Tell us what it was like....

Wow, these are great stories! Thank you all for sharing :) I laughed at Norak's comment about stocking up. That was the first "expat commandment" passed on to me by a seasoned expat back in another country. The second was not to tell anyone when you find a good tailor. DH and I have lived in both developed and undeveloped countries as expats. One thing we agreed upon is we (maybe just I) have a tendency to complain more in Dubai, as opposed to another place we lived. The irony? In the other place, rent was double the cost, acquiring Malaria was a near certainty without meds, electricity iffy, roads horrific, and the list goes on-- but we sucked it up. I would venture to say we celebrated small things and were easily amused. Not really sure where I am going with this, but your stories just got me thinking that my moan factor should be about zero. Also sounds like I missed out on some charm that Dubai has lost. Aside from the L & D stories. Yikes!

All the accounts of days of old in Dubai are very interesting. :) [Di said'> [i'> I went home to have all my children, for reasons as Shaks described, and always traveled quite near my due date, with my third baby I only just made it home, had contractions on the flight all the way trying to convince myself must be indigestion,my mother took me straight from Heathrow to the London hospital I was booked at and I flew back days later with my new daughter. I must have been crazy to have risked it that late![/i'> Di, so did you have to cross your legs for the duration of the trip then? Giving birth sounded very primitive in those days, can't blame you for going home. I liked the pictures, especially the one with the plane full of falcons. Jumeirah mosque looks amazing from that aerial view as well. edited by Alismum on 30/11/2014 Not quite but I did have my fingers crossed! I was lucky, it did seem the longest flight ever at the time not knowing if I was going to make it I was so relieved to get to Heathrow I burst into tears when we landed, but at least the waterworks was only minor!

All the accounts of days of old in Dubai are very interesting. :) [Di said'> [i'> I went home to have all my children, for reasons as Shaks described, and always traveled quite near my due date, with my third baby I only just made it home, had contractions on the flight all the way trying to convince myself must be indigestion,my mother took me straight from Heathrow to the London hospital I was booked at and I flew back days later with my new daughter. I must have been crazy to have risked it that late![/i'> Di, so did you have to cross your legs for the duration of the trip then? Giving birth sounded very primitive in those days, can't blame you for going home. I liked the pictures, especially the one with the plane full of falcons. Jumeirah mosque looks amazing from that aerial view as well. <em>edited by Alismum on 30/11/2014</em>

Some of the accounts here made me wish i was here at that time... i have as my mother call it an 'old soul' inside me... :)

It’s lovely to read other’s recollections and to know its of interest, when I was there I used to talk to people who had been there from the early 1950's and thought them the real brave pioneers. With National Day almost here again these memories make me feel very privileged to have witnessed the transition of Dubai to the wondrous metropolis it is today. As far as misconceptions go about the country little was generally known about the region back home, friends and family would sincerely ask if we rode camels to get around, they automatically assumed there was no electricity or running water, and just before I first flew out my grandmother warned I would be plagued with fiendish sand bugs and the sun would ruin my English complexion, she was quite convinced she would never see me again or at least in form she knew! In spite of all this I recall having a positive anticipation of the future when I set out and happy to report neither the bugs nor the sun ever got me. Electricity did come and go, fortunately our villa had a pool and we often take our meals outside and sit in it until it came back on. There was no television early on until Channel 33 was inaugurated with full English transmission. Programs used to begin English transmission at 2pm as the frequency was shared with the Arabic channels. When the children were small our TV would be switched on daily awaiting the signal switch so the boys could watch the children’s segment in the afternoon, it was mainly old cartoons like Tom & Jerry. There was one English news broadcast daily and a movie and that was pretty much the entertainment. Dubai airport had a single runway and was a modest low building with few facilities, there were few expats so travelling in and out was more of an event, I went home to have all my children, for reasons as Shaks described, and always traveled quite near my due date, with my third baby I only just made it home, had contractions on the flight all the way trying to convince myself must be indigestion,my mother took me straight from Heathrow to the London hospital I was booked at and I flew back days later with my new daughter. I must have been crazy to have risked it that late! The old Sharjah airport runway was where Mahatta Park is today, if you see the shape of the park you can picture a runway being there before, the original fort built to protect the passengers is now the museum. Driving was something you could do for relaxation! Hard to believe, but I found going out on the roads with no congestion even though most roads were very basic really enjoyable, as others have mentioned there were lots of loose livestock wandering all over the place and they would walk out into the road freely so dodging these was sometimes an issue although speed was never a need in those days. The road toward where Dubai collage is now was a sandy track for most of the way, when the college first opened and my son attended it still was not tarmacked all the way. Looking back I’d say everything really began to develop in the 80’s and Dubai started to find itself on the world map, shortly after the opening of the Shindaga Tunnel under the Creek I happened to see the British dancing group ‘Legs and Co’ of Top of Pops fame, they must have been one of the earliest entertainers to come out, anyway they had for some inexplicable reason decided to walk under the tunnel dressed up to the nines in their gear. They nearly caused a mass pile up from all the astonished drivers who could not believe their eyes. I wonder if anyone remembers them from Top of the Pops. I’m assuming they made it to the other side! All this reminiscing got me looking online at photos of old Dubai there is an aerial view of Jumeirah in this link below where I can see my old villa by the beach, was really happy to find that, just up from the Mosque is the location of the old beach road Spinneys , another pic of the Chicago beach Hotel as it was then and the Trade Centre standing alone in sandy surroundings, from a 22nd floor office I took so many photos looking over Dubai, in those days you could clearly see all the way toward the sea in uninterrupted views along Diyafa street with its few residential buildings and single lane road. This is getting a bit too long, so I’ll stop now, hope you enjoy the pics. http://www.dubaiasitusedtobe.com/pages/places/Dubaifromthesky.shtm#.VHguRzGsUi4 <em>edited by Di@DXB on 28/11/2014</em>

