# Interesting article on Dubai that appeared in the Guardian...



## Krazy (Apr 27, 2004)

Sunday October 24, 2004

Good taste is as scarce as rainfall, and the atmosphere is like soup. Yet we Brits can't get enough of this deluxe sandpit, reports Lynn Barber. 

Imagine an expanse of dusty desert beside a greasy sea, sweltering under a pitiless sun. Now cover it with six-lane highways, flyovers, spaghetti junctions and all the nastiest buildings you have ever seen. Think Birmingham without its beauty, Las Vegas without its culture. Dubai is unquestionably the ugliest city in the world - there should be a socking great sign at the airport saying 'Abandon all taste, ye who enter here.' And yet it is the third most popular long-haul destination (after Barbados and Mauritius) for British Airways Holidays. Why? 

Well, first, if you forget good taste, there is astonishing luxury to be had. I stayed at the Al Qasr, a new five-star hotel on Jumeirah Beach, which is described as 'the Venice of Arabia' because it has a couple of canals running through the gardens. (You soon get used to this level of hyperbole in Dubai - almost every building claims to be the eighth wonder of the world.) The first thing you see as you turn into the drive is a life-size herd of shiny gold plastic horses gambolling on the lurid lawns. But you don't have to look at them for long because dozens of staff come rushing out of the hotel to greet you like a long-lost cousin and offer you sweets and Arabic coffee. 

The welcome is so warm that you can forgive the gruesome chandeliers and eye-grazing carpets in the lobby, though going to your room provides another shock - someone has gone to an immense amount of trouble to make it look exactly like a Sixties' Indian restaurant. But it is a very large room, with a supremely comfortable bed and well-equipped bathroom. In the end I almost became fond of it, though I did wake up every morning thinking, why maroon and orange stripes? And why those giant tassles on the television cabinet? It is a pity the design is so hideous because in all other respects the Al Qasr is a superb hotel - the food is delicious, the staff friendly, the service impeccable and it has a state-of-the-art spa called the Six Senses, which you reach rather charmingly by abra (boat) along the canal. It also has a delicious chilled swimming pool, which you do need in the Dubai climate. 

The climate is Dubai's elephant in the room - nobody mentions it. The brochures talk of guaranteed winter sun and no rain and that is certainly true - the last measurable rainfall was in 1997 when it rained for a whole night. There have been one or two showers since then but you can safely forget your umbrella when packing for Dubai. And it's true that the sun's reliable, too - boiling sun, implacable sun, sun that will fry you if you go on the beach at midday. Even the locals admit that Dubai is intolerable in July and August. 

I thought it was pretty intolerable when I went in September - the temperature seldom fell below the high 30s, even at night, and walking outside was like wading through soup. Despite being a desert country, it somehow manages to be humid as well. Apparently, British tourists like Dubai (and went on going there right through the 1991 Gulf war) because, as the PR memorably explains, 'People don't associate it with the Middle East.' It doesn't feel like a Muslim country. You can drink alcohol even during Ramadan. The Dubaians, of course, look Arabic, in their immaculate white dish-dashes, but they account for only 18 per cent of the population - the rest are expats from all over Europe, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, whose common language is English. It is also a very safe country, with no theft or mugging, and nobody ever hassles you in the street. Dubai's main attraction is supposed to be its fabulous shopping, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy. There are loads of huge shopping malls with all the same shops as Brent Cross - Ikea, Next, Gap, Debenhams - with marginally cheaper prices. But you surely don't fly eight hours to get 3 pounds off a skirt? The 'bargain' area, Karama, is more exciting if you crave fake watches and fake Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, and Burberry handbags at dirt cheap prices. But can't you get those in Essex? 

So what do you do in Dubai apart from shopping? Well first you have to see Burj Al Arab, which is Dubai's own Leaning Tower of Pisa - its silhouette appears on all the car number plates. It is, one might have guessed, a hotel, where the smallest suites cost 1,000 pounds a night and guests are transported by a fleet of white Rolls-Royces. Designed by British architect W. S. Atkins, it is shaped like a sail and has a helicopter pad on top, where Tiger Woods was filmed hitting golf balls into the sea. The outside is great but the inside is like a bad acid trip. The style can best be described as Puff Daddy crossed with Wurlitzer jukebox, plus copious fish and waterfalls. The Royal Suite features a revolving bed and wall-to-wall leopardskin - apparently, the rapper 50 Cent stayed there the other week and loved it. 

