Baby, you've changed

I stopped keeping this weblog about a year ago for a number of reasons – mainly that I work in a sensitive industry and Evil Corporate Masters frowned upon such expressions of individuality as opinions. In short, I confided in a friend and got told to stop posting or stop being paid. And that my laptop would be checked regularly. And I was a wuss.

Oh yes, and then there was the being moved out of Dubai to spend eighteen months in the region’s more cheerfully rat infested hostels, which is why I'm going to be taking a bit more of an international approach this time.

Anyway, attacking Dubai always feels a bit redundant- like going postal on a sofa. An easy target, but ultimately a little bit pointless when there are so much more annoying places in the world. (Saudi Arabia please stand up. Syria - put that nice Lebanese politician down, and Sudan? Someone is going to be sent to the naughty step!)

After all that travelling, I'm now back in Dubai. The strangest thing has been to come back and look at it from the eyes of most people who migrate here from Asia or Africa, rather than, to be honest, those of the spoiled western expat I was before. It doesn’t make them look any less knackered and pitiable, but the willingness of construction workers and taxi drivers to put up with conditions here starts to make a little more sense when you’ve been up to Northern Pakistan, or God forbid, Afghanistan. Even the ever-spiraling construction industry starts to look a little more rational. Spend a little time around the instability in Iran or Pakistan and, on the Fort Knox security scale, pouring all of your money into even the most poorly constructed apartment building in Bur Dubai starts to look like a secured loan to Warren Buffett.

After knocking around the region for a bit it's easier to see why Dubai is genuinely seen as a bit of a liberal paradise. So tip of the hat Sheikh M, and thanks for giving me that residency back.