More Ibn Batutta-ing
Salaams,
Well the traveller has been doing more travelling…
Alhamdulilla I spent the week of the 13th in Dubai and Qatar and spent last week end in Paris/Belgium.
The main reason for Dubai was to just see what all the hype is about - and to be honest I think it's all a bit over hyped…Dubai is still mainly desert with only one main road where there are quite a few big buildings present. Fair point though that there are quite a few buildings in construction stage so that in a few years time it will be a lot more packed out, but still, it wasn't as buzzing as I had expected it. The main things to do there are to SHOP and EAT which I more than accepted. The malls there are indeed out of this world, with everything you can think of, and more, under one roof. One such mall involved us going skiing on real snow on slopes they had created within the mall…! The food was awesome too as all the cuisines of the world were available to eat.
The whole story of Dubai is quite amazing/scary and this was shown quite clearly by a visit to the museum there. In it there were lots of picture of the current king when he was a child - and boy were things different then…! Only 40 years ago, the royal family were living in a 2 story building, wearing tattered clothes and with the very basics in terms of household items. Looking at the pictures there is no way one would think that this was the royal family. Also just looking at some pictures of Dubai, even 10 years ago shows how in such a short amount of time the city has been completely transformed.
This I hasten to add has been done off the back of South Asian and north African labour. Modern day slavery is what some people call it. Over a million Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino and North African Arabs working 12-15 hours a day in the sweltering heat, for often nothing more than a place over their head and some food (i.e. they don't even get paid). OK, this applies mainly to the labourers, but for the majority of these guys, as soon as they land, their employer takes the passport off them, and then they are at the mercy of them in terms of the conditions they will have to work in. This was one bizarre aspect of Dubai and Qatar - the fact that you rarely saw any Arabs around (except eating in the restaurants and shopping in the malls) - 90% of the people outdoors were Asians so often it felt like I was back in Bangladesh…!
Another issue has been the rise in prostitution and drugs. With the ratio of males to females 7:3, prostitutes have been shipped in from eastern Europe with the Russian Mafia bosses ruling the underworld in Dubai. There's a saying that apparently every third woman in Dubai is a …. Maybe this is an exaggeration, but there is a LOT of it, especially in the posh hotels (as is the case in most Arab countries - hence the bombings in Jordan which targeted the 5* hotels)
I actually preferred Qatar to Dubai because it was a calmer and smaller version to Dubai. We also went there to visit a friend who was working for a construction company who were building the new airport in Doha…he seemed to be loving life out there…..tax free income, free (and awesome) accommodation, subsidised travel, good quality of life, cheap living, good weather, halal food and the list goes on….so I'm actually now seriously thinking about working abroad at some point…Lehman have offices both in Dubai and Qatar so it shouldn't be too hard to go out there for a yr…we'll see inshaAllah.
The road trip last week end was pretty cool too…It was my first time in France, but Paris was very nice..and the Eiffel tower all lit up at night is simply magical…! We only spent a day in Paris so didn't get to do too much but I was quite surprised at how cosmopolitan the city was. We then drove to Belgium and went to Ypres, near Passendale where the battle of Passendale had been fought 90 yrs ago during WW1. The world's largest commonwealth cemetery is placed there with 30,000 people commemorated and 11,000 actual graves present. It was quite a sight to see headstones as far as the eye would allow you…shows you the reality of war I suppose - so many people dying, many unnecessarily. As Stalin said though "one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic".
But now back to London, back to work, back to the ins and outs of Living.
Pics soon iA.
Salaam
Well the traveller has been doing more travelling…
Alhamdulilla I spent the week of the 13th in Dubai and Qatar and spent last week end in Paris/Belgium.
The main reason for Dubai was to just see what all the hype is about - and to be honest I think it's all a bit over hyped…Dubai is still mainly desert with only one main road where there are quite a few big buildings present. Fair point though that there are quite a few buildings in construction stage so that in a few years time it will be a lot more packed out, but still, it wasn't as buzzing as I had expected it. The main things to do there are to SHOP and EAT which I more than accepted. The malls there are indeed out of this world, with everything you can think of, and more, under one roof. One such mall involved us going skiing on real snow on slopes they had created within the mall…! The food was awesome too as all the cuisines of the world were available to eat.
