The billowing incense filled the air and caught me off guard as I stepped into the dark alleyways of the spice souq (market), reminding me that I was in a foreign country. Spilling from baskets were colorful spices next to enticing herbs, and hawkers grabbing at my clothing wanting to give me a taste of roasted cashews giving me a feeling of walking into the past. Mysterious women with their bodies totally covered in black except for a narrow slit across the eyes smiled or not as I had no way of knowing.

I walked out onto the chaotic streets armed with directions to a pharmacy I needed for some vitamins I ran out of. As I constantly tried to memorize how to get back to the souq, the directions kept changing as shop owners pointed to new locations after not finding the previous one. Finally found a pharmacy sign larger than the shop itself and of course no vitamins. Oh well, less deserts and more salads right?

Dubai is all about showing off and excitement in extremes. ?Want to take a bath in champagne or caviar for only $2000.00 a night then try the Burg al-Arab landmark hotel with its sail-of-a-ship design. Boasting the tallest building in the world, an island totally mad-made in the sea shaped like a palm-tree, a seven-star restaurant, and a shopping mall with its own snow skiing slope, Dubai excels as the world?s biggest?and best.