Going to Dubai what is there to do?

[bat1]

Or see?

Anyone been there? Any clubs or anything to do there?


Taking R&R for 10 days

[Prospero]

when are you going? Make sure you have a car. you can hardly get anywhere without one - though they do have a metro system now. I'll post more later for you (I have been there a lot in the past few years )

[bat1]

I will be there from 5 Nov to 15th.

I hear the metro is good

What's the night life like?

[bluesoul]

What's the night life like?

depends on your age and what kind of scene you're into. one thing i can tell you is that dubai has an extremely social lifestyle- everyone goes everywhere in groups/couples to meet others in groups/couples.

also, dubai has a lot of casinos, clubs and hotels- imagine vegas run by the russian mob in the middle east. r&r mainly consists of partying all night then spending all day at the races or watching cricket

if you're lucky though, you'll meet up with a couple of rich russian harlots outside the shangri-la, find yourself partying all night at the casino that same night, then full form coitus that morning before an unscheduled road trip to abu dhabi the next afternoon.

[martin48]

Dubai - one of the dullest places in earth! I know not the general view. Unless you have plenty of cash, that is.

Of course, there are exceptions ....

[Prospero]

Dubai is a bizarre place and, as Martin says, it is pretty dull. I have never understood why anyone goes there for a holiday - and yet they do. it has many many very expensive hotels and expensive restaurants and expensive girls. Virtually no culture. The most interesting thing about the place is the place itself. An American writer a few years ago descibed its skyline as a city on crack. People who lived there in the boom times - just a few years ago - said they'd go away for the weekend and when they got back a new building would have gone up. An exaggeratin ut close to the truth. The building boom created thousands of now empty apartment and office blocks.
There really is no indigenous culture. Just 40 years ago the bulk of the Emirati people lived in straw huts Burashti) on the beaches in the summer (when they were pearl fishing for income) or travelled inland. Today the tourists tend to do things like go to a "fake' bedouin camp for a feast, swim in one of the hotel pools, visit the fancy Burj al Arab hotel for afternoon tea (they won't let you in unless you're a guest or booked), go on four wheel drive visits out to the meagre deserts close at hand, go to horse or camel racing (though the camel racing is miles away) go to the souk (its horrible and run entirely by Pakistanis or indians - no arabs), go the giant shopping malls.... and look for sex (though be hugely careful about that because the authorities clamp down all the time - and be especially careful of trying t meet transexuals. There are quite a few there but they can't advertise locally. They usually base themselves in hotels and you'll probably need to check out who is there before you go and fix an appointment by e-mail - then they'll give you their mobile phone umbers0. But even then you run the risk of entrapment. So keep your powder dry really.) Sights? Well there is a half decent museum, there are some art galleries (commercial ones), the creek is nice - take a boat ride up in in one of the abras (little pedalled boats) and... well... that's it really. If you have a car beware you have to pay a road fee to drive up and down Sheikh Zayed Road (the main arterial road through the city) and you will be in tgerrible traffic jams for hours and hours most of the day.

You can slso now go to the top of the Burj al Khalifa - presently the world's tallest building. It is remarkable. But the view from up there is hardly thrilling. (it was going to be called the Burj (tower) Dubai but then Dubai's economy got into trouble and they had to re-name it the Burj al Khalifa (named after the president of the UAE - and the son of the nation's founder Sheikh Zayed.) Abu Dhabi, which has all the oil revenue insisted on the name change. It brought the ever ambitious ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum down a peg).

You can also visit the Palm Jumeirah - a vast artificial landmass built out into the Persian Gulf in the shape of a palm tree (but its all built up so nothing to see unless you fy over it), the Atlantis hotel out on its edge and also fly over the World (a series of artificial islands also off the coast of Dubai meant to look like a map of the world. Sheikh Mohammed owns one, the british footballer David Beckham was reputed to have purchased one, but most remain undeveloped).

Side trips. Abu Dhabi is about 2.5 hours drive away and it has an amazing Mosque - the Sheikh Zayed Mosque - which is enormous and very lovely. They are building new museums there (stalled at present) but they are not open. There is a place called Al Ain the desert (about three hours from Dubai) which has a nice mountain and real camel racing out in the desert and a camel market where hundreds of people gather. Very smelly.

[Cecil Rhodes]

You can hang from an upper floor of that building while the police and inteligence services the world over are looking for you .

Hanging out in a Sorroco is a blast .

[TsJennifer]

Or see?

Anyone been there? Any clubs or anything to do there?


Taking R&R for 10 days



You could take me with you. Do Jennifer Paris...lol I could be you TRANSlator since I speak arabic fluently!:dancing:

[Xcreet]

You could take me with you. Do Jennifer Paris...lol I could be you TRANSlator since I speak arabic fluently!:dancing:

Who wouldn't take you to Dubai and let you be their TRANSlator? :whistle:

[Prospero]

Taking Jennifer Paris with you - as companion and with her Arabic skills - would totally transform you experience of Dubai. But would you ever leave the hotel!

