Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 01 October 2014 - 20:55

One only needs to look at this board to see that people do go to brunches, resorts, shopping malls, salons, etc... Of course they do. But let's not forget that lots of people here live off credit cards. Levels of personal debt here are very high, but that's skewed by the fact that so many people have to take bank loans to pay 1-cheque rent. We know people who regularly go to brunches etc, but without exception they're all either single or couples without kids. Malls tend to be busy most days so there are people spending who can afford to spend Malls are busy in part because they give people somewhere to go, but when you actually look at where people are spending, it's the normal everyday shops, not the big-ticket ones. Are all the jewellery shops, boutique clothes shops etc always full of people buying? Of course not. edited by Madge_Gustard on 01/10/2014 No, but that is the same in any city where you have expensive shops. You usually don't see lots of people in the LV store in Zurich or Boston, for example.... [u'>[b'>Malls are doing business. People are spending. If they weren't doing good business, you'd find lots of empty spaces like you see at the Festival City. That is the only mall I know of that has a lot of free retail space....[/b'>[/u'> I don't agree. I hate malls and never go unless I need something but as hot as it is now, we go and get a meal with the family just for something to do. We eat and leave without buying anything. When it is hot, it is a place for people to go but that doesn't mean they are spending.

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Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 29 September 2014 - 18:16

SLaM which is above Tom and Serg Don't know where Tom and Serg is but it is in the building just past ACE Hardware in Al Quoz....basically the very last building on the service road before Al Manara. My first time I had no idea where to park or enter. Best is to park in the huge sandy lot on the side of the building and enter in the side door just in the middle of the building.

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Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 29 September 2014 - 18:12

Before moving to Dubai, I worked from 6am til 5pm and then rushed home to pick up our first child from nursery in time to feed her, put her to bed and have dinner ready for my husband and me. At least in London there was a wider range of healthy prepared foods to choose from. It was exhausting! The last thing I felt like doing when I got home was to cook dinner, no matter how quick. I'm not dissing quick recipes...they are fantastic for anyone with a busy schedule but a slow cooker is a godsend for a working mom.

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Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 29 September 2014 - 17:57

I would definitely get a slow cooker/crock pot. You can throw ingredients in the night before or morning, turn it on when you go to work and dinner will be ready when you get home. If you get a larger size it will make enough for leftovers to freeze and there's another dinner ready. I borrowed a friend's first to see if I would use one and tried many of the recipes on this site: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2007/07/crock-pot-recipes.html If you google you will find loads more recipes. As a stay at home mom who often has a busy day without time to cook they are really useful; if I were a working mom I'd find it invaluable, especially here where there are very few healthy take away options. They are available to suit many budgets if you look around.

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Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 29 September 2014 - 14:42

Well after spilling your Ranches driving shortcut secrets on EW expect it to be super busy tomorrow! Lol! Not saying anything that isn't all over facebook anyway - there's a petition page called Al Qadra Roundabout with almost 300 likes and the Ranches groups have plenty of discussion !! Where is the old Ranches community forum? I can't seem to find it anymore but will gladly add my name to any petition regarding traffic issue!

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Latest post on 29 September 2014 - 14:28

Justice I second this. My niece loves Justice, the designs, colors and styles really appeal to tweens. Yes. Every time we walk by this store, my daughter begs me to go inside... Yes, my two girls love it as well.

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Catawba KSE

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Latest post on 16 September 2014 - 20:40

