Work and Life in Dubai or Sharjah

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We lived in Dubai for almost a year before we moved to Hong Kong, in hindsight we probably should have stayed longer.


Why ?


English is widely adopted throughout the UAE, housing is substantially larger with a fully equipped western kitchen ( 20m2 ) which are bigger than most peoples lounge rooms of Hong Kong.


Running a car in Dubai was very inexpensive, cars are cheaper, petrol costs 7HK per gallon !


Parking is not charged for where you live, infact Hong Kong is the only place we have lived that is cheeky enough to charge for something that should already be included with the property that you rent.


Restaurants and Cafe's blow Hong Kong away, the quality of food is exceptional, places like Wa Fi Elements Art Cafe or KAZBAR at Mahdinat or Shakespeare's in Jemirah. We miss these particular eateries like crazy, the food was to die for ! ( Mostly Aussie chefs, bar, hospitality staff )


Cinemas in City Central are awesome, the latest digital sound technology, the latest movies and shopping centres that are double the size of the biggest shopping centres in Hong Kong. Remember Dubai is only 30 years old, the entire infrastructure is extremly modern with a heavy focus on large spaces.


Income is about the same as Hong Kong, remember that income is tax free so you might even earn more. Work life is western, no cultural interpretations to adjust too, thisngs wil be very close to how things are done in Aus or the UK.


For a woman its actually probably easier in many respects, you wont get stares on buses or in shopping malls, people leave you completely be in Dubai, my wife prefered Duabi to Hong Kong and she was born in Hong Kong ! No crowds to be ever bothered by, makes shopping peaceful and always enjoyable. Carrefour the french mega supermarkets are in Dubai, we miss that massive variety more than anything.


Our town house in Dubai was 3000ft2, had a pool between 3 others, a private gardened backyard and 2 car garage. all that for 25,000DH a month !


Your life in Dubai will be a huge lifestyle improvement raincatcher, the only thing that you may find hard to adjust to will be the weather, its a lot hotter than Hong Kong but humidity is much lower, mostly dry.


Overall, Dubai is a far better location, if you like shopping, enjoying amazing restaurants and the freedom of space, being able to eat outdoors under umbrella's, you will never look back.


BTW

Emirates airline employs a few hundred Hong Kong women employed as cabin staff, they all got looked after pretty well, enjoying conditions that they could only dream of in Hong Kong.


If you can't handle very hot weather, Dubai won't suit you, I can imagine people from the UK keeling over when it reaches 48 degrees C lol.


Australins, Hongkies, South Africans and southern Europeans love it though, water off a ducks back for them.

City Slicker

We regularly drove to Abu Dubai to play in the dunes in our Toyota Prado, also drove to Oman a couple of times,also from where we were living, Mahdinat was about 35 minutes drive, so yeah, we drove a huge amount.Shopping centres have normal western out door parking area's, that made supermarket shopping a lot simpler.


You need a car in Dubai, its essential. If not Taxis are also cheap and the drivers all understand English, so its not really a problem. Having a car is cheaper than using taxi's all the time if you like to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

We still own 2 cars in Hong Kong, I deliberately chose to go diesel on my 4wd, so far its cost us bugger all to run in maintenance and fuel cost is 50% less than petrol with an increase of 30% extra range. Isuzu Troopers are mechanically and electrically very durable, had an older version in Australia (94 Holden Monteray which is a rebadged top spec isuzu Trooper )for many years and it never let us down.


So far my wifes Audi A4 Avant wagon has been cheap to maintain, but to be honest I buy all our replacement parts like oil filters, brake pads and spark plugs direct from alternative parts suppliers in Melbourne Australia.


Costs me less than $1000HKD for a major service on either vehicle. A minor service costs about $500HKD. I do the work myself, I did use a local xpat mechanic once, found it really hard to justify why they were charging $3500hkd for a major service that takes less than 2 hours to perform.


I have to regularly drive to the airport, a car is needed and can be inexpensive if you have the room and mechanical aptitude to maintain them. Also if you have children, a car does make life a lot more immediate and using pyscho driven mini buses doesnt appeal to my greater safety judgment.

I think last year, 3500 mini buses were involved in major accidents, thats just retarded to me, why the Govt does'nt enforce severe penalties and slow these morons down is beyond comprehension.

Dubai is tricky... you may be dazzled by it at the begining, but I found life there not easy (especially for women -limited autonomy, you wil always need a man with you, except in expat-only places).

That is except if your income is high enough to make up for it. I would say mini USD 250K for a couple. But even then, you may feel a bit clostrophibic... Or you may be fine if you like living a sheltered life.

Culture as you mention it is non-existent (Hong Kong is a heaven compared to Dubai...)

And beware, many couples don't make it in Dubai... Men tend to become more machos (the society is very macho, as you probably already know, so it tends to slowly rubb off on newcomers)... And women get frustrated from their status...

Regarding Sharjah, just forget it... It's even worst. That is of course except if you get a private 5,000 sqft walled villa with a nice garden and pool, along with all the maids, gardeners, driver...

Good luck!

Where do you get the sheltered life mentality from ? I seriously doubt that you have ever lived in Dubai J hk.


Dubai is religeously relaxed, foreign women are not expected to cover up either and very free to go about their business on their own in complete freedom.


I don't agree with anything that you said


There's a large percentage of Australian and British families living in Dubai, Emirates airline probably being the single largest employer,life within that social/career sphere is a very well looked after one.


Can you tell me what colour the ceiling is in the Sky View restaurant at the Burj Al Arab hotel J HK ? No doubt you would have enjoyed high tea there, like most of the xpat community at some stage. Also on the number plates on cars in Dubai what local emblem is printed in the centre of them? Last question, what colour are the photo embeded drivers licenses in the UAE ?


If you lived there you will have no problem answering these easy questions.

Talk to my wife then...

Almost a year is more holidays to me... try to stay there for a few years (as I said, "you may be dazzled by it at the begining")

PS. most of the gorgious blond women you saw there are hookers from eastern Europe (unless they can get a job with Emirates that is... then its a career move)

PPS. nice quizz... what's the prize?

PPPS. I won't start a "war" here... so don't bother fencing with me I won't reply anymore. You had your experience, I got mine... after all, aren't we all different?

You can't answer the questions because you never lived there. It's mighty obvious J HK.


11 months is plenty long enough to decide if a city is good or not. The very fact that you state you lived there for years and can't answer simple questions about the location proves that you dont know the location.