First Week in Dubai

I’ve been in Dubai for 5 days now.  The first couple of days were horrible and it took a while to get used to how things are done.  Transportation is terrible, no form of mass transit is available and the only real means of getting around are taxis.  There are busses but only in limited areas.  There’re supposed to be around 5000 taxi units in the area but since everyone wants to take a cab, it’s really hard to get one especially on workdays.  Speaking of workdays, here it’s Sunday to Thursday. 

The main form of entertainment in Dubai is malling and shopping.  There’s really not a lot of things to do unless you’re willing to spend some money enjoying the many touristy activities available such as skiing in the Mall of the Emirates or roughing it up in the desert in 4×4s.

My first order of business was to get some form of entertainment at my serviced apartment since the TV doesn’t really offer a lot of choices.  I bought an Xbox 360 Elite and an original copy of the game Rainbow Six Vegas 2, significantly cheaper than in Manila.  Although my favorite game Call of Duty 4 isn’t available anywhere because it’s banned - a stage in the game has you shooting Arab terrorists.  Graphic Novels and comics are also direly lacking in their bookstores.  There are some, usually under the Young Adult section but nothing compared to the huge selections available in Manila.

My beautiful new Xbox 360 Elite

Thankfully enough the apartment is just a couple of minutes walk away from the Burjuman mall and right in front is a 24 hour convenience store with some Filipino stuff.  There’re so many Filipinos here that it’s hard for the place not to feel familiar.  You see them usually in the service industry manning stores and shops, and once in a while you get the question, "Kabayan?"  There’s even a Filipino section in Carrefour - right next to the Exotic Foods section.  If you get really homesick, I guess going to the local Chowking, Jollibee or any of the several Filipino restaurants will help you reminisce.  The apartment itself is nothing to be excited about but the facilities are complete.

People drive really fast in Dubai but they’re not exactly the most disciplined drivers on the planet.  Sheik Zayed Road is notorious for car accidents and pile ups, it’s like the Commonwealth Avenue of Dubai.  It’s also like the EDSA of Dubai because it is the main road in the whole of Dubai and has up to 8 lanes in each direction.  There’re a lot of fancy cars such as Porsches and Ferraris as well as big SUVs like the Hummer and Range Rover.

The Sheik Zayed Road

The Burj, tallest man-made structure in the world

Just a little piece of trivia, their Vick’s here are huge.