7 Things Egyptians Living in Dubai Miss About Home

Over the past few decades, one of the cities that Egyptians have now come to think of as a second home is Dubai. And yeah Dubai has skyscrapers, and Lamborghinis, and like, basically everything, but despite it becoming one of the best cities to live in the world, Dubai-based Egyptians often feel like booking the next flight back home. Because as fabulous as the city is, there are still a number of things it can't possibly offer its Egyptian residents. 

Beaches(Source: Getty)

We know Dubai has beaches. But it's hard to live up to Egypt's 2400 KM shoreline stretch on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, world renowned diving spots, and flourishing marine life. They may have beaches but do their beaches have that level of screensaver blue? Do they? DO THEY? No, they don't. Egyptian beaches FTW. 

Weather(Source: Getty Images)

Dubai's weather makes Lord of The Rings' final scene when Frodo throws the ring in Mount Doom seem like a Central Park walk during spring. Don't get us wrong, we know summer in Egypt isn't exactly breezy and fresh, but we'll take it over Dubai's car-wheel-melting heat any day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

Mama's Ma7shy

You can definitely get Ma7shy from countless Dubai restaurants, but good luck trying to find the same samna balady-smothered, pureed tomato-filled, artery-blocking ma7shy your Mama used to slave over all day for you. It's just not the same. *cries into generic tub of ma7shy*

24-Hour Delivery 

We know it's unfair to compare any other city to Cairo in this regard, for it is the uncontested queen of home deliveries everywhere. There isn't anything you can think of that can't be delivered to you anytime of the day, no competition here. If you decide at 3 AM you want a Norweigan baby, 5 AM, you will have that Norweigan baby. 

Jaywalking

We're definitely not in favor of the random-street-crossing phenomena. But for crying out loud, if there are no cars on the streets and it would only save us time to freaking cross it, please don't fine us all the Dirhams we own for practicing our god-given right of using our legs to get to places.

Hashish

Drugs are bad. But hash is a national pastime, let's all be honest. Now, there's hashish in Dubai but it's super expensive and almost impossible to find. That aside from the fact that if you get caught with it, you will barely have time to pack your bags before you're thrown onto the next flight out of there - or into jail. Egypt, on the other hand, is a flourishing market for hash; you can find hash of different qualities, sizes, and prices. You can even score a freebie joint or two if you're low on cash. And if you get caught with hash, just bribe the policeman with hash. Homesick yet?

Ahwa

At this point, it would probably be a real challenge to not find restaurants and cafes that cater to every kind of taste in Dubai. However, nothing quite measures up to the Egyptian ahwa experience; you smoke shisha, and play cards for hours on end, and just take in the slightly rancid but oh-so-familiar smell of the streets - for a fraction of the price of most items on any Dubai restaurant menu.

Main image taken by @MO4Network's Abanoub Ramsis.