6 ms·

Honest question. What do you not like about Dubai? Have you ever been there?

rosndo 4y ago
It’s nice for a week or two, but gets boring pretty fast. You can only eat at L’Atelier so many times. But it’s surely better than almost every other city in the world.
- mdp2021 4y ago
  > But it’s surely better than almost every other city in the world On which basis?
  - rosndo 4y ago
    Restaurants, flight connections, quality of services, friendly tax regime. Restaurants obviously being the most important metric. Sure, it’ll lose out to London, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, … But it won’t lose out to cities like Manchester or Liverpool.
    - tclancy 4y ago
      >Restaurants obviously being the most important metric This reminds me a bit of Eddie Izzard's impression of the Queen: "A plumber? What on Eaaarrrthh is that?" Not everyone can eat at a restaurant nightly. Not everyone can eat. And some of the reason for that is designed into the current system.
      - doldols 4y ago
        Sure, but HN audience is primarily rich tech workers, entrepreneurs and temporarily embarrassed versions of those. In this context it makes sense to look at things from that perspective. On reddit it would of course be different.
        qsdf38100 4y ago
        I’d hope rich tech workers and entrepreneurs aren’t all ok with the amount of slavery and oppression going on in Dubai.
        doldols 4y ago
        There is no slavery in Dubai, oppression yes, but not actual slavery. You’ll find more slaves per capita in the US where prisoners are widely used as actual slave labor.
        devoutsalsa 4y ago
        There are definitely people who are enslaved in the UAE under the Kafala System. It’s unclear to me how widespread it is, but it does happen. When I was there, I personally met a woman on Tinder, and on our date she told me she had been forced into prostitution by the person who brought her to the UAE. She had to earn tens of thousands of dollars to get her passport back from him. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system
        rosndo 4y ago
        This is absolutely illegal and you can get your passport back within a day or two by just calling MOHRE. A decade ago this stuff may have been more common, but the government has cracked down heavily to the point that it doesn’t exist any more than it does in Europe.
  - umeshunni 4y ago
    Good infrastructure, clean streets, adequate public transit, no crime. Well connected globally.
    - barry-cotter 4y ago
      > Good infrastructure They don’t even have a working sewage system.
      - umeshunni 4y ago
        Hmmm. this article from 2011 says they do: https://web.archive.org/web/20130504074926/http://gulftoday.ae/portal/7643b815-413c-458a-b095-0f38be12ce35.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20130504074926/http://gulftoday....
        barry-cotter 4y ago
        This company is still advertising its tanker services in 2020. https://dotless.ae/how-does-dubai-manage-its-sewage-water/ https://dotless.ae/how-does-dubai-manage-its-sewage-water/ From 2016 so Dubai may have had a working sewage system for a year, so I could be wrong. > Dubai: The emirate of Dubai will get a new deep tunnel sewerage system costing Dh12.5 billion in the next five years to replace more than 121 sewage pumping stations. Pumping station meaning tankers transport the waste away. https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/dubai-to-get-a-new-sewage-system-in-coming-five-years-1.1828229 https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/dubai-to-get-a-new-sewag...
        doldols 4y ago
        From the end user perspective that still seems like a working sewage system, no? It’s not like they’re making residents pay high taxes to pay for the tankers either.
        barry-cotter 4y ago
        We disagree on what a working sewage system means. Tanker trucks aren’t it. Dubai may have had a working sewage system for a year now. Not great but better than I thought was the case.
monkey_monkey 4y ago
Corrupt amoral regime, filled with corrupt amoral people. Bliss for many here, hell for people who value humanity
turbinerneiter 4y ago
Been there for work a couple of days. I haven't ever been in a place that felt so fake and liveless. The only thing you can do is go to the mall. It's dystopian in every aspect.
- rosndo 4y ago
  > I haven't ever been in a place that felt so fake and liveless. The only thing you can do is go to the mall. That’s not true at all. Mall is probably the last place anyone should go to in Dubai. Instead of going to the Mall, you could drive a little and go view the wonderful collection at Louvre Abu Dhabi. You could also go eat excellent sushi at the little (and cheap) 3 Fils at the local Fishing harbor in Jumeirah. There’s also a decent seafood restaurant next door run by local fishermen. On Palm there’s the excellent Ibn AlBahr run by a group of Lebanese(?) fishermen. Deira too is full of nice authentic places. But sure, if you’re a mall enthusiast then a shitty mall is all you will find. If you seek out nice authentic places, they’re easy to find.
  - ethanbond 4y ago
    Dubai sounds decidedly better than the towns that surround it, sure, but it's pretty clear based on this description (and every other) that it is not even close to a world class city.
    - doldols 4y ago
      I mean I’m deliberately neglecting to mention all the European restaurants like L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, LPM, Gaia, COYA, Zuma, Cipriani and so many others. Most of these aren’t my favourites, but they’re definitely well loved in world class cities like London. Do I think Dubai is a world class city? Nah. But it’s not very far. Personally I’m really not a fan of the place, I’d only ever visit to meet with lawyers. Too warm, too much sand, most of the restaurants can also be found in much better cities (Monaco has most of the aforementioned within a short distance, and vastly better beaches)
      - 4y ago
mns 4y ago
I went here 4 years ago. Hypocritical society, everything seemed fake and useless, made just to impress. Someone was writing below about infrastructure and all that. It’s what I would imagine the US, everything being made for cars, a huge n-lane highway through the city, impossible to walk anywhere, except maybe the fake marina and the fake neighborhoods. The only genuine place there was the old town, but I might suspect that was also fake. Public transport is for naive Europeans and the slaves, oh, sorry, the Asian people exploited to serve and run their society. The whole city is full of people impressed by the so called wealth and futurism, tasteless shops, malls and skyscrapers. When I left I said to myself I will never come back to such a hypocritical and shallow place made for wannabe Instagram millionaires and low level mobsters.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  The indentured servants probably have real culture wherever they go on their four hours off to sleep, but foisting one's tourist ass into what little solace they have seems pretty gross.
seydor 4y ago
Heat
baby 4y ago
It's hot, so people aren't really out. There's no sidewalks, so you just take a cab to go everywhere or go from buildings to buildings using bridges. It's all about living a luxurious life. If you've been to Vegas, it's like living in these hotels 24/7, or at least that's how I imagined living there after my trip there. Oh and of course the culture and the politics there... you really have to look the other way.
qsdf38100 4y ago
To add to the other replies, this video highlights the bad aspects of the city: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuqe6sre2I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuqe6sre2I

