Ferraris rolling by and skyscrapers climbing higher each day in Dubai are reminders to Gadija Appleby, a cabin crew member with Emirates Airline, that she’s living in an international city.

“It’s not like this at home, of course,” laughs the twenty-something Capetonian who has lived in one of the world’s oil-rich countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for almost four years.
“When you walk down the street at home you know you’ll run into your neighbour. But in Dubai, when you leave your flat, every flashy car you can think of drives past you when you walk down the street. That feels international."

Ferraris rolling by and skyscrapers climbing higher each day in Dubai are reminders to Gadija Appleby, a cabin crew member with Emirates Airline, that she’s living in an international city.

“It’s not like this at home, of course,” laughs the twenty-something Capetonian who has lived in one of the world’s oil-rich countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for almost four years.
“When you walk down the street at home you know you’ll run into your neighbour. But in Dubai, when you leave your flat, every flashy car you can think of drives past you when you walk down the street. That feels international.”

Appleby is one of numerous South Africans who have set up temporary residence in Dubai, one of seven states – or ‘emirates’ – in the UAE. Lucrative tax-free salaries, crime-free lives and the ease of globe-hopping are the perks of their Dubai sojourn.
Appleby moved to Dubai after working as a patternmaker for a gym wear company in Cape Town.

Flying with Emirates has been a “dream job” and she’s had extended visits to Australia, Bangkok, France, Morocco and Tunisia while popping by home on the regular. She’s sticking around in Dubai for a little while longer, though, armed with business plans and fashion industry hopes.
“I’ve reached job satisfaction but haven’t yet fulfilled my dream so I’m staying on. I’m working on opening my own business. I also want to design my own clothing range,” informs Appleby, who bought a sewing machine two years ago and trims her own style.

She adds that South Africans are handed a “crime free life on a silver platter” in Dubai, which she values most along with her experience that women are respected more in Dubai than back home.
“It’s safe for me to go out as a single woman in Dubai. When I go out alone and a guy approaches me, it’s harmless because women are respected. In Dubai you have a priceless independence,” confirms Appleby.

Her sentiment echoes the attitude of various expatriates who joke that UAE actually means “U Achieve Everything”. In the varied faces at decadent shopping malls it’s evident that Dubai isn’t attempting to exhibit an international veneer.

It’s not pretending to be multi-cultural. It just simply is, because its expatriate population – the main workforce that keeps its economy ticking – comprises citizens from all corners of planet Earth.

So nobody really bothers to take a second look when spotting a fully-covered woman doing window shopping with a gal pal in a mini dress. It’s all mixed up because that’s just the way life is over there. Fact is, at least 80% of Dubai’s 1,4 million people are expatriates. And they’re all there for a slice of the double-layered chocolate cake.

They’re also well-catered for, with eateries and fast food joints catering for everyone, from Indian dishes to Japanese cuisine. There’s a demand for every kind of cooking.
Making all this happen is Dubai’s ruler who bears a lengthy title: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

And, of course, there are no prizes for guessing that his empire is a family-run business. His late father, Sheikh Rashid, was after all the guy who united the seven ‘emirates’ to form the UAE back in the 1970s, shortly after oil started gushing from the dessert sands.
The Emiratis didn’t have a large population to begin with, though, so they invited half the world to apply for work visas to help them go from zero to slipping off the tip of every investor’s tongue.

Dubai’s real estate industry is booming and countless major global corporates occupy office space because they don’t have to pay tax or negotiate around third-world instability.

Kat Sumners, another Capetonian, has been in and out of Dubai for the last ten years and says she’s always intrigued by “something new and exciting” in the city that is all about establishing world records. The city’s planners are currently working on building the world’s tallest tower to add to their list of hosting the biggest malls of our times. Sumners has seen so much of Dubai expand over the last few years and says she feels part of its growth.

She also thrives on the glitzy gigs she’s scored during her time as a make-up artist in Dubai. Hollywood star George Clooney’s intriguing commentary on the world’s oil elites, Syriana, which was appropriately shot partly in Dubai, is one of the projects under her belt. Sumners also did the make-up for tennis ace Roger Federer when reputable photographer Annie Liebowitz sat him down for one of this year’s Vogue magazine cover stories.

“You get a steady flow of work in South Africa but in Dubai you have a diversity of work. You also get the big jobs,” grins Sumners.
“One feels like you’re growing with an industry in Dubai. And you’re helping it grow and become better. Dubai’s movie industry is also growing. They’re building a studio city and I heard that Eric Bana is going to make a political thriller in Dubai.”

