Friday, June 30, 2006

It is just the small differences

My second day in Dubai was much better than my first. After a rather restless night as I recovered from a little stomach bug I woke up feeling a lot better than the day before.

My mood also improved as I have been able to "borrow" a wireless internet connection so blogging from my hotel room has become a lot easier as has staying in touch with my nearest and dearest back home.

After yesterday's little trip to the Mall of the Emirates I thought I would sample what Deira City Center had to offer. I had a pleasant afternoon mooching around in there and was surprised to find a couple of sort after Nintendo DS games namely Metroid Pinball and Magentica. The giveaway black boxes they came in shows their US heritage and that works for me.

I found Deira City Center the type of Mall I would actually shop in as opposed to Mall of the Emirates where I would probably just gawp and stare at all the designer shops there. Also Deira I think has the upper in Electronic goodies - but I think I need a second viewing of the Mall of the Emirates just to be sure.

I am still in that odd stage where I keep trying to convert everything back into UK sterling and then deciding if something is cheap or not. Here are the things that are staples to me so far:

xb0x 360 Game - Hitman Blood Money- UK £50 /Dubai 259 AED (£40)
One Pint Strongbow - UK £2.50 / Dubai 22 AED (£3.40)
One 20 minute cab ride - UK - £20 (in Surrey) / Dubai 32AED (£4.90)
BK Whopper - UK £3 / Dubai (£2.80)

I hear from the expats that have been here a while that Dubai is getting more expensive all the time. Well from where I am standing it still seems quite reasonable especially considering the huge price of cars and petrol in the UK.

I feel that Dubai seems to have everything I need - except I have managed to leave my hayfever firmly back in the UK.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Went around MoE today myself and found it better for electronics than City Center :)

I enjoy leaving my hayfever back home in the UK too, although a couple of times a year when there's lots of light sand blowing about I seem to get a bit sneezy. Same goes when it's time for the AC to be cleaned out...

Chris