Up The Creek

I'm back in Dubai - I'm nothing if not a hypocrite.

So how did this happen, I don't hear you ask. After being so sneeringly dismissive of the city last time I was here just about everyone I spoke to said 'but you didn't go to the Creek, of course it was just shopping malls and taxis if you didn't got to the Creek.' So, never being one to form an uninformed opinion on something (cough) I'm now in a hotel by The Creek and I've got to say, get over yourselves - it's just a river. We've got loads of them in England - two in Chelmsford alone. What's the big deal?

But that's missing the point somewhat. Old Dubai, proper Dubai, is centred here. There's some semblance of history. It dates to a time before shopping malls, when the only taxis were wooden and floaty. You can walk here. Things aren't ludicrously expensive. There's culture

. It is great, rarely has my opinion on a place changed so much. Sorry Dubai for writing such a snarky blog entry before, you're alright with me.

Just in case you're worried that I've been kidnapped and am writing this at gunpoint...

I went to the Dubai museum last night (really good, btw) and it was full of idiots taking photos of the exhibits. Normally this turns me into a ball of frothing rage but it was so full of snapping cameras I felt like I was missing something. If you're in, say, the British museum you might see a few people taking a photo of the Rosetta stone and you think 'that's going to make an unbelievably dull picture but, fair enough it is pretty famous'. Here everyone was taking their photo next to every exhibit. People were literally running between artefacts, getting a photo next to it and then running to the next one. I can only think that there was a competition to see how many museum exhibits you can stand next to in 24 hours because I can't fathom who would possibly want the photos that I saw being taken. "Look, this is me next to a sign saying Dubai in the 30s and 40s. And this is me pointing at a sign saying Dubai in the 50s. And this one, you're never going to guess, this is me pointing at a sign saying Dubai in the 60s. I tell you, I stood next to loads of signs. Bloody love signs me." Really? REALLY?

And breathe.