United Arab Emirates
Dubai
October 2014 • Dubai has more than enough ingredients for a zesty adjective soup: absurd, relentless, phallic, surreal, exploitative, suffocating, audacious, admirable. The 24-hour heat and humidity of this hopped-up pseudo-city brought me to my knees, but quick relief could always be found in the refrigerated transit systems—bus shelters, subway stations, taxi cabs—and in the sprawling shopping malls that are Dubai's main attraction. A vigorous wave of the sweat rag to city planners who greenlighted the heritage district along Dubai Creek, aimed at visitors more interested in culture than in caviar. And many thanks to Brother Jack for the all-night, whirlwind tour plus insights into all that makes this weird place tick.
