Today I am going to do my analysis on the extremely debatable topic i.e Dubai vs Sharjah; for starters I live in Sharjah but that doesn’t mean I would be biased. In fact I will just tell you my 10 reasons why I think Sharjah is better than Dubai.
Before I start lemme tell you the background why I decided to talk about it; actually what happened yesterday was that I was on my way to meet my wife and her sister who recently had a baby and was in the hospital and I was just being lazy to get out of the house while giving so many reasons why I shouldn’t go and ended up doing a vlog which you can see right HERE but it didn’t have clear reasonings in it so now I am writing my 10 reasons for considering Sharjah is better than Dubai.
1 – Desi Food Heaven
Yes you guessed it right this was the pretty obvious thing I would have said first because those of you who read my blog know how much I miss lahori food. So Sharjah in very clear words is DESI FOOD HEAVEN; you have amazing desi restaurants ranging from Nayab Handi, Saffron, Najmat-e-Lahore, Khan Chacha, Qantarah and many more the list keeps on going. Now some people who will argue that dubai has lots of desi food options as well and to clear them out that as soon as I leave my building (al taawun) I find a nan shop right behind my building and three-four pakistani desi restaurants in 3-5 mins walk and trust me its the same for others as well living in Sharjah. To tempt you up a bit here is a picture of some desi food which I had few days back after walking 5 minutes from my apartment.
This reminds me I just did a post on best desi nashta in sharjah check that as well HERE
2 – Reasonable Rents
This is a most common fact that rents are cheaper in sharjah as compare to dubai. To be honest most of us are expats and one of the major reason why we are living abroad is to earn or to save up; yes then there are people like me who give 4-5 different reasons to live abroad but will do a post on it some other day. So coming back to the point Sharjah 2 bedroom rent ranges from 45k to 70k AED per anum depending on how deep you live in Sharjah. I live on the outer skirts so have to pay a little more but compare to Dubai where it ranges from 80k – 150k. Just to prove my point if i cross two roads in front of my house, I get to see this
3 – Traffic Issue
There is a lot of traffic in Sharjah and that is a known fact but the statement should be THERE IS A LOT OF TRAFFIC IN UAE; Just yesterday I had to go to Al Baraha Hospital (which is in dubai) it took me 20 mins traffic just to go there from Hor Al Anz because it was peak time. The same way whenever I go to business bay or JBR I am always stuck in traffic so sharjah or dubai really doesn’t matter traffic is at large.
Before anyone points out “Mullah Plaza Traffic” it has always been there its like it existed since ages BUT there are certain timings for it 6am – 10:30am (Sharjah to Dubai) & 3:45pm – 8pm (Dubai to Sharjah) coincidentally since am self employed I have nothing to do with these timings. My usual meetings are around 2-4pm and I usually end up home after 10pm so saved again. Yes this is all about me these are MY 10 reasons why Sharjah is better than Dubai.
Food for thought the day the sharjah-dubai traffic ends don’t you think a major chunk of people would move to Sharjah for the sake of saving rent? Think about it
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| The 8pm traffic |
4 – Spacious Apartments
Like i mentioned in my Vlog I have come from Lahore and I am not at all used to the concept of apartments (karachi people have a knack for it) when I came here around 1.3 year back I was living in Dubai and the apartments were tiny; try visiting Sharjah the apartments are HUGE!!!! and oh airy too which I am comfortable with. So Lahorisss & islamabad waloun if you need big space which you can afford SHARJAH is the place.
5 – Family Environment
Am not conservative but it’s just that I am not the clubbing type of a person and being married while having a small baby I do consider Sharjah’s environment much better for families, you won’t find any bars, clubs, massage center or beer bars in Sharjah plus the dressing is a bit conservative. Till I leave a muslim country and go to a more western one I think I would prefer to keep it this way.
To add one of the place which I love going to is Qasba its so much fun with family.
6 – Photogenic Environment
Its maybe me or others would agree to this that street photography is amazing in Sharjah; it is still not that modernize so you can get a very emirati feel to it as compare to Dubai which has completely revamped except the old areas of UAE which still doesn’t give a UAE feel it gives more of a Karachi feel to me. Those of you interested in doing good photography in Sharjah try going to the corniche area or port area of sharjah.
7 – Free Parking
Yes you heard it right, free parking everywhere and that too immense amount of it; like why would you pay for parking when there are so many free options here. The only downside to parking out is your car gets easily dirty but it is still doable.
8 – Cultural Value
Like i mentioned above that its very photogenic because of not being westernized as yet that is one major reason it still has a lot of culture intact if you go to the maliha side you will get the complete desert feel while in sharjah it self you can explore the proper culture. One of my favorite places in Sharjah is the Art museum near rolla it is so amazing. And if you go deep inside the sharjah you will get to see the concrete house the way they used to be built rather than the high rise buildings. Plus every ministry building is like a architecture orgasm the moment you see them.
9 – House Cleaners & Purchasing
Since I just had a baby plus my wife works as well with me so to maintain the busy schedule she doesn’t get time to clean the house and the only options in Dubai is to hire maid services which I think is way over priced while in Sharjah many buildings offer the service and that too in a reasonable price. One more thing about Sharjah is you can get car accessories, electronics, computer shops at affordable rates so yes Sharjah is all about saving money and like I said before if you are here to save money or support your family back home this is the place to live.
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| people working at the port |
10 – Grocery Shopping
By grocery shopping I don’t mean Carrefour, Spinneys or Sharjah/Union Coop by grocery shopping I mean getting Pakistani Mangoes, Pakistani fruit, Pakistani masalas and other things which you miss even things like Top pops (I am sure mostly people remember the chips) for that there are so many pakistani shops here from where you can easily manage. I even got a aloo ka samosa with jalebi yesterday so boy oh boy sharjah is great lol.
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| Tradition Sandwich crafter; very few people would understand or remember what this used to do |
And that was it my reasoning for liking Sharjah more than Dubai; if I remember more points or if YOU have more reasons why you like Sharjah or why you don’t like Sharjah just leave in the comments below.