My Reason 3 Is Not Reading My Orkester Sound Bank

A summary of some tips for those who wish to go and spend the bulk of the narrative of our stay.


EXCHANGE

change very little in France (100 € = 400 AED) or better in the arrival hall of Terminal (cheaper) to have money set the taxi (small cuts) are found in all ATM malls, hotels, etc.. (100 € = 500 AED)

CLIMATE

Sub-tropical, so warm and slightly moist in winter bearable for us (25/28 °) was not at all (45 to 48 °)
If Dubai was a candidate for the Summer Olympics, I think she would have every chance, provided them in winter or in air-conditioned bubble!


DRESS CODE

should be dressed decently without obligation for women to wear headscarves.
Some Arab women are the gandoura (sometimes with jeans underneath!), The black abaya and veil covering the hair, more rarely the face. Some older women still hide their nose and mouth behind a metal mask. The men are dressed in white and gandoura scarf (white or plaid) standing on a white cap with the hook and held by a black cord .
an aside to say that I rather thought that women were respected here: they have reserved areas (but not mandatory) in transport allowing them to be seated and quiet beach and a day just for them, but nevertheless accessible every other day, etc..
I found them quite beautiful, slim, good makeup, perfume, treated to their fingertips with their hands decorated with fine lace painted with henna.
However, it is considered rude to photograph them without their permission (which you probably will not especially if they are in the presence of their husbands)

tissue plaid, hotter, is reserved for the cool season like now ... 28 °!


EXCURSIONS PAY

A good compromise for those who have too much time to devote to visit Dubai
Big Bus Tours (also http: / / www.blogger.com / www.bigbustours.com for an advance booking, but ultimately more expensive, despite what they say)
Pay with Mastercard, allows a big reduction. I think it was a one-time promotions. Moreover, thanks Visa we will get the best deals.
Price (after checking my debit card back): 52 € per person for "package" day (24 h) / night (cheaper if booked online)

Good value price.

Advantages:
- Removing optional on all points of interest knowing there is a bus every 20 'to continue.
- Headphones in this double-decker bus to follow the comments in several languages including French.
- Air conditioning in closed.
- Free access for one-hour cruise on the Dhow Creek (ticket valid 48 hours), the Dubai Museum and Sheikh Saeed's house Al-Maktoum (immediate entry ticket)

Around Night Big Bus Tours:
Maybe made a day other than day turn it is only possible for 24 or 48 h later.
Comments only in English and microphone volume in stultifying closed portions.
The tour takes us into areas that I think have little value at night. It would have been preferable to limit the Sheikh Zayed Rd (the Strip Dubai) and the fountains of the Burj is not seen. No removal possible.

Burj ( http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/ )
It is best to book early via the Internet at the moment of choice (100 AED) rather than buy a ticket on site (400 AED) in addition, there is no tail to do. Access is by the Dubai Mall, lower level.

Jumeirah Mosque
The visit, commented only in English, takes place every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 10 pm sharp, supervised by guides of Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural understanding. 10 AED per person.
is the only mosque here that a Muslim can not see if he has a decent place (arms and legs covered) The scarves are on loan to women who do not.
The photos are allowed inside.

Desert
It is proposed numerous excursions into the desert, one of which includes the afternoon in the dunes in 4x4, henna body painting, sunset meal and sitting on the ground under the tent with traditional dances. There are also walks to the back of camels, skiing, snowboarding and learning to drive a 4x4 in the dunes.

Cruise and dinner cruise on a dhow (Dhow)

The dhows are Amara on both sides of the Creek in Bur Dubai to the tune of the Embassy of Great Britain, opposite Deira Dubai Municipality. In high season it is advisable to book.

LODGING / DINING

Hotels
They are expensive although the Internet can be found in some cases them. If it all over again, I would choose instead to a hotel near Deira City Center (2 metro stops from the airport) access to the souks and the historic center by bus and abrasion is easy. As for other places, they can reach by bus or some for one or the other bus stations in Deira and Bur, or by Metro.

Restaurants
With the exception of Bastakia Nights and dinner cruise, we do not have tested restaurants. In general, they are not licensed to deliver alcohol they can consume at bar hotels.
In Dubai you can feast on Middle Eastern cuisine (hummus, eggplant caviar, marinated kebabs and pastries with honey), even in fast-food restaurants, like you find to eat Indian dishes, Chinese, Japanese and even Italian , not to mention American burgers.
Cheap knowing that 2 courses are sufficient for 3.


TIP

Not mandatory, but it is customary to leave 10% of the note to the restaurant server if one is happy with his performance.

2 AED for carrier bags.

Taxi: if it has not already done so, round up the fare. Provide short breaks.


