident how the atmosphere is not higher on the priority record with the UAE.
So whilst I’m sure there are benefits to staying in Dubai, tax breaks, multi-cultural environments, and beautiful structures apart, reconsider your plans to move here if any of the above mentioned factors strikes a chord with you. Dubai is really a town caught in an identity crisis. Struggling somewhere in between its desire to be a playground for that rich and its adherence to traditional Islamic roots, rests a town that lacks adequate infrastructure to help its delusions of grandeur. Go to if you should, but leave quickly before you are sucked into its calamitous void.
