living in dubai
 

anyone with good tips on living in dubai.

housing,eating,schooling, car buying.
meeting expats for contacts, joining a sports club. thanks.

Yes, I understand that there will soon be a number of ex-Army surplus Bradley Fighting Vehicles on the market one owner, low mileage etc). Buy one for your wife to take the kids to school in (that's if you manage to find the kids a place in a school). Don't get me wrong, the BFV is not needed to avoid terrorist attack, but to increase your chances of survival on Shk Z Rd.

On second thoughts, wait 'till an Abrahams becomes available. I cannot remember when I last drove on that road without seeing an example of incredible driving idiocy. It's really getting beyond a joke.

Wait a minute... Maybe the driving on Shk Z Rd is a cunning Al Qaeda plot to terrorise Westerners out of the Middle East without firing a shot? Tell you what, it's getting close to working on me.

......so driving in the middle east hasn't changed then.

Goody, you need at least Dh150k a year housing allowance to get something decent as rentals just keep going up.

Food bill has risen about 30% over the past 4 years and school fees I understand rise every year without fail.

Life in Dubai, very cosmopolitan, fairly safe but damned expensive!

thanks
 

thanks guys ...any more.

It is so safe in the UAE that they are getting their own equivalent of the UK GMC.


http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/Spe...ticleID=141471

Now what happened to the EK CMO??? Oh yes……… I remember, he got promoted to the South of France……scary

skyhighgirl

At least there is one narcissistic Australian around in Abu.

By the way, how much is your maid?

Skyhighgirl....

"Well I have been living in Dubai for the last five years as a female......"

Sorry I cant resist to ask if you lived somewhere else before as a man?? :O

I strongly disagree thgat dubai is a very safe place to live. The press is owned by one of the big families, so you wont read about it.

Cheers

sandigger

I believe there's natural poetry in you my son !!! Could not have said it better myself.

That's it guys. Take the piss out of someone trying to help answer a serious question. Very mature of you :rolleyes:

Some of us are actually interested in the replies- if someone's been here five years they might just know something that you (and I) don't.

And why under your names doesn't it say where you're from? Too embarrassed? ;)

Anyone got anything useful to add? Would be appreciated!

CS

Well said cargo sales! - love these armchair critics!!

Lets see, if I lived in Sydney/Jo'burg/London/ ..would I go and walk the streets at night?

Would I leave my car parked without alarms and security devices and expect it to be there when I returned?

UAE on the whole is just about the safest place to live in the region!

As for high temp 6 mths of the year...make that 3 mths of the year (jun/jul/aug) ... the old nugget if the temp reached 50C blah blah... in 5 years here I have seen it hit 50 once and that was on the ramp at DXB. Around town 46-48 highest.

But as they say "if you can't stand the heat..stay out of the fire!!"

Why would anyone want to walk the streets of Sydney, Johburg or London!? :E

Dubai is fine. If you dont mind all the man made wonders. This place will continue expanding at a phenominal rate, because it has to!

Personally I dont particularly care about tallest buildings or submerged hotels. But I am sure others do.

I look forward to returning home soon, running the family business and enjoying my close friends and family that I have lived apart from over the years. Dubai has just about served it's purpose. I am grateful for the opportunity I had in coming here 11 years ago, but thats as far as it goes.

:ok:

Well thank heavens for that. For a moment I though it might be impossibly hot and unbearably humid with vast amounts of traffic and pollution.

Thanks heavens it turns out to be a cool oasis of calm and you never have to chose the time of day you attempt to cross the city in less than an hour or so. The family will be so pleased they don't have to put up with something uncomfortable.

Pip Pip!

yes, and lets not go on about the "lack of crime". I wonder what those 11 year old girls thought the other day walking home from JPS when the dogs in tinted windows tried to grab and throw them in the car. Try asking the Phillipino whore found in the dumpster after two days at the Park n Shop whether there's any crime in the "fancy ol town". Low crime rate, what a load of crap.

