Dubai

China

United Kingdom

 

The international code for UAE is +971, for Dubai, add a 4 afterwards for land lines.

Local mobile phone numbers will start +971 50 xxx yyyy or +971 56 xxx yyyy newly introduced as of second half of 2008 for the GSM provider etisalat (http://www.etisalat.ae) and +971 55 xxx yyyy for the GSM provider du (http://www.du.ae).

GSM— Those with GSM phones can expect auto roaming from their home countries. As roaming fees are quite high easily 3 USD per minute and often more for a call to Europe and incoming calls are also charged, consider to buy a local prepaid GSM SIM card, designed especially for tourists, from one of the two cellular providers of the U.A.E.:

Etisalat

Product ahlan (http://www.etisalat.ae/in...) - 90 dirhams - available at the duty free shop arrival hall of dubai airport

Du

Product visitor mobile line (http://www.du.ae/en/categ...) - 70 dirhams - available at the telefonika kiosk in the arrival hall of dubai airport.

 

Using these products, calls to Europe will be charged at maximum of about 0.55 USD per minute. Incoming calls are free of charge.

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

Internet — Internet cafés can be hard to find. The usual rate per hour is 3-4 AED. There are a number of cafés on Al Musalla Rd./Al Mankhool Rd. in Bur Dubai, including one at 38 Al Musalla Rd. and one at Computer Plaza next to the Ramada Hotel. A number of Internet cafes are found in Satwa too. In Satwa there is the French Connection in the Al Wafa Tower on Sheikh Zayed road opposite side of road from the Dusit Hotel, which has wi-fi access and nice cakes/pastries. In Al Qusais, there is an internet café a five-minute walk northwest from the Dubai Youth Hostel. Turn right out of the gates and walk to LuLu's Hypermarket. The café is located inside the food court and currently charges AED 4.00 per hour. Note that the Skype website is currently blocked, however, as are many other "common" Western websites. You may wish to consider using a proxy or VPN to bypass the blocking the UAE employs, but this is considered illegal in the eyes of local officials, and can lead to penalties or jail time.

Surprisingly, the malls do not have internet cafés, but most have wi-fi, mostly free. Most hotel business centres are equipped with internet cafés, but are expensive ones.

Etisalat (http://www.eim.ae), UAE's telecom operator, offers a roaming, post paid wi-fi internet connection known as iZone (http://ecompany.ae/eco/is...). Most coffee shops and malls across Dubai provide this service. Prices are available on the website.

Dubai International Airport DXB has free wi-fi in the terminal. Bring your laptop with you for using free wi-fi at some hotels.

Newspapers & Radio: Thanks to the large influx of expatriates, Dubai has a wide selection of English Language Newspapers and Radio Channels.

The Gulf News (http://www.gulfnews.com).

The Khaleej Times (http://www.khaleejtimes.com).

The Gulf Today (http://www.godubai.com/gu...).

The National (http://www.thenational.ae).

7 Days (http://www.7days.ae).

Emirates Business 24/7 (http://www.business24-7.ae).

The Sunday Times (http://www.thetimesme.com).

Channel 4 (http://channel4fm.com/) - Plays current songs from the UK and US.

Dubai Eye (http://dubaieye1038.com/) - Western oriented talk.

Dubai 92 (http://www.dubai92.com) - Older chart songs. Popular with British expats.

Virgin Radio 104.8 (http://www.virginradiodub...) - Chart music. Operates under franchise from Virgin Radio International. Owned by Arabian Radio Network.

City 101.6 (http://www.city1016.ae/) - Broadcasts Indian music.

The Coast FM 103.2 (http://www.1032thecoast.com/) - Feel good hits from the 70's to today. Channel 4's "grown up" sister station.

International Newspapers are also available in most hotels and airport terminals. Carrefour and Borders bookstores sell British and American newspapers. Todaily (http://www.todaily.com), a local printing house, can furnish newspapers and periodicals from around the world daily.

religious services and pork

Dubai gives freedom of religion to its residents and citizens, Pork is consumed here mostly by Filipinos and Europeans. Pork sections exclusive for Non-Muslims are found in Spinneys have numerous branches, they have one in Jumeirah and another in Dubai Marina and many others, Al Maya Lal's generally caters to Filipinos, they have a branch in Satwa New Westzone Supermarket have a branch in Satwa, it's bigger than nearby rival Al Maya Lal's. St. Mary's Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church located in Oud Metha opposite the Indian High School, it has masses celebrated in Tagalog and other Indian languages as well as in Arabic aside from English. While Holy Trinity Church is a Protestant Church is located too in Oud Metha.

cope

Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (http://www.cultures.ae/), is a non-profit community service organization that has been set up to bring down barriers between people of different nationalities, and to help understand the traditions, customs and religion of the UAE. The SMCCU, under the banner, Open Doors Open Minds organizes educational and social events, that allows its clients to exchange ideas, pursue learning and share ways to reach understanding for their companies, their families, their countries and the world.Some of the activities that are offered at the center include:

Cultural Courses.

Arabic Language Courses.

Guided tours to Jumeirah Mosque.

Creating and managing cultural events.

Coffee Mornings.

Walking Tours Bastakiya.

If you are walking through the streets, you will most probably come across people wanting to sell you pirated movies or anything else that can be replicated or faked. They will tend to lead you off the streets into a alley and into a building. This can seem to be very dangerous but you will find that 90 percent of the time it will be what they actually claim it to be. This is done because they have to hide from the police. Also, don't take very much money with you, otherwise they will ask for all the money you have. A typical pirated DVD should cost about 10-15 dirhams, although purchasing pirated DVDs should be avoided as, not only is it illegal and with most crimes in Dubai they are very punishable, the DVD will probably be of very poor quality.