Tag: Dubai

The Top 8 Rules for Driving in the UAE in the Fog

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fog abu dhabi

Last night I drove back from the Abu Dhabi Formula One Gran Prix at Yas Marina (after marshalling for 3 days – it was awesome!) exhausted and sweaty. I just wanted to get home and sleep but as soon as I got on the Abu Dhabi – Dubai HIghway the fog enveloped all of us drivers.

The fog was so bad that it you couldn’t see a car in front of you, even if you were touching bumpers. It was so bad, you couldn’t see the lanes on the highway or any road signs even if you got close to them so there was no way to stop for a chill out moment at the services.

Of course being in the UAE that meant that people freaked out and started doing one of the following:

  1. Breaking and driving at 20kph
  2. Putting on their hazard lights
  3. Driving fast as if there was no fog
  4. Driving close to the car in front just so they could see something.

All this made a bad situation exceedingly scary. I love driving and i’m usually resilient but this fog and surrounding idiots freaked the bejeesus out of me. I had to go into the far slow lane (as it was the only lane no one else was in, except my marshal buddies).

A scary moment was seeing buses and minibuses driving their normal manner weaving through lanes, with hazard lights on and close to our bumpers. I had a coach behind me (Desert A..) weaving around me and then driving near my bumper. These bus drivers need an advanced driving test for normal and extreme weather days; they are maniacs.

Based on this frightful experience here are my top tips for the idiots who we encountered last night and the other idiots who start driving ridiculously on fog days in the Winter:

  1. Switch on your fog lights. They are usually a button, located on the left hand side next to your steering wheel.
  2. Drive slowly like 80kph but not 20kph. You might as well not drive at all if you are going to go at that speed.
  3. Keep at least 2 cars distance from the cars in front of you.
  4. DON’T PUT ON YOUR HAZARD LIGHTS AND USE THEM AS FOG LIGHTS. 
  5. Put on your hazard lights for a brief few seconds when there is a hazard in front of you. I did the quick flash twice in succession so that the numpties around me got the idea there was a hazard.
  6. Don’t freak out and suddenly swerve lanes to get off the road.
  7. If you change lanes, USE YOUR INDICATORS.
  8. Use your windscreen wipers to clean the fog/sand concoction every so often.

Luckily there were no crashes on my way home. However, there needs to be a national advertising campaign by the RTA on how to drive in fog, rain and other extreme weather scenarios. Otherwise there will be more chances of there being scary driving situations and horrific car accidents on the AD-DXB highway (such as the one below) or on other roads.

car crash

 

I have heard the Indian speaking radio stations in the UAE tell drivers to put their hazard lights on in previous years. By providing this completely incorrect and unsafe information, they are helping to create more accidents. The authorities need to explain to the media how their listeners should drive safely!

Let’s hope this post can educate a few people.

What other rules do you think we should have for driving in the extreme conditions. Let me know in the comment box.

Shelina

 

 

 

 

(All images from Google Images).

2013 – bye bye

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Image

2013 sucked in many ways with tension, stress and other things but it’s also been great as I started Decluttr Me, moved into my lovely apartment, went on lots of holidays in the Middle East, became spot free and got Oreo.

Still no man in my life who doesn’t irritate the hell out of me but I’m sure one day one man will turn up who is not a freakazoid.

Thanks if you were involved in the goods times, you have been blocked if you were involved in the bad times. Roll on 2014.

Foodie Blog – High Tea at the Burj Al Arab

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A few years ago my Mum came to cheer me up and I decided to spoil her with High Tea at the Burj Al Arab.  At that time we were seated in the main lobby. Since then my Dad has complained endlessly that he has not had the privilege of going to the Burj for High tea with me. As Dad was here to visit last week, I put right to wrong.

This time when I made the booking they offered us a seat at the Skyview Bar. Of course I couldn’t decline this kind offer. I didn’t get the obligatory email with reference number, so had to call to obtain it the day before our reservation as you cannot get into the grounds of the Burj Al Arab without this number.

