To set the scene
for this journal, I thought I’d backdate it a bit as the last year has been quite
an adventure of its own and can probably be tagged on to the start of my
forthcoming adventure. I tried, with limited success, to keep a journal of my
time in the Middle East at http://alinarabia.blogspot.com/ I
hope that this effort will be an improvement on that.
I arrived in the
UAE in August 2008 in the heat of summer, looking for a safe bolthole away from
the recession that had just started to affect the UK. The Middle
East in general was in boom times. Housing costs were
extortionate, companies were recruiting like mad and expats from every corner
of the globe were pouring in to fill the vacancies.
The heat and
humidity in mid summer take some getting used to. I’m not sure if you can,
however I'm fortunate to work indoors so it was a case of rushing from air
conditioned home to air conditioned car to air conditioned office to air
conditioned mall. The way I think of it is that in Scotland it's too miserable to go
outside in the winter; here it's too miserable to go outside in the summer. The
winters here however are quite pleasant.
I started off
living in Sharjah, where my offices were situated. Sharjah is the most
conservative of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. There is no alcohol
sold, although there is one expat sports club that manages to bypass the law. I
soon moved into an apartment in Dubai
into a community largely inhabited by western expats. The rental for a one
bedroom apartment was double what I was getting for my 3 bedroom house back in
the UK
but the lifestyle here was far closer to what I was accustomed to.
One of my few
regrets about my stay in the UAE is that I never really had an opportunity to
meet and mix with local Emirati’s. The office where I worked was completely
staffed by expats, at one stage in my department of 80 staff we had 18
different nationalities, the bulk being from India
and the Philippines.
The Emirati’s are a minority population in their own country and tend to be
employed in government where the hours and pay are better. We had several Arabs
working for us from other Middle Eastern countries, so I did learn something of
the Arab culture, just not from the locals.
My work involved
travel to Bahrain and Qatar and I managed to visit all seven Emirates as well
as neighbouring Sultanate of Oman, so I did get see a fair bit of the region. Oman is well
worth a revisit and has a lot of natural beauty. The UAE is generally man-made
tourism (5 star hotels, malls, towers, water parks, aquariums etc.) which might
appeal to some, but wouldn’t compel me to return for a holiday.
I never quite
understood what is/was driving the Dubai
property market. We seemed to be designing and building buildings for designers
and builders to live and work in. Quite what would happen when it was all
finished, and the designers and builders left, was anyone’s idea. Property
speculation was rife - people were buying properties off plan (without any sign
of work starting) and selling them at a profit a few days later. The principle
seemed to be, “Build it and they will come”.
I worked for a
company that designed some of the prestigious properties and infrastructure
projects in the Middle East. The recession hit
the Middle East with speed. Within six months
we had transformed from a growing office to virtually no office at all. Most
buildings that were at a certain level of completion are being finished off,
however I doubt if there will be much new building work once those are done.
The official government line is that everything is fine and no projects are cancelled,
simply delayed.
The recession may
ultimately help Dubai,
property prices are dropping rapidly and while some speculators may make
spectacular losses, it may become an affordable place to live again. It may
even become a cheap winter holiday destination with virtually guaranteed
sunshine.
Only a few days
left here now and then I’m off to South Africa to see family and friends.