CLEANLINESS

The city is extremely clean. No papers or rubbish like home. Neither in the streets or in malls or in transit or on the beach or in boats around the Creek .. Nowhere!
No tags on walls.
No dog poop ... but it is explained, we saw no dog, some cats just starving.
can not find anywhere bums or beggars.
All day employees, the cloth by hand clean the windows of public places and tourist sites. In the evening we see them slip polish metal bands of each step of white marble stairs of the subway.


SECURITY

We did not feel insecure anywhere, even at night. The army or police presence is discreet but seems effective since Dubai has a reputation for being safe.
On the docks at night, many pallets of goods about to be loaded onto dhows. They are still full the next day, I'm sure.
One day we forgot to close the trunk of our room with all our valuables inside including a bunch of cash. In the evening, nothing was missing. It has nevertheless failed to renew the experience!
I never had the feeling of being "rolled" except perhaps if I had attempted a negotiation in a souk, but this is the game!


SHOPPING

hours of all the souks of Dubai: 10/13 PM - 16/22 pm from Saturday to Thursday only Friday afternoon. Haggling is de rigueur.
It seems that even in the luxury shopping malls, it is customary to ask for a discount.
Dubai is the shopping paradise of duty-free with all major brands of the world. So do not bother to wait for the return to the airport to meet his desires.
Openings stores in the Malls: 10 h/22 h
In 2011, from January 20 to February 20, stands the Shopping Festival, balances monsters which each year attract two million visitors from around the world.

TRANSPORT

There are several kinds of cards for tourists, to pass the day at 14 AED but for now no reason to take the subway, or the Silver NOL card. The latter is valid for 5 years costs + 14 6 AED AED trips when purchased. Then recharge it at least 20 AED. The advantage is that it can take all the means of the Dubai-based transport company (RTA)
can buy it in the subway stations and bus stations.
If I still favors public transit is mostly for meetings that we can do about it and can maintain our sense of resourcefulness.
Privilege of age and etiquette of the premises allowed us to travel seated.


Bus stations are clean and air conditioned.

They are large, air conditioned, clean and new.
Better to have a plan of the network but it is always possible ... the evidence.
Do not forget to pass the NOL card reader on the rise, but mostly down on pain of being cut the way up to the next passage.
The front of the vehicle is reserved for women and children who will thus always of the seating.

Metro

Automatic, with luxurious resorts and clean like the town. Terms are two lines: one red and one green ... except that the green is not built yet.

note that the first car is reserved for 1st class passengers and women. And when a man (mine) it ventures (unintentionally) an employee will emerge from nowhere to call him to order. Only as a foreigner to be earned him courteously turned down and be exempted from paying the fine of 100 AED due for such an offense.

Taxis
Clean, comfortable, air-conditioned and inexpensive, but still more than public transit, even at three, especially if there are traffic jams. Taxis beige color of the roof of the Dubai Taxi company all have a meter and no driver has tried to rip us off, not even taking the longest route. Price varies depending on vehicle size (clearly posted at the airport)

Abras
Kind of water taxis. 2 stations on each bank of the River. 1 AED crossing. Very eccentric!

Man Take Shower With His Wife

DUBAI DUBAI - DECEMBER 2010 - DAY 1

CHRISTMAS IN DUBAI

Why spend Christmas elsewhere in France? Just to escape the fever of the holidays, this bulimia decorations, fatty foods, and gifts ... not to mention the snow and cold this year.

We manage to take off Between Roissy airport closures due to snowfall, with barely half an hour late. The flight lasted 6:30 ET is still fresh as we land at night at Dubai International at home since it is three hours less.

outset, the tone is set.

The passage of immigration is fast and we have no baggage. At that late hour, the subway does not work then we take the taxi company in Dubai (cream colored with red roof, orange, green or blue) to lead us to the hotel. Their drivers are in uniform with epaulettes color of the roof of their car.

We chose the Novotel World Trade Center (which we got a good discount) midway between our objectives visits. This does not seem to have been the best choice given the extent of the city and public transport currently available.

THE 70 YEARS OF DUBAI

small fishing town of fish and pearls, it was not until 1966 that it discovered oil which accelerated flourished during the first exports in 1969.

During my first visit to Dubai en route to the Far East when the 707 Air France there arose the night, it was neither for or discharging any passengers to embark. We could not even see the terminal. The aircraft were parked "off" and waited patiently for their passage to the pump. Dubai was nothing but a giant gas station in the desert.

DUBAI TODAY

Dubai is part of the Federation UAE established in 1971. It's the richest emirate after Abu Dhabi (Capital) The city is still a vast spanning tens of kilometers along arteries to eight or ten lanes, pushing back the desert.

