Dubai

Dubai is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai. It started as a small fishing village in the eighteenth century and did not really start to grow until this century. It is well located strategically. close to Iran and was an important pearling centre before oil was discovered. Since then, financed by the oil money, Dubai has expanded rapidly. It's now the world's fastest growing city. The population is 83% immigrants - mostly involved in building. It's one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, with the second most five-star hotels in the world and the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Crime is virtually non existent. So are addresses. You just describe the location as best you can.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Dubai was a British Protectorate until 2 December 1971, when, together with Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and Fujairah it joined in the Act of Union to form the United Arab Emirates. A seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), joined the UAE on 10 February 1972, following Iran's annexation of the RAK-claimed Tunbs islands. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two of the seven emirates to have veto power.

The Creek 2009, Dubai

• A few days luxuriating at the Creek in Dubai and spending time at the sister hotel on Jumeirah Beach
• The hotel was modern, comfortable in the extreme and had stunning views across the city – when it wasn’t too hazy to see. The Burj was being built and could be discerned in an out of focus sort of way.
• The hotel had a roof top pool which we evacuated very rapidly when a sandstorm erupted. I lost my sunglasses - again.
• Dubai is really much too hot in July. We went for a few walks along the harbour and round the small souk. The locals weren’t very friendly. It might have been my sundress - though it wasn’t that revealing.
• The beach was beautiful, if artificial and the service impeccable.
• There were a lot of cranes.
• I went on to Oman

 The Palm 2014, Dubai

It is wonderful to be cosseted again. I am out on The Palm in Dubai in a Thai owned hotel. It takes forever to motor round the 'fronds' with the colossal monstrosity that is the Hotel Atlantis looming above. Everything looks artificial, incongruent. Thai architecture, especially, just doesn't work in concrete and terracotta. The white sandy beach, ironically, is all imported. But I don't care. My room is huge and  gorgeous. Everything functions. It also contains a large display of local dates that I scoff immediately, so I shall pay a price for that.

I've already discovered that the food is divine. (I don't think I'm biased just because I've just been in Uzbekistan). The subtle flavours in the duck with red curry are incredible.  I ate too much on the Trans Siberian, lost the extra weight in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and now I seem set to put it all back on again. Not to mention cost. I have a sneaking feeling that four nights here is going to cost me more than three weeks in Central Asia.  But it's great.

The Burj Khalifa - On Top of the World

There aren't nearly as many cranes here in Dubai as there were five years ago. So I suppose more things are finished. It's certainly looking more and more like Vegas. Is high tea at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, called high tea because it's so elevated? I thought high tea was supper? I am left to come up in the lift all on my own - it literally whizzes. My ears pop as the numbers rotate like a totaliser and I try not  to think about the drop beneath me. The buildings below look like toy town, it's so Brobdingnagian that it feels more like being on a plane. The view's not terribly clear. There's a bit of a sand storm going on and, believe it or not a few drops of rain. But the service is excellent, the miniature food keeps coming and it's delicious. Cocktails, champagne, any variety of leaf tea you can think of. 'A newspaper madam?' I spend the whole afternoon up there eating and watching the landscape change.

Directly  below the tallest tower in the world I can see the largest mall in the world - The Dubai Mall. So I head down there for the fountain display. Continuing the Vegas theme this is just like the one at the Bellagio, except shorter, and (for my visit) accompanied by Arabian music, which suits the sinous movements very well.

I'm so full I doubt I can eat any dinner...

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On The Beach at the Palm, Dubai

Up early, joined by a surprising variety of birds that I didn’t know existed here. Hoopoes, mynahs and a teeny little thing that is either of the wren or gold crest family. They obviously (and sensibly) adopt a reclusive lifestyle during the heat of the day.

The breakfast buffet is gargantuan and it is served till eleven. So I decide to eat  as late as possible, with the aim of stoking up and skipping lunch. However, everyone else has the same cunning plan and the restaurant is heaving. It's boiling hot, well almost, 44 degrees and humid. My iPad has shut down because it's over heated - in the shade. The sea is like a warm bath, so not terribly refreshing. Moreover, a couple of jelly fish have wafted by, so I stick to the enormous pool, which is also a little on the tepid side, though the jets in the jacuzzi area are powerful and soporifically relaxing.

I have a giant umbrella (I'm almost out of synonyms for extremely large) that reduces the temperature just enough and a view of the Burjs - Al Arab and Khalifa respectively. The Burj Al Arab is the sail shaped seven star hotel that has an island all to itself. The vaerge price of a suite here is $24,000 per night.

Back to the Dusit Thani Hotel. The pool has several pretty subsidiary  lagoons complete with hordes of lifeguards garbed in very unbecoming  red and white outfits with large floppy hats. They sit stoically on their ladders clutching matching longitudinal flotation devices throughout the hours of daylight. What fortitude in this heat!  I doze and read. A little man brings me my favourite drink - lemon juice whizzed up with mint - every half hour.