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DUBAI
Land of Endless Luxuries (2/3)
Celebration of excess is the norm in this desert oasis

A land of change
The head- snapping changes can disorient even Dubaians. "The change is going too fast," says Sultan Al Shanqiti, 29, a tourism worker at the Heritage Village. "If you leave for a month, you can't recognize the streets."

But everyone, it seems, wants his own castle in these sunny sands. Cirque du Soleil makes its debut this month with an eye toward a permanent home in the city. Tiger Woods is creating his signature course and 25-million-square-foot resort community, to open in late 2009.

Why Dubai? "There are so many landmarks in Dubai. I hope that one day people will consider this golf course on that scale," Woods told the Business Gulf News. And such brand-name hoteliers as Donald Trump have hotels going up on one of the three man-made palm-shaped islands. Together with The World, these archipelagos will double Dubai's 25-mile coastline, providing more beachfront for more vacationers.

Unity amid diversity
With people of 180 nationalities making up 80 percent of Dubai's 1.4 million residents, it's a Tower of Babel with money as the lingua franca. Yet it's remarkably strife-free, an improbable oasis of peace and prosperity in a troubled region.

"People accept and respect each other," says Mia Hedman, a Swede living in Dubai. "Everyone feels part of the development here, part of building history."

Priests pray for the ruling family. Arabs break the Ramadan fast with friends. And you're as likely to see women in colorful saris or midriff-baring tank tops and jeans as in head-to-toe black abayas-often brashly encrusted with gems and sequins. This is money-is-no-object Dubai, after all.

Despite the opulence, the 13-square-mile city is one of the world's safest. "There's nowhere that's a no-go area," says Lorraine Ludman, a Brit who has lived here 12 years and doesn't lock her house. Full employment, rigorous security and political neutrality have shielded
 Dubai from regional chaos.

Vocabulary Focus  

debut (v) ---to perform for the public for the first time

hotelier (n) ---a person who manages or owns a hotel
archipelago (n) ---a group of small islands

opulence (n) ---wealth as characterized by a luxurious lifestyle

Specialized Terms

Tower of Babel (n) ---巴别塔
a tower built by united humanity who intended it to reach up to heaven; God confused their language so they could no longer understand one another

lingua franca (n. phr) ---通用语
a common language used by peoples of different languages

abaya (n) ---回教（穆斯林）妇女穿的黑色长袍
a long, black robe worn by Muslim women