Arabian nights - and days

Take one part Las Vegas, two parts Disney, add a boxful of Meccano, mix over high heat and what do you get? Dubai. An architect's dream but something of a residents' nightmare. The town did not exist until about 25 years ago and a quarter of the world's cranes are there now, building, building, building. The highest, the biggest, the most extraordinary. The tallest building, still growing. Man-made islands, in the shape of a palm tree and soon others to mirror the whole world, country by country. An indoor ski slope in a shopping mall, real enough to merit professional instructors and so on. 

There is unrivalled shopping to keep you going until kingdom come and speaking of celestial kingdoms, there is the regular call of the muezzin bidding the faithful to prostrate themselves, even in the shopping malls, each of which has a prayer area.

There is also desert all around, sometimes blowing stinging sand into the atmosphere but if you are an expat and that is probably 95% of the population, you are living royally in air conditioned villas with built-in servant accommodation, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer round the corner and even English public schools who have opened up here.

Amazing place. Great fun for a couple of weeks.