The Tower of Babel

I can't say I'm a big fan of Dubai. It's touted as a "museum of the future" but if that's the case it's a future of consumerism gone mad. However, you have to take your hat off to what its rulers have created in a bare patch of desert for the day when the oil runs out. Engineering marvels include the Burj Khalifa - the photo is from the 125th floor, as high as they'd me go - which is the world's tallest building at 830 metres, not much short of a kilometre high. With its brash ambition and the dozens of languages spoken by its multi-national staff it felt like a modern-day Tower of Babel. 

Now I did find one thing in Dubai that was both inexpensive and awesome, but more about that later...