Apart from working on various international productions that use Dubai as a location, Sumners has also been called out on jobs in the Maldives, Qatar, Greece, Oman, London and even Cape Town via her Dubai agent. While in Dubai, magazines call her up.
Financially speaking, it seems the professional pack of South Africans in Dubai couldn’t be getting a better deal. As a freelancer Sumners doesn’t have to worry about filling out tax return forms; the paperwork that she, like most other creatives, hates most.

Dubai has already been a better deal than London or home turf in South Africa for Karen Coetzee who runs a TV and film production company, Central Films, from her home with hubby Ian Ross. As expected, she’s singing happily all the way to the bank.
After five years of London slogging, Coetzee says she was ready for “a new way of life”. She and Ian moved to Dubai two years ago and Coetzee says they’re bringing home “real” cash.

“Unless you’re top job in London you’re paying the rent and working for entertainment expenses. A lot of South Africans go to London and when they’re not doing what they want to do they move to Dubai where there are more opportunities,” Coetzee reflects on the difference between her former and current destinations.
“Dubai is also not as competitive as London so you can still establish yourself. The standard of living is also high. And if you work hard you can get ahead.”

The mantelpiece landmarks have also started accumulating for the Central Films archive. When Irish singer Ronan Keating needed to shoot a music video last year he chose this company to make it happen in Dubai. A Swiss insurance company also phoned Coetzee to films its TV commercial starring Roger Federer.

Mandatory corporate films, international facilitation on shoots and other original work round up the Central Films output which Coetzee says has become more about “a few good jobs that are massively intensive” since their move to Dubai.

“We’re now doing what we like. We make good money and we travel. It’s about expanding your world. When you’re living in London you explore Europe. When you’re in Dubai you can easily visit Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. And we’re also able to visit our friends in London and South Africa,” reflects Coetzee.

On a more interesting, eyebrow-raising, you-said-what note, Coetzee jokes that quite a few South Africans have settled in Dubai for rehab. So it’s not always about the money?
“You get a lot of reformed drug addicts coming here. That’s because there’s not a lot of drugs and alcohol in Dubai. You don’t want to be caught with drugs. You’ll be deported,” she elaborates.

That’s just one of a few differences about living in Dubai as opposed to South Africa. Dubai is predominantly governed according to Islamic ethics and the religion forbids alcohol and drug consumption. But that’s to say that there aren’t bars and pubs and spots that sell alcohol. Drinking the night away just costs a lot more in Dubai and there’s not much tolerance for drinking and driving. Drugs are forbidden. No questions asked.

The other change from South Africa, according to everyone who has settled in the bustling consumerist town, is the limited outdoor life. It’s not that there’s no sunshine. It’s just that there’s too much of it at unbearably high temperatures for most of the year.
“We live in aircon,” quips Coetzee of the indoors lifestyle.

Appleby says that it’s annoying sometimes not to be able to spend a whole day outside having a braai or chilling on the beach. Dubai’s response has been to provide glittering shopping malls that cater for every taste and need.

While hitting the malls, by the way, nostalgic South Africans could resort to Woolworths which stocks goods made back home. Spinney’s supermarket is said to also sell a few magazines that comfort desperate housewives. And if you’ve always wanted to learn an indigenous South African language, check out one of the kiosks at the Deira City Centre mall where you could buy the educational DVDs on Zulu and Xhosa.

Then, in true Dubai style that knocks you sideways, there’s a fake snow world in the Mall of the Emirates. It has a ski slope and once inside you’ll forget that you’re in the middle of a dessert where camels used to outnumber people.

Yet all these distractions have their downsides too. The malls soon resemble facades when it comes to finding true happiness in Dubai. As a singleton, Appleby says she’s found it tough to build a secure relationship in a city overrun by expatriates of all sorts.
“There’s a saying that you can never have a relationship in Dubai. There’s only about one percent of the people who come here from elsewhere who will open up to each other and be genuine. People are scared of being taken for a ride so they put up a front. I think I’ll probably go home when I want to get married,” reveals Appleby.

Sumners agrees that Dubai is more of a “party town” than meet-your-soul-mate heaven.
“It’s very difficult to try and get into a stable relationship. Everyone’s here to play,” says Sumners.

But perhaps “play” is exactly what Dubai’s developers want the experience to be about. They’re banking on creating a tourist hotspot that lured 6,4 million pleasure seekers last year. By 2010, it’s estimated that figure would rise to 15 million visitors per year.

Dubai’s leadership is thinking beyond the bottom of the oil barrel. So a host of leisure enclaves are being erected and shopping-like-crazy malls means that this is the city where you just Do-Buy while chasing the dream. Like countless expatriates, you could choose to do that in a flashy Ferrari.