[Prospero]

p.s. revised my earlier long post on this topic with some more info and lots of corrections to early morning writing when still half asleep.

Oh and I meant to add, if you are into shopping, then it is a playground.
And you can look but better not aspire to touch all those doe-eyed beauties in their abayas (the local version of the veil)

[Chaos]

But would you ever leave the hotel!
Well yes....there HAVE to be some nice secluded outdoor places....

[Prospero]

Secluded In Dubai? Er.... the prying eyes of the law there would have you both in clink in no time at all. It's anti islamic to even kiss on the street and to be caught en flagrante with jennifer.... the mind revolts against imagining what SHE would endure in prison there.

A well known escort who posts here from time to time was arrested in Dubai - and I believe raped in prison.

[Chaos]

Well it's good that I can't afford the place then...

[LibertyHarkness]

goto cancun in mexico instead much prettier and more fun ..

[Prospero]

Agreed....Liberty.... or California... or Bali... or Rio... or Bondi Beach... or, best of all, Hawaii

[Chaos]

I should have never posted in this thread....I just realized i haven't had an actual vacation in over 20 years,and NEED one badly....

[msharrow]

fine advice- you also have to sign an escort in to your hotel with you and if its technicaly 'same sex' u will both get arrested.

[Prospero]

Sorry Chaos.... most of those places I mentioned i got to go too for work (except hawaii)

[Chaos]

Nah, it's ok....my mind has been on vacation forever.....my body is just jealous!

[LibertyHarkness]

come to london chaos i will show you around my island :)

[TsJennifer]

fine advice- you also have to sign an escort in to your hotel with you and if its technicaly 'same sex' u will both get arrested.

thank god I'm 100% female. ;)

[Prospero]

Post op Jennifer? I know that no one would mistake you for a male in any other way ever...

[gslang]

If the UAE border check see a female body with a male passport - you will NOT be allowed in.

Doesnt matter about same-sex (a hanging offence in one of the UAE states),

ANY sexual contact by non-married people is a crime in Dubai.

That includes what we in the west consider a harmless peck on the cheek.

I have been several times to UAE, and would never take any risks there.
Its a millionaires playground. Where great wealth buys great privilege, and great abuse.

[Prospero]

I think it is Sharjah where it is a hanging offence Gslang (if i remember aright). Sharjah is the MOST religiously devout of all the Emirates. Gets lots of funding from Saudi Arabia.

[gslang]

thats correct. and its right next door to dubai, with the spread of the development hard to tell you've travelled from one to the other.

UAE is such a mix of contrasts. incredible wealth, and incredible abuses. the foreign workforce treated appallingly.

[tvkim]

I went with my daughter last year. Make sure you pay a visit to the: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/

But not if you are afraid of heights!

[Prospero]

The foreign workforce - primariiy workers from India and pakistan - are housed in work camps and bussed in every day. The camps do not even show up on maps of the city. No go areas to foreign tourists (who would want to go there anyway - unless you are a journalist exposing the ills of the place). Yep - Sharjah is part of the urban sprawl. And no alocholo allowed there at all. A good museum of islamic culture though.

[Bobzz]

I've traveled extensively all over the globe and, for what it's worth, Dubai was my absolutely least favorite. It's a cross between Vegas and Disneyland but it's for ARABS , particularly the devout ones who arrive at the airport with their entourages and in their thobes, shoras and smaghs, retreat quickly to their hotels and emerge in jeans, white button down shirts for a week of whoring, gambling and drinking (not that there's anything wrong with that!). If you're an unaccompanied western female, it's is considered permissible to be propositioned by Arab men, even if you've stepped out for a stroll or shopping. The Russian mafia runs the place and it's over run with Russian prostitutes, many of who are drop dead gorgeous but they're out for the big Arab bucks (free market economics I suppose). In my opinion, it's really not for westerners and certainly not for non-Muslims. I've never felt any real animosity towards westerners any where else on the planet but here. They even treat non-Arab fellow Muslims like shit. It's both subtle and overt but it's there all the time and I would never go back. For that matter, I ain't going to Pakistan anytime soon either. Plus the weather in Dubai is horrendous, blistering heat and the Arabia Sea makes 99.99% humidity seem like you just opened the door on a dishwasher in mid-cycle; but unlike the dishwasher where the steam and heat dissipate, the blast of steamy air goes on forever is quite unlike anywhere else I've been. Now, ask me how I really feel?

[bat1]

Forget Dubai. Think I will head to Thailand

[CaptainPlanet]

I was there for a few nights, luckily i had the hookup but the clubs i attended were about 100$ per person, and i must say they were full!! Tons of Gorgeous gold diggers from all over the world, it felt like the melting pot.

