Talking of hassles, the biggest of them all is of
course finding an apartment here. Rents seem to be increasing 5% every month,
and they've increased by as much as 25% in some areas since the time I came
here in July to tie things up.
And not that apartments are not there. You find apartments of all kinds listed in newspapers - 1/2/3-bedroom apartments, 4/5-bedroom villas, furnished & unfurnished, all kinds. But if you're looking to find a place with all reasonable amenities nearby (supermarket, medical facilities, transport) at a reasonable rent - just forget it! All such areas within reasonable cost are either just too far away (e.g. International City), secluded blocks (e.g. Discovery Gardens) or still coming up (with lots of dust around) e.g. Jumeirah Lake Towers. On two successive days, I walked something like 5 miles (each day) in the Bur Dubai/Mankhool area, just looking for an apartment, without any success - I'm sure at the minimum it'd help me lose some of my tummy!
So your choice is between the devil & the deep sea - either chose a place with no amenities nearby (and probably far from everywhere), or pay through your nose. As for me, I've been scouting around for close to four weeks (my colleagues tell me they - collectively! - didn't take that much time to find an apartment). Finally I plumped for an area with all reasonable facilities nearby i.e. Bur Dubai. Some people tried to dissuade me, citing the distance from office & consequently the time to be spent commuting every day. But, at the end of the day, you need to be assured that while you're at work the 12 hours or so, your family is well provided for and secure.
Even here, it's not easy to land a good apartment. There are so many permutations and computations. Old building, new building. Open kitchen, separate kitchen. With gym/swimming pool, or without. And the clincher for us - with balcony and without. After all, we Indians do need a bit of Sun to dry our clothes. So it seems I'd finally have to stay on at the hotel apartment for some more time. Not a bad idea as the rent here - almost the same as that of a regular apartment (for a year) - is inclusive of utilities and daily cleaning (plus you save on the 5% commission), something for which you'd otherwise spend a small fortune.
And not that apartments are not there. You find apartments of all kinds listed in newspapers - 1/2/3-bedroom apartments, 4/5-bedroom villas, furnished & unfurnished, all kinds. But if you're looking to find a place with all reasonable amenities nearby (supermarket, medical facilities, transport) at a reasonable rent - just forget it! All such areas within reasonable cost are either just too far away (e.g. International City), secluded blocks (e.g. Discovery Gardens) or still coming up (with lots of dust around) e.g. Jumeirah Lake Towers. On two successive days, I walked something like 5 miles (each day) in the Bur Dubai/Mankhool area, just looking for an apartment, without any success - I'm sure at the minimum it'd help me lose some of my tummy!
So your choice is between the devil & the deep sea - either chose a place with no amenities nearby (and probably far from everywhere), or pay through your nose. As for me, I've been scouting around for close to four weeks (my colleagues tell me they - collectively! - didn't take that much time to find an apartment). Finally I plumped for an area with all reasonable facilities nearby i.e. Bur Dubai. Some people tried to dissuade me, citing the distance from office & consequently the time to be spent commuting every day. But, at the end of the day, you need to be assured that while you're at work the 12 hours or so, your family is well provided for and secure.
Even here, it's not easy to land a good apartment. There are so many permutations and computations. Old building, new building. Open kitchen, separate kitchen. With gym/swimming pool, or without. And the clincher for us - with balcony and without. After all, we Indians do need a bit of Sun to dry our clothes. So it seems I'd finally have to stay on at the hotel apartment for some more time. Not a bad idea as the rent here - almost the same as that of a regular apartment (for a year) - is inclusive of utilities and daily cleaning (plus you save on the 5% commission), something for which you'd otherwise spend a small fortune.
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