Kyle Taylor – Guest Blogger

We’ve heard the stories and we’ve seen the pictures. We know that Dubai is not a great gay and lesbian travel destination. The Dubai skyline is massive, and it popped up nearly overnight. Of course, we’ve also seen the most recent update: Dubai is totally broke. While that doesn’t mean a whole lot for the 500,000 Emirati who are actually citizens, the other 5.5 million Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants most definitely feel the crunch. While the superficial Dubai is all glitz and glamour – the world’s tallest building, the world’s biggest hotel, the world’s largest indoor ski slope, an entire island development made to look like the World, every western chain from Applebee’s to TGI Friday’s – the underbelly of the city is built entirely on the backs of foreigners.

Beyond the tall buildings that line Sheik Zayed Road, nothing really passes two or three stories. While the gargantuan air-conditioned shopping malls are deserted, the street markets are bustling. The market for kid’s goods is huge, as five million of the 5.5 million immigrants are men with families back at home. They go home every 14 to 18 months for 2 or 3 weeks (this after working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week non-stop for those 14 to 18 months) and when they go, they bring piles of goodies home to their families.

While the history of Dubai is fascinating – it’s growth from a tiny nothing town in the middle of a sandy desert to one of the World’s largest transport and shipment hubs – the real story lies deep in its current situation. There may be no place better than this city to see “both sides” of the world as we know it. There may be no place where developed and developing clash in such an open and honest way. Indeed, even though this isn’t a gay and lesbian travel destination there may be no place like Dubai, period.