Thanks - I will make some notes today, so I am ready for my shopping trip tomorrow!! I totally forgot about those Carpet Condoms - I am sure Ally and Connor would love those so I'll need to look out for them too!

T&P's Mum - The shopping in Dubai isn't really as fantastic as people may think. I have been to SF and Miami, and the range of goods available in the malls there is similar. It's just such a treat after Bahrain - we only have ONE large mall, and it doen't even have a pet shop.

I think maybe the attraction is the atmosphere - it's like a whole "lifestyle"thing - people get dressed up to the nines in all their designer gear, arrive at the mall in their shiny 4 x 4, and buy things "just for the hell of it"- there are loads of designer boutiques etc (which dont interest me). (My idea of dressing up is clothes with no cat-hair on them )There ARE some good electronics shops, so it's a great place for the latest laptops, digital cameras etc, and as you are not paying sales tax, it CAN be a bit cheaper than elsewhere.

They have a 2 week "Shopping Festival"every year - it is absolute chaos - you queue for parking for hours, and the shops are jam-packed. There are some really good bargains during the festival (we got a flat panel TV for 30% off), but you need to shop around carefully - you cant just assume that because it's the shopping festival you will be saving money!

For myself I have the following on my list:
Some South African food and sauces (HUGE South African expat community there, so the shops cater for them)
IKEA for new bath mats
ALMAY make-up (dont get that in Bahrain)

and of course stuff for the cats.