A conversation with myself - Part 2
So it goes on... and on...feel free to jump in at any time and ask a question.
What's the national sport?
Falconry is when men who like big birds take them into the desert and train them to fly (places?) and stuff. Camel and horse racing are pretty big here too and are the closest thing to AFL or soccer. Child jockeys have been replaced by robots as there were humanitarian concerns for the children and I can vaguely remember Four Corners doing a story on it some time ago. Due to the large Pakistani and Indian contigent cricket in disused building lots is a favourite past time.
Are there radio stations?
Yes, there are a few English speaking ones, 4 I think that are FM. They're ok; like listening to a commercial station in Australia but most of the presenters are English, although the other day I did hear a Kiwi reading the news.
Is there TV?
Yes, unfortunately for me though P is not a TV watcher so we don't have it. However someone recently told him that AFL matches are screened and that may well be the key to my future happiness. I've paid 300 dirhams to the local video store and can borrow 18 films which is quite good value. I watched the whole Sopranos series...got myself a gun...
I digress. Yes there are TV stations. BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera are the main contenders. Most expat people here have cable TV and pay around $80 a month for a ridiculous amount of channels which have American and English shows.
What's the food like?
The food is great. In terms of eating out there's plenty of cafes and restaurants that offer various cuisines. Traditional food is sort of like a mixture of Turkish and Lebanese. A typical menu might offer tabbouleh, hummous, metaboul (smoky eggplant dip), manikish ( a delicious type of pizza) and various grilled meats and fish. Dubai also has lots of vegetarian Indian restaurants which are great value.
My only criticism is that in terms of eating out there are only low end and high end venues. A curry will be around 20 dirhams per person and a meal in a hotel which is a licensed venue and therefore offers alcohol can cost around 150 dirhams upwards.
What are the supermarkets like?
Huge, barn-like style things. There are 3 key players. Carrefours, a French hyper-market which sells everything from fridges to bbq's to fresh fruit and vegetables. Their most impressive asset is their deli section which has different types of cheeses, nuts, dips and olives. It's sensational. The quality of fruit and vegetables across the board is pretty low and annoyingly, due to the climate and transportation time, they don't last very long at all and fridge life is around 2 days.
Spinneys stocks lovely Waitrose ingredients and I never tire of checking out what delicious things they have in stock. Choithrams is an Indian chain I think and they are generally smaller and cheaper and have a great deli section.
Are clothes cheap?
To my great disappointment no. I'm not sure I agree with Dubai Tourism when they claim that Dubai has the best shopping in the world. Clothes are pretty much at Melbourne prices but there are very few independent labels here. If you're into Prada, Versace and bling bling then shopping here will be heaven. There are huge malls and the gold souk (gold market) can reproduce anything that your heart desires for a fraction of the retail price.
When is the weekend?
At the moment weekends are spilt for the working population. Many people work Sunday - Thursday lunch time or Sunday - Friday and have one day off. As of September weekends will now be on Friday and Saturday across government departments and it looks likely than the private sector will follow as well.
Finally...do you like living in Dubai?
Hmmm...great question and one that I ask myself all the time!
At the moment I'd describe the city and myself as suffering from split personality disorder. Every day it seems different and I feel different towards it.
I'm always learning new and interesting tid bits about food and the culture. Some days I think wow! what an interesting and lively place and there so many nice people here.
Other days, generally when I've walked somewhere, am sweating profusely and feeling like Pedro from the film Napoleon Dynamite, that I then feel trapped in an oven and want to get out. (In the film Pedro gets a very hot head and decides to shave his hair off; I can emphathise).
Local people always say "Inshallah" which loosely translates to "God willing". Perhaps I'll adopt that ideology a little more and see what happens.
What's the national sport?