'Historic' Dubai does not take long to see. The oldest building is a tiny fort like a child's sandcastle, which dates from the l8th century and houses the Dubai Museum. Then there is Sheikh Saeed's house, built in 1896, and a few Persian windtower houses built in the early 20th century. That's about it for historic buildings. Someone pointed out to me the Hard Rock Cafe, a squat unimpressive block overshadowed by skyscrapers, and said it used to be a great landmark - you could see it from miles away as you drove down from Abu Dhabi, and it marked the end of the desert and the beginning of town. But that was all of eight years ago, and the city has engulfed it since then. 

What is truly sensational about Dubai is the speed at which it is growing. You could go away for a week and return to find a 20-storey skyscraper outside your window. Housing estates and shopping malls arrive like flying ants. Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince, has decreed that by the time the oil runs out Dubai will be the financial and commercial centre for the whole Middle East. Three years ago he changed the law to allow foreigners to buy property and establish residency - hence the rush for real estate. Everywhere you go you see architects' drawings and models of the next new thing - the world's biggest shopping mall, the world's tallest skyscraper, the world's biggest maze. One of the new housing estates, International City, promises 'a recreation of the Forbidden City that will transport the magic of Chinese culture to the desert' - with parking for 2,000 cars. 

The Dubai coastline is already almost totally built up, so now they are building artificial islands out into the Gulf, which will add 120 kilometres to the Dubai shoreline. The first of these, the Palm, is already visible: a man-made structure in the shape of a palm tree, it will have apartment blocks and hotels along the stem and private beachfront villas on the fronds (one of which David Beckham has acquired). Like everything in Dubai, it has been built at incredible speed - land reclamation started in December 2001 and finished in November 2003; now they are building a 10-lane bridge to the trunk, and the first houses are already going up. All the apartment blocks sold out in the first three hours. 

Work has already started on a second Palm, which will be 40 per cent >larger than the first, and there's also the World, consisting of 300 islands in the shape of different countries, which will be completed by 2008. Seventy islands have already been sold - someone bought Australia on the very first day. Owners can build what they like on their islands, or not build at all. The promotional video bizarrely shows people trekking through a rainforest and emerging on to a broad savannah with a herd of wildebeest stampeding by. Would anyone be mad enough to create a rainforest on a man-made island in the Gulf with no rain at all? Well, maybe in Dubai. 

10 things you might not know 

Some Emirati men greet each other by touching noses and clicking their tongues while shaking hands - it's not recommended for >foreigners to try this. 

A popular traditional instrument of Dubai, the manior, is a cotton belt decorated with dried goats' hooves, while the tamboura is a harp-like instrument featuring five strings, plucked with sheep horns. 

The Bedouin used to catch falcons by burying a 'volunteer' in the sand with only their head and an arm sticking out. They were covered with a bush with a live pigeon tied to it, then when the falcon was close enough, they had to grab it. 

As recently as 1952 there weren't any schools, and even today only primary education is compulsory. 

Women make up more than 40 per cent of the workforce, and in >universities females outnumber males by three to one. 

If you run over a camel you must reimburse the owner for their loss. 

A decree was passed in 1993 banning children from the popular sport of camel racing, but children from India and Pakistan as young as eight years old are still used, albeit illegally, because they are so light. 

Dubai has a huge problem with people dumping rubbish on the streets, and generates one of the highest volumes of waste per capita in the world. 

Population estimates are around 1.1 million, of which only 220,000 are Emiratis, the rest are expat. 

There are no political parties or elections, the royal Al Maktoum family rules, currently Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum is in power, supported by his two brothers. 





Here's to this Lynn Barber :bash:


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

This article was posted here more then a month ago.


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## Qatar4Ever (Feb 3, 2004)

I might disagree with him in somethings because he seems that he has seen dubai through a very negative light, but most of the stuff does make sense. But still he does say that its a very popular destination for ppl from the UK so the article wont really hurt dubai.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

> 10 things you might not know
> 
> Some Emirati men greet each other by touching noses and clicking their tongues while shaking hands - it's not recommended for >foreigners to try this.


What does he mean by clicking their tongues?



> As recently as 1952 there weren't any schools, and even today only primary education is compulsory.


