| Page Views: 9,869 Last Visit to United Arab Emirates: - I Live Here | Dubai/United Arab Emirates by colin_bramso - last update: Jul 13, 2008 |
| Wonderful new buildings on Dubai Creek. |
I've decided to put all my new information on my Dubai pages, so you'll find much more there.
We lived in Dubai from '77 to '84; in fact it's where Geina and I met. We'd both gone there to work, me from the UK and Geina from Singapore. Apart from a short holiday in '86 we hadn't been back until we went in 2000 for a month. What unbelievable changes! Then we went back again in April 2005, and the changes were even more amazing! As foreigners are now allowed to buy property we decided to do that and come back to witness the incredible development as it happens. So now we're back, and living in Dubai Marina.
I love Dubai - it's the most cosmopolitan and friendly of cities, a wonderful mixture of ultra-modern and historic. For centuries it was a trading and pearl diving centre. The city is built around Dubai Creek which was at the heart of the trading, with the traditional wooden dhows sailing to the sub-continent and across to Iran in particular. Gold, pearls and spices were a very important part of its success as a trading port, and the people of Dubai became cosmopolitan in their outlook and comfortable in dealing with outsiders. This is reflected in their friendliness today. And the creek remains the heart of the city even now.
We travelled all over the UAE, usually with a group of friends on Fridays, the 'weekend'. If you have time, do try to see at least some of the country. The best way is to hire a car (all the big international rental companies are here, plus plenty of local companies). Driving is easy once you're out of Dubai - Dubai's traffic is a nightmare and per capita amongst the most dangerous in the world! - the roads are excellent and there are not too many of them so you won't get lost. The signage is good and is in English as well as Arabic. You'll see wonderful desert vistas, the sand ranging from white to almost red in different parts of the country. There's also a dramatically different mountainous landscape around Wadi Hatta and on the East coast.
The cities are very modern but retain some of the old historic parts. Dubai Municipality is working hard to renovate some of its old areas and they're doing a great job. I'm disappointed at what has happened to Sharjah. Apart from the area around the lagoon and the new (1970's) souk, you'd do well to avoid it. The other Emirates that make up the UAE are all worth seeing, from the national capital Abu Dhabi to the small but interesting Emirates. Personally I like Ajman, which always feels like a small, sleepy, very relaxed seaside town to me, and Ras al Khaimah up at the tip of the country. The drive across country to Fujairah is very interesting too, and you'll enjoy it when you get there. That's on the Gulf of Oman side, not the Arabian (Persian) Gulf as all the others are. Wander around when you're there and find the little fishing villages. there's also Hatta, a few hundred metres from the Oman border and just over an hour from Dubai, which is an interesting drive and a good destination. Stop at Hatta Fort Hotel for lunch.
By the way, all the cities have international hotels and plenty of good local restaurants, so somewhere to stay or to eat is never a problem. |
| Dubai Marina's north outlet |
|  | Dubai Marina is part of what's known as 'New Dubai', the areas in which foreigners can now own property, in which the new business free zones are being set up, where the amazing theme parks will be and where unbelievable development is taking place. The world has never seen simultaneous development on this scale before. Offshore islands being created big enough to house one million people. An underwater hotel. A jurrasic park with life-size animatronic dinosaurs. A 500 metre ski slope - in the desert. It's reported that 20% of all the world's construction cranes are currently in Dubai working on these vast developments. |
| Five star hotels at the Marina |
| | There's a huge effort being put into attracting tourists from around the world, part of which is new hotels being built at a frantic pace. Along the beach stretching from Dubai Marina's southern end, near Jebel Ali, to the Burj al Arab (the famous seven star hotel), which is perhaps 10 kilometres, there are about fifteen 4, 5 and 7 star hotels. Three of them are in this photograph, the yellow one is Royal Meridien, the blue one is Grosvenor House, the third is Habtoor Grand, which has two towers. This photograph is taken from the terrace of the restaurant where I have my morning coffees, and we often eat there in the evenings too. |
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 Comments for colin_bramso about United Arab Emirates | | | | |
angiebabe Mon Nov 12, 2007 16:50 UTC
Very interesting pages and information thanks, helpful in deciding whether to visit and where too. Hows Oman and Yemen and Ethiopia these days do you reckon for visiting independently? | cestmoiperidot Thu Dec 21, 2006 20:15 UTC
Good advise. Enjoying being a tourist while showing respect to others' culture is always good. By the way, do they have alcohol treatment centres in UAE? Just curious. | magic_jersey Sun Sep 24, 2006 09:51 UTC
Hi, very informative pages....i enjoy reading it....regards... | Jim_Eliason Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:04 UTC
cool page! |
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