It’s nice for a week or two, but gets boring pretty fast. You can only eat at L’Atelier so many times. But it’s surely better than almost every other city in the world.

mdp2021 4y ago
> But it’s surely better than almost every other city in the world On which basis?
- rosndo 4y ago
  Restaurants, flight connections, quality of services, friendly tax regime. Restaurants obviously being the most important metric. Sure, it’ll lose out to London, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, … But it won’t lose out to cities like Manchester or Liverpool.
  - tclancy 4y ago
    >Restaurants obviously being the most important metric This reminds me a bit of Eddie Izzard's impression of the Queen: "A plumber? What on Eaaarrrthh is that?" Not everyone can eat at a restaurant nightly. Not everyone can eat. And some of the reason for that is designed into the current system.
    - doldols 4y ago
      Sure, but HN audience is primarily rich tech workers, entrepreneurs and temporarily embarrassed versions of those. In this context it makes sense to look at things from that perspective. On reddit it would of course be different.
      - qsdf38100 4y ago
        I’d hope rich tech workers and entrepreneurs aren’t all ok with the amount of slavery and oppression going on in Dubai.
        doldols 4y ago
        There is no slavery in Dubai, oppression yes, but not actual slavery. You’ll find more slaves per capita in the US where prisoners are widely used as actual slave labor.
        devoutsalsa 4y ago
        There are definitely people who are enslaved in the UAE under the Kafala System. It’s unclear to me how widespread it is, but it does happen. When I was there, I personally met a woman on Tinder, and on our date she told me she had been forced into prostitution by the person who brought her to the UAE. She had to earn tens of thousands of dollars to get her passport back from him. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system
        rosndo 4y ago
        This is absolutely illegal and you can get your passport back within a day or two by just calling MOHRE. A decade ago this stuff may have been more common, but the government has cracked down heavily to the point that it doesn’t exist any more than it does in Europe.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  Good infrastructure, clean streets, adequate public transit, no crime. Well connected globally.
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    > Good infrastructure They don’t even have a working sewage system.
    - umeshunni 4y ago
      Hmmm. this article from 2011 says they do: https://web.archive.org/web/20130504074926/http://gulftoday.ae/portal/7643b815-413c-458a-b095-0f38be12ce35.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20130504074926/http://gulftoday....
      - barry-cotter 4y ago
        This company is still advertising its tanker services in 2020. https://dotless.ae/how-does-dubai-manage-its-sewage-water/ https://dotless.ae/how-does-dubai-manage-its-sewage-water/ From 2016 so Dubai may have had a working sewage system for a year, so I could be wrong. > Dubai: The emirate of Dubai will get a new deep tunnel sewerage system costing Dh12.5 billion in the next five years to replace more than 121 sewage pumping stations. Pumping station meaning tankers transport the waste away. https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/dubai-to-get-a-new-sewage-system-in-coming-five-years-1.1828229 https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/dubai-to-get-a-new-sewag...
        doldols 4y ago
        From the end user perspective that still seems like a working sewage system, no? It’s not like they’re making residents pay high taxes to pay for the tankers either.
        barry-cotter 4y ago
        We disagree on what a working sewage system means. Tanker trucks aren’t it. Dubai may have had a working sewage system for a year now. Not great but better than I thought was the case.

