More on the dark side of Dubai

Dubai Desert December 2007 - Its all sand. Nothing else.

Those who live there and those who visit notice there are different classes of people in Dubai. There are certain jobs in Dubai reserved exclusively for the Emirate's. They are about 5-10% of the population  in Dubai but they are on top. Then below them or almost equal are the gulf state Middle Easterner's, followed by the westerners from Europe and America, then "westerners" from Russia and the eastern bloc, then other Middle Easterners [Like the Lebanese] and then finally those from south-Asia at the bottom. Some might argue the Filipino's are the best off in this group but that might be disputable, depending which Filipino you talk to.

You can have 5 people in an office doing the same job and each will be earning a different salary based on their ethnic background. The lower down the scale you are the less rights you have. Companies might find it difficult to ask westerners to give their passports to their employers for "safe keeping", but most employees from other parts of the world will give them up. Once the guy you work for has your passport, he can pretty much have you do what he wants.  It's when your 9-5 job is no longer 9-5 and you really have no leverage because they have your passport.  It may also be when your $4000 per month job suddenly becomes a $2000 per month job as well.

Sheik Zayed Road going towards new Dubai in rush hour, December 2007

That's another thing I find crazy. You're paid once a month. If you're not used to balancing a budget that might make it difficult to have money to eat every day of the month. That's when you start going into debt. To make your end of months meet, you start using your credit card.

Then there are living arrangement scams. When my hubby first arrived in Dubai in 2006, rents were pretty steep, you know the whole supply and demand. Also unlike here where you might be asked first and last months rent, they expect the whole years rent to be paid up front. Imagine, you've just arrived in Dubai, and you need to pay up front the entire years rent. So this is where your company comes in graciously to give you a loan and pays your apartment for you.

Fountain at the mall of the Emirates in Dubai UAE

Often the deal between your employer and landlord means your employer is stiffing you of your salary.  For arguments sake let's say your rent is $1000 a month, meaning your company paid up front $12000 for your rent. So they keep part of your salary each month to cover the rent. Except that the rent was really $10,000 and the extra $2000 is money they are pretending to pay you and then taking right off your salary.

At the same time every luxury type store is available in Dubai. From memory the top floor of the Mall of Emirates has a lot of the top European designers boutiques.  It's also reasonably easy to get a loan.  So those who arrive get fancy cars on credit.  It's very easy to drive a Mercedes or a convertible Mustang in Dubai. It's easy to get lost in the glam.  So long as you have a job, they practically run after you to offer you credit and lure you into spending money you don't have.

Why buy a car? You really couldn't get around other then by CAB if you didn't own your own car.  Public transport was really non-existent back in 2006. I know they have opened a subway/train type system now, but I'm not sure how many people it really benefits.  Travelling by taxi is a joke. Most taxi drivers couldn't find their way out of a brown paper bag. Calling for a cab means having lots of time to wait. Even if you can get into a cab, if you don't know where you are going, good luck ever getting there. Maps are almost useless as every other day they decide to change the roads to accommodate new roads or new construction.

For those who think "Ride a bike" or "walk" or "in-line skate". For starters there are no sidewalks anywhere for pedestrians [Except maybe in the old Dubai in the tiny little streets].  It used to amaze me to see South-Asian workers run across 10 lane highways between cars coming at them at up to 160km per hour.  Also try walking in 50C heat for more then 10 minutes. You will feel like you've been BBQ'ed, One of the things people told me looking at my Dubai pictures were "Where are the people it looks deserted". Well they aren't outside in the sun, no matter how much glitzy buildings and artificially sustained trees they put out there, it's still the DESERT!!!!

Suddenly lose  your job, they tell the bank probably before they fire you. The next day your accounts are frozen and you have no job, no means of supporting yourself, and often no way of finding another job. And you end up as one of the destitute in Dubai, who don't have their paperwork, either the bank or your employer kept your passport, and you cannot leave. Dubai also has laws to prevent you to leave if you owe money.  But everything is set up to make you fail. Other then relying on help from family and friends, either in Dubai or elsewhere you're pretty much shit out of luck.

Burj Khalifa - still in construction in December 2007

Most people went to Dubai thinking they would make a killing. The salaries seemed high and their seemed to be no taxes. Sure there is no income taxes, but there are all sorts of  hidden sale taxes. The only thing who's price wasn't unreasonable was gasoline, which in 2007 I estimated to be half of the price of gasoline in Canada at the time.  Clothing seemed to be about the same price as in Canada. Food was expensive - no surprise, Dubai is the desert, there's no where to grow food, restaurants were expensive. Water was cheap all things considered. Hubby managed to save up 25k as a nest egg to come to Canada in the close to 2 years he was there. He is one of the very few who pulled it off. He also worked crazy hours and had no life to talk about in Dubai.  He went from his AC'ed job to the AC'ed mall to pick up essentials to his AC'ed apartment, surrounded by noise and construction.

Construction in the Dubai Marina area of New Dubai - February 2007

Those in the worst shape today are those who bought property. At some point it became possible for non-Emirates to buy property.  Due to the hype back in the boom, property prices were incredibly inflated.  Now since the economy crashed, the value of some of these properties has dropped by 55%  up to 70% since their peak in 2008.  So people owe more mortgage then the property is worth and banks are calling in mortgages. In most places, buying property is an investment. Buying property in the UAE was sheer folly.

Never mind those crazy people who bought properties in the various Palm projects or The World. I think most of those projects have been stopped and I'm sure any money people have payed for these properties is long gone.

Here's something else. Who builds large high rises in the SAND????  I mean I don't care what the construction companies told the investors but my gut tells me that about half of the buildings won't survive 20 years with the current conditions in Dubai.  When you build a building it has to be on solid foundations. How solid is a foundation built on sand? I don't care how many layers of concrete were put on top of the sand, I still know it's a disaster waiting to happen.   Some buildings have already started to sink  less then 10 years later.  Heck one building's entire facade fell in 2009 several days after workers reported the ground sinking. It wasn't even finished.

You can see how the poor live in shacks and tents in the desert.

We joked in Montreal about our Olympic Ruins. The newest ruins in the world after the fiasco of our Olympic stadium.  Well I'm going to joke that in 20 years, Dubai will sport the newest ruins in the world. I bet 80% of the high rises that were built or partially built, will stand empty, half of them partially sunk into the ground. Around them sand dunes will have started taking over the land.  And instead of the traditional Emirate Bedouins living in tents in the desert, all those people who came to Dubai seeking financial gain, who got stuck passport less and unable to leave, will be living in tent communities in the desert. The new desert dwellers.