Once in, we weren’t offered the Majool date you used to get on entry but were advised by pretty ladies where to go to get the Skyview Bar lift.

Once up we got to the bar, we were seated by the window (I had requested for it and thankfully got it) with a view of the Palm and the World. Dubai would have been nicer but hey we got a view.

The tea menu is no longer as expansive as it used to be and had a page of wellness teas. Firstly, yuck and second who is going to pay AED495 for wellness teas when you are stuffing your face with cakes, sandwiches and stuff.  We started off with date tea (it was ok bit datey) and I had the Jasmine Pearl tea. It was ok but after a while all the Chinese tea tastes the same to me. Maybe I’ve been spoilt for too many years drinking the expensive stuff given to us as presents from Dad’s mates. You can try as many different teas as you like during the High Tea so we tried a variety but ended up liking the English Breakfast tea in the end. You can’t change us Brits.

First course was shortbread with fruit. Buttery but not too rich and with the tartness of the fruit was a nice start to the tea.

Shortbread with fruit

Shortbread with fruit

Next up was stuffed turkey from the Chef’s carvery. Being December and nearly Christmas there was a theme of Christmasy things for the tea.  The dish was lovely and would have been nice to have more but anyway.

Turkey from the Chef Carvery

Turkey from the Chef Carvery

Next up were the sandwiches plated on a metal Burj Al Arab. All very clever. The sandwiches were:

  1. Salmon with come caviar on it. – nice
  2. Chicken tikka roll – nice
  3. Tuna mayonnaise on squid ciabtta – interesting and nice
  4. Beef sandwich – my favourite
  5. Cucumber sandwich – it’s the same wherever you eat it.
Sandwiches

Sandwiches

We were able to have more helpings of the sandwiches as they brought a giant tray with them. I had a few more of the chicken tika, beef and tuna sandwiches.

The next course was scones and pastries. The scones were accompanied by  date, passion fruit (yuck) and strawberry jam along with Devonshire Cream. I’m a purist and I was very happy with the Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam.

Pastries

Pastries

The cakes were mostly coffee based and ok. Nothing spectacular to write about. I find pastries in Jumeirah hotels are always a disappointment.

On the bottom row of the Burj plates were muffins, chocolate chip cookie and crème brulee. The crème brulee did not have the crisp sugar topping which Dad and I found akin to blasphemy. How can you not have the sugar crisped top!? It’s wrong. The crème was lovely but it wasn’t perfect. The cookie was nice and soft and the muffin; it’s a muffin what more can I say.

Muffins, cookie and creme brulee

Muffins, cookie and creme brulee

Whilst we were getting a sugar fix we also were offered Christmas cookies, which had some bizarre non-sensical names, which could have been German. They were nice enough especially dipped in our tea (told you we were too British).

Christmas cookies

Christmas cookies

The final course was a lychee and rose sorbet. I am not a fan of lychee based products and drinks. Give me a lychee and I’m fine, anything more and I’m not amused. We also received a box of chocolates to take home. I kept that unopened to give to Mum as she wasn’t able to join us on this trip.

Chocolates and Rose and Lycee sorbet

Chocolates and Rose and Lycee sorbet

Have to say the Manager was very good (looking [sic]) at the end of the meal about trying to sort out the lack of Sirius card still from Jumeirah after all these years. Haven’t heard from Jumeirah since last week so I’m betting that after 8 years I won’t be any closer to getting rid of my temporary card. :S

All in all the food was nice and we had a good time. The staff were really friendly and patient with us and our multiple tea requests. The place was mostly full of tourists. One lady thought that wearing a see-through white top and see-through trousers was a great idea as she had a see through shawl on top. It’s never acceptable. I have no idea how she was allowed into the Burj. A family next to us decided to call Scotland and Pakistan and boast they were at the Burj for most of the tea which was piss annoying. Fine, yes you are excited but seriously?? Otherwise me and Dad had a lovely very genteel time.

Here are some photos of the Burj just to prove we were there.

