A little piece about my experience in Dubai

Sorry for the hiatus. The holidays and getting sick put me behind, but I am trying to catch up as best I can. The post today is going to be a little piece I hope to have put on religion nerd about my experience in Dubai, also December/January a lesson not learned will be coming soon.

A Desert in City clothing:

An outsiders experience in Dubai.

It is 11:50 p.m. and after seven hours my best friend and I are in our final descent into DXB (Dubai International Airport). Breaking through the final bit of cloud cover bright neon lighting greets us in a jarring contrast to the surrounding barren desert night. From our bird's eye perch Dubai looks like a brothel of games and entertainment that would make New York or Vegas jealous, however like everything else in Dubai appearances can be deceiving and nothing is as it appears.

Dubai is one of seven emirates in the U.A.E. and is the most bi-polar. In one breath Dubai is a bustling metropolis filled with riches, technology, development, and beauty. Some call it the Disney World of the Middle East and in some ways they are right, as Dubai is filled with dreams and ideas only Walt could fathom coming true. Unfortunately as wonderful as Dubai seems it is just as much a city of discrimination, poverty, and martial law as it is riches and fairy tales.

The most interesting part of this dichotomy is that it appears in every facet of life. Religion, cultural diversity/tolerance, government practices, city planing, hiring practices, the economy, and architecture are filled with these two-faced dichotomies. Opening your eyes and ears for just a second you can not help but see Dubai's two faces, despite the Emirate’s effort to hide these dichotomies from view.

Driving through Dubai's city streets and highways the dichotomy becomes painfully clear. The once neon littered landscape is much darker and less impressive on the ground. The gorgeous buildings and architecture that fill the city's skyline are dark and ghost like. Many of these multimillion dollar masterpieces have been taken off the grid to conserve the cost of powering the silence that lives within them. Even with tax free zones Dubai has failed to attract high end white collar employment that they were hoping for, leaving these buildings as an empty reminder of how far Dubai still has to come.

Ironically though these empty buildings do not represent the true state of Dubai's employment, because truth be told Dubai has a surplus of employees willing to work. As a country Dubai has an almost inexhaustible supply of immigrants lined up to get that coveted work visa. In this sense Dubai is like a middle eastern America, a place of opportunity, where people can come for a better life while saving money to send back to their families at home. Because of this Dubai was one of the most diverse places that I have ever been, with people from all over Europe, Asia, India, and the Middle East clamoring to Dubai for work. Of course these employees can not afford the lavish life style that Dubai identifies with. Most immigrant workers live in neighboring emirates, poverty, or in work camps where they are bussed in daily for their assignments. These conditions may sound harsh, but we should remember that working in Dubai is seen as a privilege by many and not a right. Along with this though one should know that these workers do not have the same status or rights of the tourist or the emirates and are one complaint away from being deported or imprisoned.

In Dubai a person's social status is crucial to their quality of life and is heavily determined by one's ethnic background, sex and occupation. Now while you may argue that this is true everywhere, In Dubai everything from the price you pay at a store, your income, political sway, and personal freedoms are tied into one's social standing and in turn ethnicity. Emirates (the local citizens that make up about 26% of the population) are the highest on the social ladder, followed by Americans, and Western European tourists and employees. Dribbling down from there you have other tourists, Chinese, Pakistani, Indians, etc.... An Emirate working as a police officer will make a a lot more than a Pakistani holding the exact same position and this fact holds true across the board. Income though is the least of one's worries when it comes to one's social standing in Dubai.Unlike an American, Emirate, or European, many immigrant workers are one reprimand, one customer complaint away from deportation or arrest due to the surplus of workers Dubai has.

