Life in Dubai

Dear Caliyani,

welcome to Expat.com i think ur query is best redirected here to the Dubai Forums, i am sure u will find someone there to assist you.

your queries can generally be applied to the Gulf in general - u are fascinated by the consumer life but there is little to do that does not involve spending money.

have a nice day!

Hi Cali and welcome to Expat.com!

Your thread has been moved to Dubai forum for better visibility.

Harmonie.

Hi Cali

Dubai, ummm, let me see. I was born here in 1979. What you have visualized was never the case for someone like me. Dubai to me is still sand and heat. Everything else is artificial growth.

Whatever boom or developments you have seen have occurred over the last decade. The people in Dubai have grown towards a depressive nature. Everyone is struggling to keep up the pace in paying off liabilities. Every other professional is struggling to keep his/her job. Every one I know has at least two to three banks chasing them on late payments. So in other words, Dubai is beautiful but stress full.

I don't want to scare you, Dubai as a city is 'WOW', you have an electrifying night life, entertainment zones, shopping districts, delicious local and international cuisines and plenty of other things to do. What I really miss out on is 'true' friends.

With time, the level of friendship has decreased, everyone's busy in there own lives, you barely get to go to a friend and cry out loud with your problems. Dubai has become lonely, with so much happening, it's become lonely.

I'll be 33 in July, I've had many friends, plus I'm cancerian, and my kind makes friends quickly, so I've never had troubles in that department. But, over the last 10 years, things have changed.

Having said all of the above... everyone knows all your 5 fingers don't match. So it's a completely different experience for others here.

Cheers..

to saud99

So very true saud1979.
I was not born here but I came when I was 9 in 1981.
A lot has changed. 
All is artificial, including the so called friends.  I guess people here are in transit to somewhere, so most of them become what they are not and they play the rich roll that they would not be able to have or do back home. 
It is a struggle with the jobs, you never know when you might get terminated.  I have been like that since the beginning of 2008 and now I am unemployed, but I wont let myself down.  I will not go back to Europe so soon, this may not be paradise, but currently is much better than in many places.
I do not have any loans or own any money, I spend what I have, and I always managed to save money, something almost impossible back home. 
I was always realistic and I never let myself fall for the artificial folisheness.
I still think it is a nice experience, and if you are genuine you will never fall for it.  Keep positive and go ahead.
Travelling and living abroad always widens your spirit.
The best money that I have spent here was always on travelling, Dubai is a hub and there are thousand of different destinations that you can fly for a very reasonable cost.
Dont let yourself down.

Thank you very much for all your responses. This is great!

Dubai has drastically changed in such a small time frame with building going up every minute. something like 12 percent of the world cranes are in Dubai. So the image of Dubai is continually changing. What impact has that had and still has on daily life? And yes there is this 'Artificial Growth' but it continues to grow, and impinge on the urban fabric.

There is definately the feeling of temporal occupation of space. The people that I spoke to were at some point thinking of departure, returning home or leaving as in there is very little idea of permanately staying, settling. Obviously this is also because the majority in Dubai are there to work. How do you deal with this? Are there also ways in which people are claiming space in city, reintepreting space?

Cali,

Are you writing a book on Dubai ?

Saud

I am not writing a book but very interested in how people spend their time other than just work. Can everyone afford to go out for entertainment?

I am an architecture student and we were in Dubai jan 2012, as part of our course we are to formulate a design proposal in Dubai and specifically for me Sheikh Zayed road near the financial centre. I am very interested in the towers there Rosa, Al Attar, Sky, Ahmed Abdul Rahim Al Attar towers and this is where I am thinking of proposing a design.

Does anyone work or live in these buildings or anywhere near? I am also very interested in the scale, these high-rise skyscapers that line up the Sheikh Zayed road but as you go behind the scale drops drastically to 9, 5 level buildings.

C

Well, my father has been an 'Architect' in Dubai since the last 30 plus years, and has been instrumental in designing many buildings and villas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

When he came here in early 70's, Dubai was absolutely nothing. A lot of oil, sand and heat. My father was part of a team that designed the first Airport, Terminal 1 in Dubai and was also involved in Consultancy to the iconic tower 'Trade Centre' in Dubai. Before 2009, he was a Project Director for Meraas Development, who was developing the 'Jumeirah Garden City' behind Sheikh Zayed Road, opposite the Financial District and Emirates Towers. The project was worth 2.1 billion USD, and the plans were to wipe off all the villas till Jumeirah road and build a city. Anyways, that never happened because of the Global Financial situation, and till date you can see mark ups of Meraas Development in an area called Satwa for evacuation.

Coming to your queries; I'll tell you a true story. The Chairman of Meraas Development was once about twenty years back travelling in a car with Sheikh Mohd (PM of UAE) and they were crossing Sheikh Zayed road, at that time, the only buildings were, Trade Centre, the Toyota Building at the Dubai Mall Interchange and then Jebal Ali. Whilst crossing the road, he asked Sheikh Mohd what he sees. He said 'I see buildings, tall buildings, reaching the sky'. No one believed in him, but twenty years later, the was right. Major Architectural design carried out in Dubai has been through companies like Atkins or Depa. The structures used are not 'Earth quake' proof.

What ever they are designing now, is done with every security concern taken into consideration. But the buildings you mention, Al Attar business tower etc. have been built with design only. They lack risk analysis and you know how 'global warming' is a subject everywhere now.

Dubai has just launched the 'green environment' initiative, so it would be wise for you to design something through those areas. Also, the usage of 'environment friendly cladding system' rather then heat absorbing 'aluminium' designs would work.

Everyone has time to spend and enjoy the 'night' life of Dubai. A lot of people have restricted themselves to weekend gatherings only. Before it was more like, Tuesday nights is ladies night, so everyone would be out, Thursday nights and Friday nights would be crazy and crowded, Sunday nights would be more trans etc. Now its all boiling down to savings and lowering liabilities.

But, Dubai is home for me, have grown here, have seen it prosper, the people are amazing, but finding true buddies has become difficult.

Best of Luck !

Saud

really nice and motivating advice and true insights on Dubai..

Thanks Saud1979.

loved it..

A guy who is trying himself to move to Dubai, in search of Jobs . :p
regards,
Akshay.

welcome to Expat.com

by the time you will know more and more about dubai
sure......

enjoy your time

there are too much places and many many things to do ,discover and explore in this great middle eastern country , ive been here for 5 years but still havent been able to see all the wonderful places here .