Dubai’s Top 10 Traveler’s Troubles
Getting Around the Golden Desert on the Arabian Gulf
Most, who have read about or visited Dubai, understand it is a dynamic city, full of the excitement you will find in any city in the Orient or West.
Much has been written about Dubai, yet, few of these articles describe the problems that are all too familiar with those who live in this oasis on the Arabian Peninsula.
- Summer Heat and Humidity. Dubai is surrounded by the Arabian Gulf on the West and the Hajar mountain range on the East. This combination presents a unique environmental problem that affects all who live or visit Dubai in the summer. It has been said that “summer in Dubai is like summer in Miami; only a whole lot hotter.” Daytime temperatures in summertime Dubai average 42-48 degrees C depending on whether on the coast of inland. However, seldom mentioned is the killer humidity. Normally 85-90% at the beach and 70-80% inland, it makes Dubai feel much hotter and uncomfortable than its truly hotter neighbors like Kuwait* and Saudi Arabia.
- Censorship. This occurs in many areas and while there are ways around it, most do not wish to proceed down that path. It may be that a person buys a world class magazine (i.e. National Geographic or Der Spiegel) and when you open it large areas are either black out or marked over. This is not the only area of censorship that is bothersome. Complete websites are blocked from your view when using the internet.
- Street Drainage. While it rarely rains in Dubai, it does do it on a regular basis. When it does the streets have absolutely no capability to have the water run off and a small amount of rain, by world standards, finds the streets littered with SUV, busses and trucks of all kinds. The rain may remain on the streets for days, causing problems that seem never-ending.
- Driving Speeds. When sitting in bumper to bumper traffic you may suddenly see a Toyota Land Cruiser come screaming up behind you at an unsafe speed. Flashing its lights and eventually blowing its horn, the impatient driver acts as though the whole world should get out of his way.
- Lack of Street Addresses. When individuals ask the proverbial question “Where do you live?” one is forced to give the Dubai answer. “Do you know the mosque half way down Beach road? After the mosque near Spinney's, there is a little Indian store; make a left. Go down 1 km and you will see a wooden blue fence. Take a right on the dirt road: our house is the 3rd one on the right.” There are many streets without names and far more houses without address numbers. All UPS, DHL and FedEx deliveries require a dissertation similar to the one given above.
- Schooling. The residents, locals and ex-pats alike, have the problem with getting their children in good schools. There is an abundance of schools, however, there is an equal abundance of families with children wanting to get into these good schools. As a result prices have increased from 55-70% in three years. Even though the official increases are limited to 7% a year, the reality is every parent expects far higher rates.
- Parking. It is not at all uncommon for a resident to come out of a store and find a car parked directly behind his car in such a manner so as the resident can not move his vehicle even an inch. Parking meters be dammed, the vehicle illegally parked will not get fined, but the car (unable to move) will be fined for an expired meter or parking in one spot too long. Friday (the religious day) presents another problem. When it is time for prayers, a driver will find cars parked anywhere and everywhere. In the middle of a round about, in the middle of the street or even in front of your driveway; drivers will leave their vehicles anywhere they want!
- Construction. This is evident by the sky-rocketing prices of apartments and villas. In 2005 rental rates increased an average of 38%. The population has grown by 10% a year for the last 2 years “making [Dubai] the fastest-growing population in the world.”
- Getting Around the City. There are two distinct different parts of Dubai. Each side is divided by the “creek,” which is a river that stretches from the Arabian Gulf inland and bisects the city: Deira to the north and Bur Dubai to the south. People travel from one side to the other several times a day. Currently there are only 3 ways to get across the creek (see “Dubai gets another Bridge.”) The Garhoud Bridge (6 lanes), the Maktoum Bridge (9 lanes) and the Shindagha Tunnel (4 lanes) are the means for getting from one side of Dubai to the other. The information provided means “there are more than a million vehicles on Dubai’s roads, making an average of 3.1 million trips each day.”
- Traffic Jams. The Sharjah-Dubai road near the Dubai boarder can take a visitor 1 hour to traverse a mere 3-4 km. Sheik Zayed Road, at the wrong time of the day, can lead one to pull his fingernails out of his fingers. While road construction increases at a fanatic pace, the influx of tourist and residents out paces the construction by degrees.
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