Capital – capitalism’s main engine – has been and will always be looking for new playgrounds – meaning new territory to invest and profit from. Now it is Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a whole. But once its lustful appetite for more and more profit is saturated, the capital will simply move on. And on. And then what will happen to places like Dubai? Indeed, creating modern Las Vegas in the early 1930s (with booming development especially after WW II) seemed like (though it had plentiful reserves of fresh water) an unrealistic project, but it still holds on. On the other hand though Detroit has fallen completely after the Ford Motor Company went out of business.
Playground for the West
It’s clear that Dubai has went a long way from oil dependency and moved to tourism, trade and other areas to support it’s eyeball-rolling growth. Our feeling was that almost everything is artificial, moreover, plastic… Maybe, we’re wrong.
The emirate is a playground for the West. It is created in it’s own image. I had the feeling that what we saw in Dubai for a week (November 23-30, 2014) is first of all completely artificial, moreover, completely alien to this land. Skyscrapers, yachts, marinas, creeks, twelve-lane highways, unmanned, meaning driverless, fully automated (over the ground!) metro railway networks simply aren’t fitting in.
I had the feeling that the “society fabric” is missing – there’s nothing really holding the society together. Everybody is planning for a short term: temporary job, home, car. People come here just to make money and they move on – mostly go home. It’s a transit area. Until the non-stop (especially real estate) development is on, everything’s fine. But once the decline starts, people will simply go home. There’s basically nothing to keep the society together: no sense of land, history, belonging. No roots. Without them the place can empty in a minute. If there’s an earthquake in Europe or elsewhere, people rebuild. Their life, too. But in Dubai? I think everybody’s just going to flee instantly. Just as when bad news starts to come concerning the downturn of the economy. Or maybe local, regional or international political or military tension erupts. I think tens of thousands of people will flee instantly, there will be no empty seats on any airline for weeks or even months.
Temporary life
There are hardly any animals in Dubai. Pets are rare: again, people are thinking on short term basis.
The beach, the temperature were perfect in the second part of November, the skyscrapers impressive, the people nice. No doubt about that. We visited the nice and shiny areas, but also places where only a few tourists go (see the pictures). We like that everywhere was safe. Air conditioning: dislike. They put it on maximum and providing low or very low temperatures when outside the temperature is just comfortable… Waste of electricity.
Temporary workers are frightened that if they disobey their bosses, they’d loose their income, livelihood, and they wouldn’t be able to support their families in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Nepal, Morocco, Philippines or even Russia. They live in inhuman conditions (see some photos below). Anyway, the UAE’s human rights track record is… low. To write the least…
Horrible human rights record
Migrant domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are beaten, exploited, and trapped in forced labor situations, Human Rights Watch said in a report. (The country) has failed to adequately protect female domestic workers – many of them from the Philippines – from abuse by employers and recruiters.
More about this issue here.
Wonderful host
Yet, in this faraway land we have found the most caring CouchSurfing host: Danny. A special man. We should have discovered more about him that Dubai…
Coming home I realized: if working with my girlfriend in Dubai I’d mostly miss my Family, my Friends and my Mountains. And the seasons. Having a bit cold the day after I returned to Transylvania, it struck me: I would terribly miss the seasons. I like to be cold in winter. It’s awesome to see nature’s rebirth in spring, it feels nice to sweat in summer and enjoy the array of colors in autumn. There’s non of this in Dubai.
Why did we go to Dubai?
We’re poor people from Transylvania, Romania – nobody from nowhere. We wanted to see how absolute luxury looks like. Once in a lifetime. We also wanted to prove ourselves that even low-income people can make it to Dubai, thanks to WizzAir (we made the reservation in March if this year for only Euro 140 the return ticket!) and CouchSurfing. Our total expenses (airplane ticket, food, public transportation) for a week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi: 200 euros.
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Please click on the first picture to start the slideshow and story:
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Kiss Olivér blogja 
Nagyon érdekes volt olvasni a tapasztalataidat. Eddig mindig csak a fényűző oldaláról olvastam Dubainak, most végre egy kicsit az árnyoldaláról is hallottam. A negatívumok ellenére egyszer szívesen ellátogatnék oda. Köszönöm, hogy megosztottad a beszámolót az utazásotokról!
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@Agnes: igen jóleső érzés, hogy értékeled az általam a dubai csillogás, művilág iránt tanúsított a kritikai szemléletet. (Kiváló fotókat készítesz! Kedvencem a Family című bejegyzésed)
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Dear Oliver
To be honest, I have been reading your notes and watching your
beautiful photos with a bit of jealousy. I felt I have been gided ” virtually”
in Dubai by your videos.
You have shown us the wealth and the richness of the country, which I think
doesn’t need any more comments.
In my opinion, you have been absolutely right to show us the dark side
of the country as well, the poverty.
I am looking forward to reading your reports in our mother language,
and probably are others , too !
I wish you a nice relaxing time at home after this long year.
Best regards
István
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@Zágoni Szabó István: The blog post is written in English with a clear purpose: I want to enable English-speaking friends (Romanians, Dutch, Hungarians, Czech and Polish people from all over the world to be able to read it… 🙂
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No comment…! 🙂 ❤
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❤ ❤
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Visszajelzés: ÉLMÉNYBESZÁMOLÓ – Dubai: legnagyobb, legmagasabb, legszélesebb, leghosszabb. És még mi minden? | Kiss Olivér blogja