No Wonder We Have Such a Bad Reputation!

It seems to escape the attention of many people in Dubai (mainly English tourists) that we live in a Muslim country. To be fair to visitors – why would you notice. You go from the airport to your hotel, to the malls and tourist attractions, without necessarily encountering many locals.

Now, Dubai is a very liberal place (contrary to what you may think) BUT the one thing that has really been getting my goat recently is the complete lack of respect that tourists have when they come here – in particular, with their choice of dress.

Number One: Clothing, Ladies
Ladies, very few people look good in hot pants and boob tubes. Even Nadine from Girl’s Aloud has been spotted looking less than perfect in this outfit combo.
Layer in the fact that WE ARE IN A MUSLIM COUNTRY and it becomes even more inappropriate to be wearing hot pants with your backside, quite literally falling out, combined with a very low cut boob tube. (I actually saw this very outfit being sported by an English lady in a hotel reception, during Ramadan. Her and her equally chavvy looking partner were, apparently, off to spend the day going ‘going round the souks’. As this is one of the oldest and most conservative parts of Dubai, I can only imagine the reaction that she got when walking around. And she was completely unaware of the inappropriateness of her outfit.)

Number Two: Clothing, Men
Likewise, gents, it may be acceptable to take your top off and stand bare-chested when watching Newcastle United play at St James Park (why do the Geordies do this?!) but it is simply not acceptable to do this when inside a five or six star hotel, and slump onto a sofa, or worse still, walk around with no shoes on either. (I saw this visual treat at the weekend when in a hotel frequented by a lot of local families. They looked horrified and I was truly embarrassed to be English.)

People, please exercise a little modesty and decorum. For the sake of respecting local customs, and also my stomach.