Burj Al Arab interior
Burj Al Arab fountain
Burj Al Arab front

Foodie blog – Yildiz Saray – Turkish

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Bread and dips
Ayran
Iskender
Adana
Turkish tea

As a newly made entrepreneur and with an aim of saving money going out is now limited to non top brand expensive restaurants unless someone else is paying (Nobu would be nice if you’re offering). My friend is in the same boat so we decided to go to deepest darkest Deira (ok it was lit so not so dark) to go get some cheapish filling food. After reading my favourite foodie blogs in Dubai, we decided to try out Yildiz Sarayi.

The restaurant in the Concorde Hotel on the side and looks like a posh Arabic/Turkish restaurant. We sat in a booth which was nice and cosy. To call the waiter they had those call buttons on the table which was handy as you couldn’t see the waiters ever from where we were sitting.

The reviews had raved about Iskendar which i have not had in a long time and craved, so we decided to forgo any nibbles and order the mains of Iskender and Adana kebap along with some fattoush, to add a bit of healthy salad to the mix.

Whilst waiting for the mains, a basket of warm sesame seeded bread and dips were served. The bread was soft and delicious and enhanced with the tomato based dip and labneh (not bitter which i like) we had a few pieces (just a few as we knew we had big mains coming). The bread was that thick wholesome bread you would love to dip in a saucy curry.

Then came the Ayran., which is the Turkish version of laban.  At 20dhs its a bit steep, but it was lovely. Not too thick or too watery with the right amount of saltiness to not over thirst you.

Next came our mains. Iskendar, if you have never had it before,it is cubes of bread, with layers of doner kebab on top, a lovely rich tomato sauce and with yoghurt either on top or on the side (as it was for me). The yoghurt seemed generic but the rest of the plate was tender and delicious. For once I finished the plate before my friend who usually gobbles everything on site within 5 minutes. His Adana Kebap whilst looking plain was full of flavour in the soft pieces of lamb kebab. I didn’t try the rice but he had no complaints so it must have been good.

After resting our tummies, we ordered Turkish tea which was served using two teapots (one with the tea) and the other with the water to add to the glass. I have never had the tea served in this way even on my trips to Turkey but it was a nice end to our meal. We were a bit full by then to eat dessert, but they did look good.

Our meal came to 200dhs with 20% off as there was an offer at the time we went to the restaurant. Not overly cheap, but not extortionate for a filling meal in a very nice looking restaurant.

The restaurant website is http://www.yildizsaray.ae/Default.aspx

and you can find them:

Emirates Concord Hotel, Al Maktoom St. Deira, Dubai, Tel:04-252-2142

Working from Home

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Last week was my final week as a Solicitor. Did I feel good?

Yes!!

After 12 years  it felt brilliant to finally stop being an in-house lawyer and start running my own business – a decluttering service business (see decluttrme.com) It also feels good to say I am an entrepreneur, owner and even Managing Director (as it states on the trade licence and my business cards – slightly knobbish I know but hey it was offered to me). I am excited, scared and thinking as I type of how to get more clients.

I have faith that this is a great idea but it is a new concept in the UAE and it is a service that people have to get used to. Also you have the trepidation from potential clients to let you into their house and clutter. No one would want a stranger into your house to see the clutter and tell you that you need to change your space. There may be images of me coming in and just throwing everything away into a big bin bag, but the reality is different. Decluttr Me is about organizing your belongings into a neat easily accessible manner for future use. The bin bags will be used mainly for out of date food and torn underwear.

After years of helping corporations, I now have a chance to help people in a way that can change their lives even if it is in a small way. Also the items that are cleared away will be sold and their proceeds donated to worthwhile charities, or if they are not sellable items, provided to clothes banks for recyclable use.  I am still undecided on which main charities to assist. I would like to help a woman’s charity in the UAE and a charity in Kenya (where my family are originally from). I have been in touch with Dar Al Ber Woman Affairs Dept and hope to liaise with them for Decluttr Me and also to volunteer as well.  If you have contacts with worthwhile charities in both countries please let me know.

