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No surprise here...
The least friendly country for expats, according to the Forbes formula, is the United Arab Emirates.
amazing how in 3 years they went from #10 to the bottom of the barrel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/world-s-f ... tries.html

Learning the language and befriend locals is difficult here, I hope something is done to improve that. However, for other things it is not so bad.

The HSBC survey’s top three overall scorers—Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates—didn’t fare so well in categories relating to community integration and befriending locals. What did impress expats living in each of these countries, however, were improved career prospects and high incomes.

herve ,

Well the US is on the list of friendly. But I notice that France didn't make either list. I did not that India came in at the bottom of the unfriendly, 2nd year in a row. Sooooooooo, that must mean UAE is friendlier that India, right?

Geez herve, when are you going to get over it? Even your FB wall is all about Islam and the UAE and one of your friends laughs at the fact that you are still holding a grudge. Time to let go is way over due herve. Are you going to go through the rest of your life harboring such anger??? It's not healthy. A couple of years from now the people who are taken by you and your tales of woe fueled by your hatred and your "knowledge" of Islam are going to see you for what you are - a very bitter person.

Nucleus wrote:Learning the language and befriend locals is difficult here, I hope something is done to improve that. However, for other things it is not so bad.

Yes, I think Dubai/UAE many got a low rating because of that for a large part. Most expats don't miss that much though, there is very large expat community to socialize with from different countries. To work for Western companies is pretty much ok. A problem, I find is the law, which is full with nepotism, that's a real problem for doing business or investments.

While you have expats that "cross culture", I think the locals are very cultural and relate easily amongst each other. Even Arab speaking people from other countries don't fit into the local culture. I also think that locals pick and chose what they like from western culture, which doesn't include people.

Generally locals within themselves are also that and that. some locals which i think are the true bedouins or the 'earlier' locals are extremely friendly. I've bumped into endless number of them specially in the desert or the mountains of fujairah and even tho they don't speak english and no one noes what on earth is anyone saying, theywill invite you to their house and insist you try thier 4x4
it has happened more than once where locals camping beside us would come offer us food from what they have cooked or grilled just cuz we were close by.( and they offer massive portions)
They are very well mannered unlike those who think they can get away with anything. In the desert if they have to cross your camp they would slow down to avoid causing a sand storm, turn off their headlights so as not to blind you and roll down their windows and greet you. If they get too close they would apologise or as it happened once the dude stopped his car, got down and asked us if he could cross.( we jus thot wtf its your desert man )

I think its some of the locals you would probably find at starbucks and stuff with the latest exotic wheels that would have the ego.

tony89 wrote:I think its some of the locals you would probably find at starbucks and stuff with the latest exotic wheels that would have the ego.

True, new ones don't have the old culture.

new ones don't have the old culture

Very true. The difference is that they are very polite, generous and welcoming, but with most of the locals, regardless of background, they don't make "friends" as expats do, in that there is no socializing - go out for an evening or going to each others homes or calling each other. There are lines drawn that they don't go over.

Mr BB has many good local friends that he sees frequently or speaks to on the phone, but we, as a couple and they as a couple or family, don't socialize in the sense get together for dinner or visit each other.

Bora, I love you too!. Did you write to FORBES to tell them they are bitter for listing the UAE as the least friendly country in the world.
Bora, it s all behind, i am good, but there is no bitterness in wanting to inform the public with truth and verifiable facts.
And it is the other way around, more and more are seeing that islam and its abhorrent practitioners, i.e., muslims. and their lying ways are the problem. For instance I see and meet a lot of employers here, more and more tell me, more than before , that they dont want to hire muslims because of the biases and risks of litigations, of course they find another reason, because of litigation if they did. And it is not because i told them anything.
There is only one bitter person here and it is you. Instead of nagging against people who mention that the UAE is the least friendly country in the world, why dont you try to prove that visitors, tourists and investors are wrong to say so.

Singapore and Hong Kong did badly as well. I think it just confirms that none of the respondents moved to any of these places to settle and immerse themselves in the culture and assimilate with the locals. None give citizenship to foreigners. Most would prefer to live in the likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the UK for that matter. Many go so far as despising living in the UAE, and yet they still suffer the anguish every day and when Forbes comes along, they are all too happy to air their grievances.

Herve,
you put your money where your mouth was and got out of Dubai (actually you wire transferred it, but anyway...). But you obviously have some lingering grievances. Either you put these behind you or seek revenge on those individuals you are angry at, not the entire country. BTW, I love you herve.

herve ,

Me bitter?? Over what?? I can tell you that I have a reason from my own personal experience, but I won't waste the energy on what happened. It concerned certain individuals, not an entire population. Are you bitter towards one local person that screwed you over big time? Deal with him. When did you start your hatred campaign herve? I'm sure if you got screwed over by a Chinese person who was a Christian, or an Israeli Jew, you would be hating Chinese and Christianity or Israel and Jews. You are just too consumed to realize how consumed you are with your hatred.

Why don't you take your show on the road herve?? Don't limit yourself to DF and FB. How many people actually subscribe to DF that are constant visitors? 5? 10? You can be "The Voice". Oh, wait that's a singing program. Well, you can sing you way through the country informing people about how horrible Muslims are all over the world. Enlighten them the way Shaft spreads the word on how wonderful Muslims are.

