UAE - Dubai

Time:
GMT + 4 Hours

Holidays and Day offs:
December 2 (National Day), January 1 (New Year), Holidays with changing dates: Id Al Feetr- Muslim Holiday of after Ramadan. Id Al Adkha- Muslim Holiday of Sacrifice, New Year according to Muslim Calendar, Prophet's Birthday (Milyd and Naby)

Population:
1.5 million (2008)

National characteristics:
Women's clothes must be simple; they greet men with slight bpow without holding out their hand. To greet a married woman by shaking her hand is prohibited. To enter an Arab's house in shoes is not allowed. If the hostess goes before you and enters in shoes it means that the prohibition is declined. Arabs are full of rancor. Revenge can remain after several decades. Food and drinks are to be given and taken by right hand. If there are no forks, then you are to wash your right hand and take food with your hand. Giving strong drinks to natives as a present or souvenir is categorically forbidden. You are not allowed to pass before the prying man. During Ramadan one should never eat, drink, smoke and chew in streets or in public before sunset. Ramadan is a month of Muslim post and disrespect to their traditions can bring to being fined or even imprisoned. In a Muslim country it's necessary to reach mutual understanding with the other party. The meeting starts with hand shakes and at the same time it's compulsory to look straight into the interlocutor's eyes. Greeting with a cigarette in hand or with one's hand in pocket is not allowed. Talk starts with questions about self-filling, heath of family members. Citizens of this country don't hurry, they don't like risking. Businessmen speak fluent English, business - documentation is executed in this language.

Geographic sketch:
The United Arab Emirates cover an area in the South-East of the Arabic peninsula and border Katter, Oman Sultanate and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is washed by Oman and Persian Gulfs. The total area of the UAE is 83.6 sq/km.

Climate:

The city of Dubai is situated on a coastal strip bordered by desert and gets very hot. It is dry on the hottest days and humid during the cooler days in the summer. Cooler, more pleasant weather lasts from the end of September to beginning of May (although note that pleasant is relative, with daily temperatures from October to January and March to May still being in the lower twenties (68-77°F), but be prepared for cold night temperatures. In winter the temperature at night is usually from 10-16°C (50-60°F)). From May to September, the sun is intense and temperatures can touch 45°C in the city and even higher in the desert. The heat coupled with humidity of 60-70% near the coast effectively precludes most activity outdoors for the daylight hours during summer.

December to April generally produces the highest precipitation, which at 10 cm (5 in) still isn't much. Some years yield no more than a few minutes of shower in Dubai. November 2006 brought record rains up to 50 cm of rain with temperatures going down to record lows.

Language:
The official language is Arabic; English, Hindi, Urdu and Fraise are also used. As a result of a great flow of Russian tourists, a great number of signboards and announcements have appeared in Russian in Dubai in recent years. Many sellers and hotel servers know basic Russian.

Currency:
Dirham

Currency Exchange:
Banks as a rule are open from 8.00 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. from Saturday to Thursday. Some of them also work from 16.00 p.m. to 18.30 p.m. On Thursdays banks are open from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. Exchange points are open from 8.30 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. and from 16.30 p.m. to 20.30 p.m.

Custom's rules:
The import of printed or video-production of erotic character, likewise anything which may offence the religious feelings of Muslims or may be perceived as unfriendly attitude towards the government is prohibited. First of all it concerns journals or video-tapes with elements which to Armenian standards are considered as innocent erotic, custom representatives may temporarily confiscate imported video-tapes or printed materials for examination. The import of strong drinks is strongly supervised (2 L. of wine, 2 L. of strong drinks and in Shardga only 400 cigars or 2 kg of tobacco) perfume or eau-de-Cologne (150 gr). The import of strong drinks by the citizens of the UAE is strongly forbidden. Officially strong drinks are served at restaurants and bars at the airport or hotels (a bottle of beer costs 3 USD). The import and export of any kind of currency is not limited.

