If Dubai Were a Musical Act...

...she would be Paris Hilton - glamorous, over-produced, filthy rich and unavoidably intriguing.

In the past 50 years Dubai has gone from a flat and rather uninhabited desert to a metropolis of International standards. And the transformation continues. Strips of 5-star hotels line the sea, each with distinctive character and outrageous design elements. Of the older generation there is the Burj Al Arab - the world's only 7-star hotel (self-proclaimed) where you can dine "under water" or order a maserati from room service. It takes a cool $100 USD to even get in the door for afternoon tea. Dubai's latest accomodation will take oppulence to the next level. Soon the rich and the richer will be able to stay at the top of the world's tallest building (on the 180th floor) or on their own private man-made island at either the Palms or the World - both land fill resorts viewable from space.

Second to hotels, it is a city of malls. Money is a necessity in Dubai and can buy everything from the most outlandish gems and jewels to 2-hours of surreal enjoyment at Ski Dubai, a moderately "challenging" indoor ski slope that took me 7 minutes to get up and about 20 seconds to get down. The man made slope jets out of the Mall of Emirates, the largest and best known shopping center complete with everything from Krispy Kreme to Prada.

Paris Hilton, of course, also has her "help." Only about 18%-22% of the population of Dubai are citizens of the United Arab Emirites. The rest are high-powered business-minded expats who similarly enjoy the lifestyle or impovrished imports from around Asia and Africa who live 18 people to a room in labor compounds or provide domestic help. The latter is here to scrape together enough Dirham to support struggling familes at home. Few of these groups mix beyond what business demands.

Dubai is also home to 30,000 cranes (25% of the cranes in the world). The desert and the culture are quickly being swallowed by skyscrappers and consumerism. The result: Traffic is terrible with roads jammed with Hummers (affordable when gas costs 25 cents a gallon) and overcrowded buses. Women in hajibs can be found carrying Louis Vuitton handbags and lifting their veils to scarf down a hamburger from Burger King as the call to prayer echos through the mall. Expats live quite happily for years sipping $10 Heinikens by the beach and paying no tax. It's a place of stark contrasts - labor and luxury, sand and snow, glitter, glam and gridlock.

Watch out Paris, Dubai is on the rise (literally).