Day 7: The Rich Feeding the Rich: Land Ownership and Economics

Since its inception as a country Dubai has been a very top-heavy society, and was designed to be so. An overwhelming percentage of the nation's wealth resides with a very small number of Sheiks and Emirati. Not only does it reside there, it quite effectively stays there. First of all: the ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum owns all the land. He then chooses to give parcels of it out to his friends, family and other influential and/or wealthy Arabs. From there, they can do as they please with it. They generally do what will be most profitable at the current time and change the land use if it stops becoming profitable. The second way the Sheiks stay in control of the money and resources is the system in which all businesses are run. When one wants to start a business in Dubai one first needs a Sheik's sponsorship. This entitles you to open a business with the blessing of the powers that be and more importantly entitles the sponsor to a controlling interest in your company. Provided that company operates in a way they are happy with and does not impede any other plans it is in everyone's best interest for the company to remain open. The Sheik can effectively shutter any business they sponsor by withdrawing their support. Not entirely surprisingly this does happen, generally when the Sheik thinks more money can be made with a different enterprise.

Elaborating on the above, it is effectively impossible for anyone who is not either related to, or extremely good friends with Sheik Mohammad to own land outright. Land ownership does not extend below the two upper classes in Dubai, the Sheiks and the Emirati. The closest are the expatriates, the next step down the social ladder, can come to owning land is an extremely long term lease on a property. Sometimes this works out well for businesses such as schools; however it can prove a risky investment for apartments and the like since the land can be effectively recalled at any moment. The slight advantage to this system is that there is effectively no "red-tape" when the Sheik wants to build something, he can simply appropriate it and start construction. This is evident in some of the massive construction projects currently underway in Dubai.

Without any way of investing in the country, the vast majority of the populace becomes guest workers. This economic structure is only really sound as long as labor remains cheap and plentiful to import from abroad, since none of the few natives to the area will ever do any of the jobs necessary to keep the city running. Since Dubai, rather prudently, shifted most of its income away from oil this type of structure will easily remain in place for the foreseeable future.

As the Turkish proprietor of a local confectionary told me in frustration as she glanced up the obligatory framed photo of Sheik Mohammed: "Dubai is very much a one man show"

Day 6 II: Playing Tourist (again)

Last night i went on the admittedly touristy, albiet fun, Desert Safari tour. Nothing terribly spectacular, although dune bashing in a Land Cruiser was fun. Attached pics just for fun:

Golly, what alot of desert

Belly dancing. Oh my.

Day Five: Dragon Mart

Dragon Mart is the largest Chinese marketplace outside of mainland China. Dragon Mart is absolutely vast. Over a kilometer long in fact. Composed of many small stall-like shops whose names generally have little if anything to do with their products, there is nothing that cannot be found at Dragon Mart. The economic structure of the place is interesting; it is heavily subsidized by the Chinese government, thereby providing extremely cheap goods to the huge Indian worker population. By undercutting the prices it gives the China a virtual monopoly on goods sold to the working class in Dubai.

The store most closely resembles a physical manifestation of eBay. There is everything imaginable, from heavy machinery to textiles and house wares. The store names are usually mistranslated, that is when they make any sense at all. In all it is a fascinating place and a welcome change from the western style shopping malls surrounding it.

Just an interesting shot of the front of Dragon Mart. This in no way shows its gigantic size.

Silk and pashmina scarfs are seen for sale at a store in the Dragon Mart. A huge variety of both wholesale style and finished textiles were availible for most any use.

As seen from the store's name, a store which sold commerical grade packaging machines is seen at the Dragon Mart. Perhaps this is where all those evil blister packs are born?

People are seen walking amongst the shops in the Dragon Mart.

Typical signage and products, although the pictured translation is remarkbly cogent compared to some of the store names in Dragon Mart.

Fire sprinkler system parts at a store which catered to commercial fire safety products. Many such niche stores were to be found there and one could easily find part to either make or repair most any kind of machine.

Needless to say I had a lot of fun parusing the varied and sometimes downright odd goods at the Dragon Mart and would have like to have spent substantially more time there and bought several suitcases to bring stuff home in. Apologies for the lack of frequency of posts over the last couple of days, I have finally finished battling some kind of crazy Emirati sinus bug. A post on the land and ownership system is upcomping.

Day Three: Expats (and Harbor Freight) (updated with pix)

Dubai is many different things to many different people. To some, an oasis of shopping malls, hotels, sand beaches and servants to wait on one's every need. To others, a place of plentiful work where one can come and live to support one's family at home. For many others it is a place very similar to what India was 60 years ago. For a select few is it a huge personal fiefdom and playground.

In future writings I shall explore the interactions between these groups and the complex and multi-faceted caste/feudal system that for most intents and purposes is a huge curtain between the social groups.

Yesterday I had a chance to experience the expat life at the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club and briefly look into how the Chinese and Korean imports are fulfilling a huge economic need amongst the mainly Indian workers that support the true decadence of the Arabs and the rich expats in this country.

One first enters the Dubai Offshore Sailing club through a gated, guarded security post. I had to explain at least three times that I was there for a Hobie Cat lesson and that yes, I did in fact, have an appointment. Although an incredibly small boat yard, the few boats that were out on blocks were impressive. Everything must be covered, all the time. Between the incredibly high salinity of the water and the dust which permeates the air, an ideal combination to degrade even the highest grade of stainless steel is formed.

The club's membership is exclusively expats from various European countries, with a small number of high society Arabs, who either like boats or like drinking at the bar.

