We are Europeans living in Dubai, and the 26% of Arabs that you say to have invaded your counry, aren't Arabs at all. Most of them are Pakistanis who apart from religion, shares nothing with Arabs.
And let me repeat this: You haven't been in Dubai, NEVER.
^ He should have been banned indifenetelly last month when he opened a full of hatred thread on the European section of the forum. That thread was deleated and i suposse he was banned for a week or so, and now that his account is re-activated, he comes back with a vengence.
Why shouldn't human rights come in when discussing if a City is overrated???
Much of the success of Dubai is relient on foreign labour.......unskilled foreign labour from the third world not the professionals from the West.
Most are "house maidens" where rape is endemic. My god most don't have access to a phone and the employer takes their passport!!!
2 women were flogged late last year in UAE.
All the buildings in the world don't make up for such abuses and horrific crimes.
That kind of thinking requires a real mentality and one which I want no part of. Its probably the most over-rated city on this forum and most undesireable.
Why shouldn't human rights come in when discussing if a City is overrated???
Much of the success of Dubai is relient on foreign labour.......unskilled foreign labour from the third world not the professionals from the West.
Most are "house maidens" where rape is endemic. My god most don't have access to a phone and the employer takes their passport!!!
2 women were flogged late last year in UAE.
All the buildings in the world don't make up for such abuses and horrific crimes.
That kind of thinking requires a real mentality and one which I want no part of. Its probably the most over-rated city on this forum and most undesireable.
2 women only? That is really low I thought the number is bigger. They do flog men as well and not only women.
As for the labour, as u said most of them are from the 3rd world countries. If something happened and they got upset for any simple reason they would take the passport and run away. Thats why people tend not to trust them. They arent educated. They would simply escape if they felt that they dont to work. They wouldnt even tell their sponsers.
As for the maids rape. Those things happen all over the world. I dont see any difference here. Just while ago I read something about american females being raped every single minute. If there was a percentage for maids rape it would be less than .0001%. I really dont know about the access to phone. Ur story looks like a horror movie.
We have three house maids in our house. They have their own moblie phones They have also a free health care and free housing. I didnt rape them if u know what I mean.
Well only 3 issues with Dubai. Its fantastic over all and I enjoied my time there but here are my issues.
1. Its trying to hard to get noticed. Buildings the biggest this and that. Well for started World Class cities don't need that. They know what they are and comfortable with it. I mean look at New York, Paris, London, Tokyo. None of the tallest buildings in the world. Normally you only build up due to land costs. Dubai is not in situation like NYC that its huge land costs make people build up. Its only a "hey everybody look at us. Comeon guys we are here look at us".
2. The city feels disjointed. I mean its spread out out a bit with little bits of developments in a bunch of sections rather than one large flowing city. Thus it lacks the same street feel of the image its trying to portray. City seems built for cars and buildings rather than for people. The streetlife in many areas in nonexistant even in areas one would expect amongst all the highrises.
3. Lack of any real cultural and educational facilities simply due to a very high transient population. By this I mean if I mean poets, writters, artists, actors, musicians etc. Most of this is from either Lebanon or Egypt. It becomes hard to develop such things in the city if most of the population is only going to be ther for 2 years. Thus those there don't care. They come for the money and leave. Thus no real cultural ammenities can really take off for a city of its wealth and influence in many things now. These things are not something that should be discounted lightly. Remember cultural and educational institutions are the backbone of a society.
By this I mean, look at Beirut. Its slightly bigger and in a country of the roughly the same population. But Beirut tends to have a cultural identity that is signifcantly stronger even with war and destuction. It has some of the premier educational institutions of the region. Plus the local human capital is developed to the point that they are leaders in the region in many things. I personally feel that once Lebanon is fully stable it will become a regional rival for Dubai. I know it may not seem like much today, but look at where Beirut in 1999 and the gulf region and look at Beirut of today. Since that time the Isrealis left teh south and ony until a few weeks ago did the Syrians leave. Now with no foreign military in the country I could see it bounce back quickly. Its come a long way and it seems to be continually moving in that direction.
Here's one of the thing I don't like about Dubai. I mean, are those parking garages!? I know most big buildings have them, but it just looks so very gross that way.
Here's one of the thing I don't like about Dubai. I mean, are those parking garages!? I know most big buildings have them, but it just looks so very gross that way.
yes, these are car parks, every tower has them
in dubai you will rarely find towers with underground car parks due to high ground-water level!
this is why car parks are either integrated in the podium of the towers or behind the towers linked by a skybridge.
you will find these multi-storey car parks only on this particular road, the sheikh zayed road
the newly developed areas with all these towers under construction have car parks in the podium
doesn't look too ugly though
even if you drive along the road of the backside of the towers it looks quite nice
Where did I get my story from re housemaid rapes.............Amnesty International.
As far as I'm concerned a city can a 100 towers over a 100 stories, it means nothing.
Yes It does have a great skyline but it is nothing but a tin-pot, repressive, sexist, undemocratic, barbaric, homophobic, oppresive, intolerant, luttle nothing theocracy in the middle of nowhere and nowhere anyone would want to live. People move their temporarily to get some money but leave as soon as they've got it and small wonder.
You want real opinions...where there is mine.
Join other international cities in 20 years my ass. It will take it 20 years just to reach the 19th century.
theres personal opinion and theres BS.
someone saying: i dont like dubai because its too hot/bad traffic/not enough art galleries/not enough public transport...this is fine cos theyre all valid points
BUT someone saying something like:
tin-pot, repressive, sexist, undemocratic, barbaric, homophobic, oppresive, intolerant, luttle nothing theocracy in the middle of nowhere
...thats a load of bull...i could use those words to describe many places that such people describe as "world class cities". People often forget how these so called "world-class cities" came to exist...
1. lack of life, seems a bit dull on street level, not very cosmopolitan for its importance in the middle east
2. a cbd rather death for too much building, nothing but buildings in the cbd
3. a city on diapers to be way to admired, though, they are doing well....seems that you need to stop building a bit and start doing some interesting, cultural things on street level
this thread has been beat to death and has been open long enough. Thanks for your participation.
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