There goes our spring break in Dubai

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai?
why?
My cousin works there. Hates it. All fake and plastic and nothing to do but go shopping and out to eat. Why?
Not my idea of a good time. No culture. No history. Nada. Just a buncha new stuff. yetch.

I lived in Dubai. I did plenty of stuff outside malls and eating out. Camping. Beaches. Exploring the mountains of Oman. Wandering through the souks of old Dubai and having excellent Indian food. There's a huge outdoor sporting scene in the UAE, I went cycling and trained for triathlons.

Yes, there's materialism aplenty but it's a choice. Your cousin is making that choice.

Same. I lived in Abu Dhabi. Boating. Camping. Swimming. Souks. Shopping and movies, sure. Like most places, it is what you make of it.

[Anonymous]

I’d still go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai?
why?
My cousin works there. Hates it. All fake and plastic and nothing to do but go shopping and out to eat. Why?
Not my idea of a good time. No culture. No history. Nada. Just a buncha new stuff. yetch.

I lived in Dubai. I did plenty of stuff outside malls and eating out. Camping. Beaches. Exploring the mountains of Oman. Wandering through the souks of old Dubai and having excellent Indian food. There's a huge outdoor sporting scene in the UAE, I went cycling and trained for triathlons.

Yes, there's materialism aplenty but it's a choice. Your cousin is making that choice.

NP. I also lived in Dubai. It was my not favorite of the countries where I've worked.

Oman is a different country, so it's great that you enjoyed Oman's mountains, but the fact that a nearby country is nice to visit doesn't really prove your point that Dubai is a nice place, now does it? That's like responding to someone's criticism of the US by saying, "Yeah, but when I lived in the US, I loved visiting Canada!"

There are only so many times you can walk through the "souks of old Dubai" and sample "exellent Indian food." Global Village and many of those little shops in "old Dubai" now resemble a tacky kind of Disney-fied version of Dubai, with every stall or vendor peddling the same cheap tat, massed produced trinkets that are not "authentic" at all. Don't get me started on the massive trade in stolen phones and electronics that is allowed to continue in Deira (google stolen iphones and how they end up in Dubai and China).

As for the beaches, they are a stunning example of...the government's propoganda and tight control of the media, which has thus far somehow ensured that the Dubai's terrible air pollution problem isn't acknowledged or even known by the hoards of tourists they want to come and feel comfortable sitting outside in the polluted air. The air is better in winter than summer, but never good, and much of the time it is in the Unhealthy range and sometimes worse. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/04/air-pollution-is-dirty-secret-in-uae-says-rights-group

As for outdoor sports, let me repeat again: Dubai has an air pollution problem, and the government tightly controls the media to muzzle any facts that might tarnish Dubai's image: just pay attention now to the cases of Westerners who are being jailed for daring to photograph or take videos of what is going on now with drones/missiles. If you want to go run or bike outside in this during the months of the year when the weather makes that possible, fine, they are your lungs, I guess.

I could go on. But I for one am pleased that the UAE's Orwellian clampdown on any criticism of Dubai, their draconian control of the "image" of that shiny sandbox, is being exposed now. There are now people in jail for daring to record or speak the truth of the attacks, and they are being jailed and suppressed because the UAE authorities would rather have people remain in Dubai, in danger but unaware of the full magnitude of that danger, just so the tourism industry can maybe survive. That about sums up what Dubai is all about, I thinik.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c743g4yn4k8o. You can google for more. There are mulitple people imprisoned for this now. A friend who is still in Dubai tells me that there are plain-clothes policemen in areas where drones have hit, just to make sure people aren't standing around filming or photographing the debris left, and people are getting warnings for what they are posting on social media. Do you really want to visit a place like this?

A bit of an overstatement. Given the entire UAE is the size of South Carolina, it is more like saying I went to South Carolina and enjoyed going to peach farms in Georgia. But you can go to the mountains in the UAE too. And see real bullfighting (for those who don't know it is a fight between bulls which really resembles bovine sumo wrestling), the desert can be fun. But having lived there as well, I recommend it only as a stopping point. As a destination, Dubai and the UAE doesn't offer enough (ar least to me).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai?
why?
My cousin works there. Hates it. All fake and plastic and nothing to do but go shopping and out to eat. Why?
Not my idea of a good time. No culture. No history. Nada. Just a buncha new stuff. yetch.

I lived in Dubai. I did plenty of stuff outside malls and eating out. Camping. Beaches. Exploring the mountains of Oman. Wandering through the souks of old Dubai and having excellent Indian food. There's a huge outdoor sporting scene in the UAE, I went cycling and trained for triathlons.

Yes, there's materialism aplenty but it's a choice. Your cousin is making that choice.

NP. I also lived in Dubai. It was my not favorite of the countries where I've worked.

Oman is a different country, so it's great that you enjoyed Oman's mountains, but the fact that a nearby country is nice to visit doesn't really prove your point that Dubai is a nice place, now does it? That's like responding to someone's criticism of the US by saying, "Yeah, but when I lived in the US, I loved visiting Canada!"