I have nothing to prove to you or anyone herve about the UAE. It is what it is. You are the one that is constantly nagging on every post how evil the UAE and Muslims are. BM loves Dubai, but I don't hear you nagging her about it.

Bora, can you stop this, i just posted a link, al right? I did not say anything about my personal experience, or nag about anything, just a link and the mention that Dubai was listed as the least friendly country in the world. Which it is , whether you like or not, period. You live there, your choice. I wont judge you, but dont you dare judge me or question my right to post a link like eveybody else.
I spent 15 years in the ME, 4 of which in dubai. I fought against islamists way before I landed in dubai. so It is not about getting screwed by 1 individual. I dont even talk about that. But I am not going to stop talking about muslems just because it bothers you, i know the brand trust me. Many people listen to me, and beleive me, many get the message. When you get back to the US, let s see how your pride to be a muslem reflects around here, I can ensure you , as the time goes by, moslems are not getting very popular. And I dont have to do anything about that, moslems are doing it all to themselves. Listening to BM, it does not seem they are very popular in the UK neither. Forget France, they are just waiting for the day they can take their guns out of the attic.
I dont need DF or FB, these are very small forums, however, every single day people buy my book, steadily.
I love BM, she is a great contribution on DF, we may have different opinion on Dubai, I still love her, and we can talk about Dubai without being nasty.
I dont need to spread the word about al shafique, he is doing a good job all by himself. His biases are so obvious there is no risk he could convert anyone to islam, but I admit he is entertaining.
I fooled him pretending to be a woman, he never saw me coming, I pulled his strings for months, had i pretended to be a tomato , he would have been cursing at tomatoes at the grocery store ! . In the mean time he got allergic to pepper, he could not stand the taste of capsicum anymore:lol:

What is it with all these 'sour grapes' posts from herve?

herve wrote:I fooled him pretending to be a woman, he never saw me coming, I pulled his strings for months,

LOL - nice one herve. You actually managed to fool yourself when you came up with the conspiracy theory that I was DearJohn! When you thought I had created a dummy account, you were all 'you are a coward for doing so' etc!

As for pretending to be gertrude and capsicum - it is funny to look back now and see how you used them to reply to Bora's review of your book:
eg:

gertrude wrote:I wonder why Bin Sulayem hired Herve and not the guy on the review if he was so good, 16 years building submarines! or may be he was hired after....to write the review. No matter how you put it, Herve is in the US, so if he did not escape how do you explain that.

fight-club/escape-from-dubai-reader-review-t40143.html

Sad man. You didn't have the courage to post in your own name in that thread - a thread in which I did not post.

Cheers,
Shafique

Oh I completely agree that the older generations of Emiratis are far friendlier, nicer and humble people. They have lived through the changes of their country, but they haven't lost the old ways. It's the new 'spoilt' generations that tend to be the problem and consider it is their 'right' to behave the way they do. It amuses me when the older generations, tell off the youngsters. If you want to learn and know about the culture and heritage of the UAE, these older generations are pretty happy to oblige and take pride in sharing with people, which I think is lovely.

Wrong topic Shaft aka dearjohn

herve ,

You are missing my point herve. It doesn't bother ME what you post about Muslims. What I find is that it is repetitive and has becoming boring as hEll. We know your position on Muslims and Islam, no matter how many times you repeat yourself or rewrite your posts, it's always the same herve message. How many times are your going to repeat yourself about how you fooled people pretending to be a woman? Of course you have the right to post anything you want, but how about something new and different rather than the stale, worn out, repetitive rant? I will tell you the point where you lost credibility with me: when you lied about the tape recording - you know the one you presented in Court as being an original and it came out that it was a re-enactment created by you?

I'm also fully aware of how Muslims are hurting themselves in the US. And people like you hurt those who don't deserve to be hurt by spreading your hatred towards an entire religion. Because I'm in Dubai doesn't mean I live a sheltered life herve. Access to all the world news. Access to other forums. I don't need you to "educate" me on what is going on in my own country. I also don't have to worry about how people will react to me as a Muslim because I don't wear a sign around my neck or dress like one. The only way a person would know I was a LAPSED Muslim is if I told them. Mr BB isn't worried either. He doesn't sell hotdogs from a vending cart or drive car service. He's an executive who is highly respected, as are other Muslims in the US.

The "brand" that you KNOW is one side of the coin herve. It's like me saying I know the French brand - they are rude and dirty, but that isn't true of all the French is it?

Maybe when I look for a home in Florida I'll move in your area just to annoy you knowing that there are Muslims living so close to you.

I may be wrong but I dont think the tape recording was presented to the Court as an original recording of the conversation.

Bethsmum ,

I believe it was presented as "the taped conversation" then it came out that it was not the original then he had to explain himself away as to how he got 2 Yemini guys and made it in a restaurant?? The fact is: a lie is a lie. He mentioned the tape in the book but never mentioned that it was left behind, leaving the reader to believe it was in his possession.

