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I’ve spent 3 days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on business, driving between the two. Now, I’m not exactly a stranger to this place, having lived (albeit briefly) in both these cities, so, here are some of the recent impressions…
I’m pleased to announce that ridiculous and pointless marketing campaigns of Telecom Corporations are not limited to Qatar only (he, he). I’m talking about “DU” , new telecom operator from Dubai. They’re apparently all about new things, modernity, technical achievements, etc, yet ALL of their billboards (and by God, there’s more of those than Cranes in Sh Zayed Road) feature old people, Bedus, some of them in the rain. What??? Why??? Their TV commercials are equally dumb – showing traditional life of Beduins??
Marketing slogan is even sillier: “ADD LIFE TO LIFE” And you get what? More life? Another life? or maybe “Second Life” Video Game?
And in Eureka moment, after driving past them billboards for the umpth time, I finally realized what does that logo of theirs remind me of: DUREX !
(some evil-minded people might argue that there is subliminal message there, and that it is entirely appropriate for a huge Dubai company to be branded like Durex… But I’m not like those people… ;-)
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Dubai is still jammed day and night, no matter how many new bridges they open… Driving from Abu Dhabi to Media City takes one hour tops. Driving from Media City to the Dubai Airport takes at least one and a half hours…
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And for those people who keep bragging “Dubai this, Dubai that, Doha sucks”, you know the type – there’s one at EVERY party in Doha – let me give a small sample of the news from the local newspapers:
- 23-year old Kazahstanian woman found dead in the trash
- Armed gang broke in the villa of a prominent Indian businessman and TORTURED him in front of his family to extort money
- Masked man stabs a girl with the knife in Sharjah
Need any more? So next time you hear this rant, just think that the quality of life is not entirely measured in a number of new nightclubs opened every month…
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And one of my favorite places on Earth has to be Dubai Airport. I am still fascinated by it like the first time I’ve seen it, eons ago. For those of you who’ve never been there, this is the place with thousands of different races, spicies, classes, colours and shades of humanity all brought into one same building… Like Jabba The Hut’s caffee, only more modern and not many get eaten…. This must be the best people-watching place ever!
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