There are only so many times you can walk through the "souks of old Dubai" and sample "exellent Indian food." Global Village and many of those little shops in "old Dubai" now resemble a tacky kind of Disney-fied version of Dubai, with every stall or vendor peddling the same cheap tat, massed produced trinkets that are not "authentic" at all. Don't get me started on the massive trade in stolen phones and electronics that is allowed to continue in Deira (google stolen iphones and how they end up in Dubai and China).

As for the beaches, they are a stunning example of...the government's propoganda and tight control of the media, which has thus far somehow ensured that the Dubai's terrible air pollution problem isn't acknowledged or even known by the hoards of tourists they want to come and feel comfortable sitting outside in the polluted air. The air is better in winter than summer, but never good, and much of the time it is in the Unhealthy range and sometimes worse. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/04/air-pollution-is-dirty-secret-in-uae-says-rights-group

As for outdoor sports, let me repeat again: Dubai has an air pollution problem, and the government tightly controls the media to muzzle any facts that might tarnish Dubai's image: just pay attention now to the cases of Westerners who are being jailed for daring to photograph or take videos of what is going on now with drones/missiles. If you want to go run or bike outside in this during the months of the year when the weather makes that possible, fine, they are your lungs, I guess.

I could go on. But I for one am pleased that the UAE's Orwellian clampdown on any criticism of Dubai, their draconian control of the "image" of that shiny sandbox, is being exposed now. There are now people in jail for daring to record or speak the truth of the attacks, and they are being jailed and suppressed because the UAE authorities would rather have people remain in Dubai, in danger but unaware of the full magnitude of that danger, just so the tourism industry can maybe survive. That about sums up what Dubai is all about, I thinik.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c743g4yn4k8o. You can google for more. There are mulitple people imprisoned for this now. A friend who is still in Dubai tells me that there are plain-clothes policemen in areas where drones have hit, just to make sure people aren't standing around filming or photographing the debris left, and people are getting warnings for what they are posting on social media. Do you really want to visit a place like this?

A bit of an overstatement. Given the entire UAE is the size of South Carolina, it is more like saying I went to South Carolina and enjoyed going to peach farms in Georgia. But you can go to the mountains in the UAE too. And see real bullfighting (for those who don't know it is a fight between bulls which really resembles bovine sumo wrestling), the desert can be fun. But having lived there as well, I recommend it only as a stopping point. As a destination, Dubai and the UAE doesn't offer enough (ar least to me).

Especially when you factor in that it's a 14 hour flight, that probably costs at least $1500 to fly there.

While I personally have no desire to visit Dubai, I don't think anybody is going to be vacationing there anytime soon. Infrastructure is getting bombed and with another endless war in the ME seeeming likely, the Dubai of two weeks ago is no more.

[Anonymous]

No one is visiting from the US anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is visiting from the US anytime soon.

Never say never. Whole thing will probably blow over in a few weeks. May take a few more months for confidence to return then you have the summer heat keeping people away. But by fall it'll be back to business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean. What were you going to do there as a family? Buy gold bars from a vending machine and stay at a 7 star hotel?

Theme parks, resorts, beaches, desert safari, water parks, jet skiing, they even have an indoor ski resort, the food is awesome, nightlife, architecture

I did not know that.

I’m canceling my trips to Costa Rica.

A friend of mine has skied there. Similar to Big Snow in New Jersey if you are itching for indoor skiing close to home. There are also a couple in England. I've skied at one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is visiting from the US anytime soon.

Never say never. Whole thing will probably blow over in a few weeks. May take a few more months for confidence to return then you have the summer heat keeping people away. But by fall it'll be back to business.

Hopefully not. Terrible place to visit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No one is visiting from the US anytime soon.


Never say never. Whole thing will probably blow over in a few weeks. May take a few more months for confidence to return then you have the summer heat keeping people away. But by fall it'll be back to business.

Doesn't look that way today. Marines are being sent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is visiting from the US anytime soon.

Never say never. Whole thing will probably blow over in a few weeks. May take a few more months for confidence to return then you have the summer heat keeping people away. But by fall it'll be back to business.

Doubtful. Trump poked the bear.

[Anonymous]

How’s a woman to impress her friends without flying across the world to take a selfie next to a camel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean. What were you going to do there as a family? Buy gold bars from a vending machine and stay at a 7 star hotel?

Theme parks, resorts, beaches, desert safari, water parks, jet skiing, they even have an indoor ski resort, the food is awesome, nightlife, architecture

I did not know that.

I’m canceling my trips to Costa Rica.

A friend of mine has skied there. Similar to Big Snow in New Jersey if you are itching for indoor skiing close to home. There are also a couple in England. I've skied at one of them.

Seems like good reason to spend a thousand to fly 12 hours to ski. When the same thing is in NJ.

[Anonymous]

Iran warns residents to leave areas near ports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Major attacks are imminent.
I doubt there will be much left to visit soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iran warns residents to leave areas near ports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Major attacks are imminent.
I doubt there will be much left to visit soon.

Iran is running out of missiles, which is why far fewer are being launched.

I stand by my prediction this will blow over in a few weeks and it's back to usual.

[Anonymous]

Back to usual. With oil fields on fire