Ramadan started here on 1 September. For those of you who don't know what that entails, for a Westerner it means no eating, drinking (including water), or smoking in public during daylight hours.
Alcohol is only on sale after 7pm every night, at bottle stores and hotels. No live music is allowed, and even 'piped' music is forbidden in bars for the month. Western women are advised to dress modestly if walking around town, even after dark.
What happens when this coincides (collides!?) with birthdays? On Monday we investigated one option - for Sarah's birthday - we had a sit down 3-course meal for 30 people, at a Bed and Breakfast, with all the alcohol you can drink, behind closed doors so music was played and general merriment abounded, with no interference from the outside world.
The second option - for Lisa's birthday - happens tomorrow, and seems to be by far the riskier of the 2! We are embarking on a pub crawl through Bur Dubai. Starting at 7pm, obviously, we are supposed to be visiting a few bars at various hotels in a specific area, in the Old Town. Bearing in mind we will all have to be dressed conservatively, and will have to walk between bars, the potential for being arrested for being drunk/underdressed/rude etc in public, is huge. Quite frankly I would not be surprised if it all goes horribly wrong.
I will not be drinking and quite cunningly, I think, will be timing my walks to different bars so as to avoid all the people with me ;-)
I'll keep you posted.
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