Starting this week as a full time business owner, I have been working in my apartment in my home office, which I formed over the last few weeks (see the picture with kitty included, the kitty does not want to leave my office…ever).

131002 Home office and oreo

I had been warned by friends, who are freelancers, of the perils of working alone and they weren’t wrong. The issues I have faced so far include:

–  Munching on chocolates, cookies (from Ben’s cookies – bloody tempting), salt n’ vinegar crisps;

– Making lots of cups of tea (not normal for me) and a big cooked lunch;

–  My two lovely cats sitting on my chair, desk, keyboard, blocking the screen and generally getting in the way;

–  No one to talk to except the cats

–  Distractions of new TV to watch – I had to start this home office the week of new TV coming out. The Ultimate Airport Dubai was very good by the way.

–  The balcony is a few feet away to have various breaks;

–  Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook easily distract me, but to be fair they are mainly accessed for Decluttr purposes (honest!).

Working at home you have to be strict with yourself. I am continuing to wake up at 7am every morning, however I will start dressing up as if I am going out to work, as wearing my slob clothes doesn’t inspire the work juices. I also have to stop the snack food and breaks.  My friend wisely advised that you need a break and not to work 7 days a week. I hope to follow that advise and also not work in the evening as well. I do need a distraction from myself every so often so my social media viewings will be allowed.

I also think that it is a good idea to get out even if it’s to a coffee shop to work for a bit. There are places I have read where freelancers and entrepreneurs hang out during the day. I have been to one or two places and the clientele have annoyed me with their superiority complexes. The corporate side of me is not a fan of bs chat and behavior so it will be hard for me to summon the willpower to go to these “hubs”. I should try them out as they might not be that bad now…

One or two places I will be trying include the Archive in Safe Park, which was expensive but had great coffee and atmosphere, Bastakiya (as it is my favourite place in Dubai) and the coffee shops in Motor City (as MC is near me). I will be giving my review of these places and business hubs so that other newbie freelancers and entrepreneurs have an idea of where to go when they want to work outside home.

For now, I have to take a break from working and watch TV.

DXB part 2

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So further to my previous blog today, I thought I would write about my second home..Dubai.

After living here for 7 years I still get asked “why did you move here”. My story was one of fate and my living here as been a twisty path. I came here first in 2003 on holiday with my parents. Friends in the UK were perplexed by the decision to come here. No one had really heard of Dubai in England and they thought it was in Saudi. In 2003, the end of Sheikh Zayed was where the Mall of Emirates now stands. I stayed in Al Quasis and Bur Dubai in hotel apartments. I met my tailor at Dreamgirl who has remained our go to tailor since then.

2 years later I looked for a job outside of England, got a job quite quickly working for the airline here in Dubai as a lawyer and moved here. When I came for my interview George Clooney was filming Syriana and staying at the Fairmont. Burj Dubai (as it was then known) was at foundation level and Dubai Marina was full of cranes and not much else. I moved to a huge flat in Bur Dubai and had dramas after dramas for a year and a half. At that time there was no blogging, twitter or facebook. I wrote 2 page essay emails to about 30 friends every week telling them my stories. Some got bored, some were fascinated and some were exasperated by my tales. However all the tales were the reality of the weirdness of Dubai at the time.

I moved back to London in 2006 to study but the hold of Dubai was too much and I moved back in 2007 to work for a shite company that has now disintergrated. At the time of returning Dubai was exponetially blinging itself on a daily basis. If you left Dubai, you would return the following week to find new buildings had sprouted up on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Then there was the crash. Dubai fell hard and I fell even harder. My money was stolen by two theives who ran off to live the life of riley in the Far East and then back in the UK and I was piss poor for a few years. It was kinda good that Dubai was poor as well, we could suffer together and try not to spend too much money.

Now Dubai is rising again like a phoenix and I am now contently happy with my life here. After living in posh Jumeirah for 5 years, I decided that my kitties and I need to move and explore more of Dubai so now we are away from the beach and in the desert in Motor City.