monkey_monkey 4y ago

Corrupt amoral regime, filled with corrupt amoral people. Bliss for many here, hell for people who value humanity

turbinerneiter 4y ago

Been there for work a couple of days. I haven't ever been in a place that felt so fake and liveless. The only thing you can do is go to the mall. It's dystopian in every aspect.

rosndo 4y ago
> I haven't ever been in a place that felt so fake and liveless. The only thing you can do is go to the mall. That’s not true at all. Mall is probably the last place anyone should go to in Dubai. Instead of going to the Mall, you could drive a little and go view the wonderful collection at Louvre Abu Dhabi. You could also go eat excellent sushi at the little (and cheap) 3 Fils at the local Fishing harbor in Jumeirah. There’s also a decent seafood restaurant next door run by local fishermen. On Palm there’s the excellent Ibn AlBahr run by a group of Lebanese(?) fishermen. Deira too is full of nice authentic places. But sure, if you’re a mall enthusiast then a shitty mall is all you will find. If you seek out nice authentic places, they’re easy to find.
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Dubai sounds decidedly better than the towns that surround it, sure, but it's pretty clear based on this description (and every other) that it is not even close to a world class city.
  - doldols 4y ago
    I mean I’m deliberately neglecting to mention all the European restaurants like L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, LPM, Gaia, COYA, Zuma, Cipriani and so many others. Most of these aren’t my favourites, but they’re definitely well loved in world class cities like London. Do I think Dubai is a world class city? Nah. But it’s not very far. Personally I’m really not a fan of the place, I’d only ever visit to meet with lawyers. Too warm, too much sand, most of the restaurants can also be found in much better cities (Monaco has most of the aforementioned within a short distance, and vastly better beaches)
    - 4y ago

mns 4y ago

I went here 4 years ago. Hypocritical society, everything seemed fake and useless, made just to impress. Someone was writing below about infrastructure and all that. It’s what I would imagine the US, everything being made for cars, a huge n-lane highway through the city, impossible to walk anywhere, except maybe the fake marina and the fake neighborhoods. The only genuine place there was the old town, but I might suspect that was also fake. Public transport is for naive Europeans and the slaves, oh, sorry, the Asian people exploited to serve and run their society. The whole city is full of people impressed by the so called wealth and futurism, tasteless shops, malls and skyscrapers. When I left I said to myself I will never come back to such a hypocritical and shallow place made for wannabe Instagram millionaires and low level mobsters.

Schroedingersat 4y ago
The indentured servants probably have real culture wherever they go on their four hours off to sleep, but foisting one's tourist ass into what little solace they have seems pretty gross.

seydor 4y ago

Heat

baby 4y ago

It's hot, so people aren't really out. There's no sidewalks, so you just take a cab to go everywhere or go from buildings to buildings using bridges. It's all about living a luxurious life. If you've been to Vegas, it's like living in these hotels 24/7, or at least that's how I imagined living there after my trip there. Oh and of course the culture and the politics there... you really have to look the other way.

qsdf38100 4y ago

To add to the other replies, this video highlights the bad aspects of the city: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuqe6sre2I https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuqe6sre2I