Travellers Be Careful

[Lachlan09]

To mods and fellow x-markers

This is not a post criticizing or opinionating in any way so please don’t remove, it is just advising any x-markers who might be going to Dubai (UAE) on vacation or business.

Reported at the weekend, an English couple (the man worked in Dubai and his girlfriend was visiting on holiday) have just been jailed for 1 month and will then be deported for kissing in public. The defence contended that the kiss was a peck on the cheek, which the couple thought harmless in Dubai. However, the complainant, a UAE woman, did not actually see the incident. It was her 2 year old daughter who saw the peck and told her mother who told police.

The man has also lost his job as a result.

Up to now, Dubai has been seen as a haven of tolerance toward foreigners and has even turned a blind eye to foreign visitors who have dressed inappropriately in cafes, restaurants and shopping malls (eg bikini tops with sarongs or tight shorts etc).

But now it’s changed. It is thought that since Dubai’s financial demise which has only been rescued by big money-aid from Abu Dhabi, the more conservative Abu Dhabians have told Dubai to clean up its act.

This jailing is no doubt an example of this.

So I advise anyone intending to go to Dubai – watch your P’s and Q’s at all costs – imagine you’re somewhere like Saudi Arabia and behave accordingly (though foreign women don't have to wear those black abayas etc in Dubai). Stay aware of local policy.