The chavs that ran away in droves in 2008 leaving their cars at the airport are now encouraging their brethern to come here to make the most of the tax free lifestyle. The roads are blocked again, there are queues to get into bars and copious amounts of money are being spent on champagne in dives such as the Cavalli club.

We now have Twitter, et al to keep us in touch more seamlessly with the rest of the world in real time and people now know that Dubai is not in Saudi and that we don’t dress up like ninjas (unless we go to a fancy dress house party).

Life is the same as anywhere in the world, except when you go to the gym you are more likely to park next to a Ferrari than a Ford Focus and that tea shop in Satwa will be packed full of Sheikhs and Sheikhas beeping their horns for some karak chai. My friends and I discuss the merits of pest control companies and whether the gel stuff can be put in places away from our cats preying mouths (a lot of us have pets here), how many maids should you have in your pad to finish in an hour and we also stand on the slopes of Ski Dubai deciding whether we should go to Lebanon or an ex-CIS country for our Winter snowboarding trip.

This country is a transition country and people come and go. Its a melting pot of people especially fuck ups running away from their own country/people (me included). You will be with one group of people and then you will stupidly date someone in that group and boom you will be outcast if it all goes pete tong. Or a girl will have complexes which result in your being outcast for being you. Finding good friends on the same wavelength and in the same relationship status as you is hard. Once you are coupled up, you are generally coupled up and the singletons (normally me) are left stranded. Lonliness is a huge problem here but luckily there is social media to keep you company on your bad days. Also there is now a travel group – Escpae travels – based here which has brought people together who like travelling around and hanging out with other expats (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/EscapeDubai).

https://www.facebook.com/EscapeDubai).</p>

Tolerance is limited despite the various nationalities here and racism is rife.  Being an English East African Indian working in an Indian company is a minefield of issues and judgements which still arise after 3 years of working there. I am vilified by the Indian men (especially the men) for not accepting my background. Considering my grandparents never returned to India once leaving in the early 1900’s and my parents only went once for a holiday, you’d think they would get into their thick head how people can be un-Indian (thats a word for today); but nope the Indians in this country take it as an offence that we would not consider ourselves Indian foremost.

The other minefield is the varoius Arab nationalities in this melting pot. Everyone in this country are now bloody experts in Arabic politics especially since the Arab Spring. We can all sprout an opinion on what is going on in the region and can even tell the nationality of the Arab men in their kundoora depending on the colour of their headscarf. I personally have an affiliation for the Emirati; they look more regal than the Saudis (yuck), Yemeni (not bad), Omani (old skool Mombasa like), Bahraini, Kuwaitis, etc.

Food is abundant from expensive, American chains and dirt cheap indians. If you want to eat any cuisine, it will be here. Bread is always a disappointment for Europeans but the rest is generally amazing. I have been to Nobu twice here but never in the UK and I won’t go to Hakassan as i thought it was shite in London. The best Indian food is not at the chain called “Asha’s” but in Karama or in Bur Dubai. My personal favourites are Gazebo (North Indian) or Ravis (Pakistani). Khaleej Palace Hotel in Deira looks like a dive but has the best Chinese restaurant in my opinion in town, an amazing Japanese resturant and Cafe Entrecote (same as in Dubai Mall) but you can drink in this hotel branch. Dubai Mall and Dubai Festival City have food corridors rather than halls of various good restaurants. However, Dubai Mall has the most shambolic car park system in the world. All Dubaians get pissed off when entering and leaving that place.

Shopping is immense and we get a greater choice as we get all the brands from all over the world. I love Crate and Barrel for furnitues and home stuff, but we also have the stalwart Ikea (bigger than at home) and a shop called The One which is a local enterprise which has really good (slightly overpriced stuff). Clothes shops – we have it all but pay more than back in Europe so most of us will go home a few times of the year with an empty suitcase, fill it up and claim our VAT back. The only shop not here is Primark which is great so we look different from the herd when wearing Primarni in the malls, bars and clubs.

