We went out for dinner to Mimi Kakushi, a Japanese restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel just down the road.
In any reasonable climate we would have just walked but in 34 degree heat with humidity off the charts it’s just not sensible. We ubered in another Lexus, the driver told us it’s actually obligatory for them according to their regulating body. It turns out regular taxis are the cheaper option over here, usually about half the price. Doh!
We did the set menu which was pricey but very good, and there was no shortage of food. Once again I peaked too early, I was stuffed by the time mains arrived and could only pick at them. Thank goodness for a separate dessert stomach.
Joining us for dinner was the best friend of Craig’s oldest daughter. She is a lecturer at an American University in a nearby Emirate, an hours drive away. She had fascinating stories to tell about expat living over here. She was wooed away from a similar job at Vic Uni in Wellington a couple of years ago, which was an excellent decision in retrospect as Vic has had terrible financial problems since and made a lot of her old colleagues redundant.
The emirate she is living in is much stricter than here in Dubai. You are not allowed any alcohol or pork. Weirdly though, there’s a run down bar at the site of the old British embassy that is exempt, and that’s where all the expats go to socialize. She shares a driver amongst a group of six of them, and he will pick them up and drive them home after a night out. If they take a normal taxi home and the taxi driver thinks they are drunk, he will take them to the police station. Yikes. There is a place you can drive out to in the middle of the desert that is in another different emirate, and it’s a giant discount booze barn. You can stock up on whatever you like and smuggle it home again. Similarly nearby to that is somewhere you can buy pork products, nicknamed the ‘hog shack’.
She gets a good salary and pays zero tax. Health and life insurance is compulsory though. Her apartment has a tiny second bedroom as standard and many of her colleagues will have a live in maid to do all the cooking and cleaning. It’s common to put on weight when you come because life is so easy and you can’t really go outside most of the time, due to the heat. This is called the ‘Dubai fifteen’ (kilos), similar to the ‘fresher five’ students often pack on when they first move into student halls of residence, back in NZ.
One big benefit of living here is the access to international travel. She has visited many other places in the 18 months she’s been here. She has every Friday off and it’s quite feasible to spend these long weekends in another country. She recommends Nepal and Georgia.
She also comes reasonably often to Dubai although it’s pricey. You go to clubs here and you’ll see a group of sheiks wearing the full strict white robes with the headgear, in a roped off area, drinking shots, and getting lap dances from scantily clad ladies. What would Mohammed say?
Home late to bed, we’re planning a chill out day tomorrow, doing nothing more strenuous than hanging by the pool.