United Arab Emirates

Dubai

Spend a few fascinating hours by the creek, watching the dhow (traditional wooden boat) traffic and the abras weave along the waterway while smoking some sheesha. Walk the streets of the tranquil, restored Bastakia area or take a stroll through multicultural Karama or Satwa. Outside the urban areas are ancient archaeological sites and old fishing villages. The United Arab Emirates is a country with both a record-setting building boom (the tallest building in the world will be completed in Dubai in 2009) and a still-vibrant Bedouin culture, one that learned to survive in harsh desert conditions for hundreds of years.