Dubai isn't the greatest place, but articles like this really cause some ridiculous misconceptions.
It's both better and worse than that.
For background: I was born and brought up there before going abroad to study (have an Indian passport though and currently work in the UK). My parents and a brother still live there.
Ask questions if you'd like.
Pretty much bang on.
A bunch of kids from my high school were jailed for this. At sixteen/seventeen years of age. There's no understanding whatsoever from the justice system when it comes to drugs, nothing can mitigate your sentence if you're out there on your own. Ain't no settlements.
In Dubai, what usually works when you're in a tough spot is knowing locals in high places. And most expatriates work hard to cultivate those relationships. My father learned Arabic from scratch when he went there to find work. Spoke it fluently in a year. Has never had legal issues in over 30 years there. However, he is a Muslim. Makes the restrictions easier to live with.
If you're a Muslim who wants to have a good time, but still believes in the core tenets of the faith, like praying five times a day, and fasting during Ramadan, there's no better place to live. This isn't an endorsement of Islam. Just stating the facts from the perspective of a former Muslim. Fact is there are certain places more liberal followers of certain religions would find easiest to live.
When I was 16, I was staying at my best friend's overnight and we decided to sneak out the house to see our respective girlfriends on the other side of town, who were slumber partying it, essentially. When we got there, we were waiting outside the house for them to get out when two guys came up to us, asked us for ID, showed us theirs. They were plainclothes cops, CID. Calmly told us we looked suspicious at that time of the night all alone (it was 4 AM) in an upscale area. Put us in the back of a station wagon after cuffing us, and took us to the station. We would have been locked up for at least a day if it wasn't for the fact they let us call our parents. My dad sweet-talked them into letting us go (for doing fucking NOTHING). I was printed etc. anyway, and a lawyer my dad knew had to talk some judge out of a hearing a few days later.
That was the first time I told myself I would never live there long term.
True also. But it's not like if you look drunk outside a club with your friends you're going to get arrested. You might if you have a drink in your hand though.
Dubai police have an unsaid mandate: let foreigners have their fun as long as they're not obvious about it on the streets. This is not ideal, and in no way is freedom.
There is also a distinct racial hierarchy, in terms of how the cops respond to things. If you're white, they look the other way for a lot of things. White people are the liberal face of Dubai. Hence the insane nightlife.
Indians/Pakistanis have it bad. Filipinos slightly better than them.
This is vague and kind of stupid, the way it's stated. If you're in an outdoor cafe, for instance, and you suddenly started singing or dancing with your girlfriend (as if this was normal behaviour anywhere), you're not going to get arrested for crying out loud. That's simply ludicrous. Or if you did it walking down the street. Unless you did it in people's faces or something. Common sense would apply.
And again, if you were white, or a UAE national, you'd be able to all this in an Indian's face and the cops wouldn't care.
True and then some. You won't get arrested right away for say, holding hands or a peck on the cheek, but you would likely be warned by a cop of another national if one was around. Full on making out, yeah, you'd get arrested methinks. But I haven't heard of that happening. If you can keep it in your pants until you get to a club or a friend's, your sex life in Dubai can be so good as to be unbelievable. Like something out of a gangster film, only non-trashy women who spend their lives staying fit and being working women at the same time. The girls my brother hooks up with on the regular are just, oooof.
First half is bullshit. Yeah, I wouldn't tell a cop to fuck off, but you're fine swearing in public. I have no idea where this kind of notion originates. I suppose it starts with an incident like the cop thing and turns into a generalisation about swearing.
But yeah, if a local hears you say something about Islam, you're in trouble.
I consider this rude and intrusive anyway.
I don't know enough about this. Then again, I don't know too many people taking random shots of others on the street. Just taking pictures of each other when you're out is the same as any other place.
Nothing to say. 100% true.
Also true. Ramadan is a weird time. Everything, nearly all workplaces, shuts at 12:30 PM. Schools have to as well. Then through the night, you can hear the nationals having "food parties" late, until the morning hours, in these massive tents on their lawns. Just pigging out until the fast begins the next day. As a national, you barely have to work, make a good living in very average jobs, have free healthcare, free education, even higher education I believe.
Complete bollocks. Certain locals might prefer that you give them cash with your right hand, but that's it. This is not dissimilar to certain South-East Asian places. It's often a superstitious thing more than anything else.
Other possible points of interest:
Dubai HAS NO OIL. It hasn't since the early 90s. The ruler then, Sheikh Rashid, knew this, and worked hard to make it a business/trade centre/port. Once he died the focus was shifted by Sheikh Mohammed to sport/entertainment.
Dubai was one of the worst hit places in the world by the recession. And given the horrible nature of the justice system, thousands of Westerners literally dumped their cars at the airport and fled the country when they realised they were not going to be able to pay back debts. I've seen those parking lots myself.
Abu Dhabi is the one Emirate with oil now, I believe. Dubai is currently in debt to them in the billions. That tallest skyscraper in the world was initially called the Burj Dubai. the day before the opeing, they were forced to change the name to Burj Khalifa (Sheikh Khalifa rules Abu Dhabi).
