Dubai

[bercus]

Since pretty much a few UAE´s use BG-Forum and all my UAE friends
quit I thought it might not be too bad to ask here.

I´m planning to go to Dubai either in July 2008 or next year.
Friend (was never there) suggested February or September,
for whatever reason (weather probably).

Anyway, when is it good to go there and when not?
When is weather not too hot?
Got told you can shop in Dubai really good too? Malls?
What cool things do I have to see?
Where should I definatly not go?
Is Dubai safe?

Thank you for any responds.

[Senoska]

For the love of god don't eat any poppy seed's in the week your plane leaves, be no where near anyone who eats poppy seed, in fact, don't be in the same building. Best not to risk it.

[bercus]

I just read, no alcohol >.<
What about girls, do they have to take care of anything?

[Vaspinne]

*My post is purely Dubai related, mind you, not any of the other UAE regions*

If/when you go, definitely check out the ski hill in the mall (I forget which one, but ask any driver, and they'll easily know). Even if you don't ski, it's still neat to look at. The mall itself is alright too, lots of stores to check out. Theres also the 7-star hotel. If you pay something like $150~200 (American/Canadian), you can go in and eat a super nice buffet dinner (and by super nice, I mean they serve halves of lobster in the buffet, as many as you'd like, on top of a plethora of other items. It was fucking nuts >_>). Staying a night at this particular hotel though, well, if you can afford it and like tossing around money like you literally have a forest of money trees and you burn money regularly to heat your home and you use money to wipe your ass and you've injected money into your blood to cure yourself of aids and you have so much money that you have your own bank, go for it. Otherwise, theres plenty of nice 3-4-5 star hotels that are much cheaper and really nice to stay at. We stayed at a 4-star hotel and it was pretty solid. I ~think~ it was around $70~80 (A/C) a night, but my dad covered that payment, so I'm not entirely sure.

Theres quite a few nice malls to check out, lots of stuff you can find in NA really, but still, they're all still pretty neat to visit. Lots of big malls that are built over the top cause they have money coming out the wazoo. Theres also the Gold Street (I think thats what it's called, I don't remember, again, ask the driver and he should know), thats literally a street/complex full of jewelry shops. Like, a shit~ton. I was there for a couple days in February this year, the weather was fantastic honestly, sunshine, but not super crazy hot. Theres a lot of good restaurants too, again, ask a driver and they'll list off a lot of top notch places to eat themed on different styles of food from different countries.

Dubai itself is really safe. They're incredibly strict on crime laws, and even pick-pockets are punished pretty harshly. You can walk in the street in the middle of the night with very little to worry about really. And the streets in most places (mainly where theres no construction) are really clean too. I was only there for a total of about 3 days (1 day lay-over on the way to India, and a 2 day lay-over on the way back), so I didn't really get the most detailed tour, but from what I did manage to get in, it was a pretty cool place to visit. Although, I don't think I could stay there for long periods of time. I just didn't like the incredibly materialistic vibe I got from being there. The people born in the region, Europeans and North Americans get treated amazingly there. But if your an immigrant from the surrounding Asian lands working in Dubai or other places in the UAE, you get shafted quite a bit in comparison (although, when compared to where those workers came from, it's actually a lot nicer working condition wise, which is kinda sad =/ ).

I'm not entirely sure about the no alcohol thing though. I know I definitely had a couple beers while I was there (I never actually checked if there was any alcohol in the beer though, so I could be completely full of crap, lol). I remember some restaurants didn't carry alcohol, but some places definitely did. It might depend on how tourist~ie the place your eating at is.

Anywho, theres lots to see and it's worth a visit, even if you like or don't like it when you leave

[bercus]

Thanks so far. No I don´t shit money but I am also never broke. I for sure can´t afford a 7 star hotel, maybe one night haha.
How much is/was a taxi ride in Dubai?

[Vaspinne]

It depends. If you just hire a taxi to take you from a to b, then they all have their own rates. But you can hire a driver for the day and if you end up driving for quite a distance, it ends up saving you a lot in the end. Theres a lot of companies and they all have their rates. My dad covered this charge as well, so I don't have any exact numbers, but I can ask him in the morning what we payed for a full day driver if you'd like

[Obev]

It's the gold souk, not street. Learn to haggle would be my advice. A friend of mine's father used to work for some oil conglomerate in Dubai, so we'd always go on holiday there. I recall once when he was trying to buy something, not in the gold souk but in a store quite near to it, and it was as if the shopkeeper and he were trying to out-do eachother with tales of how they had kids to feed, mortgages to pay, and how they couldn't possibly pay that much/sell for less. Most amusing. It might be worth learning a few words of Arabic, but of course that could just come across as patronising.

For something that's a little more, I don't know, "western," if you like, there's the Wild Wadi water park near Jumeira (sp?) Beach Hotel. Water chutes, flumes, and something that's a bit like a waterbourne rollercoaster where jets of water push you around uphill and such. Pretty fun, or at least it was when I was 14.

