Persian, Russian and Swedish!

I've been away for a while, apparently there's something called "work" which my employer seems to think I must do on daily basis. A lot has happened since the last update. My former colleague Mattias, arrived in Dubai on September 6th and we've been out a few times. On the second day after his arrival I took him to see the Ibn Battuta Mall which is very close to my apartment, then we went to the Jumeirah Beach at night and ofcourse paid a visit to my favorite pizza place, The Pizza Company.

Last weekend, Bahareh and I took him to dinner in a persian resturant, Zaytoon in Deira and he seemed to love persian food. After the dinner, we went to the Shishe section and he tried Shisheh for the first time. After that we drove back to our area of town and went to a beach bar where we met another friend of mine, Dimitry. (Me, Dimitry and Mattias in the photo)

Bahareh

Today is Sunday and I found some free time to update the blog.
It's been a while now since my fiancé Bahareh arrived in Dubai. She arrived on 28th of July and since then we've been just busy buying furniture and home appliances. It feels very good now that she's here; some relationships get a bit shaky when one of the partners moves to another country. Consequently after a while of being away from each other they go their separate ways.

Back in London, she started looking for a job in Dubai and found a very good law firm and they offered her a good position. She’s been with them for a month now and she seems happy.

Driving Licence, Purchasing Car and Salik

Obtaining a driving licence in Dubai is a big challenge for many expats. I consider myself one of the luckiest ones who simply exchanged the driving licence without going through the hassle of redoing the tests. There’s a new law coming into force under which the expats are required to do the tests once a year.
The process of purchasing a new car in Dubai is pretty much straight forward. Basically, you select your car and in case you’re considering financing the dealer in association with your bank will take care of the loan.

The cars and most importantly the gas is extremely cheap in comparison to the rest of the world and that is the main reason why many expats usually buy 4x4 vehicles with big engines. After doing a lot of research online I selected a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.0 2008. It’s a full off-road SUV which is very popular in Dubai. My second option was a Toyota Prado which later on I found unnecessarily expensive. I’d never owned a 4x4 SUV before and I can say it’s a very pleasant experience.




Dubai has a toll system on the main high ways which they call “Salik”. Salik is a free flow tolling system without toll booths, barriers, or gates, allowing traffic to move freely through the tolling point at highway speeds.There will be two tolling points: Al Garhoud Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road near the Mall of the Emirates. Each time you pass through a Salik tolling point, the toll of AED 4 will be deducted from your prepaid toll account using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.Your vehicle will be identified to the system through communication with the small, thin Salik sticker tag affixed to your windshield. Whenever your Salik balance is low, a sms will be sent to your mobile phone to remind you to refill.

Ramadan Kareem

Today is the first day of Ramadan, and most people in Dubai are fasting. Fortunately, during the month of Ramadan the office hours will be reduced to 6 hours a day, usually between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Eating, drinking and smoking in public during the day is strictly prohibited and will guarantee you a jail time during Ramadan, if caught by the police. Most restaurants in Dubai Media City (where our office is) will be open and will use thick curtains to cover the windows. I see this month as a good opportunity to quit smoking.