So I blogged yesterday about the No Boozy Food ruling that was to be enforced with immediate effect. In true Dubai fashion though it seems that someone got ahead of them-selves making the statement in the first place, and so today, as expected by many, there has been a clarification. This from the 7days:

Dubai Municipality said yesterday that the ban had been a ‘misunderstanding’ and that alcohol could be used.

And

The entire issue was misunderstood. We only told the restaurants to declare it in their menus in Arabic and English about the presence of alcohol in the food but not to stop its usage. That’s it.

Personally I am very happy to see this clarification, although I am sure it’s not the end of the story. As Seabee from Life in Dubai commented yesterday – “As is normal, the ‘clarification’ will confuse things even more and in the end the whole thing will be quietly ignored.”

It’s here if you fancy reading the whole tale.

On a not so happy note it seems that all is not what it appears around the release of Sammy the whale shark (Stu voiced this opinion the day it was in the paper but I chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, silly me). Instead of using the release as a marketing exercise and making a big deal about it, as you would expect given all the negative press and sentiment over the past year, the entire thing was done in secret, and some are now convinced that the poor creature died or was even euthanised. It’s as clear as mud, but none of it is painting the hotel in a good light I’m afraid.
More on this story at The Grumpy Goat‘s blog.
 

Stu and I have never visited the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah for one simple reason-we were boycotting the place because they would not release Sammy, the whale shark. You may, or may not know the story. The 13-foot creature had wandered into the shallow waters of the Dubai gulf in August of 2008 and was then “rescued” by some fisherman and taken to the aquarium at the hotel. And that is where she stayed, for 18 months, despite orders from the government, requests from PETA, and several petitions and campaigns calling for her freedom.

[The “free Sammy” button from last year’s GN campaign]