Dubai is the name of the city, in one of seven United Arab Emirates on the Arab Peninsula. The state, or emirate because it’s ruled by an emir, is about 35 square kilometres and home to some 3 million people, most of whom come to work here from other countries. It’s hot, it’s wealthy and it’s unique.

The first impression of Dubai is wealth. Glittering glass, chrome, marble but also glittering gold and diamonds. Everything is spotless and perfect. This is a man-made world of artificial trees, super malls, expensive cars and jewels. But I am not a shopper. And I am not interested in hobnobbing with the jet set.

So I look beyond the glitter, at the history of this tiny Arab Emirate and fall in love with its hues and textures of robes, headscarves, smiles, spices and sand.

From a black & white world of abayas in Saudi Arabia, I arrive in full technicolor Dubai. Black head scarves change to vibrant colors. Even the skyline is outlined by a dazzling setting sun with an orange haze from two days of sand storms. From the plane I saw nothing but orange sand of the desert, blown and shaped into soft rolling dunes. Whereas customs in Saudi had been swift and efficient, this customs line-up took forever but the librarian from one of the schools where I am to speak, and now my new friend, was waiting and whisked me home. Women can drive here. There’s quite a difference among Arab countries with Dubai being the most liberal of all.

It’s a perfect 24 - 26 degrees and no humidity. Is the weather here man made, too? Around noon, the next day, I take a taxi across the city to Jumeirah Beach. The white sand beach fringes the Arabian Sea, next to the famous building Burj Al Arab, the sail shaped tower. The hotel in Burj Al Arab is the only hotel in the world with a gold bar dispenser... An ATM with gold bars, just in case you want to buy your gold after the bank closes… I wonder if you ever have to kick a gold bar dispenser like you a chocolate bar dispenser?

To use the beach right by the hotel costs some US $50 but next to it is a free public beach which is identical. I swim in the strong waves, then read my book on the beach while women in scant bikinis as well as women in black abayas walk by. Men are jogging, even in long white robes.

Later on, I have coffee in a posh hotel and watch people from all nationalities: haughty Russians, Italians wobbling on too high heels, Americans in cut-off blue jeans, pristine Arabs and everything in between.

The tallest building in the world was Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 828 meters, until Taipei 101 took over that title.

My favorite place is “The Creek.” This is the name of the wide river that divides downtown Dubai. Not really a creek at all but an inlet from the Arabian Sea. Once it was a creek but the then reigning sheik borrowed money and dredged the creek until it was a wide flowing river. Now you can take a small wooden boat called an abra to cross to the other side to visit old Dubai. On one side I had lunch at a small Arabian cafe: falafel with hummus and chicken and naan bread and the best fruit shakes ever.

Then I crossed the water in a swift taxi, an abra, and walked across the fabric market to the Dubai museum. Nice displays of the history: archeology, water, desserts, trading posts, pearl divers. Certainly worth a visit. The ancient wind towers in this area date back to Persian times and are the original air conditioning! Designed to use wind to cool buildings down, they are now protected heritage buildings.

I strolled all over this oldest part of Dubai. Many of the ancient wind tower houses have been converted to modern art galleries. This whole part of the city has been preserved because a western woman, who had lived there for a long time, refused to leave when it was to be demolished. Because she brought such attention to it, ancient Dubai was preserved. I was told this would not have happened if she had not been western. Good for her.

I felt very safe, strolling here - as a woman alone. There is almost no crime here. As the call to prayer echoes through the terracotta colored streets, and doves flutter onto the roof tops, I walk back to the abras.

One night I booked a ‘desert safari’. With about 5 other people we drove an hour out of the city, in a suburban, then embarked on a wild cross-desert drive through the sand. We had to hang on for dear life and hope the jeep wouldn’t flip over as we raced over high sand dunes, up one side and down the other edge. Not my idea of a fun night in the desert.

But then we arrived at an area where you could ride a camel and sit at long, low tables to eat a middle eastern meal while watching Bedouin dancing, including bellydancing. A bit touristy but fun to experience once. The whirling dervishes, male dancers wearing wide skirts in a dizzying dance, are pretty impressive. You can see a sample here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRZqrez3yQ8

I was booked to do presentations in about 6 different schools. One day after working at a school, I strolled to the fabric market, the old sook (or suq). These old market streets are narrow and sheltered by a high ceiling made of teakwood beams and corrugated metal. Each stall has wooden shutters, many of which were closed between 2 and 4 PM but things really come to live at night.

I strolled the narrowed streets, bought some gorgeous clothing and scarves and just took in the sights. Old men in sandals, young Arabs in crisp white thobe and red/white checkered head scarves. On one intersection I watched two islamic women in black abayas and burkas, only their eyes visible. They were passed by two woman of about the same age wearing tight tank tops and teetering on enormous heels. Across the street walked two women with colourful African headdresses and large kaftans. What a cosmopolitan world.

At a small street café I ate shredded chicken and hummus wrapped in pita bread. Hordes of Arab men sauntered by, some of them followed by several women, likely their wives, and small children. I have been told repeatedly that Saudi women especially are very smart and that keeping a man happy with several wives is much smarter than getting divorced and not having the income and support of a husband anymore...

After taking a abra across the water for 1 dirham (about 30 cents) I walk through the Gold souk and more narrow streets. Not far away is a huge IKEA (where I actually ate meatballs for dinner one night!) and a huge mall where the large, local grocery store is fun to browse and I buy chocolate covered dates, date jam and date syrup to take home.

Dubai is a contradiction of warm air and air conditioning, glittering buildings and gritty sand, snow white thobes and dark skinned, foreign construction workers. An interesting mix of ultramodern solar panels but no glue on the postage stamps; black abayas but strong, outspoken women, steel buildings built on slowly sinking sand; camels and i-phones. A most interesting place to visit.