My (Early) Impression of Dubai
It's tricky to define Dubai, and my definition might be too early because I've just been here for a month and a couple of days. However, for sure, although Dubai is in Arabian peninsula, you will be disappointed if you look for Arabia world here. For one thing, 85% of the people here are expatriates (and most of them are India and Pakistani). Another thing, Dubai is like a showcase of its country UAE to display how modern and rich the country is. In my humble opinion, the showcase is somewhat tacky and lots of times over the top. "Literally" over the top, right? :D You can browse the Internet and read the history of Dubai, but to make the story short, it was in around 1970 that Dubai started to build fast and tall. So it is like in the Arabian 1001 nights. This modern city was built "magically" overnight . No wonder not much ancient culture can be found here. But if you insist, you can still see such things (click for bigger picture): Left: Traditional Dubai