The whole story of Dubai is quite amazing/scary and this was shown quite clearly by a visit to the museum there. In it there were lots of picture of the current king when he was a child - and boy were things different then…! Only 40 years ago, the royal family were living in a 2 story building, wearing tattered clothes and with the very basics in terms of household items. Looking at the pictures there is no way one would think that this was the royal family. Also just looking at some pictures of Dubai, even 10 years ago shows how in such a short amount of time the city has been completely transformed.
This I hasten to add has been done off the back of South Asian and north African labour. Modern day slavery is what some people call it. Over a million Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino and North African Arabs working 12-15 hours a day in the sweltering heat, for often nothing more than a place over their head and some food (i.e. they don't even get paid). OK, this applies mainly to the labourers, but for the majority of these guys, as soon as they land, their employer takes the passport off them, and then they are at the mercy of them in terms of the conditions they will have to work in. This was one bizarre aspect of Dubai and Qatar - the fact that you rarely saw any Arabs around (except eating in the restaurants and shopping in the malls) - 90% of the people outdoors were Asians so often it felt like I was back in Bangladesh…!
Another issue has been the rise in prostitution and drugs. With the ratio of males to females 7:3, prostitutes have been shipped in from eastern Europe with the Russian Mafia bosses ruling the underworld in Dubai. There's a saying that apparently every third woman in Dubai is a …. Maybe this is an exaggeration, but there is a LOT of it, especially in the posh hotels (as is the case in most Arab countries - hence the bombings in Jordan which targeted the 5* hotels)
I actually preferred Qatar to Dubai because it was a calmer and smaller version to Dubai. We also went there to visit a friend who was working for a construction company who were building the new airport in Doha…he seemed to be loving life out there…..tax free income, free (and awesome) accommodation, subsidised travel, good quality of life, cheap living, good weather, halal food and the list goes on….so I'm actually now seriously thinking about working abroad at some point…Lehman have offices both in Dubai and Qatar so it shouldn't be too hard to go out there for a yr…we'll see inshaAllah.
The road trip last week end was pretty cool too…It was my first time in France, but Paris was very nice..and the Eiffel tower all lit up at night is simply magical…! We only spent a day in Paris so didn't get to do too much but I was quite surprised at how cosmopolitan the city was. We then drove to Belgium and went to Ypres, near Passendale where the battle of Passendale had been fought 90 yrs ago during WW1. The world's largest commonwealth cemetery is placed there with 30,000 people commemorated and 11,000 actual graves present. It was quite a sight to see headstones as far as the eye would allow you…shows you the reality of war I suppose - so many people dying, many unnecessarily. As Stalin said though "one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic".
But now back to London, back to work, back to the ins and outs of Living.
Pics soon iA.
Salaam
posted by Me at
5:11 PM
3 Comments:
I agree 100% with Dubai being overrated- it just seems so very plastic and commercialized to me (and there's more than enough of that here in the States, lol). My sis and her family spent some time in Abu Dhabi last year and much preferred it for the same reasons you did Qatar (I hear it's also quite nice)...
PARIS WAS AWESOME!!! :) Alhamdulillah, we also went to Versaille, Nice and Marseille. It was such an unforgettable and wonderful trip... sigh, I love Europe.
Back to work for you, back to being a housewife for me. Lol.
By
bushraaa, at 8:38 PM
Wow, sounds like you had fun in Europe...!
Yeah..it's a mix of contradictions in Dubai,as with most of the mid-east unfortunately...only a few weeks ago the Dubai Investment Company bought a load of casions in Las Vegas...!
By
Me, at 1:36 PM
who drove u to belgium??? can i get a mention please... i'm attention seeking
By
Anonymous, at 9:51 PM
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