Entertainment is great here. We have bars and clubs (most of the clubs are a disappointment though). The major artists come here or to Abu Dhabi for concerts. I go to Yas Marina island just on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi  to see concerts every few months. Despite being an F1 fan I never saw a live race until it came to Abu Dhabi. I’ve now seen it every year (except the first year). David Guetta is here every week practically which is great for us (not!) and we get to see other artists who I would never have seen back home, such as Bikram Ghosh, a fusion tabla player who I saw last night. He knew how to use those fingers and the young man on the electrical stitar was bloody awesome.Plays and operas are pretty dire here but a good friend went to Muscat, Oman, last weekend to go to the Opera house and gave it a huge thumbs up review. With cheap flights and being an hour away I would be happy going to Muscat to see good opera. Comedy is not bad with an improv group here and also the top ones from the Comedy Club/Edinburgh Festival coming here every month.

I could go on with my guide of Dubai but I’ll stop for now. Our weekend is nearly over (Friday and Saturday is our weekend here) and I gotta get prepared for another long week of working. Also I really don’t want to become like those annoying bloggers who blabber on and on and on.  So for now here is an abrupt end to a new chapter in my writing (until i meet another douchebag).

 

Escape to Istanbul

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Escape_istanbul

One of the non awesome things about living in the UAE is the loneliness. You leave your friends and family to start a life of working and occasionally playing. The cities especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai are transition towns. The majority come here to make lots of tax free money, play around, top up their tan and then go back or forward around the world. One minute you have a group of friends and the next poof you are sitting alone in your big apartment writing a blog.

Being solo most of the time results in me either going home to England to see my family and friends (and shopping of course) or holidaying solo as I have done on numerous occasions (Copenhagen, Australia and Japan were a few of the solo trips). It’s not awful and it makes you a stronger person but you sometimes need someone to talk to other than yourself and those voices.

Miraculously, there are other people who are like me and light has come to the tunnel of holidaying by way of a company called Escape Travels. Set up by a dude named Fajer he has organised holidays in the Middle East, Asia and Europe for like minded individuals mostly solo who want to explore places near the UAE and meet cool people. My lovely mate Mr C told me about the group after he had been to Lebanon for skiing, India and very recently Ethiopia so I thought I would give it a try.

 

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Luckily the first trip that came up was to Istanbul, which is somewhere I have always wanted to go. As is normal with me, I went all spontaneous and booked the flights and trip within half an hour of seeing it online and bada bing I was going on a holiday with a bunch of strangers. Mr C introduced me to a few of the peeps who were going on the trip the weekend before which was good so when I saw them at the airport I wasn’t a complete shy loser.

There were 27 in the group including Fajer with people ranging in ages and backgrounds. We did do a count of the nationalities (which I cant remember) but it was a large motely mix. Unbelievably there was only one English dudess and it was me! :). Of course there were a few people you don’t want to see again let alone add on your Facebook, but the majority were lovely down to earth peeps out for exploring the city and enjoying themselves.

We stayed in Sultanahmet which is the old town and supposedly in the European bit of Istanbul (which was weird to acknowledge but ok). You couldn’t swing a cat in the hotel room and it was very basic but supposedly all hotels in the area are like that.

With the help of two lovely guides (ok the man asked if I was pregnant so not that lovely :S) we got to see the Blue Mosque (did u know the Turkish don’t call it the Blue Mosque only tourist do), Topaki Palace (which houses Moses’s cane and Prophets Muhammad’s (pbuh) footmark) and also Hagamet Sofia (formerly a church and mosque and now a museum of sorts).

Tip no 1 – If you go to the Blue Mosque and you want to pray the ablutions/wudu area is on the right hand side down the stairs and underneath them sort of. I asked five people and walked around like a crazy woman till I accidentally found the damn place. Also the area for women to pray was full of twit women lounging about and not moving out of the way so not the best experience when praying but hey at least I  did it.

