These days the normal reads everywhere are on global recession, credit crunch, market crisis and the likes. Any magazine will feature a couple of pages on money saving tips! It ranges from - book your holidays early, eat healthy from local markets, find budget restaurants, switch your energy supplier, hunt for offers and promotions - to the ‘Recession Wear’ in the French capital – new ways to cope by top brands like Louis Vuitton, Carlo Brendalli and many more.
While browsing through Shortlist just got to see a bit of news on Dubai, saying Dubai does culture by investing on an art museum. Good idea for impinging their ethnicity!
It is supposed to be one of the fastest growing cities and is predicted to overrun London by 2012 in business. Main business being tourism and real estate it seems! Oil reserves are not the main catch unlike fellow UAE cities. I guess it already swarmed over London in traffic and accommodation expenses. I have this friend in Dubai who says people who cannot afford homes in Dubai live in Sharjah and drive 3 hours up and down for work (6 hours in road on a good day…I shouldn’t mourn about mine then!). The point to be noted here is that the whole deal is for a 25 km drive. And to avoid the traffic they begin their day at 4 am in cars to their destination and sleep in car parks.
This friend who lives in Dubai on her recent visit, who we call an envoy of the place has tried to sway some of us to move to Dubai. The start was all on congenial aspects of Dubai – the HUGE take home u can dream of (no taxes!!!), any style of living options to choose from in Dubai – posh as well as reasonable (unlike London! She could very well relate it as she was a London resident a couple of years back), shopping options – local as well International, eat outs and nightclubs – from budget Malayali restaurants to Burj Ul Arab, local public schools to Cambridge School and American Univeristies, and on top of all it is only 4 hours away from home land.
As the conversation went on the other side of the coin was also divulged like the learning aspects. It was something personal to this person as she experienced a better learning curve and job satisfaction in UK. There may be difference of opinion on this with many Dubai resident professionals I suppose, not a categorical case here. Especially when Dubai is attracting or I would say buying in specialists and professionals for their Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Financial Market and the likes. Top IT giants and financial leaders have invested in heavily. Head hunters are on the run it seems even during this ‘recession’! On the investment side, this friend who tried to enter the property ladder was taken a step back when she heard the market price of a single bedroom apartment as 1.3 million. It is not one of the Palm Islands or The World bit by Nakheel! Another point was the expected one on the extreme heat and chilling cold and sudden change of weather conditions. How can you complain too much on weather especially when you are living in North England?
It is shame that we didn’t get to spend a couple more of days in Dubai when we stopped over early this year. All we could do was the Desert Safari and a night drive to the city and both were quite enjoyable. We did recognise the shopping options as we found Debenhams next door to Nalli Silks. What more can you expect in terms of options! And the new International terminal is referred to ‘feel of heaven’ (yet to see this as we found the old one terrible with more living and non-living things than its capacity!). The place and its prospects have the pros and cons like any other place and like what this friend says, it is all on priorities. If this is the time in life when you feel ‘make money’ and you have the right skills, give it a try – may be the best choice for you! This girl guaranteed SreeRaj with three times more take home income (excluding accommodation, medical insurance and yearly travel tickets to base land) for the specialist area of his work and experience. And Projects Management is definitely on demand, so it wouldn’t be hard for me to find a good bargain it seems. It is definitely good to know that you have options; and the stress is again on priorities.
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