Dubai

Axe_meister

Well I've not been approached yet asking for a good time
But then again I'm 45, have a beard long hair and am wearing a Gas Monkey T-Shirt and sporting a wedding ring so probably not the normal target

scrumhalf

stickyfiddle said:

Axe_meister said:

Well I got here. Decided to go to the bar on 52nd floor.
ehhhhhhh a bit of a fanny fest up here I'm the only bloke in here.

Half are probably there "on business"... 

I remember thinking when I arrived in Dubai that it would be much quicker if there was a dedicated immigration channel for Russian hookers.

Evilmags

While you´re their go and look at the camps for Indian labourers. The lovely open sewers and confiscated passports. Then spend your money somewhere else.... 

Snap

I was there last week. One of the worst places I've ever been to. I hated it. Its shite. Everything is fake and there are a lot of tossers everywhere. Its feckin boiling hot too.

IN the hotel, a pint was a mere £18. For Stella. Cheap was around a tenner. to be fair taxis are cheap. food - pretty crap really, nothing out of the ordinary. And more often than not, on the beachfront, forget having a drink with your meal, cos you can't.

I don't get the appeal of going on your own money.

If you like shopping, well its great. If you don't like walking, its great cos its so bleeding hot, you can't walk far really. If you don't like drinking, its great. If you don't like holding your wife's hand in public, its great, cos if you do, you can get arrested.
If you don't swear, its great, cos you can get arrested for swearing.

one morning, I walked the length of the beach and back at Jumeirah Beach Residence. It was about 50, total humidity, and I had a t shirt on, cos I'd forgotten to lather up in factor full monty. I have never sweated like it, and bear in mind I box regularly, so I know about getting hot and sweaty. Sweat was running out of my t shirt which was utterly sodden. It was about 40 at night too.

I was so glad to be out of there.

Airport is pleasant enough, but duty free is comically expensive.

I won't be going back in a hurry.

Apart from that, hey, fill your boots!

stickyfiddle

Where were you staying to have to pay 18 for a pint?! That's mental. I grant you it probably is £10 in most places since the pound dropped, but that's Farage's fault more than Dubai's. As a wine drinker it's barely worse than London.

What you have to keep in mind is that Dubai is ALL about tourism, so if you act like a tourist, it's very expensive. But if you aim higher, the really good places to eat aren't much more than regular type places. And the cheapest places are amazing, but you won't find them as a tourist.

You won't get arrested for holding hands. The line for a potential charge is probably kissing in public but, like drinking and swearing, it's treated far more subtly most of the time - it's only if you get trouble for doing SOMETHING ELSE stupid then they'll add extra charges for drunkeness, adultery, etc. And anything you do in public is obviously far worse than if it goes on inside a pirvate venue (pub, club, bar, etc).

I agree it's bloody hot though. I'm aching for October at the moment. 

And several bits of Dubai are indeed full of tossers. That's why we chose Abu Dhabi!

It's certainly not for everyone, but we like it.

FX_Munkee

Thanks, we're visiting Mrs Munkee's sister and family over there in October and now I feel fully prepared.
The sweating sounds particularly good.

stickyfiddle

FX_Munkee said:

Thanks, we're visiting Mrs Munkee's sister and family over there in October and now I feel fully prepared.
The sweating sounds particularly good.

October's all good. Maybe 35C on a hot day but the humidity is uslaly dropping by then. It's probably the best month. 

Axe_meister

I paid 100 AED for two pints last night which comes out at about £10 a pint.

fnpt

I'm going there in November. Not particularly looking forward to it, to be honest.

stickyfiddle

FWIW I highly recommend this place to see a bit of the real Dubai away from the dull 5-star hotels: 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g295424-d817364-Reviews-Ravi_s-Dubai_Emirate_of_Dubai.html

Get in a cab, ask for "Ravi Restaurant in Satwa, near the mosque by the big roundabout". Almost everyone knows it.

If the weather's ok you sit on patio furniture out on the pavement. Try the butter chicken, the mutton jalfrezi and the cheese & potato naans. Palak paneer's great too if you like spinach. 

You'll easily fill 2 hungry people for 100 AED and it's the best curry you'll ever have.

holnrew

It does seem like my idea of hell

lloyd

holnrew said:

It does seem like my idea of hell

I've always thought this about the place, doesn't appeal in the slightest.

I'd like to go, just to see it, but I'd only do it on my own Dime if I was flying through and I might stop over for a night.

My (possibly incorrect) impression of it is that it's like the bastard offspring of Blackpool and Las Vegas with a bit of religious intolerance, high booze prices, and flash cunts with a load of money.

CabbageCat

You never really get people suggesting that they might retire to Dubai. It's more a place where people spend their best years so that they can afford to improve their worst ones.

lloyd

CabbageCat said:

You never really get people suggesting that they might retire to Dubai. It's more a place where people spend their best years so that they can afford to improve their worst ones.

I totally get moving out there and earning a bucket full o' cash and running to the hills with it.

But people choose to go on holiday there, that's something I don't understand, but each their own.

stickyfiddle

CabbageCat said:

You never really get people suggesting that they might retire to Dubai. It's more a place where people spend their best years so that they can afford to improve their worst ones.

That's also partly cos they don't give you a visa if you are working, so retirement ain't really an option.

EricTheWeary

I've gone through the airport. We read up a bit about Dubai and could have stayed there a couple of days but I didn't fancy it.  
Seems to be a popular destination amongst British Sikhs,  at least every Sikh person I know has had a holiday there. These seem to consist of woman shopping whilst man watches sports in hotel bar. That sounds awful as well. 

stickyfiddle

It's not even good for shopping. You need to go to 3 different malls to get everything you want, half the shops from home aren't out here and everything costs more (M&S and Clarks are marketed as premimum brands..)

Evilmags

lloyd said:

CabbageCat said:

You never really get people suggesting that they might retire to Dubai. It's more a place where people spend their best years so that they can afford to improve their worst ones.

I totally get moving out there and earning a bucket full o' cash and running to the hills with it.

But people choose to go on holiday there, that's something I don't understand, but each their own.

Me neither. It is about the tackiest place I have been in, the conditions of the (mainly Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani) workers are beyond appalling and only possible to explain by state tolerance of forced labour (otherwise known as slavery) and their is no personal freedom at all. At least in the Caribbean, most of the Med, The US and Latin America you can chat up girls, get drunk, party, smoke weed, have sex with who you want and not end up looking down the wrong end of 10 years in an Arab prison.   

holnrew

I wish there was somewhere I could live that was 12 degrees with a light breeze all year round

Snap

lloyd said:

holnrew said:

It does seem like my idea of hell

I've always thought this about the place, doesn't appeal in the slightest.

I'd like to go, just to see it, but I'd only do it on my own Dime if I was flying through and I might stop over for a night.

My (possibly incorrect) impression of it is that it's like the bastard offspring of Blackpool and Las Vegas with a bit of religious intolerance, high booze prices, and flash cunts with a load of money.

your perception IMO is bang on. Its exactly like that. The thing is, from what I could perceive, the supposed good bits are things people who like the place cling to, in an attempt to somehow make out it has some level of quality or reality about it. It really doesn't. Its like Meadowhall + The trafford centre, + stupid heat and fake sand. And berks & show offs.

I think even Benidorm would be preferable.