Our first outing - Dubai
During the last 2 months we've had a busy travelling spell, with our first taste of some of our neighbouring countries in the Gulf.
Our first trip was needed to get new Saudi visas for the family. We'd originally arrived in KSA with everyone having visas linked from Peter's 3 month business visa. Peter's residency permit (iqama) was finally issued at the end of October and so everyone else then needed new visas based on the iqama. The visa applications had to be submitted to a Saudi Arabian embassy outside of the Kingdom, and our sponsor decided that the best place to do this would be Dubai.
We ended up spending a total of 10 days in Dubai as we negotiated our way around the UAE bureaucracy for the mandatory medical check-up; and eventually through the KSA visa application process as well. This meant that on most days we had one or two visa-related appointments to tackle, and depending on how they went we then found ourselves with some spare time to fill in before the next step. So we ended up with quite a lot of time to explore parts of Dubai, and particularly enjoyed walking around some of the central areas of Bur Dubai and Deira. One of the hotels we stayed in was close to Bur Dubai and so it was an easy walk to Dubai Creek and some of the souqs.
The construction frenzy across Dubai is something to behold, and we thought that the lavish and be-malled feel is captured quite well in a blog post by Jeff Jarvis. We also liked the advice he was given that he might not find old Dubai (in the Bur Dubai area), but was more likely to see old Bombay. However we couldn't help but notice the increasing gloom in the local press during our stay; there was a steady stream of negative news about the major property developers, and clear signs of a looming crunch.
During our stay we travelled by cab and on foot, and finding pedestrian-friendly areas was a lovely relief after Riyadh. However our single biggest highlight for the visit was the chain of Magrudy's Bookshops in malls throughout Dubai - it was wonderful to find a more serious bookstore again, with an excellent range of children's books.
Our first trip was needed to get new Saudi visas for the family. We'd originally arrived in KSA with everyone having visas linked from Peter's 3 month business visa. Peter's residency permit (iqama) was finally issued at the end of October and so everyone else then needed new visas based on the iqama. The visa applications had to be submitted to a Saudi Arabian embassy outside of the Kingdom, and our sponsor decided that the best place to do this would be Dubai.
We ended up spending a total of 10 days in Dubai as we negotiated our way around the UAE bureaucracy for the mandatory medical check-up; and eventually through the KSA visa application process as well. This meant that on most days we had one or two visa-related appointments to tackle, and depending on how they went we then found ourselves with some spare time to fill in before the next step. So we ended up with quite a lot of time to explore parts of Dubai, and particularly enjoyed walking around some of the central areas of Bur Dubai and Deira. One of the hotels we stayed in was close to Bur Dubai and so it was an easy walk to Dubai Creek and some of the souqs.
The construction frenzy across Dubai is something to behold, and we thought that the lavish and be-malled feel is captured quite well in a blog post by Jeff Jarvis. We also liked the advice he was given that he might not find old Dubai (in the Bur Dubai area), but was more likely to see old Bombay. However we couldn't help but notice the increasing gloom in the local press during our stay; there was a steady stream of negative news about the major property developers, and clear signs of a looming crunch.
During our stay we travelled by cab and on foot, and finding pedestrian-friendly areas was a lovely relief after Riyadh. However our single biggest highlight for the visit was the chain of Magrudy's Bookshops in malls throughout Dubai - it was wonderful to find a more serious bookstore again, with an excellent range of children's books.
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