Afterwards a few of us went to a rug shop to spend copious amounts of money on proper rugs. Tip no 2 – the dodgy b’s at the grand bazaar rug shops and even in Dubai will claim you are buying a silk rug when most probably you are buying cotton on cotton rug. Check the label, the feel and whether it changes colour when looking from one side of the rug to the other. There are other tips but that is all I can give you on this blog. Just be careful and spend a bit more if you can for a proper made rug.

The Grand Bazaar was bazaar. It was full of tourists and lots of Turkish shopkeeper men who could turn from charmers to vicious snakes in one second. I had one shopkeeper start ranting at me and then told me to go “F myself” when I walked away from his skanky looking magnets. It was so strange a response that all I could do was look baffled. Even the blokes neighbor shop keepers were stunned by the reaction. If you shop around the outskirts of the bazaar its quieter and you get a nicer  service.

However, if you can resist going to the Grand Bazaar I would recommend you bypass it and go the spice bazaar which was smaller, quieter and nicer. Also they had lovely spices, organic soaps and bits and pieces. Also if you are at the spice bazaar walk near by and you will get to the pet market and garden market which were totally unusually! I have been to many markets but never seen anything like these markets. (That was tip numero 3)

We also went on a boat and cruised around the Bosphorous checking out the big bridge, seeing Asian Istanbul and European Istanbul and some beautiful houses by the waterfront. The view was spectacular and being UAEians (yes that is a new word) we had a boat all to ourselves. We couldn’t mingle with the public you know.

 

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Another great trip was going to Galatea Tower to see the sunset. The walk was painful especially up the steep hill to the tower but the view was lovely and afterwards we could see in the square drinking and sitting in circles with the other hippy Turkish people singing. It was so refreshing to just chill out in public and not be worried about our silliness resulting in arrest.

Eating and drinking was cheap. On the last night we went to a good restaurant  and spent less than 20 quid on a main meal, dessert and drink. Of course there was also the beautiful bakeries with baklava, Turkish delights and Turkish coffee to taste and savour.

 

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See the full gallery on Posterous

Being with a group I could also go out at night and enjoy the nightlife without worrying about being alone as a woman. We went to the area, which is full of shops (which are open till very late), bars and restaurants. The group had split after eating at the restaurant on the last night but somehow a lot of us ended up back together in this open roof club dancing to euro tunes that I have not heard (I’m a bit behind in my euro pop music right now). The great thing about Turkey like in Dubai is that the music is a mixture of western, Turkish and Arabic music.

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The final trip for me was to a Turkish Hammam. The hotel guy and coffee shop next door guy were trying to get us to go to their respective hammam’s. We eventually went with the hotel guy and his affiliated hammam, just so we could come back and check out later without any hassle. The hammam was old school but not up to sparkling cleanliness standards as you get in Dubai. I got to walk around butt naked (its liberating for a western like me! the other ladies were a bit more prudish!), scrubbed to the inch of my skin and massaged like I was a rag doll. Not the most comfortable experience but an experience nonetheless. If you can, try and go to one in a big hotel. If that’s not possible, just take it onboard as an experience and that it wont be as pristine as the Ladies Club in Dubai or Elizabeth Arden in London.

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Of course 3 days is not enough to see this huge city but it was a good taster to build on.  Being with the cool crew was good as I made new friends to meet up with in the UAE and got to enjoy and share my holiday with other people which was refreshingly nice. I highly recommend you get your arse to Istanbul and if you can go with a group even better.

Going with Escape Travels was awesome and saved the hassle of organizing yourself and if you are a normal person you get to meet other normal people. If you are interested go to:

http://escape-travels.com/home/about

Or the FB page

https://www.facebook.com/EscapeDubai

 

UAE – my second home

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Yesterday it was 40 years since the UAE became the UAE.

There will are a lot of posts on the celebrations and peoples views on this historic day.

We all have different memories and thoughts on this country. I have been here for 6 years and it has gone by incredibly quickly. I have seen the good, bad, ugly
and downright frightening. But I have been lucky and fortunate having this opportunity to experience life outside of England.

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This country has the middle eastern underbelly with the mixture of many cultures living amongst each other making this a stronger concentrated broth of culture than even in London.

