Life, Culture, and Everything
105 posts
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Your NOW Money balance is in the NOW Money app. Open it, log in, and your current balance and transaction history are there straight away. There’s no need to visit an ATM just to see what’s left, which is the main difference from a traditional WPS payroll card. NOW Money is a mobile bank account…
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Call 600 599 995, enter your Phone Banking PIN at the automated menu, and Emirates Islamic reads out your account balance. That works at any hour and from any phone. The EI+ app and Online Banking show the same balance with your transaction history, and so does any Emirates Islamic ATM. SMS works the other…
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Emirates Islamic’s SWIFT code is MEBLAEAD, and the 11-character version is MEBLAEADXXX. Payments into an Emirates Islamic account are free on the bank’s side, and you get an SMS as soon as the money is credited. There are actually two codes an Emirates Islamic customer may be asked for. The SWIFT code is for money…
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How you check a RAKBANK balance depends on what you hold. A current or savings account shows its balance in the RAKBANK app, in online banking, at an ATM or over the phone on RAKdirect. A RAKBANK prepaid card works differently: since the prepaid card portal closed on 10 December 2025, its balance comes by…
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RAKBANK’s SWIFT code is NRAKAEAK, registered to National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (P.J.S.C.). The 11-character form is NRAKAEAKXXX. Every RAKBANK account receives international transfers on this one code, whether it was opened in Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and whether it’s a conventional or RAKislamic account. Where RAKBANK differs from most UAE…
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The fastest ADIB balance check that doesn’t need internet is an SMS: text BAL to 2400 from your registered UAE mobile number and ADIB replies with the balance of every deposit account you hold. The ADIB Mobile Banking app shows the same figure along with your recent transactions. SMS only works once you’re registered for…
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Someone abroad wants to pay you, and their bank’s form asks for a SWIFT or BIC code. For Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, enter ABDIAEAD. If the form insists on 11 characters, use ABDIAEADXXX, the version ADIB itself prints on its corporate forms. That one code covers every ADIB personal and business account in the UAE.…
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In the UAE private sector, last month’s salary is due on the 1st of each Gregorian month. From the 2nd day after that date, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) starts sending the employer automatic alerts. So if the 1st has passed and your account still shows nothing, the clock is already running…
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Your salary for September is due in your account by 1 October. Since 1 June 2026, every private-sector employer registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) must pay the previous month’s wages through the Wage Protection System (WPS) by the first day of each Gregorian month. There’s no longer a grace period…
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Checking your C3Pay card balance is free in three places: the C3Pay app, a C3Pay or RAKBANK ATM, and C3Pay customer support. Check it at any other ATM in the UAE and AED 2 comes off your balance each time. Check it at an ATM abroad and it’s AED 5. For a salary card, those…
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The quickest Mashreq balance check without opening an app is WhatsApp. Send “Hi” to +971 4 424 4744 from the mobile number registered with the bank, and you can ask for your account balance and last five transactions in the chat. The Mashreq Mobile app, the virtual assistant inside it, ATMs and the 24/7 phone…
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Dubai Islamic Bank puts its balance checks under one name, alt, which covers the DIB alt mobile app, alt online, phone banking and the bank’s ATMs. Which one suits you depends on what you have in your hand: a smartphone, a debit or covered card with its PIN, or just a phone that can make…
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Text BAL and the last six digits of your account number to 2626, and ADCB replies with your balance. For account number 123456030001, that’s “BAL 030001”. The command works from the mobile number registered with ADCB, only after a one-time SMS banking registration, and it costs a standard text message. The SMS route is the…
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The fastest Emirates NBD balance check is the ENBD X app: log in and your accounts, cards and loans are on the first screen. If you can’t use the app, Emirates NBD gives you four other ways in, and each one needs something different from you: a registered mobile number, a debit card and PIN,…
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A payer abroad types “First Abu Dhabi Bank” into their banking app, gets a code starting with NBAD, and stops to ask whether that’s right. It is. FAB’s SWIFT code is NBADAEAA, and the 11-character version is NBADAEAAXXX. The code has nothing to do with your branch or your account type. Every FAB personal and…
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Emirates NBD’s SWIFT code is EBILAEAD. The 11-character version, EBILAEADXXX, points to the same head office and works the same way. One code covers every Emirates NBD account in the UAE, whether it was opened in Deira, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah. The code alone won’t get money into an account, though. A payer abroad needs…
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The only way to walk into the Kalba mangroves is through the Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre, which charges AED 15 plus VAT and closes every Monday. Behind it grows the oldest mangrove forest in the UAE, with trees up to 8 metres tall and some more than 300 years old. The forest was closed to…
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Arabia’s Wildlife Centre is a fully indoor, air-conditioned zoo for animals native to the Arabian Peninsula, so a summer afternoon is no problem. Adults pay AED 21 at the gate, children under 12 enter free, and the centre is closed every Tuesday. It opened in September 1999 and holds more than 100 species, from desert…
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Global Village opens at 4:00pm every day. It closes at midnight from Sunday to Wednesday, and at 1:00am from Thursday to Saturday and on public holidays. Season 31 begins on Wednesday 14 October 2026 and runs through May 2027. Tuesdays are set aside for families, couples and ladies, and entry stops 30 minutes before closing…
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The Al Rabi hiking trail is a free 4 to 5 km round trip above Khorfakkan, and most people finish it in 1.5 to 3 hours. It starts beside Al Rabi Tower and climbs to a 395 m ridge with views over the Gulf of Oman, Khorfakkan port and the Hajar Mountains. Two things decide…
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The first view of Al Rafisah Dam comes over a crest on the SharjahâKhorfakkan Highway: a lake between sandstone ridges, with a man-made waterfall running down the slope to the water. The dam holds back Wadi Shie in the Hajar Mountains and dates from the 1980s. The rest area, play areas and boat hire were…
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The JAC J7 starts at AED 66,570 in the UAE, sold through Al Habtoor Motors, the exclusive JAC distributor since 2013. One version is on sale, a 1.5-litre turbo petrol with a CVT, so there is no cheaper trim to step down to. That price buys a 4,772 mm liftback sedan with a 520-litre boot,…
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Buhais Geological Park stands on a former seabed in Sharjah’s central region, and the mountain behind it holds rock at least 93 million years old. The park is closed on Tuesdays, and no shuttle or public transport serves it, so the trip works by car only. This guide covers the opening hours, ticket prices, what…
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The Dubai Metro Blue Line map is a Y. Thirty kilometres of track, 14 stations and two branches that meet at International City 1. One branch starts at Creek on the Green Line and runs out to Academic City. The other starts at Centrepoint on the Red Line and runs to the same junction. Opening…
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Route 117 leaves Abu Dhabi Central Bus Station every day from 6:30 AM until 11:15 PM, and a one-way ticket costs AED 30. The bus ends at Al Jubail Bus Station in Sharjah, about 2 hours 50 minutes after it departs. Buses run every 35 to 60 minutes, so a missed departure costs you less…