I went in labor on a friday afternoon, was admitted to Rashid hospital, asked to take a shower , all my belongings went into a rubbish bag and handed to my DH. I went to the labor room and had no contact with my family until I gave birth on Sunday night. I had no books, money, toothbrush, nothing. DH was allowed to see us between 2 doors for a couple of minutes. Visits were for 2 hours and went home on Tuesday afternoon. Had no clue on how to look after my baby. I had the book by Dr Spock and l just followed instructions. This was in 1978

The first time I visited Dubai was at the end of 2004 - ten years later and the place is unrecognisable! It has been interesting to see the growth and changes over the last decade - I lve reading these accounts to the changes from years before.

There's nice old thred on sme topic OP, http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/topic145799-those-in-uae-prior-to-2002-do-you-prefer-the-old-or-new-dubai.aspx?Page=0

Yes remember the teapot with the booze....and the Lilly club on the corniche in Ajman, the place to be : Marbella club ! Used to walk to the flying saucer for tea and French cream cakes : Gerard used to work there as a pastry chef! Had New Year's Eve celebration in hotels in dry sharjah with bottles hidden under the tables ....everyone was drunk going home.

In those days Sharjah was the place to be, before it was dry. all the action was in sharjah! Does anyone remember the round chinese restaurant on the beach in (dry) sharjah which served 'special tea' i..e wine in china teacups and poured from teapots!!

Shaks I recently had to take one of our Birth Certs from Rashid Hosp '78 to the Ministry of Foreign affairs to be attested and the gents behind the desks were all passing it round saying look at this.. :biggrin:

Arrived in June 1978 in Sharjah, 3 month pregnant .... No English newspaper, some English TV a few hours a day ( channel 33) lived in a flat in the clock tower round abound ..one of the best place in Sharjah. Gave birth in Rashid hospital....my most funny memory : there was no local made slice bread in those days we had to eat Arabic bread but spinneys used to import it once a week! I still remember it was 9 Dhs for a pack when DH salary was 5000 Dhs a month.... We could not afford to burn the toasts! A French supermarket in Sharjah used to sell cider for Apple juice , we discovered it by chance and used to stock up. A friend of mine got issued with the UAE driving license when she gave the police a provisional British driving license...she had never been behind the wheel...so her hubby used to teach her how to drive in the afternoon when everyone was asleep. Sharjah Dubai road was a dual carriage way with a police car / ambulance near al mulla plaza and one at Sharjah entrance. We had to inform them if an accident happened on the road. I also remember the shanty towns where is Hor Al Hans. We had constant power cuts in the summer, but life was simple and we had a very close knit community of friends .

I was recently looking through air mail letters my parents would send their parents during the 70's here. SOO interesting. and 'leave' was only once a year so people would only see their families once a year. Even getting a phone line to phone home was a mission! and going to souks for everything! Dr's prescribing salt tablets to people coming to live/work here.

My DH was in Dubai from 1972 until 1975. He says that there was very little built and lots of traditional houses. He was there as a chartered quantity surveyor and spent lots of his spare time zooming about on the sand dunes and at the beaches with his Ozzie friends. Our DS is now in Dubai working as an architect and when we visit him, DH just shakes his head in disbelief at how plastic the place looks now, His words, not mine LOL!!

