Be easy guys - most of the westerners she is referring to are from Karachi, West Pakistan.

Winnie - you need to visit. But, do be careful and make sure Cameron doesn't null your passport if you're confused with an ISIS extremist.

Having worked here now for over 8 years, I am not ashamed to admit that I have never once been to Barasti.

Cheers for the advice, I'll try and bring as much money as I can. And I definitely want to look around (being vigilant and not going alone of course). The reason I chose Dubai isn't so much for the lavish lifestyle, I don't want to live in a 'British bubble', but rather because it's so exotic, but still safer than other parts of the Middle East.

Honestly, I think there's something to be said for being careful and not silly, but you really don't need to worry TOO much for personal safety as a woman over here.

I'd rather let my mrs walk through Satwa in a short skirt at 11pm than through Southampton or any other city at the same time.

which bits have you been to Scamp?

It's a pretty good bar (as long as avoided on Thursday and Friday evenings).

Nice for sundowners. Not much beyond that. Even though I've stayed on / been late on Thur/Fri and had fun...the place is jam packed with knobheads normally.

Shanghai's a whole different ballgame, believe me. I think its quite possible that the city was named after the term, rather than vice verca. French and German use essentially the same sounds as we do (French is virtually the same language as English). Mandarin has 5 different syllables that sound to you and me like zh. You need a different-shaped mouth and tongue. And then there are the tones...

Dubai's pretty different from anywhere else, but even more different from Shanghai than you could possibly imagine. Dubai's a paradise if you like a gazillion social experiences, endless shopping experiences, extreme superficiality and enough Britishness to make most people comfortable; Shanghai has culture, pollution and 14 million mainly-frantic Chinese people.

Yeah you're definitely right about the language. Apparently there are some speakers of only basic English, but I don't know if I could live without feeling isolated if I either have no Mandarin at all, or only the very basics. Would you say it's possible? And I like culture, hence the degree. I only didn't do non-European languages as they are almost impossible to get from beginners to degree level in 4 years like I did with German for example! So that's ok. But yeah, pollution, hmm, not great either. Maybe sticking with my first choice, Dubai, would be the better option.....

air pollution is the main reason I'll probably not move to east asia. I would love to be the tallest person in the room.

Given that you have been to neither, I would say stick to Dubai, it's a very soft entry into living away from home. China is an awesome place... but not sure it would be my first expat calling.

That all depends what your goals are. Dubai is superficiality central, which suits many. Its also income-tax free (although expensive), clean, safe, not so far from home, and fairly British-centric. But as a country the UAE is only 60 years old, and is culturally barren. China is the antithesis in many respects. Whether those things are relevant to you goals only you know.

And obviously Mandarin is not impenetrable, but it certainly ain't easy. That's just the speaking--the writing's mental, and that's from someone who can read and write Japanese.

Dubai's not usually viewed as somewhere conducive to training in the early part of a career. What do you do?

The Chinese and Koreans aren't notably short, you need to go a bit further south for that...

Yeah, it's quite unusual but with this grad scheme, I can choose to train in quite a few locations, but after having lived in Austria, France and Germany, I want to branch out beyond Europe while I can. I'm going to train to be a Financial Advisor, and of course the financial industry I know is huge out there. But mainly what I'm looking for, is a chance to grow professionally (where I can easily establish good working relationships with clients), and to experience a very different style of living in terms of language exposure, food, customs etc. I was a little disappointed, though, that many Arabs (supposedly) don't like to mix with the Brits (but then I suppose most Brits don't want to integrate anyway!) and it's all quite separate. I'm at a bit of a loss here to be honest with deciding...

Gotta be Dubai in your profession. I can't imagine many Chinese wanting advice from a non-Mandarin-speaking round-eye, and the pool of rich expats in Shanghai wanting advice ain't going to be that big. There is a huge number of Brit expats in Dubai and AD, and many of those with money to invest / save. And I'm only guessing here, but I'd have thought that many Arabs would actually prefer a British advisor to an Arab one.

But just bear in mind that I'm not in your profession, so may be talking bollocks. Again.

I did read that building relationships with Chinese clients can be a lengthy process! They are reluctant in doing so, but I would mostly be working with expats anyway. Just seems to be much less of them there than in Dubai! There's a lot to consider, but cheers for the info., it's been v. helpful.