Every place I've visited in this part of the world has been uniquely different from the other; all of them share the common thread of Islamic and Arabic culture, but regional differences are quite pronounced. I can think of a couple of reasons: long, complex histories have strongly shaped individual identities of even closely neighbouring regions, and more recently, the younger, oil rich countries have had an opportunity to really manifest their identities through ambitious building initiatives.
Dubai falls into the latter, but even here its development has taken it down a very different path than any major city of Saudi Arabia (which has a similar sociopolitical background to the UAE)... I am not sure what ingredients gave Dubai its Las Vegas-like ambitions, but it undeniably has come to define and pride itself as a city of impossible possibilities.
They love their spectacular aquariums here.
And going to the mall is what you do when you go out. But in all fairness, it can be a rich experience of fine dining, good entertainment and socializing, in addition to shopping, of course.
Or you can just go skiing, also at the mall — seeing this momentarily transported me to wintertime back in Canada... It's a bit bizarre, but I guess it's places like this that make Dubai really livable for expats and attractive for visitors.
You can't enjoy being outside unless you're close to water, with summer temperatures rarely dropping below 40ºC.
Oh, and did I mention that they love their spectacular aquariums here?
