Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan starts today. As it's our first experience of Ramadan in the Middle East, we're being extra careful to observe this special holy time for Muslims fasting during daylight hours here.


During this time, one should dress more conservatively than normal and should not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public during the day. The restaurants or few cafés that are open are extremely discreet with entrances screened off and windows blacked out so you cannot look in from outside. The usually bustling and busy terrace areas are also empty and closed off during the day so at first glance one would think the eatery is closed for business. Foodcourts in malls are also screened off, with food only available for take away. Finding a spot to eat it away from public view is another thing.

This afternoon, we did our usual grocery shopping for the week at Carrefour at the Mall of the Emirates. Expecting the usual weekend crowd also doing their weekly shop, we were instead faced with a crazed frenzy of shoppers packing their supermarket trolleys to the brim with meat, fruit and vegetables like there is no tomorrow.

I was a little taken aback when I passed refrigerated meat section. A handwritten sign was stuck on to one of the near-empty shelves I'm so used to seeing stocked full of pre-packed chicken breast, thighs etc. It read: Please refrain from taking excessive amounts. It's just as well I don't need to get any chicken this week! As for beef, well that's a different story. No NZ beef left on the shelves so we got some 'Low fat beef mince' [from who knows where!?] instead.

Needless to say, the queues were diabolical and we ended up queueing for 20 minutes at the checkout counter. I think we'll try to do our groceries next week a little later in the day during iftar, when the crowds should be home breaking their fast.

Thus we spent our first day of Ramadan in Dubai, what an interesting and special time to be here. Ramadan Kareem to you all.