Of course walking through Dubai's modern malls you can not be but amazed at the sheer size and grandeur of it all. A ski- slope, a movie theater, an ice rink, karaoke, and hundreds of the most modern stores line Dubai's mall walls. Grand atriums and architecture are something to marvel at and yet despite all of the grandeur walking around this mall one can not ignore the constant reminders that Big Brother is watching you in the police state of Dubai. Huge LED screens flash through a variety of pictures with the canceled symbol (the circle with the slash through it) through them, reminding us what one can and can not do. However these reminders are the least of one's worries when they realize how often they are being watched. Over 30,000 cameras patrol Dubai's sprawling metropolis. And if these cameras were not enough, uniformed and undercover agents patrol the streets keeping everyone safe. In one vein this security makes you feel safe, however it is a little disconcerting having big brother so close.

Dubai may look like an adult's paradise, playground, an Eastern version of Vegas or Disney's pleasure island, but you should know that this image is misleading and illegal. In Sin City most things are legal as long as you are a consenting adult: sex, alcohol, gambling, etc.. are all a part of the draw of Vegas and you only need to be 21 to participate in them. Dubai is quite opposite though. Dubai is a police state that enforces Islamic law. In Dubai "sin" is not only immoral, but criminal, punishable in the harshest ways. Whether it is murder or theft; drinking or PDA, you should remember that getting arrested in Dubai takes little more than breaking the law around the wrong person.

One popular local story tells us of a French tourist who brought his passport down to the hotel bar one night to have a drink. After drinking he left his passport there on accident and when he went to retrieve it the next morning it had been turned over to the police. He was arrested for his public consumption and is awaiting a trial date. The man had not been belligerent or a drunk, but was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. This s just one of many local stories about the mus-fortunes of tourist at the hands of the Emirates and local government.

Before you write my story of as hyperbole understand that in Dubai they built one of the tallest hotels in the world (Burj al Arab), which was supposed to have one of the largest and most expensive casinos built on the top observation deck over looking The World (man made islands). However because gambling is illegal this large space was turned into one of the worlds most expensive and ironic bars. For the most part Dubai has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to illegal activity occurring in resorts or hotels. For the most part "illegal" activity is tolerated in hotels and is engaged in by tourists and emirate, however make the wrong person mad and all bets are off, regardless of where you are.

Stories about the seemingly random or "in just" legal system quickly become negatively associated with Islam, which unfortunately is a grave mistake. While not perfect, religious tolerance is growing in the area and it is unfair of outsiders to stereotype. Many years ago Dubai's government set aside land and built a cultural center as a place for other faiths to meet and practice in. While this was not ideal or perfect it was a first step towards encouraging and embracing larger cultural tolerance. Outside of this space the government also allows practitioners to rent out hotel ball rooms or office spaces for services.

Unfortunately not everyone within the government agreed with this new found tolerance and this year implemented a plan to deal with this "in-justice." This past year, in a ruse the commerce department created a plan that allowed them to disband congregations in a underhanded way. Claiming that they wanted to help they invited congregations to register with the government, to be more official of sorts. Unfortunately this Olive Branch was simply a way of locating the congregations and using this information they banned them from renting out spaces and started to shut congregations down,. essentially using tax and financial means to shut down them down. As we can see this shows us a bi-polar tendency of Dubai andits culture yet again in regards to religion. However I think that this dichotomy speaks to a larger issue at play here, an issue that plagues and divides the country. In short how do you honor the past while embracing the future.

Dubai is a young nation who experienced unprecedented growth. Growth that in retrospect was probably too fast for its own good. Of course as with any nation, facing these type of massive changes can be difficult. Honoring ones culture while embracing the future is never easy, and in Dubai we can see this challenge clearly when we see how their traditional clothing is being worn and sold today.

In Dubai many people wear the traditional clothing of Abia (females coverings) and Candora( male covering). And in many ways the traditional clothing is at a cross road of its own trying to find its place in the new society. Traditional coverings are a uniform of sort for government employees and emirate. In some places like the airport and the "traditional" markets one gets the feeling that wearing the extremely traditional coverings (Westerner's stereotypical image of a Muslim) as a ruse to sell their product, brand, and country. Please do not think that I am demeaning the clothing at all, but in more non traditional settings (grocery shopping, getting gas, playing in the park, etc..), woman wore more western clothing with a simple head covering and long sleeves, not a full dress covering. Beyond this men also would wear candora, but with slacks or jeans and a tee shirt. And beyond this in work places or where people do not expect to see the traditional outfit one really does see more suits dispersed through the crowd.

