I may have been stopping by Dubai on business but, as usual, when I am there the creative urge always overwhelms me (I do love the place!) and my thoughts (for those who haven't been there but wonder what the essence of the country is like) are as follows:

It was still 37 degrees the morning I arrived (the locals looking positively frost bitten after the 50 degree heat of just over a month ago). The glare of sunshine off all that sand (and the glass of the skyscrapers) is something I always find confronting to the senses. It is night that I crave though - the rhythmic call to prayer from the mullahs at neighbouring Shiia and Shiite mosques amplifying and echoing through the warm darkness. It is a sound that enfolds and hypnotises even as the clink of glasses on the table in front of you reminds you of a western culture sitting uneasily, perhaps, with that of a far more fundamental one.

A slipper moon hung gently above me for the 3 nights I sat in a comfortable chair alongside those of business colleagues at all number of venues, our conversation often fading to contented silence as we just listened to the slow breath of the desert and occasional hum of breeze through the surrounding trees. The only sadness was the lack of ink in the sky and only a handful of stars to gaze upon courtesy of the lights emanating from more cranes than you will find in any other country in the world.

It's certainly an interesting interpretation of 'desert oasis' that I grew up believing was something altogether different.