Have you ever been accused of sleeping around in Dubai? More specifically, have you been accused of sleeping around in Dubai Airport. You're thinking I'm going to talk about adultery in Dubai and what it can get you, timewise, in jail. Unfortunately not. For those who have struggled between flights, using Dubai as their route hub across the world, stuck in transit, and fed up of duty free, there is now an attraction to putting your feet up in the "quiet area".
What's the solution? Sleepbox. Apparently Sleepbox will be coming to Dubai Airport.
Rumor has it that Dubai Airport is installing 50-70 ‘Sleep Boxes’. Sleep Boxes are small cubicle spaces that are available at public places like Airports, train stations etc where people can book the ‘box’ for set time period to catch some sleep. It offers a small resting space while you wait for that connection in few hours. Ofcourse it doesnt come with attached washroom…you can use a public one for that. The concept is not new as Japan already has ‘Capsule Hotels’ that serve the same purpose. The only difference is that Sleep Boxes are bigger in size and give space to sit and sleep.
Imagine the situation that you are in the modern metropolis, where you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel. It is not comfortable situation, because in the modern, aggressive cities there are no opportunity to rest and relax. If you want to sleep, while waiting your plane or train, it may cause many security and hygiene problems. We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people. For this purpose we have developed a device SLEEPBOX. It provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city without wasting time searching for a hotel. Here are the possible locations for SLEEPBOX: - Railroad stations - Airports - Expocentres - Public and shopping centers - Accommodation facilities In countries with warm climate SLEEPBOX can be used on the streets. Thanks to SLEEPBOX any person has an opportunity to spend the night safely and cheaply in case of emergency, or when you have to spend few hours with your baggage. SLEEPBOX is a small mobile space (box) 2mx1.4mx2.3m (h). The main functional element in it is a bed 2x0.6 m., which is equipped with automatic system of change of bed linen. Bed is soft, flexible strip of foamed polymer with the surface of the pulp tissue. Tape is rewound from one shaft to another, changing the bed. If a client wants to sleep in maximum comfort, he can take the normal set of bed linen for an extra fee. SLEEPBOX is equipped with a ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for a laptop, charging phones. Also under the lounges is a place for luggage. After the clients exit, automatic change of bed linen starts and quartz lamps turns on. Payment can be made on a shared terminal, which provides the client with an electronic key. It is possible to buy from 15 minutes to several hours. SLEEPBOX is intended primarily to perform one main function - to enable a person to sleep peacefully. But it can also be equipped with various additional functions, depending on the situation. Application of the device can be very broad, not only in the form of paid public service, but also for internal purposes of organizations and companies.
Supposedly, you can rent it for between 15 minutes and a few hours.
Perhaps the sleepbox might actually be used for sleeping around after all?
And then a career path will emerge for the Dubai Sleep Police.
Dubai may have had some bad press recently, but it's currently getting some free marketing. The "group" Owl City, famous for their recent single Fireflies have featured the Burj Al Arab on their cover:
But the big question is Why? Why does the Owl City album have the Dubai hotel, Burj Al Arab on it? The answer: "It encompasses that dreamy feeling I get from looking at the ocean. That's all."
In an interview with the beeb:
The album cover is a photo of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Are you trying to get a free holiday there? I had no idea where it was or what it was when I first saw it, I do now but I thought it encompassed the album title and I guess it was more of an aesthetic thing.
UAE driving is legendary for danger - much of it due to fast crazy driving of cars too big for the egos of the drivers driving them. But some is due to bad bad planning. Now one man is trying to change things:
On 17 march 2009 my sister was on the way to university. It was last day of university and she was on the way with her friend. Two hours later we received call from hospital that she had an accident and we rush to the hospital. Four hours later my sister passed away due to operation where she lost blood. Getting the bits and pieces together , the conclusion was the car on u-turn on highway E11 was responsible for the accident. She was on left lane and the car on u-turn hit her , on impact she hit the tree beside the u-turn.
Use the term Persian Gulf and not Arabian Gulf or you will not fly through out airspace:
The airlines of the southern Persian Gulf countries flying to Iran are warned to use the term Persian Gulf on their electronic display boards. Otherwise they will be banned from Iranian airspace for a month the first time and upon repetition their aircraft will be grounded in Iran and flight permits to Iran will be revoked.
The war between the Arabs and the Persian will not wane.
The beard has significance in the Middle East and for Muslims. Whilst it is a neglected practice in this day and age, you can't but notice the number of beards that are kept, fist length or otherwise. But, I digress.
Have you heard about the "ladybeard"? What's that? A lady with a beard. And did you hear the story of the woman who deceived her husband to be.....about her beard? Strange but true:
Dubai: An Arab ambassador said he decided to call off his wedding immediately after he discovered that his wife-to-be, who wears a niqab, was bearded and cross-eyed. The ambassador claimed that the bride's mother deceived his mother, when she went to see his Gulf national wife-to-be, by showing her pictures of the bride's sister. "Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best not to reveal her entire face. After the ambassador and the woman, who is a physician, signed the marriage contract, the groom was sitting with the bride… he claimed to the Sharia court officials that when he wanted to kiss his wife-to-be, he discovered that she was bearded and cross-eyed as well," claimed the source.
Bearded AND cross eyed. That's just bad luck. The sharia court did annul the marriage, but he didnt manage to get back the 500,000 DHS (USD 160K) he had spent in wedding gifts. There should be an obligation for a man to at least see the face so this kind of misunderstanding doesn't occur. Gulf News report that she would wear a niqab, so it's inexcusable that he didnt realise she was crosseyed...or maybe that was misreported. Maybe his beard wasn't as long as hers? Who knows?
But spare a thought for the woman. The facial hair can be sorted...electrolysis, creams, bleaching, plucking, but you can't change your family: how ashamed must the mother be for her to show pictures of the other daughter?
For those of you that find beards interesting, here are some interesting approaches:
This time last week, the world still didn't know that Apple's new device was to be called the iPad. Then there were jokes about how the iPad was just for women, and how not researching what it might mean in India would result in a product which literally meant "I pass wind" dependant on the pronunciation. That aside, think back to the glory days of 2007 when the iPad Tower was announced in Dubai:
Yes, you've guessed it, Dubai has got the Onion treatment:
With only seven of the planned 19 peaks completed and the artificial glaciers only partially frozen, the real estate firm Nakheel now says the landmark Alps Dubai development will miss its planned April 2011 opening date, and with it, the controlled volcanic eruption that would have commemorated the event.
Imagine you were Muslim, had been drinking (probably a bit too much), and then were raped. After realising this, you report it to the police. Despite all the evidence, rape appears to play second fiddle to other crimes. For reference, this appears to have happened in Dubai to a British couple, and the woman in particular. No matter what your views on the other two, surely there is some logic in investigating the rape allegation - there may be even be some compassion in turning a blind eye to the other two "offences". The way that this situation appears to have played out is outrageous:
A British woman who made a rape complaint in Dubai has been arrested for having illegal sex with her fiance, according to reports. The woman, a 23-year-old from London, said she was raped by a waiter in a luxury hotel after celebrating her engagement to her 44-year-old boyfriend, also from London.But when she reported the alleged rape to police in the Middle Eastern state she and her boyfriend were arrested for having sex outside marriage and illegal drinking outside licensed premises. Her attacker is believed to have denied rape, saying the woman, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent, consented, but he has also been charged with "illegal sex".
