Modesh and the Dubai Summer Surprises

Me and Modesh

People living in Dubai know that when this guy turns up it only means one thing... the Dubai Summer Surprises is here!

For those of you who don't know who he is, this cheery guy's name is Modesh and he is the official mascot/ambassador of the Dubai Summer Surprises. His name comes from the Arabic word "Modhesh" which means amazing.

My 'kababayan's' might be happy to know that a Filipino, Mr. Romulo Miclat, designed Modesh. A lot of people are wondering what kind of creature Modesh is supposed to be... an alien, an accordion, or a big yellow caterpillar???

Initially, when Modesh first appeared in1997 he was just a jack-in-the-box. In 2001, Mr Miclat added his feet and improved his over-all appearance, thus, he was able to jump out of his box and gain popularity throughout Dubai.

The Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) is an annual festival event that was launched in 1998 by the government to promote Dubai as a family holiday destination. This event lasts for 10 weeks and normally starts when the school year ends and concludes with a back-to-school promotion. DSS is packed with the best shopping deals, world-class family entertainment, giveaways worth millions of Dirhams.

There are lots of events in Dubai that are linked to DSS like concerts and kiddie shows but I since I have no kids to entertain, the only perk I get from DSS are the reduced prices in malls that go up to 70%. DSS is the summer counterpart of the Dubai Shopping Festival which means that a lot mall stores have their SALE banners up so if you are planning to do some major shopping, it is better to wait for events like these to save your AED's.