Dubai, Would You Vacation There?

Dont forget Tehran, Syria, Beirut, Palestine, and parts of Saudi, Egypt

and since my gf and I are not married they'd certainly have an issue w that

 

For Tehran, as long you don't have a US passport it's chill. I was to go with my ex at that time, and i was concerned by the fact if i need to provide any written statement that she is actually with me then under my responsibility or sth. I went to the embassy to get my visa, they told that there is no such thing, she needs to fill her visa application separately and she does not need even to put that she' going there with sb.

 

I've been a couple of times for business, but I have NO interest in it as a vacation destination.

CW

 

well, if you're gonna be an infidel, at least have some fun with it

 

Never.........the entire ME is no go for me.

 

To tell you the truth I don't really know where all the money comes from. I guess oil brings in quite a profit but other than that the government really doesn't say much. The citizens are treated extremely well, eastern asian workers (mostly) get treated like crap. There's a huge gap in the social classes and workers do get treated like crap. I guess they try to hide that but it's not hard to see, especially when workers that are out in the sun all day 6 days a week get paid a few hundred dollars a month. There's no real contesting of their rights and whatnot but it still hurts to see such injustice happen in the 21st century.

I guess that's the price you pay to afford all these mega projects and all the luxuries that citizens and westerners have available to them. A dollar gets you way more in terms of labour there. Obviously if you stay in the tourist spots you don't really see all of this. If you want me to expand on that I'll be glad to.

Now back to the tourism aspect of the country. Personally I think Dubai is nice for a couple of days, then the novelty factor kind of wears off. There's a lot of heritage in nearby cities (and the nice thing is that it's such a small country that everything is about a 2 to 3 hour drive. Visiting the old boats used to find pearls in the gulf is quite an experience and it's pretty crazy to think that the people driving BMWs, Porsches and Ferraries were some of the poorest people around 40 years ago. They were actually the workers of the rich indians and were treated like crap. Quite a role reversal huh?

There's also a beautiful man made island off the coast of Abu Dhabi (it's actually connected to the city not too sure what the name is for such a structure) designed to stop waves from hitting the coast and this area is now filled with great restaurants. One I would recommend is actually an old wooden boat that's now converted to a great restaurant. Around the same area there's an island about 30 minutes off the coast that was used by the late Sheik Zayed as an animal reserve, it's a beautiful place.

If anyone is into the muslim architecture, I believe they finished building the Zayed mosque and it's HUGE. Definitely a place to see regardless of your faith because it's just a beautiful place.

I'll gladly suggest more places if someone is considering going there.

 

Shanghai was a BLAST I'm hoping to do Tokyo and Hong Kong sometime in the coming year or two, maybe Beijing.

 

So you can walk into the lobby w a 12 year old girl or a sheep and nobody has an issue w it ? LOL

 

It's more a 22-28 yr old russian/ukrainian

 

I'm not that interested in going to Dubai. Maybe in a few decades when all the construction is done just to see how the "city of the future" looks. Right now, there's a lot of pollution from construction and the cars (everyone appears to have their own car, no mass transit). My friend in the Marines told me how they were given fliers right off the ship for prostitutes, but all he wanted was to buy a t-shirt for his girlfriend back home. I'm not interested in the high temperatures there either...

I've been to Iran a couple of times and would like to go again. I'm more of an outdoor person as well as visiting historical sites. They have mountain ranges in the north where you can go snow skiing in the winter (or grass skiing in the summer). Then you have all the old Persian ruins and mosques. That's the kind of stuff I rather see than new buildings and indoor snow ski slopes.

 

As much as I would love to fly the Emirates A380 and have a 5 minute shower at 37,000 feet. Singapore already has theirs, and Qantas is getting their A380 very soon. So Im not going to Dubai. Intersting place though.

Though, I might go to Iran and fly the 707...

 

Safe in Bahrain, perhaps, but going to a country to drop money in where the colour of your skin and stupidity is laughed at means it's a no go for me as well.

 

I'd go, but its not very high on my list. Ive been to Israel, Egypt, and Malaysia on vacation, but I just don't get the whole Dubai appeal. The architecture and magnitude of new construction would be cool for a day or two, but the novelty would quickly wear off for me. It just seems like a manufactured city; a huge theme park thats pretty on the surface but lacks a lot of substance. I can appreciate the effort that goes into a creating a man-made island that is shaped like a palm tree or the world, but I can't imagine the experience being any better than a multitude of other beaches around the world when you are actually at the beach.

 

so you dont go to any city in the us either, because certainly each one has some of the above... infact i would bet you are more likely to be kidnapped, shot, or meet a "murderous fanatic" in chicago then in Dubai, granted, probably more people dislike america in dubai then in chicago

 

Nope.

 

I'd agree with you on the first part (likely why I'm moving to NC myself) and disagree on the latter. Maybe per-capita.. but if you took a tally - I'd bet you find more folks who hate Americans in Chicago than you would in Dubai.

That said? I'm not setting foot in Dubai anytime soon.

 

Not interested in going to the ME anytime soon. I spend a lot of time in Russia (I have an apartment in Moscow) and East Europe. Just recently visited Toyko. Too many other places I'd rather explore first.