Transport:
Taxis ply the streets of Dubai and are relatively easy to spot. The easiest place to find them is at the taxi queue at one of the malls or outside a hotel. Waving down a taxi on the road is possible, but can be difficult during rush hours. At peak times (7-9AM & 4-7PM workdays, and Friday evenings) demand far exceeds supply, and not only are taxis hard to find, but those who deign to pick you up may refuse short rides in congested areas.
Taxis are metered at 1.60 dhs/km, so no haggling is necessary. The rates of all taxi companies - Dubai Transport, National, Cars, Metro, and Arabian - are identical, so just take the first one that comes along. From the airport, there is a standing charge of 20 dhs
Communication:
The international code for UAE is +971, for Dubai, add a 4 afterwards for land lines.

Phone Booths - Phone booths are located on most streets. Phone cards can be purchased from hotels and tourist shops.

Internet - Internet cafes are hard to find. There is one at Computer Plaza next to Ramada Hotel in Bur Dubai. Also, there is the French Connection, Al Wafa Tower on Sheikh Zayed road (opposite side of road from the Dusit Hotel) has wifi access and nice cakes/pastries. Surprisingly, the malls do not have internet cafes. Most hotel business centres are equipped with internet cafes, but are expensive ones.

There is an internet cafe a five-minute walk south from the Dubai Youth Hostel. Turn right out of the gates and walk to LuLu's Hypermarket. The cafe is located inside the food court and currently charges AED 4.00 per hour. Note that the Skype website is currently blocked, however.

Shops:

Dubai is practically synonymous with shopping. The huge amounts of cargo passing through its port and the low tariffs ensure that practically anything is available at fairly competitive rates, although the appreciation of the Dirham, and the plentiful supply of shoppers means that Dubai is no longer a bargain basement shopping city. You'll also find products in western chain stores, still with the original tags quoting euro or sterling prices, being sold with a 20-30% mark-up once converted to Dirhams.

Even in the mega-malls, Dubai shops suffer from the standard developing world shopping phenomenon of having no storeroom and no stocks in reserve - and for clothes shopping this may mean that you may struggle to find the style you want in the size you want. Shops open as early as 9AM and stay open to 10PM and on weekends to 12AM and some stay to 1AM.

Remember to haggle in the souks, as discounts are almost always available and even in situations where the item will not become much cheaper, the customer is always expected to "play the game" of haggling. A simple question of "what's your best price?" will often result in a shop-keeper going to extraordinary lengths to sell his stock.

Prices in the malls and other Western shops tend not to be negotiable. Far from being a bad thing, this allows the canny visitor to work out comparative prices for common souvenirs - an invaluable aid when a shop-keeper in a souk is asking for a higher price.

Dubai Shopping Festival has been the biggest shopping event in the middle east for 11 years. Almost every shop has a sale, starting 24 January 08 and ending 24 February. There's also a very similar Dubai Summer Surprises [20] trying to pull in punters during the summer low season.

Food:

Most of the American fast food chains have set up shop in Dubai, including KFC, Chillis,TGI Fridays Starbucks and McDonalds. The beauty of the food in Dubai is that you will probably find cuisine for every taste.

Shawarma is the most available (and cheap!) food in Dubai. It is meat that has been cooked on a skewer and then cut into thin strips and placed into a pita bread with vegetables and dressing. It costs about AED 3 (80c) for the plain-jane variety and up to AED 5 ($1.30) for the more exotic Lebanese and Iranian varities. Fala-Fil (Felafel, falafel) is also available at about the same costs as the shawarma.
Ravi Restaurant, by Satwa roundabout, 3315353. Excellent Pakistani food that is incredibly cheap. This is a must see for anyone with a spicy tooth.Ask for Chaand. AED 20-25 per person for a good meal. edit
The Karachi Darbar chain of restaurants scattered throughout the city is worth visiting.
The Jabal Al Noor chain of restaurants. A Middle Eastern take on fastfood and its own unique variety of drinks with names such as "Lexus"," Burj al Arab", and "Sitara". AED 7-10 per item.

Tips:
Tips are not included in the bill; leaving only 10% from the total bill would be enough. Tips are to be given in case of good service only.

Urgent numbers:
Police: 999
Ambulance: 998/999
Fire: 997
Electricity and Water: 991
General Information: 101
Airport Enquiries (Dubai): 04-2066666
Telephone Directory: 180 / 181
Taxis (Dubai): 04-2080808
Emergency (Abu Dhabi): 344 663