MAP OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Writers cannot resist pinning labels on Dubai.  To one, it is The Hong Kong of the Middle East because of its role as an entreport, to another the Venice of the Middle East because it is a city built on water.  But Dubai defies convenient titles.  There is no country and not city quite like it.

Visitors who arrive in Dubai expecting a hot, dusty, barren town surrounded by hostile desert find instead a clean, dynamic, in some parts lush green city, straddling a natural harbour flanked by sparkling Gulf waters and attractive sandy beaches.  The hinterland is largely desert and arid mountains but it is tamed just enough by the tour guides to enable urban adventures to roam its dunes and wadis for a glimpse of the last frontier.

This oasis of peace and prosperity is the second largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a population of just over half a million people.  It is estimated that three out of four are expatriates from India, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern and Western Countries.  As many as 30 different nationalities co-exist amicably in this tolerant, cosmopolitan society which manages, at the same time, to maintain Islamic values and culture.

  MAP OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES