I am reposting this for anyone considering visiting Dubai
I am fully aware that many people holiday or choose to work in Dubai, the vast majority without any problems

however it also goes seriously tits up for many many people

Dubai is a third world country of medieval attitudes lurking behind a thin veneer of ill considered towers built by what is effectively slave labour

There are so many contradictions, hypocrisies and downright lunacy about the place it's fair to say you are never safe in Dubai. I wonder how many of the people who holiday there know that if you stay in a hotel as a couple but are unmarried you can be jailed for 6 months? Although this is rare, the point is they can do this at a whim, when it does happen there is NOTHING the British Consulate can or will do. Similarly whether you are a practicing Muslim or not, if you are of Muslim parents and if you're caught drinking - 6 months.

Basically you are only tolerated there for the money you bring and if there is any issue between you, a local, the police or the authorities - you are automatically in the wrong, you are in deep shit and have little or no rights and no chance of exercising them. Your only chance is a massive bribe - corruption is the national pastime.

Perspective - just a couple of weeks ago this happened...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21529654

i see stories like that every couple of months.

here's what happened to us...

b3ta.com/questions/theboss/post460435

my advice to anyone would be to avoid Dubai at all costs, aside from anything else it's fucking dull
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 10:45, 10 replies)

Being in the UAE myself
I can vouch for the fact that this is not an uncommon story. Dubai in particular is full of cutthroat types- and from what I understand, they're not typically Emiratis. Dubai is infamous for having a lot of Russian organized crime types, for instance, and I've met some Britons and Americans there who struck me as being less than savory.

We are here in a smaller city while my wife works as a professor, so I believe that we're reasonably safe from that sort of twatbadgery. That said, we know better than to put all our eggs in one basket and have an escape plan if things go ugly. We could put everything important into a few suitcases, grab the cats and ditch the rest if we had to.

The important thing, of course, is to keep your head down and be paranoid about doing anything to piss off anyone in authority. We have friends who have lived here for close to 20 years, so we've been given a little bit of advice here and there about staying under the radar.

But I agree about Dubai being boring, at least for me. It's impressive to see, but it's full of Western stuff that I could get at home so there's really not much lure for me there. I by far prefer the smaller city we're in as it's much more Arab. Not to mention that it's well inland, so it's not as steamy as Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, and I hope you're better sorted now.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 5 Mar 2013, 11:19, closed)

we're fine now fella
i got back on my horse pretty quickly. i have a great job and we live well. it's all good.
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 14:30, closed)

Man up.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 11:39, closed)

Shut up.

( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 14:26, closed)

No YOU shut up.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 15:47, closed)

No

( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 17:07, closed)

Racist.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 17:59, closed)

Strut your funky stuff.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 15:48, closed)

Sho' nuff.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 17:40, closed)

SHUT UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 17:41, closed)

It's looking like I may have to do some setup for a client in Dubai
Really not happy about it.
( chthonic, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 11:55, closed)

It's not all bad over here.
Message me if you'd like an honest discussion about the place. I've had time to gain a few insights.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 5 Mar 2013, 12:27, closed)

Stayed there for a few days, found that I could drink pints and smoke cigarettes at the hotel bar
didn't really leave the hotel bar
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 12:01, closed)

I spent a week out there for work a while back.
Vaguely concerned I was going to be arrested straight off the plane; shit.

Hairy moment when my passport was somewhere within Emirates HQ; shit.

Being bought a few too many beers about a forty minute taxi ride from my hotel; oh shit.

Had a nice steak though.
( gone, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 14:27, closed)

What a fucking surprise
"Backwards retarded desert hellhole is backwards retarded desert hellhole"
( DinivanX Has stinging piss after drinking Pact Coffee, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 14:52, closed)

LOL bigots was last week.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 16:05, closed)

The clue is in the name.
Dubiaous.
(speedevil, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 16:44, closed)

The people of Dubai don't like The Flintstones, but the people of Abu Dhabi do!
(IHaveTheRightToArmBears, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 17:03, closed)

Get out.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 18:42, closed)

I'm assuming you're back on your feet now?
We have a friend who used to live out there, and she loved it at first...but she's a journalist, and after having to report one too many stories of 'acceptable' domestic abuse, she quit and moved to Thailand. she hated Dubai by the time she left.
( Wicca'd Witch needs ideas for a new sig on..., Tue 5 Mar 2013, 18:29, closed)

Holy shit, that was the longest QOTW that I've actually read and I can well believe it.
North Cyprus is child's play compared to them lot, but the stories match up there too.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 5 Mar 2013, 21:18, closed)