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!

[Xcreet]

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

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

[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!