Dubai’s Sand Castles

As the manager of a Dubai real estate brokerage, Imran Mohamed, a Scot of Pakistani descent, had a front-row seat at one of the most incredible property bubbles ever. Early last year, a few months before the height of the emirate’s boom, he fought his way through the lines at the opening sale of a new waterfront condominium development. Such launches always attracted crowds of investors eager to get the first shot at a new offering, but the buzz that day was especially intense, remembers Mohamed.

(He asks that his real name not be used because his company is in financial difficulty and he may leave the country.) Helicopters circled the event “as if David Beckham had arrived at the airport,” he says. Inside, Mohamed put a down payment on an apartment, walked out the door, and sold the unit to a Russian man on the street for double his purchase price. The man paid cash. In just 20 minutes Mohamed had made $408,000. The lesson: “In Dubai, you can throw your ethics and economics textbooks right out the window, because the rules just don’t apply.”

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Source: Time

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

Dubai’s new behaviour guidelines

SKIMPY shorts, bikinis and kissing in public could soon be banned in Dubai, say authorities.

The glitzy Gulf city has laid down new behaviour guidelines in the local media in an attempt to tame public behaviour.

The outlines of the possible new restrictions appeared in Al Emarat al Youm, an Arabic-language newspaper with close ties to Dubai’s ruling family.

Dancing and playing loud music in public will be banned, while couples kissing, holding hands or hugging could face fines or detention.

Miniskirts and skimpy shorts would no longer be tolerated outside hotels, while bikini wearers could be forced off public beaches and only permitted on the fenced-off sands of luxury resorts. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » March 2009

$1.5 billion mega resort opens in Dubai

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The Atlantis Hotel in Dubai with 1539 rooms has opened with the most expensive private party ever staged at $35 million.  Guests were treated to a $6.58 million fireworks display lighting up the entire resort.  This lavish display had seven times more fireworks at the hotel’s opening than at the Beijing Olympics.

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Posted by Mark Griffin Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » November 2008