Travelogue

Essential Guide

There are always exciting events taking place in Dubai.  Here is a short list of the main ones:

• Dubai Shopping Festival held annually from January 12th to February 12th, and the lower profile Dubai Summer Surprises to attract tourists during the summer period. 
  
• Dubai Global Village The Global Village 2005 has been moved to new, bigger location at Dubailand - on the Emirates Road.  Global Village is part of Dubailand, which aims to become leisure, entertainment and toursim destination of the region.
  The new venue is huge (It covers an area of 17.2 million square feet) and will host over 46 countries through their national pavilions open to an extended period of 79 days (from January 12th to March 31st).  Showcased products range from traditional household items to furniture, foodstuff, garments, antiques, jewellery, education and universities, handicrafts and gift items amongst many other products.
  50 buses to shuttle public from different points of Dubai to the Global Village (average fare is Dhs 2).  Food Court will have over 60 restaurants and 4 main cafes.  Global Village will also have more than 75 kiosks for the retail sector, a lake, and an amphitheatre which can seat 6,000.
  
• Dubai World Cup
  
• Dubai Desert Classic
  
• GITEX The global showcase for the IT industry will be held this year on 25th-29th September 2005.

Religous Events: Islam is the official religion of the UAE, but other religions are respected.  In Dubai the religious holidays are governed by the Islamic Hijra (lunar) Calendar and hence the dates vary from year to year. The main events, however, are :

• Eid-al-Fitr – this event marks the end of Ramadan.
• Adha – this is a season of pilgrimage.
• Lailat-al-Miraj – the ascension of the prophet.
• The prophet’s birthday and the Islamic new year.

Holidays also include New Year’s Day ( January 1) and UAE National day (December 2). In the middle east Thursday and Friday constitutes a weekend. 

Ramadan is the holy month in which Muslims commemorate the revelation of the Holy Koran.  It is a time of fasting and abstaining from all food, drink and cigarettes between dawn and dusk.