She became the city of luxury, where everything that glitters is gold often hence its nickname "City of Gold." Everything is taller, bigger, more beautiful and more expensive than elsewhere. To her alone the city could complete all pages of the Book of Records. But this accumulation of superlatives has its downside, it's also one that consumes the most water in the world which explains its green lawns and flower beds along avenues.

landing area for helicopter Ruler's Court to the Grand Mosque in Bur Dubai.

This should be as a city terribly polluting. Considering the price of fuel here, it encourages local to own a 4x4 all that the desert is not far.

is oil money which funds these commercial infrastructure, industrial and tourist Pharaohs.

The Emirate of Dubai has only 15% of Emiratis with the remainder consisting mostly of workers from nearby Muslim countries like Iran, Pakistan and others, or as far away as Indonesia or Malaysia making it one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. The French community is also important.

Why Does Luna Wear A Lion's Suit

DUBAI - DECEMBER 2010 - DAY 2 - BUR DUBAI DUBAI

In metro we are trying to reach the south bank of the Creek, the river that divides the old Dubai in two (even three) distinct neighborhoods. We will still have to walk far to reach the historic districts.


BASTAKIAH

The majority of houses built of coral limestone and dates from 1900 and belonged to wealthy Persian merchants. It's a dense neighborhood, with narrow streets and houses adorned with traditional wind towers.

These towers, essential elements of Persian architecture, served as air conditioning early. They suck the hot air from building up and expels outside, while driving down the breeze.

Our last dinner date the night before and after this long walk to get here, we have one wish, we sit and we eat in the cool of the courtyard of the Bastakia Nights looks like a palace of a thousand and one nights.

Do choose this restaurant for its setting. It is a bit expensive and we ate just as well elsewhere for much less. Remember to test the lemonade with mint. Delicious!

Once restored and refreshed, we heading towards the river. In the sand, not far from the mosque, a Bedouin tent is erected within which the Arabs have tea in the most natural world.

Along the docks, dhows (dhows) are waiting for tourists for a cruise.

Further on the river is animated by Abras, a kind of floating bus, passing the stream of passengers from one bank to another.

We crossed quickly to the souk fabrics, empty at this time for us to always walk along the creek to the area of heritage, Shindagha.

DISTRICT HERITAGE

Here is the house of Sheikh Saeed Al-Maktoum, grandfather of the current ruler of Dubai, renovated historic monument and a museum on the development of the city.

Nearby is a reconstruction of a fishing village of pearls.

My Lonely Planet guide speaks exposure on pearl fishing, and from October to April of local dances. Saw nothing of all this, the village was deserted heritage while open non-stop from 8 am to 22 pm

On the way back, we notify a Carrefour store where we go to buy something to make a breakfast in our hotel room where coffee and tea are available. I take this opportunity to inspect the food department. I did not see any festive product in refrigerated cases. Christmas will be here one day as another.

A few steps away is the bus station Al-Ghubaiba where, with the help of Dubai-based, we are able to take the right bus back to the hotel.

In Dubai almost everyone speaks English in addition to Arabic and if this is not the case, people will do their utmost to assist you with kindness.

Quotes Of Deborah Sampson

- DECEMBER 2010 - DAY 3 - A TOUR OF DUBAI DUBAI

It is 7 o'clock this morning when we leave the hotel by taxi.

Both the guides on the Internet, it is said that on Thursdays and Fridays from October to mars, de même que les jours fériés, se déroulent des courses de chameaux à Nad El Sheba (banlieue proche de Dubaï) de 7 à 9 h. Elles ont la particularité de n’avoir pas de jockey, mais un robot fixé sur la bosse arrière de l’animal pour le stimuler.

Le concierge de l’hôtel n’est pas au courant, il téléphone, mais le lieu n’est pas encore ouvert. Le chauffeur de taxi ne sait rien non plus et passe un coup de fil à un ami qui n’en sait pas plus. Ce sera son dernier mot Jean-Pierre ! Il nous conduit néanmoins jusqu’à destination, se renseigne the premises of the vigil. No, there is no racing this morning. It offers us another camélodrome 30 km away, but without guarantee, then we give up.

In desperation and to mitigate the note of taxi, we're filing at Deira City Center, a gleaming mall like everyone else, we wanted to book a tour of Dubai at night ... but the center opens only 10 hours! It is just 8 pm when we were let in and we expect an hour before the booth opens BIG BUS TOURS.

Today is Friday, the day of prayer for Muslims, but also leave Weekly. Everything is closed up to 16 hours, so we decide to buy more around Dubai Day deal.

On deck, a sweater is not as superfluous and Germain, he must push his cap to his ears, it's mind-blowing!

After JUMERAH Great Mosque, the route passes between the other BURJ-AL-ARAB , the emblem of the city. 7 * hotel in ostentatious luxury, with over 200 duplex suites is the world's tallest (321 meters) was built on an island whose pillars are buried 40 meters into the ocean depths.

