Park life

Dubai has some great parks and the lush green oases are popular escapes for the city's residents, after work and on weekends. It's here you'll see an interesting cross-section of Dubai's local and expat communities at play, especially on Fridays and Saturdays (the UAE weekend).

Creekside Park: This is our favourite, attracting a real mix of people, from Chinese expats playing soccer to Emirati families taking their kids to Children City (an edu-tertainment centre). A profusion of aromas always fill the air, from strawberry sheesha to kebabs sizzling on the tiny portable barbecue grills that every Arab expat has in the boot of their car.

Al-Mamzar Park: This park, next to the neighbouring Sharjah emirate, is a secret gem with sandy white beaches, crystal-clear aquamarine waters, chalets for rent, barbecues and a swimming pool.

Za'abeel Park: This park has a lake, ponds and plenty of space, attracting everyone from fully covered Iranian women to barely-clad joggers.

See Satwa before it's gone

Cities like Dubai that thrive on the backs of expat labour need neighbourhoods like Satwa. This is where Dubai's low-income workers live in modest shared houses, pooling their income to pay rent, and sharing in the cooking of communal meals.

In some cities, neighbourhoods like Satwa would be ghettos, but in Dubai they're not. Satwa's squat, ramshackle homes, with peeling paint and colourful gates, boast cooling courtyards where residents cook, eat and hang their washing; bougainvillea cascading over walls; and fat chickens roaming the sandy lanes.

A saunter through Satwa with its tiny corner stores, bicycle repair shops, cluttered tailors, Afghan 'hole-in-the-wall' bakers, and simple eateries, reveals the smells and sights of places like Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. One day it will be gone, swept up in Dubai's land boom and turned into some soulless expat toy town, so enjoy it while you can.

Al Mateena Road

This fascinating neighbourhood sees very few Western expats, let alone tourists. Centred on and around laidback Al Mateena Road, this is an 'upmarket' version of Satwa, where the low-income workers live in low-rise apartment blocks alongside big old villas belonging to middle class Emirati families. The main drag is a median strip of a palm tree-filled park with wooden benches and tables where local residents settle in for games of backgammon or a snooze on a sultry night.

Head here in the evenings and join the locals — mainly Afghanis, Iraqis and Iranians in traditional dress — for a slow stroll of the strip. The street is lined with countless Iraqi and Persian kebab restaurants that fire up as soon as the sun goes down, so it's an excellent spot for tasty, inexpensive and filling food.

Pretty in pink

Just five minutes from traffic-clogged Sheikh Zayed Road and 15 minutes from the heart of old Dubai (depending on traffic of course), Dubai Creek winds around to an enormous expanse of water and marshland, revealing a massive population of elegant pink flamingos, sometimes numbering in the thousands.

Ras Al Khor Nature Reserve, also known as the Dubai Creek Waterbird and Wildlife Sanctuary, gets few visitors, yet from the small wooden hides it's possible to get up close and personal with the birds. Binoculars are available at the hides, along with information on the other birdlife thriving here.

Next: Where the locals dine

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