Friday, 4 March 2011

Black and Yellow

Dubai is a comlex of buildings (it's not even a city) where:
  • alcohol is forbiden, but pint of beer costs about 10 euro
  • alcohol can be only bought in hotel bars
  • it is forbidden even to kiss even in such liberal place like dance floor
  • I'm being asked about my id when I want to enter the club
  • clubs are full during the weekends, but the only people there are expats
  • the only friends that I've made so far are girls
  • there are no street names and taxi drivers very often don't know the way so it's you who has to show it
  • there is minimum speed limit on the road in the city - 60 km
  • my colleagues from India speak their mother language with taxi drivers
  • 75% of population is male
  • 60% population is from India
  • fewer than 10% of population are Emiratis
  • kids of all nationalities play together on the playgrounds watched by Philippines baby sitters
  • women hidden behind abaya (full-length black robe) and shayla (black veil) or even niqab or burqa walk in shopping malls with lingerie bags
  • there is additional fashion category: Arabic Ladies Fashion
  • in the most expencive stores (RL, Armani, Gucci, Hermes etc.) there is noone except Emiratis
  • protagonists of commercials of electronics or office spaces are Bedouins in gutra (head cloth) and dishdasha (man's shirt-dress) knows also as thawb 
  • everything is practically in the middle of the desert
  • in the middle of the city or living estate you can find see shells
  • with the highest building in the world (Burj Khalifa, 828m)
  • where every district looks more impressive than Warsaw's city center
  • there are no natural green spots, every piece of lawn, each tree or bush must be watered
  • even during the winter it is incredibly hot and you cannot live without AC
  • there are separate carriages in tube for woman, so that you can easily avoid being pushed or squeezed by man
  • my curiosity drove me that far that I've asked if even though Arabic women cannot be seen by anyone not belonging to the family without burka or shayla what happens if they need to be examined by the gynecologist. And what's more what happens when he's a man, as there are male gynecologists here too. The answer is, that it is allowed and accepted.

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