The intentions of the working class and government employees to wear the garb is nothing compared to how rebellious youth have started to stretch their culture and clothing. Many girls in Dubai wear traditional Abia (full body covering) when they go to the mall, school, etc.. out of respect for their parents or grandparents. However many of these girls wear abias that have a slit cut from the ground up to the shoulder, allowing them to show off their designer outfits underneath. Completely done up with make up and with hairdoos that make the abia stand a foot above their head, the traditional clothing becomes more of a fashion accessory than a hallowed cultural dress.

Girls though are not the only ones stretching the traditional garb, as most boys use their outfits as back drops for their favorite sports teams. Baseball caps cover or jut out from under their traditional garb, while jerseys over their long robes, enhancing their traditional garb. Most Boys sported baseball caps covering or enhancing their traditional dress. However despite reservations about Dubai's traditional clothing and how it showcases Dubai's struggle between present and past, culture and future, we should look at Dubai as a whole and all it has to offer, including the magic that the Islamic faith weaves through the life.

There is something magical in Dubai, the call to prayers, the cleanliness, and in many cases respect, that is not common elsewhere around the world. In Dubai people are very well behaved and while crime does exist, I was never worried about being a victim of crime, if anything I worried more about accidentally becoming a criminal.

In Dubai I never felt unwelcome and while I know part of that deals with my status as an American male tourist, I never the less felt welcomed. Walking through and visiting Mosques I never once felt uninvited or turned away. If anything I felt as if the people wanted to open up their beautiful mosques and faith to outsiders. Unlike in the United States or other Judao-Christian states I have traveled to, religion did not seem taboo, but truly was a part of life. People were willing, open, and even invited discussions on their faith. They wanted to share it with you so you could better understand and appreciate their faith. There was a level of openness, honesty, and respect that was not only given, but expected of everyone in the state.

As a country Dubai is struggling to marry their culture and way of life with the growing demands of a global economy and increasingly smaller world. Many times while I was there it was described to me as "a third world country in first world clothes," in some senses ignorant of their struggles, pushing themselves towards a trajectory that leads to , pain and poverty. Some may argue that the people of Dubai do not recognize their struggles or their lack of sustainability, but if one is going to do that you should know that these struggles are not lost on the president of Dubai and were expressed in this statement he made a few years ago: "My grand father rode a camel, my father drove a car, I fly a plane . My son will fly in a jet, his son will drive a car, and his son will ride a camel."

Even with this statement and understanding we can not lose sight of the fact that Dubai has a long road ahead of it, a road that is seemingly uphill. Their GDP comes from 100% of money that they have had to borrow leaving the country in unthinkable debt. Over twenty-six desalinization plants clean free water that they use to water grass lawns in 100 plus degree heat. Their once viable fishing endeavors and beautiful coast line have now eroded into a financial and ecological eyesore caused by their insistence on building islands instead of building inland toward the east. In Dubai the motto is "live up," a motto they have embraced causing them to live with their ideas that are also in the clouds and out of touch with reality.

Despite all of the negative things, I have hope for Dubai and where it is going. Dubai has more five star hotels than anywhere else in the world, hotels whose occupancy rates average over 90% a night. They have one of the friendliest and most diverse populations that I have ever seen. Their spice markets are unmatched and even with the erosion the coast line was a blissful retreat, the perfect temperature and escape on those tortuously hot days. Dubai is far from perfect, but has everything that it needs to succeed. In the end my only concern is that if Dubai does not heed its presidents warning and begin healing itself soon it will become a ghost town, a stretch of desert serving as a warning to the rest of the world about how not to grow and develop.