Heres my thoughts having worked for both.
1. Hong Kong great for a holiday will really piss u off to live and commute in that city
2.Dubai bloody hot, humid and unbearable for 6 months of the year.
3.Both equally as expensive to live in
4.Weather in DXB less dramatic than HKG.
5.EK management dont give a stuff about your views
6.CX better layovers
7.EK better control of your roster(oops new bidding system introduced this month its a **** up)
8.EK less cabin crew per flight due to the fact that they expand before they recruit...youll be lucky to see a purser onboard.
9. CX grils look great but hell are they snobbish and un approachable
10. More hookers in dubai than HKG or Pat Pong...the streets are crawling with mainland chinese,russian states and Africans!!
11. Expat Indian culture in DXB will really piss you off after a while...they are everywhere and run the place.
So my best bet would be ..work for EK do as many short layovered long haul sectors, get the hours in and spend your days off in Jo Bannanas HKG..oops sorry rules again just changed not allowed to commute from Dubai on days off to live somewhere else... from THE MANAGEMENT!!!