Falconry is when men who like big birds take them into the desert and train them to fly (places?) and stuff. Camel and horse racing are pretty big here too and are the closest thing to AFL or soccer. Child jockeys have been replaced by robots as there were humanitarian concerns for the children and I can vaguely remember Four Corners doing a story on it some time ago. Due to the large Pakistani and Indian contigent cricket in disused building lots is a favourite past time.
Are there radio stations?
Yes, there are a few English speaking ones, 4 I think that are FM. They're ok; like listening to a commercial station in Australia but most of the presenters are English, although the other day I did hear a Kiwi reading the news.
Is there TV?
Yes, unfortunately for me though P is not a TV watcher so we don't have it. However someone recently told him that AFL matches are screened and that may well be the key to my future happiness. I've paid 300 dirhams to the local video store and can borrow 18 films which is quite good value. I watched the whole Sopranos series...got myself a gun...
I digress. Yes there are TV stations. BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera are the main contenders. Most expat people here have cable TV and pay around $80 a month for a ridiculous amount of channels which have American and English shows.
What's the food like?
The food is great. In terms of eating out there's plenty of cafes and restaurants that offer various cuisines. Traditional food is sort of like a mixture of Turkish and Lebanese. A typical menu might offer tabbouleh, hummous, metaboul (smoky eggplant dip), manikish ( a delicious type of pizza) and various grilled meats and fish. Dubai also has lots of vegetarian Indian restaurants which are great value.
My only criticism is that in terms of eating out there are only low end and high end venues. A curry will be around 20 dirhams per person and a meal in a hotel which is a licensed venue and therefore offers alcohol can cost around 150 dirhams upwards.
What are the supermarkets like?
Huge, barn-like style things. There are 3 key players. Carrefours, a French hyper-market which sells everything from fridges to bbq's to fresh fruit and vegetables. Their most impressive asset is their deli section which has different types of cheeses, nuts, dips and olives. It's sensational. The quality of fruit and vegetables across the board is pretty low and annoyingly, due to the climate and transportation time, they don't last very long at all and fridge life is around 2 days.
Spinneys stocks lovely Waitrose ingredients and I never tire of checking out what delicious things they have in stock. Choithrams is an Indian chain I think and they are generally smaller and cheaper and have a great deli section.
Are clothes cheap?
To my great disappointment no. I'm not sure I agree with Dubai Tourism when they claim that Dubai has the best shopping in the world. Clothes are pretty much at Melbourne prices but there are very few independent labels here. If you're into Prada, Versace and bling bling then shopping here will be heaven. There are huge malls and the gold souk (gold market) can reproduce anything that your heart desires for a fraction of the retail price.
When is the weekend?
At the moment weekends are spilt for the working population. Many people work Sunday - Thursday lunch time or Sunday - Friday and have one day off. As of September weekends will now be on Friday and Saturday across government departments and it looks likely than the private sector will follow as well.
Finally...do you like living in Dubai?
Hmmm...great question and one that I ask myself all the time!
At the moment I'd describe the city and myself as suffering from split personality disorder. Every day it seems different and I feel different towards it.
I'm always learning new and interesting tid bits about food and the culture. Some days I think wow! what an interesting and lively place and there so many nice people here.
Other days, generally when I've walked somewhere, am sweating profusely and feeling like Pedro from the film Napoleon Dynamite, that I then feel trapped in an oven and want to get out. (In the film Pedro gets a very hot head and decides to shave his hair off; I can emphathise).
Local people always say "Inshallah" which loosely translates to "God willing". Perhaps I'll adopt that ideology a little more and see what happens.
posted by kookie at
4:25 pm
2 Comments:
You've missed Wabbi Bashing as a national passtime (at least I think that's how it is spelled) Basically you get a big /expensive four wheel drive and scream up the mountains in the dry creek beds hoping that it hasn't been raining as there are cliffs on either side and if a flash flood come in...yer fecked.
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Anonymous, at 7:19 am
Interesting website with a lot of resources and detailed explanations.
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By
Anonymous, at 5:58 am
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