Yes there will be kiddies - ranged from 5 to 10. thanks :) Ok then....3 hotels: Al Husn is at one far end and the 'couples' hotel. Generally I think you can stay there with kids but no one below 16 can use the pool or beach so pretty much they discourage kids even if technically they can stay. Of course kids can use the facilities at the other hotels but this place is huge so wouldn't be convenient. So I'd give it a miss if I were there with kids at all (even older). We've been twice and stayed at the two other hotels. There is no doubt that a stay here is not inexpensive but I think that is different than being overpriced as mentioned below. It is a 5 star resort and accordingly not cheap. But it is comparable (as opposed to overpriced) to other 5 star resorts in my opinion. And you get a lot for what you pay for as opposed to many places we've been in UAE/Oman. If you have very young children I'd probably stay at Al Waha which is at the opposite end of the resort from the 'couples' Al Husn. The first time we went we had small children, aged 1 and 3. Al Waha was great for us. This is where the kids club is and most of the activities hosted by the club (like archery, football etc). There is one giant pool. They have since added a small 'waterpark' that kids can play in with flowers raining water etc. When you have kids you have to supervise all the time the convenience to the main kids' facilities at Al Waha is good. If you like a cocktail at sundown....they have happy hour every evening with two for one drinks at the bar/restaurant by the pool and when we had small kids it was great to have an early drink while the kids had dinner by the pool with live music they could dance to and then all retire to the room to put the kids to bed and have adult room service. If you stay here try and get a ground floor. Otherwise the downside with small kids is you can be on upper floors and walk forever to get out. Al Bundar is the hotel in the middle of the two other hotels and where we stayed this past April on our second visit. If I had kids aged 5-10, this is where I would stay. We had kids aged 3, 7 and 9. The 3 year old is always with us so didn't matter where we stayed from that point of view. But for 7 and 9 year olds it offered the perfect measure of security and independence. Al Husn has more pool area and the pools are more varied with more nooks and crannies so as an adult you can find more space, even with kids. Also more loungers given more space. It is connected to Al Waha by the lazy river so we felt very safe telling our 7 and 9 year old they could take the lazy river on their own to kids' scheduled activities at the kids club as long as they checked in at specific times and they loved this independence. The bulk of the restaurants/shops are at this hotel but a 5 minute walk to either of the other hotels. It is very long and spread out; the key is to ask for ground floor as you have a little patio and can access pools etc directly rather than having to walk ages through the hotel. And again with older kids, they know where your room is on the ground floor if you put something out to recognise on the patio and can have a run around and come back to the room at designated times without having to wander through a massive hotel. As stated above, this is not an inexpensive resort but it compares with prices at other 4-5 star resorts in Dubai. It is a lovely secluded location with very good facilities and staff. Both times we have gone we have had a great holiday and said 'we should come more often.' We took my sister-in-law this past April and they were so impressed they were ready to fly back on their own from the UK for another holiday a few months later. I'm afraid I can't remember how long the drive is.....on our way there we went via Al Ain and Jebel Shams. This is definitely the longer way to go and parts of the road are absolutely horrendously dangerous (think much worse than Dubai). Going via Hatta is faster and better as two lanes the whole way so not so much dangerous passing. I don't know about going [u'>into[/u'> Oman but [u'>exiting [/u'>at Hatta there is a newer passport office and it was much faster (as opposed to the previous absolute chaos). I would just plan not to go through at peak times. I know this is completely useless as I can't remember the exact time but the last time we travelled from Shangri La to Dubai was about an hour less than we expected. It is a boring drive with lots of speed cameras in Oman but it is not a bad 4-5 hour drive if you don't go in rush hour. Sorry I can't remember exactly. If I can answer anything else, happy to do so. edited by Catawba KSE on 16/09/2014 <em>edited by Catawba KSE on 16/09/2014</em>

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Latest post on 16 September 2014 - 19:03

Kids or no kids? And if yes, what ages?

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Latest post on 11 September 2014 - 16:18

Catawba, how much did you pay Sani Service and for what size house? thanks. You pay by number of a/c units and living spaces. We are in 5 bed villa that has 6 units and 11 living spaces and the cost was AED5,500.

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Latest post on 09 September 2014 - 21:13

Jenny, I think it depends on how much of a cleaning you expect/need. We've been here 8 years. For the 1st 5 we just relied on the company we had a maintenance contract with to clean our a/c units and that was fine since I didn't come from somewhere where I was familiar with the level of cleaning required. But what I learned in retrospect is that the cleaning maintenance companies do is very superficial....they clean the filters, grills etc but it is largely cosmetic and they don't do any sort of deep cleaning at all. We had very reputable companies doing this and when I needed a proper deep clean even they recommended someone else. When we had our third child who has breathing difficulties and is probably asthmatic it all changed. An entirely clean a/c system is vital to his health and so we've had to look at a different level of cleaning and consequently price. We have used Sani Service who was recommended by my son's allergist and it has made a world of difference, not just to my asthmatic son but to the other two children in the house (they used to have coughs all the time when the a/c was on and none when it was off...now they don't have them at all). They do not just clean superficially like the maintenance companies.....it takes them an entire day and they clean everything including the ducts, fog the whole house afterwards etc. Of course it is not cheap but it makes a huge difference in my opinion to overall health of the family. I'm being long winded but I didn't grow up with a/c year round like Dubai so just want to let new people understand what I didn't know. When I came I thought the cleaning my maintenance companies were doing was sufficient; having researched I found it was not. If you don't have small kids or breathing issues in your house maybe 'typical' cleaning service is ok. But I've since found it makes a world of difference to pay the extra for someone like Sani Service to clean. <em>edited by Catawba KSE on 10/09/2014</em>

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