[Cecil Rhodes]

While there don't forget to draw pictures of MUHAMMID .

[sukumvit boy]

Forget Dubai. Think I will head to Thailand

Now you're talk'in!
Ten times the fun, at 1/10 the cost.

[Prospero]

bat1 - that is a good decision.

[Prospero]

I've traveled extensively all over the globe and, for what it's worth, Dubai was my absolutely least favorite. It's a cross between Vegas and Disneyland but it's for ARABS , particularly the devout ones who arrive at the airport with their entourages and in their thobes, shoras and smaghs, retreat quickly to their hotels and emerge in jeans, white button down shirts for a week of whoring, gambling and drinking (not that there's anything wrong with that!). If you're an unaccompanied western female, it's is considered permissible to be propositioned by Arab men, even if you've stepped out for a stroll or shopping. The Russian mafia runs the place and it's over run with Russian prostitutes, many of who are drop dead gorgeous but they're out for the big Arab bucks (free market economics I suppose). In my opinion, it's really not for westerners and certainly not for non-Muslims. I've never felt any real animosity towards westerners any where else on the planet but here. They even treat non-Arab fellow Muslims like shit. It's both subtle and overt but it's there all the time and I would never go back. For that matter, I ain't going to Pakistan anytime soon either. Plus the weather in Dubai is horrendous, blistering heat and the Arabia Sea makes 99.99% humidity seem like you just opened the door on a dishwasher in mid-cycle; but unlike the dishwasher where the steam and heat dissipate, the blast of steamy air goes on forever is quite unlike anywhere else I've been. Now, ask me how I really feel?

I'd agree with most of this - but honestly on my several visits I NEVER felt any animosity towards me as a European. Felt that much more strongly in other more seriously devout Arab countries. (And the time I got arrested for crashing into a police car in Sharjah - but that is another story)

[Stavros]

I've traveled extensively all over the globe and, for what it's worth, Dubai was my absolutely least favorite. It's a cross between Vegas and Disneyland but it's for ARABS , particularly the devout ones who arrive at the airport with their entourages and in their thobes, shoras and smaghs, retreat quickly to their hotels and emerge in jeans, white button down shirts for a week of whoring, gambling and drinking (not that there's anything wrong with that!). If you're an unaccompanied western female, it's is considered permissible to be propositioned by Arab men, even if you've stepped out for a stroll or shopping. The Russian mafia runs the place and it's over run with Russian prostitutes, many of who are drop dead gorgeous but they're out for the big Arab bucks (free market economics I suppose). In my opinion, it's really not for westerners and certainly not for non-Muslims. I've never felt any real animosity towards westerners any where else on the planet but here. They even treat non-Arab fellow Muslims like shit. It's both subtle and overt but it's there all the time and I would never go back. For that matter, I ain't going to Pakistan anytime soon either. Plus the weather in Dubai is horrendous, blistering heat and the Arabia Sea makes 99.99% humidity seem like you just opened the door on a dishwasher in mid-cycle; but unlike the dishwasher where the steam and heat dissipate, the blast of steamy air goes on forever is quite unlike anywhere else I've been. Now, ask me how I really feel?

This is not the Dubai I have been to, but I can't imagine why anyone who knows the place would choose to go in the hottest months of the year, most Europeans who go will choose the period from December to March, so the comments on the heat are superfluous.

The issue about sex is an odd one, I mean if you can't chat up a pretty Filipina working in a mall or a fast food outlet or some Filipino restaurant -and if you go to any of these places on a Sunday you will be spoiled for choice -then your social skills must be zero. Same goes for pretty Filipino boys for that matter, and there are some of them there too -who wonders if they dress up on a weekened, in private?

How many guys who are being sent on business trips share a double room? Do the staff in the hotel (again, often Filipinos) know if they are having sex with each other too?

As for:
If you're an unaccompanied western female, it's is considered permissible to be propositioned by Arab men, even if you've stepped out for a stroll or shopping
That sounds like the high street of just about any town in the UK.

I don't like Dubai much, prefe Abu Dhabi if it is the Emirates, but there are worse places in the world, and Dubai isn't one of them.

[Prospero]

I think that the hassle factor is higher in Arab countries than the average UK high street Stavros... though not as high as in Southern Europe perhaps. I know one young woman in Dubai who wears the abaya (the loose head scarf - very stylish and fetching) in the Emirates, but who tells me that whenever she goes to visit her sister in Riyadh dons the full Niqab because of the amount of troublesome attention she gets from Arab men.

And actually there are more Saudis visiting Bahrain for banned pleasures than Dubai. it's just a short ride across the causeway. (A short ride more recently for Saudi armed forces to suppress the uprising there.)