The Clock: Higher and Higher

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Bob Kemp said...: Great article. A few things that stuck out:

In a neighbouring camp, a group of Pakistani workers from north and south Waziristan sit exhaustedly(?) sipping tea while one of them cooks outside.

Rice(!) is affordable at weekends only: already wretched incomes have been eroded by the weak dollar and rising food prices.

"We will never use the new metro if it's not segregated," he tells me, referring to the state-of-the-art underground system being built in neighbouring Dubai. "We will never sit next to Indians and Pakistanis with their smell," his wife explains.

Outside a glitzy hotel, with a marble and glass facade, dozens of prostitutes congregate according to their ethnic groups: Asians to the right, next to them Africans, and, on the left, blondes from the former Soviet Union. There are some Arab women. Iranians, I am told, are in great demand. They charge much higher prices and are found only in luxury hotels.[Why can't the USA be this organized?]

So, how bout a working vacation, Clockers? Rex, you with me?; 9:13 PM

The Clock