I have learnt things like never go to beach road on national day, how to wear an abaya, how to order Lebanese, how to undress a kundoora (personal favourite) and many other things.

Outsiders may look gawp and make stupid comments about this beautiful country but unless you are here for a while and experience all sides of it you will never know the UAE or understand why nearly all of us, emiratis and expats, are proud of this landmark moment.

To my second home, UAE, I salute you.

Xxx

The beach

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This morning I found my Gap beach top which I bought few years ago in London. Perfect navy blue covered top to wear over a bikini to the beach. This top inspired my blog today. It’s been a long time but I have finally hauled my arse to Jumeirah beach which is five minutes from my home.

One of the great things about living in Jumeirah is the beach but due to work and life I just don’t have time to waste sitting tanning for a few hours on the weekend. But the time came today that my pathetic grey tanned body needed to go back to being gloriously tanned like an Indian woman’s tanned body should be.

Now if your coming to Dubai you may think that going to the public beaches is a no go area but here are my handy tips to ensure you are safe and not arrested.

1. Don’t have sex on the beach. You can’t do it in Europe or elsewhere so why do it here?
2. Public displays of affection is a bad idea so don’t do it.
3. If you get questioned by police don’t hit them with your flip flops.
4. Stock up on haviana flip flops. They are the only respectable foot wear in this town.
5. You can wear a bikini but Indians/patans/arabs will stare at you.
6. If your blonde and have big tits and don’t like to be stared at cover up.
7. If pervs try to take your photo with their mobile grab it off them, take out the sim card and snap it in half. Or throw in the water.
8. You can hang out with men but don’t be flirty and stupid.
9. The beach by the Burj al arab and Jumeirah beach hotel Is always packed, full of pervs and the sea is very rough.
10. The beaches further down towards Dubai are emptier and less full of pervs.
11. Mamzar is a beautiful park but I got surrounded by patans which was gross.
12. All u need in your bag is suncream (face one separate), evian can of spray, towel, mat, book or phones with books in them, fags, water and food. Anything else is a waste.
13. Cover up going to and from beach. You can’t be skimpy off the beach.
14. Hotel beaches are only to be used when you have friends in town and you get in with them. Why would you pay 250 AED (£40) to go to a beach??
15. In the summer the water is a salty bath so great for cleansing your body for free.
16. No outlets deliver to the beach. It’s a pain in the arse.

Any further tips you may have would be appreciated.

Now I’m off to freeze my bum in the water (yep it’s cold right now)

Amrita spa – Raffles Hotel

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Today I decided it was time for my every two month hair cut. Due to the thickness of the hair and laziness, going for a haircut is best not planned. I used to go to Maria Dowling and was a loyal fan for four years but due to the fact that you had to book so far in advance became painful when there is a lack of order in my life.

Then I decided in March to get the Entertainer book for pampering and start testing other hair salons. Not only would I get my next session for free also the cost would be less than Maria Dowling who is one of the most expensive salons in Dubai.

Today I looked in the book and decided to go for a bling salon to get my haircut. The venue Raffles Hotel, Amrita spa. The venue is lovely and very tranquil. I was a bit early so sat in the empty salon (no staff in there which was strange). Then after 10 minutes I was offered tea. Thought it was strange but said fine. What turned up was boiling water and a White box containing various types of herbal tea. Bit too healthy for me but what the hell. My choice was Moroccan nights as you can see:

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The hairdresser was friendly and cute without being pervy. He had been in Dubai for 7 years so we could have a good ole rant about life here but also about why still remain here.

His bonus points came for listening to me and taking in what I wanted to be done to my hair. I only required a trim and layers cleaned up which is what I got. The blow dry was as well what I wanted. I don’t like it when my hair is straightened and curled at the end. He did it just as asked.

The cost for wash cut and blow dry was AED 319 which is pretty steep but luckily it will be half price thanks to my voucher.

If you want to spoil yourself in beautiful surroundings and be the only person in the salon this is the place for you.

3.5/5