I think the first school was built earlier than what was mentioned. Education was complusory to grade 9 now its compulsory to grade 12. even when i dont see any obligation.




> Women make up more than 40 per cent of the workforce, and in >universities females outnumber males by three to one.


i dont know about the workforce. the number is true for the university students and its 4 to 1 in UAEU in al ain.


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2004)

This article is a load of garbage, and as *Altin_Carnut* mentioned, it was posted on this site more than a month ago. It was actually posted the day it was published. I copied the article and sent it to my cousin by email, and then suddenly a few weeks later, an acquaintance of mine sent me the same email as a forward, and a huge bunch of names had received the same email. I guess that's how forwards start.

Another thing which the author mentioned that's utter crap, is that Dubai has a problem with people dumping garbage in the streets. That's completely false, and what she is actually referring to is the waste generation per capita, which is among the highest in the world. But the people don't throw this waste on the streets! She's an idiot and makes a lot of assumptions.

I also figured she has no taste at all once she praised the food at Madinat Jumeira. The food over there is one of the worst I've ever had in my life, and everyone I know didn't like the restaurants at Madinat Jumeira, and yet it was one of the few things she liked in Dubai, which really says a lot about her taste.

I lost my respect for The Guardian newspaper because of this article, and this cow they've hired to work for them.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

BulldozerGirl said:


> I lost my respect for The Guardian newspaper because of this article, and this cow they've hired to work for them.


She was a goat not a cow.


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## Krazy (Apr 27, 2004)

maybe a pig


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## ahmedr (Feb 1, 2004)

> International City, promises 'a recreation of the Forbidden City that will transport the magic of Chinese culture to the desert' - with parking for 2,000 cars.


heh, that was funny!


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## ahmedr (Feb 1, 2004)

Okay, I know this article is very offending, even I felt offended by it, but there is some truth to it, specifically when she speaks about the architecture and history of Dubai. I was gonna write a long post to defend my points but I dont want anyone to get me wrong and feel more offended. And when she says it she makes it sound like Dubai has always been like this and wouldnt change at all, when in fact Dubai has come a long way and is going to be unrecognizable (in a good way) in less than 5 years.


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## Trances (May 19, 2003)

duabi long haul from LOndon ! 
Sure what ever
its a weekend trip at most !


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## juiced (Aug 18, 2004)

She probably has never been out of her village, so a 7hour flight is like a trip to the moon for her!


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2004)

We didn't say all that she said was rubbish. But for an article to appear in the Guardian, this is absolute trash. It sounds like something out of a tabloid.

She does not cover Dubai in a balanced way. More than half of her article was just about Madinat Jumeirah, where she stayed. She didn't say anything about other places she visited, so she didn't really cover the city of Dubai, she just covered Madinat Jumeirah.

She also seems to want to use a lot of similes and metaphors and wastes a lot of words going into references about the weather being an elephant, or rooms being like a 60's Indian restaurant, and Dubai being "Birmingham without its beauty, and Las Vegas without its culture". She's just playing around with words, and is not giving a useful review.

The bunch of "interesting points" about Dubai at the end of the article are almost all wrong and misleading as well.


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## ahmedr (Feb 1, 2004)

You're right, its a very badly-written.


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## Krazy (Apr 27, 2004)

Im sorry for posting it again, wasn't aware that it's been posted here already before. Someone forwarded the article to me last night and I was amazed at her ignorance. Reminded me of some americans back in college who live in a shell and think we all ride camels here.


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## Trances (May 19, 2003)

Its meant to be critical and entertaining in a sort of way ?


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2004)

Krazy said:


> Im sorry for posting it again, wasn't aware that it's been posted here already before. Someone forwarded the article to me last night and I was amazed at her ignorance. Reminded me of some americans back in college who live in a shell and think we all ride camels here.


Hehehe.. maybe it's the forward I started.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

BulldozerGirl said:


> Hehehe.. maybe it's the forward I started.


i didnt get it.


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## fahed (Nov 10, 2004)

smussuw said:


> i didnt get it.


Read post#5. BG forwarded this article by the e-mail and bla bla until the end :guns1:


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

yes i know. what i meant is that i didnt get her email.


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## city of the future (Jul 24, 2004)

the worst newspaper that i ever read! guardian is horrible


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