As the fact that there's a water park would indicate, the attitudes towards such European evils as alcohol and public nudity are certainly more relaxed in the Emirates than in their neighbouring states. As I was quite young the last time I went to Dubai, I wasn't paying much attention to the alcohol situation, but I do remember a possibly apocryphal account of you having to be certified as an alcoholic by your doctor to be allowed to buy beers and wines.

[Darus Grey]

Foreigners can purchase alcohol from hotel bars(the only place you'll find bars). Locals cannot. If you buy it, you must drink it right there and then.

[Sess]

Foreigners can purchase alcohol from hotel bars(the only place you'll find bars). Locals cannot.

Really? We used to drive to dubai to go out drinking because they had better night clubs. I didn't know they were stricter then they are in Oman, we can drink in bars and hotels but can't bring alcohol home unless your part of some army club, or can pay an indian an little extra to buy it for you to bring home.

Anyways Bercus, I honestly come from the Oman (right next door to the UAE) and I never want to go back home in the summer. We literally shutdown all public work on the days we go over 50 degrees Celsius, and most of the private sector does it too. An average between 40 - 45 with peaks to the 50s degrees is just tiring and doesn't let you see everything comfortably. There's beautiful beach areas to visit and you'll want to do something other than shop and do restaurants at some point so summer is just not ideal. Keep in mind I haven't been to Dubai or the UAE for that matter in over 8 years, so I might be out of touch with activities in that town.

[bercus]

Hmmm... then it will probably be next year February/March.
50° no thanks ;_;

Hey and I am interested in that Water Park, even though I´am not 14 anymore either ;_;.

[Iono]

Just went there for 2 months this year, late Jan thru march, I think. Nice place to visit if you have the money. Not so great to stay for long, imo. They do have some cool attractions I guess. Lots of crazy buildings, a few extravagant malls. Shit there is pricey as much as US if not more. Clothes are from European side, I got a Quicksilver shirt for fucking $90. TBH, I didn't buy it I was being cheap and debating the whole time if I wanted it or not, then my coworker just got it for me

The summer starts around May. They say when it gets above 50°C(/122°F?) they shut everything down, which is why the "reports" never go above 50°.


If you stay in the touristy places there's alcohol at some malls and hotels. Jumeira mentioned above has a couple places. It's also right near Wild Wadi and the 7-star hotel Burj Al Arab(?). Also you're allowed to bring 4 items of alcohol total. So any variation of hard liquor, Wine, or case of beer that comes out to no more than 4. But you can't go around randomly drinking it. And definitely don't drink and drive.

I was kinda on the outskirts so the Taxi's to get into town were kinda expensive to me (then again I've never taken taxi's outside of Thailand >.>a) The Taxi was around $20 for a 40 min ride. I'm guesstimating.../kinda forgot tbh. (Was from Al Mamzar to Butata if anyone can clarify how long that'd take.)



Important Don't get in any quarrels or fights with the locals! People over there drive fucking stupid!!! A coworker of mine is in possibly deep shit for getting into an argument with a local from driving. My guy got cut off then flipped a local guy off and started cussing as any normal Southern Californian would do. They both pulled over to the side of the road. Exchanged some words, then seemingly went their own ways. My Coworker went to a jobsite and the other guy apparently went to the police station to file a report! They called my guy in told, him the local guy was pressing charges for insulting him, and took away his passport! He's now awaiting trial, and can't go to Oman (shout out to Sess, how is this place? My work wants me to go there) or any other place my company wants to send him for work.


Ironic? Everybody knows all the stories of poppy seed busts of Dubai. Guess what they served as a desert on my plane (British Airways)right before we landed. A fucking Poppy seed .....



If ya have any more questions hopefully I can answer em for you.

IMO And as for it being the next Vegas I think it's complete bullshit.... No gambling (as far as I know), hardly any booze, and definitely no drugs.... (however there are hookers in some places). WTF version of Vegas have these ppl that say it is been to.....

And BTW traffic sucks.

Oh and FYI, They block a ton of websites in Dubai for some reason! BG is blocked, any porn site I could think of was blocked, and for some reason hi5 is blocked but myspace isn't -.-a Stupid seeing as how they're both the same type of site.

[Bwelch]

Ironic? Everybody knows all the stories of poppy seed busts of Dubai. Guess what they served as a desert on my plane (British Airways)right before we landed. A fucking Poppy seed .....

I'm curious, did anyone say anything to the flight attendants?

[Iono]

Nah, not that I know of.

[Obev]

Oh and FYI, They block a ton of websites in Dubai for some reason! BG is blocked, any porn site I could think of was blocked, and for some reason hi5 is blocked but myspace isn't -.-a Stupid seeing as how they're both the same type of site.

Heh, I remember that. Can't go to http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ "'cause it's got sex in it."

[Khamsin]

Can also check this thread out for additional info:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29783

[bercus]

After reading some stuff in the other Dubai Thread I immediately cancelled any hopes of our girls to fly to Dubai .
With the luck I had in america (don´t ask what happened) I am quiet sure I will end up with 4 kilo kokain under my shoe.