What is Dubai Really Like?

Introduction

The tallest building in the world. A city built in the sand. Lavish lifestyles. Fancy cars, exotic food, desert safaris, bedouins leading camels just outside the city. Some of the things that may come to mind when you hear the word “Dubai”. People often get confused what Dubai even is, I know I was before our time there! Is it a country? A city? The answer…Dubai is one of the seven Emirates that make up the country called United Arab Emirates or U.A.E. It is also the name of the capital city of the Emirate of Dubai, not to be confused with the capital of the U.A.E. which is the neighboring Abu Dhabi.

What You See

When we first arrived to Dubai, we honestly knew very little about it. The mystery of it was a bit intriguing. The whispers of skyscrapers in the desert…We’ve traveled in the Middle East before and always thoroughly enjoyed it. As a country without taxes and a fairly straightforward digital nomad visa available, we thought we’d give it a try. We were able to get a year long visa. We started off with some of the standard must sees - the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain, the Dubai Mall with its giant aquarium, the Mall of the Emirates with its indoor ski resort, the Frame, the Palm Jumeirah, the Burj Al Arab, Dubai Creek…These things really were amazing. For us, we always try to approach new places with less of a tourist perspective and more of a local mindset, seeking to immerse ourselves in the culture, and experience the authentic lifestyle of the area. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy visiting all the hotspots and seeing the popular destinations, even the glitz and glam, but we don’t like to allow that alone to shape our view of a place.

Beneath the Surface

We started looking for a place to rent and found that it was nearly impossible to find anything suitable for less than about $1,600 USD per month - bare bones. We wanted to get more of a feel for Dubai and check out different areas to see if and where we’d like to stay, so we found a month to month studio serviced apartment for apparently a“screaming deal” of about $1,500 USD since we arrived when the hottest months were soon approaching. Some of the highlights were the gym and pool, a not uncommon commodity of hotels and residences in Dubai. These features became an enjoyable part of our weekly routine. We liked this neighborhood. It wasn’t too busy, but it was still very convenient, with good grocery stores and malls nearby. Every morning we would wake up to the song “Africa” by Toto playing in the hallway. It became a reminiscent touchstone of our time in Dubai. We met people from a different country everyday…Philippines, Nepal, Ghana, Spain, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Algeria, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, etc. In fact, we found that it was almost rare to meet actual locals, called Emiratis. We soon learned that 85% of the population are actually foreigners!

The metro isn’t very extensive, and while they have a local app like uber, it’s expensive, so we decided to rent a car. One thing we soon became begrudgingly accustomed to, was the hectic traffic of Dubai. Despite the attention and efforts, the rapid growth of the population and vehicles have rapidly outpaced the infrastructure. It was always a sigh of relief when we able to actually get off the highway into which ever little neighborhood we were staying, even if that meant feeling like our neighborhood itself was a life size version of that hand held maze game where you had to get the little silver ball through the labyrinth while avoiding obstacles and holes just to get to the center. And don’t get me started on the fact that somehow roads in the desert can flood. Anyhow…

As we began to explore, we started to get a feel for the different areas of Dubai. The older areas on either side of Dubai creek were slightly less expensive. Here you can find whole neighborhoods that are predominately occupied by one nationality of people and shops that cater to their cultural norms…little India, little Africa, little Manila…We spent a lot of time in these areas, and sometimes we felt more like we were in India than Dubai! We loved the historical part of Dubai, with its museum, old streets, souks, and even the tourist area called Al Seef. They had the coolest traditional Emirati restaurant here. We also enjoyed going to the various beaches, especially the more natural and less populated ones. My husband even saw a sea turtle one of the times swimming there during the day! Towards evening is a better time to go, because when they say it gets hot in Dubai, they’re not kidding. Some days in the summer we were there it got up to around 113°F or 45°C! Even the Arabian Sea water was like being in a jacuzzi! There’s also another part of Dubai with a place called “Dragon Mart”, a large retail and wholesale complex that is known for being one of the largest Chinese trading hubs outside of China, along with its nearby sprawl of neighborhoods with mostly Chinese residents. There were a couple other neighborhoods that we found the most pleasant to stay in, peaceful with a nice mixture of convenience and cleanliness, and parks! I never realized how much I love lush greenery until I lived in the desert!

As the seasons changed, prices in our serviced apartment began to skyrocket. We searched for the best deals and moved between various Airbnbs and hotels. Still, nothing was available for less than $2,000 USD per month. One new hotel running a special, only ended up lasting for a few nights. We found bed bugs the first night! We learned that this neighborhood nearby the metro was one of the areas that house the many low wage workers that come looking for greener pastures. Each day we’d see groups of men outside in the extreme heat working on construction and being bussed back and forth. We learned that many of them live in work camps with shared accommodations and varying living conditions. It is not uncommon for them to face many challenges in regards to their expectations and the reality they come to live and work in.

We stayed at one upscale accommodation through a connection we had for a few weeks. While we thoroughly enjoyed the place itself and its amazing sky pool, there was always one word that seemed to hang, almost palpable in the air, that reflected in the eyes of almost every person who looked your direction, from the workers valet parking in their full uniforms in 100°F heat to the woman stepping out of the Maserati with very little about her appearing as though it was actually original anymore… “Money”. Whether the sour look of resigned disdain, acceptance of one’s lot, of vain arrogance, the endless need to flaunt one’s fortune, or more overwhelmingly, and from all sides, the look of greed.

This became a predominant feature of what we came to see in Dubai. So many people are affected by the spirit of materialism in this place. But of course this doesn’t mean that every person here has been sucked in. It simply means it is a greater challenge to resist here than many places. In no way would I want to discredit the beauty of the people that are here. We met so many lovely, generous, and hospitable people in Dubai. Brilliant and caring people whom we will not soon forget. Including a unique group of people… the stateless generation.

These are the kids, now many already adults, whose parents came to Dubai for work and started families. So they were born in Dubai, but as Dubai does not recognize birth citizenship, they are children of no country. They grow up with the close ties of their parent’s culture, perhaps also heavily present in their neighborhoods, but ultimately only ever having known Dubai as home. Once they are no longer able to be sponsored on a family member’s visa, they have to find work or schooling that will provide them a visa, or face going to their parents country to attain citizenship or find another unfamiliar country abroad to go to. Many of these young people were such beautiful and fun loving souls, so smart, and so interesting, with such a mix of cultural norms and influences. They befriended us and showed us the ropes, and they even introduced us to a real late night desert bbq. It was great! On a side note, be ready for late nights in Dubai, if you’re invited for a meal, it could mean not eating until 10pm or later…Back to my point. Our hearts went out to this generation in particular, seeing their struggle to come to terms with their identities, to establish core values amidst a society such as Dubai.

Conclusion

Overall, while Dubai would probably not be my first choice for a location to settle down in long term, it was an enriching experience that I wouldn’t trade. Each place has its good and bad points, and if we focus on the good points and value people over culture or other physical aspects of a place, we can let the entire experience allow us to learn and grow, and as a result, come out more resilient and with a greater perspective of the world. I would definitely go back to Dubai again, explore more, meet old friends, and make new ones, soak up the unexpected and wonderful blend of such diversity amidst this city in the sand.