The full transcript of the interrogation is in my book for everybody to see.

Was that from memory since he didn't actually have the tape nor has the "original" tape ever surfaced.

one of these days i am going to have my recording on FOX news,

Would that be the original recording or the fake recording???

Bora, I never lied about the tape recording. I told the court and DW from the start that the original was in dubai.
So again:... April 2007, arrested by the police, i am threatened to be tortured if I don't "confess" my crimes. During the interrogation, my phone was on recording right in front of the police officer.
I did not have a software to download it. But there is nothing I could do with the recording anyways because it could have never been authenticated, like a video. In January 2008, just to keep a record on paper I played the recording and typed a transcript. in April 2008 I escaped on a dinghy from Fujeirah, but i had left my phone (with the recording inside) somwhere in Dubai to lure the police, like a beacon, telling them I was in Dubai when I was in fact in Fujeirah. This was a must , I had to leave it behind or take the risk of getting caught. Turing it off was not an option either. I had to pretend i was in dubai.
And you are wrong bora, I did say in my book that I left my phone behind.
Back in the US, I tried at 3 occasions, one of which was a reporter, to recover my phone. But it was never found where I had left it. The reporter did call the police officer who threatened me and as a result he was detained a few hours, in my opinion, they got scared and did not go to the location fearing of a trap. For the SOLE purpose of the book, the story and a movie, I made a re enactment from the transcripts. And telling everybody it was a re enactment. I never claimed anything or tried anything else with the recording. DW tried to discredit me, so that they could stop my book, but they failed, the book is still mine and distributed.
You know how the US court works, if I had lied to the court, hell would have fallen on me.
I had no reasons to lie, even if you are tortured by Dubai police you cannot sue them in the US, Dubai police is imune and the US has no jurisdiction over dubai gov actions.
my lawsuit was against DW, and DW had nothing to do with the torture threats.
Even the original recording would not have been admissible, because an audio recording cannot be authenticated.
I never brought my re enactment, or the torture claims in court, never even mentionned it . DW did it all by themselves. They brought it up, not me.
However, in response I gave to the court a trail of paperworks and emails with sultan from april 2007 to March 2008, where i complained about the torture threats. DW knew about the torture threats from the beginning, april 2007. Those documents, more than the tape recording prove me right actually. Because there is no way, any one could manufacture or think of something like that planning to use it 2 years later in a book or in court. I did not even know at the time of the torture threats I would escape a year later and that I would write a book about it.
Now, look at the other cases, the people who died in dubai police jails, beaten, or tortured, my claims sound pretty much realistic now, right?

I have to say, being a Canadian in Dubai was fine for me. It was friendly "enough". The thing that made me nuts there was the corruption and the fact that everyone has their hand in your pocket business wise. For a family holiday, the UAE is great, my wife and I had a great 2 week holiday there before we moved there. Once you are a resident, things change. Thru all my court battles, my lawyer, fixer and all associates were the nicest guys on the planet...coffee meetings, chinwags...etc. I thought I was in "The Club". Until payday. The attitude changed..."nooooo, it was 10% PLUS all the expenses I can pull out of my arse"...I think living in the UAE is a sliding scale of perception. When you first get there, things are great, and then it goes downhill to the point where even the long-term expats use it as an ATM. I do not know a single 5 year+ person that is there for any other reasons other than financial.

I have been in Australia for 10 months now, and I have to say the reception has been overwhelming. I think I have been asked MAYBE 5 times "where in Canada/America I am from". As you know, it is a 5x a day occurrence in Dubai, asking where you are from. At my local, there are many tradesmen, bikers and "rough as guts" guys...all have been cool, and these would be the last guys you would think would accept a foreigner who pronounces all the letters when he speaks.

My inlaws have met my retrobate friends from Dubai, none of which are Aussie and have been very kind and welcoming to them. I have to give these Kangaroo Jockeys credit, they do a better job than us Canucks! I met a supplier last week who asked what myself and the wife were doing for Australia day, I replied that the wife was working and had no real plans, so likely get some work done. He said there would be none of that, and I should come over to his for a BBQ with his friends and family. When I tried to get out of it, he explained that it was a big part of the Australian culture to invite people over for events like that, meet new friends, and that I was sincerely welcome. I'll tell you, I showed up kind of nervous not knowing anyone and feeling a bit like a fish out of water, but the whole lot were the best hosts I have ever met. All the friends and family were awesome, and as an added bonus, no shop talk!

I have spent time in all the top 5 places, and could not agree more.

dubaidog ,

You need to change your location.

I agree with everything you say. Dubai is great for a visit, as long as you don't slip up.

Bora Bora wrote:they don't make "friends" as expats do, in that there is no socializing - go out for an evening or going to each others homes or calling each other. There are lines drawn that they don't go over.

Mr BB has many good local friends that he sees frequently or speaks to on the phone, but we, as a couple and they as a couple or family, don't socialize in the sense get together for dinner or visit each other.

I think it is related to a new metropolitian culture. If you go to old villages it is different, but in city it is different. I guess, in city it may come in the future. But that depends, it may or it may not. There are number of variables. But I hope old hospitality trandition transfers to urban metro life too in some form.