Job Discussion Forums

[younggeorge]

I had a memorable little trip this Friday that summed up some of what it's like to live in modern-day Dubai. I didn't have a camera with me, unfortunately, so these pics are googled, but they're pretty much representative - quite likely better than I could have taken anyway.

OK, first the new tradition. As you probably know, Dubai allows non-muslims to buy liquor, but they have to get a licence and have to buy it at government shops which charge 30% tax. (There are, of course, bars and night-clubs, but that's another story.)

Now, this "licence" law applies to Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi but there are shops in the northern emirates where you don't need a licence and you pay no tax. So the new tradition is the booze-run, about an hour up the road, to stock up on cheap bevy and hope the Dubai police don't stop you on the way back.

Anyway, this Friday was the first time I'd gone up the new extension of the Emirates Road, which goes straight across the desert and it took me past a couple of the older traditions. First off, I passed a gathering of falconers. Must have been a dozen of them, standing or sitting on the dunes, with their birds on perches as in the photos here. This was not a tourist photo opportunity: it was just a gathering of genuine falcon enthusiasts. Apart from the fact they'd all got there in Land cruisers, not on horses and camels, it was the kind of thing their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years. (You see thumbnails here: click them to get full-size.)



Then, on the way back, I passed the camel-race track. This again is something that's gone on for generations and, again, it was nothing to do with tourism, just a local community enjoying itself. The picture is the best one I could find, but it's from Qatar, not UAE, and it looks like the jockeys are children - not an issue I want to get into here!



So, that's my Friday morning. I got home without bumping into the police and the booze is now safely stowed in the fridge or already consumed. I don't know how many have read to the end of this little tale, but it just kind of summed up to me the way things have changed and still not changed in this part of the world.

[veiledsentiments]

Shouldn't this have been titled 'Expat traditions' versus 'Local traditions?'

I still have videos of the Friday camel races on TV... hours and hours and hours of races... back by the unusual local songs, which are as much a chant as a song. Little kids on big camels on the track with hysterical owners in their pick-ups and 4WDs racing alongside the track. I always found the race beside the track much more interesting than the camel race. Let's face it... they are not horses... few races are more boring than a camel race.

The hunting birds are often encountered in the airport... riding their owner's arm up to First Class. We had students bring them to the college. I once went out my classroom door and a bird swooped past, having got away from the owner.

You don't even have to go to the desert to experience the old traditions.

VS

[QatarChic]

On Thursday night when I went shopping in Carrefour- there was an American DJ outside that music store (the one on the corner opposite carrefour) playing hardcore rap music.....and a bunch of Qatari guys in their thobes were dancing away- some were even break dancing!

[Bindair Dundat]

[abufletcher]

[younggeorge]

[veiledsentiments]

[Bindair Dundat]

[Gordon]

[Stephen Jones]

[younggeorge]

[veiledsentiments]

In Oman, at the races I saw, it was always the owner's kids... with helmets... and usually teenagers that rode in the camel races. Often it was adults...

Another positive for Oman...

Has anyone seen the new robot jockeys?

VS

[Tarka_littleotter]

Have you ever seen someone fall off a camel in a race? One of my students showed me videos of camel races that his father attends and in one of them this guy kind of bounced along with the camel and then just bounced sideways and on to the floor! It was hilarious - I couldn't stop laughing!! (I'm allowed to laugh having been a race horse jockey for a few years and noting the very obvious difference!)

[veiledsentiments]

I saw a few kids fall off the camels at the start of a race on TV. They jumped up and ran off, apparently unhurt. But, kids have died when run over by other passing camels. It is just the start of the races that are dangerous (or even semi-interesting). Camels are not really competitive animals like horses often are... so the race itself tends to be dull after a few lengths.

VS

[DesertStar]

[quote="Stephen Jones"][quote] and it looks like the jockeys are children - not an issue I want to get into here!

Sorry, but how could one ignore the issue and continue watching the race?

It's either an issue, or no issue.