Dubai was beautiful, extraordinarily hot (50 degrees celsius in the sun) and full of contrasts. The city is literally plonked in the middle of the desert and they are building man made islands with enough homes for 2 million people. Every horizon is hazy with sand in the air. At dusk and dawn the sky looks amazing because of it. We got a basic history lesson from our driver who explained that the 14 lane bridges, multitude of hotels and world leading shopping districts have not been built to satisfy demand, but instead, to attract more people. “We want so much traffic that we will need 14 lanes, so let’s build a road with 14 lanes now” was the optimistic attitude we saw all over the place. The whole city seems to be under construction, preparing for an influx of trade and new residents that are yet to arrive.

The second day, we decided to go for a walk around. Ignoring the typical tourist information about the stunning beaches and bustling shopping districts, we turned the opposite direction and went into ‘Old Dubai’ – the original part of the city from before the hotels and resorts were built. We were there for several hours and hardly saw another tourist, or woman, in that whole time. It was a city of men, mostly working at buying or selling in the streets. James was constantly approached by people wanting to sell him things. I was stared at a lot, but hardly spoken too. The homeless slept sprawled out in the open air facing the water which is the only place you get any relief from the heat.

We finished up with a Sand Dune Safari. Basically, a convoy of four wheel drives roar out into the desert and skid you up and down the slopes of the sand dunes. The adrenaline junkie in me was loving every minute while our tour companions pleaded with the driver to slow down. James isn’t the best car passenger at the best of times and the poor thing got seriously car sick. When we had a rest stop he puked his guts up, and like the sympathetic and caring wife that I am, I took photos and ran for the video camera.

The views were spectacular, and the air was electric. But I was really disappointed to see so much rubbish and careless pollution at our rest stops. It got me thinking about the environmental footprint of our touring The tour operators were stringent about everyone bringing their rubbish back to the cars but I wondered how the landscape would cope being driven over several times a day? It was immense fun, but it’s also raised an important issue about our responsibility for the planet – something I will carry with me as we continue our travels.