Dubai Summer Surprises is Back with a Bang!!!

Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) 2008 is back in Dubai! Bigger and better than ever before, the event is being launched in the emirate tonight. The opening ceremony will be held at Dubai Dolphinarium with 800 invited guests and will usher in two months of festivities based on the theme Tens of Surprises.

A bird’s eye view of events in the coming weeks is given below.

World of Stories
Al Ghurair City
June 21 – June 28, 2008
With shows in English as well as Arabic, the World of Stories will bring classic fables and fairytales to life on stage.

Kids Fashion Week
Dubai Festival City
July 3 – July 9, 2008
This week will showcase the latest in kids fashion from the region.

Kids Olympics Games
Ibn Battuta Mall
July 11 – July 17, 2008
A series of amusing sport activities for children will include Baby Crawling, Rattle Throwing, Tricycle Race, Spoon Race, Baby Marathon, Baby Dancing Contest, Baby Walker and Remote Control Car Race.

The Collectors
WAFI
July 15 – July 22, 2008
The Collectors will be an exhibition of artefacts where visitors can explore local craftsmanship.

Min Bladi Al Emarat
Ibn Battuta Mall
July 24 – July 31, 2008
Since its debut in the year 2004, the Min Bladi is an event that partakes of the regional tradition and heritage. The competitions to pick the best showcasing of local culture and food are major crowd pullers in this event.

Arts Oasis
WAFI
July 29 – Aug 6, 2008
Contemporary artwork from across the globe will be the focus of Arts Oasis. Visitors can hope to grab wonderful pieces of painting and sculpture.

Shayla and Abaya Fashion
BurJuman
Aug 7 – Aug 11, 2008
Designers from UAE and the GCC will display a range of shayla and abaya designs.

Photography Exhibition
Deira City Centre
Aug 12 – Aug 18, 2008
Photographers from the UAE and GCC will get an opportunity to showcase their creative skills. The prize ceremony will be held on August 19, 2008 which is the World Photography Day.

Dubai Summer Surprises 2008

It is that time of the year again!! Dubai is about to wake up to one of the most thronged events every year – Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) which will begin on June 19 and have its grand finale on August 22 this year.

DSS aims at entertaining families and children with activities and events spread out at different venues throughout the city. Each week of the summer months is dedicated to a particular theme during Dubai Summer Surprises. There are live events, dance, music, competitions and workshops in store.

The Dubai Summer Surprises is one of the many times in a year that underlines the reputation of Dubai as a world-class shopping, leisure and tourist destination.

Tasting Traditions in Dubai – Didn’t Know Whom to Ask?

Welcome to Sheikh Mohammad Centre for Cultural Understanding – a place in Beastakiya which is bound to take your cultural notions of Dubai and UAE at large by storm. There are questions in every visitor’s mind regarding the overt and covert cultural capillaries of the place which they just cannot find the answers to. All one needs to do in such a case is make a trip to the Centre.

The Sheikh Mohammad Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) has on offer a cultural breakfast with traditional homemade food, mosque tours, walking tours, language courses and cultural awareness programmes. The centre works in the wake of the fact that for most of foreign tourists who come to Dubai, it might be a little difficult to find a national and even if they find one, it is still more difficult to bombard them with questions.

SMCCU was set up under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The centre was established with an aim to transcend barriers between nationalities, and make people within UAE and beyond understand the traditions and customs of the land. The stereotypical misconceptions about the Arabs and Muslims certainly get dispelled in the process.

The cultural breakfast is the best time and place to uninhibitedly ask questions about UAE tradition and customs that you had in mind since the time you arrived in Dubai but didn’t know whom to ask.

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Tours to Jumeirah Mosque: Every Thursday and Sunday
Cultural Breakfast: Every Monday