1) Hire a driver for a hour or so to take you around some of the concrete.. get a feel for the construction boom. Arabian Adventures do excellent desert 4WD trips, some in large convoys, others personalised. Google them to set it up in advance, yes some are only for a few hours.

2) Shopping.. Mall of Emirates is the biggest and best range right now. That's where the ski slope is, you can stroll up, pay and ski, all the gear is rental.

3) Gordon Ramsay -> Verre at the Hilton on the Creek. He faxes over a menu once in a blue moon I hear. There is another thread on restaurants active at the moment.. I have none to recommend, other than Indego in Gros House.

Must buy items ? Well you can start with buying an apartment or villa, and then work down the $$ value chain from there. Barclays is running a big campaign in Dubai right now.

Something worth getting is the local edition of The Times, has all the same news, but local ads (for property of course).