After my sail, I purchased a glass of Fosters from the well equipped bar/restaurant and strolled down the 3 piers looking at boats and drinking. This really is a most enjoyable way to watch the sunset and enjoy the cool ocean breeze. Upon my return from the docks to give my glass back to the bartender the club's restaurant had significantly more people, all of them Anglos. The entire marina and bar staff were either Indian or Southeast Asian. After a little time spent people-watching I realized that the British attitude towards colonization has not changed one bit. It is exactly like India when the British ruled. The British in this country enjoy a life of quite fair luxury and certainly they want for very little. They are waited on by Indians who can make far more money here than at home. For the most part they seem to ignore both the Emirati and the tourists. One of the strange phenomena is that all Brits, almost without exception, upon arriving in such a fiscally top-heavy nation as Dubai are thrust far higher up the social total pole than they would ever dream of attaining at home. Many of the formerly lower middle class intelligentsia suddenly become the Nuevo Riche. They tend to obnoxiously revel in it. This is the home they never had away from home. I half expected to see military officers in jodhpurs commenting in a heavy public school accent about not being able to find decent help these days. For the expats, this is in a way what is left of their colonial empire. For the Indians it's the same thing.

This post was originally going to include a section on the vast Asian import market of cheap goods, which in essence allows the inexpensive labor economy to be viable. These import/export companies are quite akin to the American Harbor Freight on huge doses of steroids. However, as I need some sleep rather urgently an exploration of this shall have to wait. Apologies.

UPDATE:

The sunset view from the pierside of the the Dubai Offshore Yacht club. Pictured in the left background is the Burj al-Arab hotel, the tallest in the world. On a side note: the incredible salinity of the Arabian Gulf, in part due to the dumping of the filtered salt from the massive desalination facilities back into the waters, combined with a coastal wind wrecks stainless steel incredibly fast.

Day Two: Playing tourist

One generally dismisses tourist sightseeing services and busses with live audio as merely live-action brochures. Throughout my first full day in Dubai I discovered that while one did pick up a few fascinating pearls of wisdom about such things as the three ring circus involved with attaining a drivers leicense, the best way to escape the brochure was to step-off and become somewhere between mildly disoriented and completely lost. For this post I will not even attempt to parse to any detail the immensly complicated and polysemic world that is Dubai, however i have pared down a selection of photos shot from my travels/misadventures/boat rides/bus tours today.

A panoramic view of Dubai Creek as seen from a wharf where small wooden dhows acting as commuter vessels regularly shuttle large numbers of people across and down the creek. The dilapiated wooden craft are an extremely sharp contrast to some of the extravagant catamarans moored closer to the 5 star hotels. Although a system of water taxis seems to be a reasonably viable alternative for those with no car or motorcycle.

Some of the traditional and larger sized dhows seen here moored only hundreds of feet from hotels that are less that 5 years old. There was not a single commercial boat made from anything other than wood to be seen, even with some craft exceeding 60 feet.

A building front is seen in the area near the old Souks (markets), large wholesale stores stocking all manner of imported goods are the modern iteration of the ancient open air markets that have existed far before Dubai was anything larger than a tiny desert outpost on the sea.

Sacks of spices are seen for sale at the Spice Souk, an ancient market devoted to spices and specialty food items, although lately has diversified to Chinese kitchenwares.

A row of new buildings is seen from one of the main highways transiting the city. The entire city, in many ways is a huge contruction site.

An ancient mosque is seen overshadowed by a newer concrete building in one of the oldest sections of Dubai, near to the Gold and Spice Souks. The mosques, located throughout the city call Muslims to prayer 5 time daily.

A dusty and run down block of apartments is seen in the Karama section of Dubai. This area is mainly inhabited by Asian and Indian immigrants who come to Dubai to work and send money home to support thier families. In many ways however, the laborer immigrants are 4th class citizens with few or no rights.

One of the more common sights in the afternoon. A group of Indian laborers sits near thier work in the fish market area. Despite the huge infusions of money, the primary reason Dubai's contruction has exploded is due to inexpensive imported labour from Asia, generally relying on sheer quantity rather than quality to complete some of the undeniably amazing buildings in Dubai.

Day 1: Arrival in Dubai

Gazing out of the window when one is on final approach to Dubai is a vaguely surreal experience. The majority of the short flight from Doha is spent over the empty black expanse of the Persian Gulf. Dubai appears at first as many well lit roads and grows at an ever increasing pace to a somewhat dazzling crescendo of lights and buildings. The finishing touch to this trance-like approach is seeing the Burj Dubai (literally, Dubai Tower) piercing the skyline. By the time it comes into view, it appears higher than ones eye point, and probably is. It only seems to get taller the closer one gets to landing. So far I have yet to be in a place where I cant see it prominently on the horizon.

Before everyone starts writing to me telling me that they flew into Dubai at night and didn't have an experience at all like mine, and didn't see any towers at all, do remember, some of my surrealist vision could be due to just having walked off a thirteen hour flight were I felt for the most part like I was impersonating a sardine.

Photos to come.

 

Intro

Welcome to notes from the field. below is my travel itinerary for those of you who are interested. I will be departing Washington on Sunday the 9th and arriving in Dubai late in the evening on the 10th.I will be then departing Dubai bound for Bahrain on the 17th and arrive in Manama early the 18th. After returning from my embark i will be leaving the Gulf region the morning of the 20th and arriving in Washington late that evening. if any of you know any places to see in dubai or doha, please go ahead and post them in the comments field.