I have been in Dubai some 14 and 1/2 years, if you dont like it you know what to do.

I'm amazed at the responses here. First of all they pick out isolated incidents, and they are isolated, and say that there is not a low crime rate. Noone is saying there in no crime, but it is most certainly a tiny fraction of the crime you would find in any part of the UK. "You need 150k for decent accomodation", what a load of rubbish. Some people really do lose touch with reality, and if the place does not have it's own private swimming pool, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms its just not up to scratch. 80-90,000 dirhams a year if you are willing to look around yourself, and ask around yourself and do some leg work, will get you very good accomodation.

Guys here are saying the prices are rising etc. etc. Have they seen the real estate markets activity back in the UK or Australia??? They are driving around here, in a car that cost them half what it would back home, paying less than half the price for the petrol, and half the price for insurance, leaving the engine running while they do their grocery shopping, and then driving home to their company paid accomodation, and having dinner with their children who are attending company paid private education, while the maid/nanny does all the work for a quarter of what they pay back home, and I can guess the dinnertime conversation. "Oh this place is unbearable, and I just can't wait to get home to where the sky is that nice grey colour, and you can feel the warm drizzle on the back of your neck during summer".

As was said earlier, if you don't like it bugger off. For a lot of us, the weather is great 8 months of the year. The job opportunities are fantastic, and the tax rate is zero. The facilities, including education and health are world class. The nightlife and restaurants are brilliant. Most employers pay for almost everything (how many employers pay for your kids education, your accomodation, and flights home/for holidays back in the UK guys).

I know that you will come up with some more isolated reasons why the UAE and Dubai in particular sucks, eg. the traffic, the cost of food, whatever. And yes there are always downsides, but to anyone coming out here, or thinking of it. Sit down and write down all the pros and cons and you may find that the UAE is for you. And for all the knockers, do the same, and if it works out that the UAE is not for you, do us all a favour, and sod off.

:mad:

Rat Poison, mate if you are in the UAE, time for a break I really think you are taking this place far too seriously.

Yeah, there was a 11 yr old local boy nabbed by a couple of local youths last week in Rashidiya as well, so if you are going to quote crimes...mention all of them.

My missus gets the kerb crawlers crusing by sometimes when she is out walking the dog, til the dog gives a quick grin and they scoot off - or you make a move to write the rego plate down and they scarper pretty quick too (Harrassment of women is a public shaming offence with the culprit named and shamed in the local rags)

Dubai sadly is becoming a giant shopping mall. The danger is they will become just another S'pore, Hong Kong where it is concrete and malls and the character will fade away. But guess the big boys have a master plan, but it does not include me!

AirNoServices has it spot on.

Why don't those of you who don't like it here just sod off home?

There would be less traffic on the roads ;)

CS

Hey SandIgger, I am guessing that you haven't bothered to read the first post that started this thread. The person asked for any tips on living in Dubai. Full Stop. No mention of an employer.

So could enlighten us all as to the point of your last post that being "Who's your employer? It isn't the one people are enquiring about here". Who is enquiring about an employer exactly. For the record, the majority of western expats are employed on contracts that include, accomodation, education and reunion flights. So yes what I had to say was very relevant.

Please elaborate on what exactly your point was?? Did you think you were reading one of the other threads about working for Emirates Airlines, cos this certainly isn't one of those.

ANSA So the education in Dubai is first class eh? Obviously you did not avail yourself of it as then you would know how to spell accommodation!! Two mm's Bruce. Normally I would not mention incorrect spellings as it is a bit petty but as it is a word you use so often I am getting irritated at continually reading it spelt incorrectly. It somehow detracts from the point you are so eloquently trying to make. I realise you are from OZ and so am trying to make allowances especially at this festive time of year.:ok:

Shaky
I don't see any wind up from ANSA at all; he has merely stated the realities of daily living in the UAE. As he stated quite frankly, if your not happy, then sod off!:cool: