[Tonchi]

Stormie's got it right about that area of the world in general, but there is something else I'd like to mention from my info about Dubai.

Vanity Fair said that Dubai is unique in the Arab world, in that all the rules are in limbo once you cross the border. The Arab Sharia, as well as their versions of common law under strict Islamic interpretations no matter which country, all forbid consumption of alcohol or lending of money for gain. This pretty much eliminates bars, western-style entertainment, or banking in these countries, not to mention that women are not allowed to be seen in those circumstances anyway. All of this fails to apply once you enter Dubai. The catering to "Western" tastes is completely overboard, and from all indications most of the mullahs and ayatollas would go balistic if they could watch the decadent luxury for the enticement of moslem tourists as well. It appears that everybody looks the other way, that this place exists out of space and time in the Arab world. I can't help but wonder at what point some Islamic jihad freak will blow up one of the skyscrapers there or if the reason they don't is because Dubai's ability to launder money and funnel it to them all over the world is so much to their advantage that they leave it alone.

The "beauty" of Dubai requires telescopic vision to appreciate, because there is no plan, no theme, no design, it just HAPPENS. For one thing, every square mile of this "city" is a roaring construction zone. Everything is fabricated, completely overboard in design and execution, it is Las Vegas on steroids and meth at the same time. There are no words to describe the separation between the men who finance this thing and the virtual slaves, the worker ants, who service this monstrosity in the desert. There are sheiks and potentates staying in $100,000 per night penthouse suites while Filipino construction workers are locked up at night, their passports in the hands of the agencies who brought them in, so that they can't run away or mingle with the "nice" classes. Anything goes, anything is available, so long as you have money. Money beyond anything you can conceive of, money which would make Bill Gates and Warren Buffet blanche. If WE are the "Ugly Americans" while abroad, there is not yet any word to describe the "ugly" excess which the hoards are flocking there to indulge in. Why do you think Michael Jackson has fled to this mega-hyper-Disneyland of luxury?

But if you are not the wife of a wealthy Arab in this place, you can be in real trouble. As Stormie said, you are fair game to all men because you are, to them, obviously a person of no morals or character or you would not be there working as a servant. ALL women are servants. And if one of those men decides he will change the way you will "serve" to his whim, you do not have any choice about it unless you have a protector just as powerful.