shakh your bootie

Yes, agreed - the fact that the wealth is distributed means that most Emiratis are very loyal to the government and proud of the development of their country. Their are, however, differences according to region and which family you come from - also their is a whole class of dispossessed "locals" who do not have citizenship.

Meow

Oh well said!

Provided of course, I can get alcohol & bacon & don't have to dress in a bin bag!

shakh your bootie

Well, so long as the UK lets people who wanna wear Hijab to work or school do so in their country, it would only be fair to expect people in other countries to allow you to retain your personal freedom when you're living in theirs.....

IndieG

Agree

SYB, quick change, I have got you a new outfit!

Meow

Of course! I was half-joking. I am not that kind of ex-pat.
I respect the rules, but I wouldn't choose to live in say, Saudi, as it is overly restrictive & I don't like a lot of things about the country.

Personally, I love the diversity of living in Dubai.

shakh your bootie

Are you saying I should cover up so that I don't drive people mad with desire and commit carnal sins?

IndieG

I'd say cover up, but for quite the opposite reasons.............

shakh your bootie

Well the sari is all your fault anyway, so you shall just have to suffer.

IndieG

Then more of the saree please. Here you go........ at least hide that hideous face...

shakh your bootie

Hideous? It took me hours to put all that slap one...

shakh your bootie

Hoi, yaar... You look so innocent & bridal I could ride up on a white horse and stuff your mouth with ludoo.

The Dean

Back to my original topic...........

I just see signs of it increasingly whenever I come to Dubai. As I said - shops downtown closing for evening prayers, louder prayers played over mall loudspeakers.... etc ... etc.

Totally agree they can do what they like ("it's their country etc blah etc blah...")............ but a major conflict is building up............

........ does Dubai WANT the sort of tourism it seems to be attracting - and if so, does it realise it will increasingly clash with Islamic values?

Mr and Mrs Dagenham have MONEY these days.... (see Beebee's recent post about the sort of people she encountered at the Burj recently) .... Dubai needs tourist money.....

Ipso facto........... "I'm never going bck to Dubai - you can't get a pint in the local tandoori and the shops shut while the prayers are blaring out over the loudspeakers......"

It worries me actually - I discovered Dubai when it hardly had a hotel worthy of the name............ well, you know.........

shakh your bootie

I think that Mr and Mrs Dagenham are well catered for in their package deals at 5-star hotels that allow them to live the illusion that they are opulent and sophisticated and well deserving of the fawning attention of staff which they won't find in many places in the UK.

Given the occupation rates of Dubai hotels, I don't see that they're suffering at the moment....

The Dean

But Dubai now gets 6 million tourists a year - they need 15 million by 2015 to 'break even' (stat from a leaked Jumeirah business plan/document I saw some time back).

Hope you're right........... but "Ladies and gentlemen, the dinosaur theme park here at Dubailand is now closing for prayers" isn't quite what the tourist ordered........

I'm probably just being alarmist.......... Dubai has thrived precisely because it ISN'T too Islamic..... I'm sure it will all be fine......

shakh your bootie

By 2015 they're going to need to be targetting Chinese and Indian tourists methinks!!!

And WTF is going on with DubaiLand??? There's a big billboard but nix on the construction that I have seen????