Sometime back I heard some outrageous stories about Dubai, of The United Arab Emirates, that it was an oasis of Western debauchery nestled in the heartland of Islamic Arabia. I had heard that you can buy anything in Dubai--ANYTHING, and Vegas style sin flowed as if from a fountain mirage. I probably obtained this notion from a saying that goes, "Allah looks the other way on Dubai."
The first true thing I learned about Dubai is never try to hail a cab from your hotel entrance. Asking the doorman, the valet, or the concierge to hail you a cab, will never result in a cab arriving for you. Instead they will insist that you buy a bus tour, on which they receive hefty commissions. Or they will insist on driving you themselves, at three times the price of a cab. Ask until you are blue in the face, and they will do anything to ensure you do not get a cab, and they will never inform you of the taxi stand that is around the corner from the hotel entrance.
Why I thought there are casinos in Dubai I can't recall, but there simply aren't any.
Vegas produces scores of musical shows every night. So I imagined in Dubai lavish live stage shows with music, dancing, and topless show girls--a staple of Vegas shows. But on my visit to Dubai, I discovered the number of musical stage productions rather sparse. Between my two night's visit, only one musical stage production showed throughout all of Dubai. When a show does play, it is quite tame. The most risque they get in Dubai is with belly dancers, and by the way, their breasts are always covered.
I posted a photo of the “Marlboro Marine” as my Twitter avatar last week. The photo is of James Blake Miller, taken taken by Luis Sinco, of the Los Angeles Times, during the Siege of Fallujah. In the photo, Miller’s face is covered with filth and fatigue, with a thousand mile stare only hinting of the horrors he has just witnessed. 
