A Canadian tourist in Dubai, UAE

After five weeks in Uganda, the first thing that came to my mind about Dubai was excess, excess, excess! Every building is more architecturally elaborate and taller than the last. Our hotel (Jumeirah Beach Resort) had a mere 20-25 restaurants to choose from. The population is about 2 million with less than 20% being of UAE descent. It is the 20th most expensive city in the world. It has everything from indoor skiing to massive malls to camel racing (which is huge by the way)! The beaches were beautiful, the water turquoise and clear, and the marinas filled with multi-million dollar yachts. All in all, it was a pretty amazing place to explore with my family before heading back to Alberta (& the life of luxury after backpacking in Africa).

A view of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE: The total cost of construction was $1.5 billion, there are 160 floors, and at 828 metres, it's the tallest man-made structure ever built.