My memories -- from someone who has poor memory - LOL. I arrived in early 1993 or 94. We lived in Diera by Al Ghurair Center until our apartment was ready. The two main places to grocery shop was either a small Spinneys there in Diera or a big trip over to the Co-Op there in Karama --- that was my adventure for the week. The Co-Op is still there, of course, it seems so small now but it was great then. Also, when you bought groceries there, you paid for things individually -- like meat was paid for at the meat counter; then bread at the bread counter, and veggies at the veggie counter, etc. Fortunately, all the real basics were here at the time, but it did make you have to cook and bake just about everything from scratch. We did most of our vegetables at the vegetable market in Diera every couple of weeks, and I remember so vividly buying boxes of melons, potatoes and cucumbers and tomatoes etc. for practically nothing! If you wanted parsely or mint, they'd stuff a plastic grocery bag full (heaving) for 50 fils. Now, you can barely get a few sprigs for a dirham. Humour fish was plentiful and cheap from the fish market. I remember the first first Dubai Shopping Fest. It was held mostly in Diera on Al Rigga Road or by the Creek where there were so many little stalls of goods, foods, lights, etc. on the sidewalks along the whole road. There were so many people out walking, eating, shopping and having fun. We'd usually spend some time at Safa Park or the Corniche in Diera on the weekends. When the Creekside Park was built and newly opened, I remember it being so baren -- the trees where little sprouts waiting to grow. I remember once there was a "sale" advertised in the paper for a shop in Bur Dubai just before the tunnel. Let me tell you, it felt like the entire city turned out for this shop and it was a little shop (like Karama size), and it stopped traffic. Cars stopped in the middle of the street to let the women in Abaya's sworm to the place buying everything and anything and, I remember, when we finally got in, there was nothing left. I had never seen anything like it -- it was so surreal. Driving down the new SZR from the Diera bridge there was really only the Trade Center on the horizon. Past that, there was those large apartments on the left, and Ramada Inn on the right. Then nothing until you got to the Defense R/A -- or the Safeway Exit now -- where there were those tall apartment complexes on each corner. Then nothing again until Safa park -- and certainly not much of anything past that. Safa Park was packed just about any day of the week, but the weekends were so busy. On Al Wasl Road, there was not much past Safa Park as well. I once visited a friend who lived all the way down at the end (almost to the Police College), and we had this great road (Wasl Rd), but there was nothing but sand on either side until we got to my friend's house. There were just three houses there next to the road all by themselves going towards the Beach Road and not much else. Oh, another thing I remember was any shops or apartments or places hardly had any asphalt or brick finishing around them. We had to constantly walk through sand to get to anything -- parking as well was always in sand. I just remember feeling like I was certainly in a foreign country and everything was so new and different -- yet had a bit of home by the ability to buy some western products. One thing I learned so long ago that I practice to this day -- do not hesitate to buy something if you see it because it is never there when you go back. Of course, it is no where near as bad now as it was then, but I remember so many times "hesitating" to buy something -- large or small, only to go back and it would be gone. This applied to groceries, furniture, nic-naks, etc. Oh, and Karama was the place to buy some real bargains. It is nothing like it used to be - sadly. And animals of all sorts were everywhere -- not unusual to see goats, chickens, camels, sheep roaming around on the roads. <em>edited by norak on 27/11/2014</em>

In the 70's, goats on the roads which were mostly not tarmaced. weekends consisted of filling a cool box and going to the beach, and sharing fish with the fishermen when they brought their catch in at the end of the day: Questionable ac, no play areas, not a lot of expats - whenever i think bout complaining about the summer heat i remember how my mum did it with two toddlers with none of the nice cool play areas, cinemas, and luxuries we have now!

Maybe not so long as the 70's be we arrived in 1987 and were based in Al Ain, which seemed a long way away from Scotland in August! it was not uncommon to see Sheikh Zayed driving around or see camels and donkeys on the main roads in and around Al Ain. Ramadan was a very special time and everyone would be out on the streets or on their balconies waiting for sunset and the call to prayer. It was a small community and very friendly although more conservative. When driving to Dubai from Al Ain we knew we were getting close when we spotted the Trade Centre on the horizon or the recently demolished Metropolitan hotel at Safa where we used to pay softball. SZH was not built, the beach road was on the beach and the beach was stunning, and empty and perfect for camping just past where the Madinat is now. adding to the other thread, coca cola opened their first factory in Al Ain in the 1990's and diet coke was not available for years. Credit cards were never used and cash was the way to go. It was also not unusual to see ladies and men using their fingerprints as a signature at the bank as the literacy levels were not as they are today. Bedouin ladies would come in with paperbags full of jewellery! It was a fab place to live and seems quite surreal now. It was never a hardship but water used to be delivered by truck and only was pumped off the main line every second day. Lots of things we were so accustomed to were not available but it was a reminder that we actually did live in a foreign country! In the first month we had no phone nor tv. And of course there was not internet nor mobile phones. Sometimes I wish it had not changed :-)

Now this has the potential to be a really interesting read :) I LOVE stories like these (she says hopefully!)

No Coke Products, which is why Pepsi still has an advantage in this market As a kid, Dadabhai was 7th heaven Used to wait a whole week, which seemed like a whole month, for the comics in Young times/Junior News