Well - you hear a lot of rumours, but the following is a few reliable-source close-to-perfect 'facts' from this strange place here - Dubai:
- Regarding the stoies about cars with keys being parked at the airport; it's true. The police have 7000 cars holed up in their stores from ex-pats running off back home leaving credit still payable on those cars.
- The oft-quoted figures from the government that there is an influx of 40 000 expats INTO the country every month is so unbelievably clearly complete bs as to be embarrassing. I mean - what would \+40 000 new people be doing here!?!
- Those in the know at higher levels expect the ex-pat population in Dubai to drop by around 35% by the end of the year.
- If you have debts here that you cannot pay off when u get made redundant, you are best skipping the country, not trying to come to an arrangement with the banks/state... you'll end up in the slammer.
- There are around 400 western expats in prison in the UAE for non-payments. Does that help? What is that going to change?!
- Something like 55% of JBR was bought and say half that as straight investment (no rental). Whereas in Abu Dhabi there is a lack of rental accommodation, the opposite is true here in Dubes; when you look around at night, it seems like 50-75% of the appartments are unoccupied.
- There is no free-press here in Dubai. Papers are fined if they publish articles percieved to be damaging to the UAE's image, even if true!
Here in Dubai the following applies:... [get used to it if you're gonna live here!]
- Thursday is the new Friday; Thursday is the last day of the working week, so locals breathe a sigh of relief and expats head for the bars!
- Friday is the new Sunday; Everything is closed - woe betide you if you go out intending to visit something on this day.
- Saturday is still Saturday: Everything's open and you may well have a hangover. Except for the locals where Saturday is actually more like Monday as it's the 1st day of their working week!
- Sunday is the new Monday; this is the day when expats start the working week again. But to me it actually feels nice because it's still Sunday in my head, so doesn't feel like proper work!
So - I too have become a sufferer of the creditcrunchcrisiscrap...
My employers have made me redundant too, along with many other employees here in the gulf. I was at one point promised with a month-by-month possible increase in employment, but that seems to have either vanished, or to be honest faded in attractiveness as the birth of the mini Hoskin nears our shores.
[It's funny, that when one is made redundant, for me certainly - a huge weight of enthusiasm and responsibility falls off one's shoulders. Commitment to the employer all but disappears, and working hours become 'normal'!]
So - not 5 minutes had we unpacked (mostly) our shipping from the UK, before we will have to start thinking about packing them all up again and voyaging Europe-bound. The UAE is not a country you really want to hang around too long with no work, and the prospect of taking your last month's salary home, with no rent to pay for that month is too good to resist.
Given that we may have about 2 months left in this wonderful part of the world - now is the time to discover all that we can - let's be honest; the likelihood of coming back here to go to Yemen for a long weekend is pritty pritty pritty remote! So - now begins the long list of places to 'tick-off' before settling in Europe. There's Sanaa, Muscat again, Salalah, possibly Bahrain, Qatar, The Musandam, Wild Wadi etc...
Now is the time also for my parents to visit, and anyone else who wants to. They are due at the beginning of May - my Dad had better prepare his stomach for the gluttony present here!
It's sad to leave this region after such a brief sojurn, especially as Ingrid and I are such inquisitive people, and have really enjoyed exploring the area. But - hey ho, it's probably all happening for a reason, and i'm sure we'll be very happy with the new addition back in Europe!
Not sure about keeping this blog up n running, as i keep missing huge swathes of time, but we'll see - I still have to finish that Derek & Clive book by the end of the year!
Signing off - x Ed Venture
