Do you know that etisalat (Telecom Provider here) pays a company called Secure computing Dhs 9.5 million ($2.6 million) to block sites every year?

Almost none of the proxy browsing site works. The sites which claims softwares for proxy browsing are also blocked. Nor does some tricks like changes the URL to IP.

Yet to can take damage control measures.

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That as a picture shot at our flat. Sometimes it was turned into mini bars. Made public here, just to bust a myth that UAE is a ‘dry’ place.

UAE being a Muslim country, it’s difficult for ‘drinkers’. You can’t find any bars that we find otherwise unless the place happens to be a upmarket place. You can still find many ways to get your hands on one of those bottles. The easiest way is buying them from Dubai Duty Free shops at the Dubai International Airport. There are almost no restrictions and you can bring home some liquors from the airport and consume in Dubai Emirate. Of course there are illegal ways as well.

For information on liquors and consumption stuffs in the UAE, check out Legal permit to buy spirits @ Gulf News. Now I’ll go about busting myths about Dubai/UAE.

5 Dubai myths busted

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Yours truly hit the deserts for the first time after being in the UAE for half a year.

Desert safari is one of the popular things to do in Dubai. After all, there’s no scarcity of deserts in here. Desert Safari is a ‘thing’ where we do adventurous driving in the desert sand in one of those 4X4 drives. People alos take it to beaches, rocky mountain terrains and deserts. I love 4×4 drive cars. I want one of those Range Rover, BMW X5 or better still the Hummer H3.

Nothing much to write about…. this post is a picture essay. Only there’s not much of essay!

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One of the many things that I like about Dubai is the diversity. Here you can people of different nations, different cultures, different walks of life. Dubai is truly a Global City.

Here even in our apartment, it’s the same. No two persons are from the same state! We cook together (thereby having a variety of cuisines), get together (this is a bloody ritual for us.. keep chatting till sleep tames us), and things like that.

I leave you guys and gals with a photo we took in our room.
3 persons. 3 religion. 1 little happy friendship!

(From left)Thomson George, Ashwin Ravindran (thats me), Sheikh Mohamed Mustafa

It always feels good to get treated on things you live.. and that too for free, isn’t it?

After being here in Dubai for over 5 months, I have seen 6 movies in Cinemas. It will kind of dig your pocket deep, as tickets are little expensive (Dhs 30/Rs 360) compared to rates back home in Chennai.

So how about free movie in the Cinemas? I’ve seen 2 movie in Cinema for free!

Want to know how?

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You guys know that I got a lappy and got Wi-Fi connection in a park. Things have started to look up and now we get Wi Fi connection in our apartment as well!

When I didn’t get net connection or if the PC didn’t work, I used to get desperate. My parents knew about the tantrums that I used to make. Now after coming to Dubai, I slowly got off the addiction to net and PC. Now that I have both now.. it feels like paradise!

As usual I checked the speed downloading some torrents. Here’s the result:

The speeds as you can see is around 512 kbps. Sometimes the signals go off and we have to wait for a moment and we have to sit near the balcony to get the signals..but all that is a small issue when looking at the bigger picture: Free and fast Internet Connection!

My Friends and myself (you can see my lappy screen) frantically browsing in our apartment! (They didn’t try this before! Pays to marry a geek!! Chicks take notice!!!)

Time to start downloading things..TV Shows, Movies, Music (which I already started), blogging, browsing and things that I missed after coming to Dubai!

P.S. : You can imagine how happy I must be taking note of the amount of “!” I used in this post!!!

There are over 170 Wi-Fi hotspots in Dubai! Some 15% of them is free! All you need is a Wi-Fi enabled laptop.

Last Friday after visiting the IBN Battuta Mall, my friend dropped me in Muteena park, near Emirates Co-op market. Eventually I happened to carry my lappy. I have seen many people using their lappy in the park and I know that there was free wi-fi network in that area.

So decided to test mine as well.

After checking in for some 15 minutes and changing the location 2-3 times finally we got the network access! It was a whole hour of free and fast net connection. Next time, I’ll try to take a photo of that place.

I just test this thing with a torrent file. This is the result: 100+ KBps speeds!

Not bad!

I love this Wifi thing because :
- I get to access net whenever I want to!
- It’s fast (I got around 1 mpbs)
- Net connection without any wires, account, hardware and other headaches
- It’s free!

Here’s the list of Wi-Fi Hotspots in Dubai: Total Hotspots

Now I’m planning to hit Muteena park every week to enjoy free, fast net access in natural environment.