As far as residence -
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The best areas would be Sharjah and Ras el Khaima.
Sharjah is some 20 minutes drive from Dubai, Ras is close to 90 minutes.
Dubai is nice, but quite crowded traffic and getting worse.
Abu Dhabi is 2 hours drive away from Dubai. Nice place too.
Bahrain is an island... so you are stuck on the island. Nice however.
I only know Doha's terminal... do not know how nice or not.
Quite nice, but little knowledge of, is Muscat. Picturesque old city.
Amman, Jordan is nice too.
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I do not like Kuwait, nor Jeddah. Spent 4 years based in Jeddah.
Stay away from Syria as far as you can.
I loved Beirut... was the best. They messed it up since the late 1970s.
Always enjoyed a few days in Cairo.
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And when it is hot, it is hot (and muggy).
I remember in Jeddah, I played tennis at night, 4:00 a.m. was best time.
If you settle to work there, learn their customs, observe their religious rules.
Learn to read Arabic numbers, for some prices in stores.
Tons of expats, from the entire world.
Local people are... minority.
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Forget about UK 9 K or US 14 Karats gold.
All is 18 or 22 K in that part of the world.
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All fancy cars are owned by locals.
All taxicab drivers are from Pakistan.
All supermarket employees from Palestine.
All nurses from the Philippines.
All doctors and lawyers from Jordan, or Egypt.
All construction workers from Yemen.
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And in bars (where alcohol is legal) are the expats...!
Happy contrails