Nearby, there are Madinat Jumeirah, all tourist and shopping district, the beautiful Moorish architecture and luxury hotels.

is close to WILD WADI , the largest water park in the East.

Later, we take the road under the monorail that leads to the trunk of the palm PALM JUMEIRAH to win ATLANTIS Hotel, a replica of the Arab Bahamas.

ago in the biggest hotels in Dubai attractions as those of Las Vegas without the casinos .... Here is a water park, diving into sunken Atlantis, or the encounter with dolphins.

Our next stop is for MALL OF THE EMIRATES to restore us. Each mall has at least a "Food Court" with everything around fast-food offering the cuisine of many countries for a small fee.

Our interest in this mall is quite the Ski Dome, with its chalets near the slopes, its chairlift, its black slopes ... just to see.

Obviously if you do not fit, you do not see much, if children are sledding or down on short runways. The ski suits are provided as well as equipment, skis or snowboard and boots. They pushed realism to make the snow fall periodically.



Resuming Our Big Bus to get around the Burj Dubai Mall and and take Sheikh Zayed Road, a sort of multi-Strip luxury hotels and shopping malls.

Another stop in a Mall, one of WAFI the architecture and decoration Egyptian pyramid.

It is already late. The Dubai Museum will be our last stop before the Deira Creek, passing under a tunnel.

This museum is housed in the fort Al-Fahidi dating from 1787 and intended to defend Dubai Creek. His interest lies in reconstructed scenes of local life.

The metal mask is still worn by some elderly women. We saw yesterday in the district of Shindagha.

We do file with DEIRA to visit the market behind the bus station in Gold Souk. Besides fruits and vegetables attractively arranged, and huge bags of rice stacked, what catches our attention are the stalls of dried fruit with their delicious dates.

And the fish market ...

... who does not feel that far, unless we become accustomed to the smell before arriving there.

Tonight is Christmas Eve. We want to make a splash without breaking the bank for us all. On foot we walk along the Creek to be on this shore boats that offer dinner cruises. They are all up to Dubai Municipality (near the Radisson).

DINNER CRUISE ON THE CREEK

We have no reservation, but we ship easily to 19 h 30 on a dhow lit, soon joined by other tourists. For 35 € per person, we sail two hours, during which we can use at will from a buffet Arab / Indian well stocked and delicious. We serve some alcoholic beverages including wine on board.

few decorations and a tree are there to remind us of the date. With the exception of giant artificial trees malls, there is no sign of Christmas nowhere.

Many dhows ply the Creek illuminated each night.

Back métro. Union Station is about 20 minutes walk
.

Garbage Can Covers For Sale

- December 2010 - DAY 4 - THE BURJ DUBAI KHALIFA and DEIRA

DUBAI MALL

These are marble sidewalks that lead us to the Dubai Mall.

It is apparently the largest mall in the world, yet he impressed me less than that of Edmonton, Canada. Anyway, we did not go to buy, just to see again ...

... but mainly up the top of the tallest in the world.

Burj

828 meters high, over 160 floors! The observation platform is located - only - we reached the 124th floor in 60 seconds by lift (speed 10 m / sec)

Here's what we see still at- above.

From up there, the view is breathtaking. Here below the new center in Dubai with its sprawling exchangers ...

Not so far to the south, appear close to the desert.

An ingenious device allows you to zoom into any neighborhood and get a view in clear weather, day or night live, not to mention the sight before development of the city. Free time: 2 minutes.

The set features performances like illuminated fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Operate only at night.

After a quick passage through the food courts of Dubai Mall we take bus to subway and Bur Dubai, and an abra to cross the Creek.

The contrast is striking between the two neighborhoods.

The dhows once full leave to deliver their goods in various other countries such as Iran or India, but also those of North Africa.

GOLD SOUK

We are in the Gold Souk. And there are display cases full!

THE SPICE SOUK

And its heady fragrance (near the Gold Souk)

As we are very bad bargainers, we do not let us dock. I always come away frustrated that such visits so as not to have known the true value the desired object, or even able to watch closely. Once you place your eye on anything, you are caught by the seller and did not emerge until long after and plucked! And these endless discussions to buy at any price something I did not really need to have peace at last, exhaust me. There are some who love this kind of game, not me. To each his own!

Some come back with a shisha or slippers after incredibly returned. Not us.

Despite no plan we begin to master the public transportation. We will then return by bus from the Gold Souk bus station to Deira City Center, from where our turn to night with Big Bus Tours, then go by metro to the hotel.

Dubai deserves the nickname City of Light. In the evening it sparkles. All buildings are illuminated, even those under construction, even as cranes, even fences that hide sites.