There have been more stories recently of women being approached in malls and asked for their ID documents by local men. There reason is that the women were inappropriately dressed. Although in the past I have seen many females wearing shorts and strappy tops the level of tolerance seems to be dropping. And during Ramandan - which starts late August - tolerance is near zero. Last year I got shouted at because I had white trousers on!!! You have to be respectful - if you are going to the beach or one of the hotel pools I think you will be fine in shorts/strappy tops/strappy dress - but if you are eating in the restaurants, going to the malls I would cover up. And as many people here have commented they put the aircon so high in the malls you will want to be covered! And realistically you won't be going for a midday walk - it is already 45C during the day here and will go up to the mid 50's so going for a wander is not a good idea unless you want sunstroke.
There have been more stories recently of women being approached in malls and asked for their ID documents by local men. There reason is that the women were inappropriately dressed. Although in the past I have seen many females wearing shorts and strappy tops the level of tolerance seems to be dropping. And during Ramandan - which starts late August - tolerance is near zero. Last year I got shouted at because I had white trousers on!!! You have to be respectful - if you are going to the beach or one of the hotel pools I think you will be fine in shorts/strappy tops/strappy dress - but if you are eating in the restaurants, going to the malls I would cover up. And as many people here have commented they put the aircon so high in the malls you will want to be covered! And realistically you won't be going for a midday walk - it is already 45C during the day here and will go up to the mid 50's so going for a wander is not a good idea unless you want sunstroke.