After spending 9 days in the UAE, it is time to review the experience and to evaluate it based on my expectations and prejudices.

A big preconception about Dubai is that it is is a destination for try-hard-to-be-cool Instagram influencers or nouveau-riches… and I can confirm that! There is indeed a lot of bling-bling on show! Everything has to shine and to impress, and it doesn’t matter if it’s tasteless! For somebody like me who likes simple things and doesn’t enjoy luxury, it was often too much! For years, Dubai has forgotten its middle eastern soul and has replaced its culture with basic international entertainment – malls, luxurious hotels, aquaparks, etc… The Las Vegas of the Middle East – without casinos, alcohol and crazy bachelor parties! The authentic culture was replaced with the culture of money. However, there seem to be a recent change in the UAE with a trial to find a balance between extravaganza and tradition. Many forgotten historical sites were indeed renovated – or rebuilt! – in the past years.

The best way to experience a country’s culture is to meet locals and this is something I sadly didn’t manage. To my defense, it is really difficult to meet Emirati. I know it is naive to expect to apprehend the whole culture of a country within 9 days, but my experience with other countries shows that it is possible. The UAE society seems to be divided into 2 groups: the foreigners who are open to other foreigners and have jobs where they deal with foreigners in general, and the locals who… mmm… what do they do?! I have no idea, to be honest! My Couchsurfing host Dale told me he has a few Emirati friends – and I met one of them at his place actually! -, but it took him years to enter the circle…

Obviously, the main concern when visiting an Arab country, and in particular the UAE, is their application of very strict repressive laws and moral rules. But how does that feel when you are visiting the country? Is it disturbing as a tourist to make holiday in a place where many of the laws are based on the Sharia law? My answer is unlike the clothes of the Emirati… it is not completely black or white.

It might not be connected with the repressive law-making, but I felt very safe in the UAE, no matter where I walked or in which dodgy neighborhood I got lost. I haven’t seen a single homeless person or beggar (which doesn’t mean they don’t exist… maybe they are “cleaned” away…?!) and criminality seems to be very low.

Concerning the religion-based moral rules, Dubai (and to some extent Abu Dhabi) appeared to be an exception in the country and way more “relaxed” than I expected. The rules seem to be applied less strictly there, certainly to prevent scaring tourists and the big white-collar expat scene away. As I already mentioned, you cannot really feel any religious spirit or the importance of Islam in Dubai. Of course, you see mosques and prayer rooms in shopping centers or you find a praying carpet and a Coran in your hotel room, but that’s about it. In other places like Sharjah, it’s omnipresent with calls for prayers that seem to occur 20 times a day and not 5!

Some supermarkets in Dubai sell non-Halal food in separated areas (mostly a bit hidden, or with a door!) – but no alcohol.

 

Alcohol can be purchased openly in special stores but only with a permit (and since 2019, this license can also be purchased by tourists!). Bars – which seem to exist only in hotels – are also serving alcohol.

As a sign of respect to the country, and to be on the safe side, I wore long trousers and didn’t show a single chest hair. I felt like a nun! Haha! But many tourist guys were walking with shorts and the swim suit fashion on Jumeirah Beach was the same as in any resort-like places, and definitely not “decent”. Again, there seems to be a tolerance towards cash-bringing tourists. A tolerance which has its limits… Many articles indeed report about tourists being arrested for display of affection in public (holding hands or kissing!).

The internet is intensely controlled. I bumped many times against the government firewall, which is shocking when you’re used to surfing freedom! And don’t get me wrong. I am even not talking about porn sites or dating apps… It was not a surprise that these were blocked. But I am talking about Skype or Couchsurfing! I am quite excited to share my phone screenshot of the blocked Couchsurfing homepage… with an automatic advertising for “Freedom”, a mobile phone plan of the national communication operator Etisalat on the same page!!!

 

Obviously, people living there use VPNs (which are illegal as well…) to watch their porn in peace… And this is what makes me angry… This huge discrepancy between people’s needs and these imposed “moral values”. And you can tell that the needs are there! Prostitution is obviously illegal but you can find areas full of massage centers in Dubai, advertised on the street by small flyers (which fly around everywhere!).

 

And here a little cute (or sad?) anecdote… Before going to the UAE, I contacted a potential Couchsurfing host – who ended up not being able to host me. During our conversation, I suggested bringing him something from Europe… and asked him if he needs something. He asked for… a masturbator!!! My first reaction (after surprise and amusement) was to suggest him to order it online abroad (I was not stupid enough to ask him why he doesn’t buy it in a store in Dubai… haha). He told me that sex toys were illegal, and that parcels from abroad were opened at the customs! I was ready to help him out but gave up after reading online that even taking sex toys into the country was illegal and could be prosecuted! I wanted to avoid appearing on the cover of the “Bild Zeitung”, crying in jail after my masturbator present got confiscated at the airport! Hahaha!

The consequences of these societal laws are dramatic though, with people living double lives and having double standards: going to the mosque during the day and disappearing in an orgy in a hotel backroom at night. Dramatic because this hypocrisy also costs lives… including the lives of the ruler’s family members! The son of the Sheikh of Sharjah indeed died of overdose in an orgy in the UK last year (as did his older brother years ago…!). This hypocrisy reaches its climax when it comes to homosexuality. Illegal officially, but hidden under ambiguous brotherly friendships… Not talking about the huge unsatisfied sexual needs (and correlated frustration) that you can sense by the way you are sometimes stared at…! hahaha!