After our spiritual quest in Nepal and the mighty Himalayas, we stopped for a couple of days in Dubai. No holy Hindu sadhus nor Buddhist monks there! Oh no!

But instead six-star hotels shaped like giant sails or shoes or starfish…

Skyscrapers so tall the moon has to steer its way around them…

Immense off-shore man-made archipelagos, one in the shape of a spreading palm tree, ressembling levels from Super Mario Sunshine…

Dubai is crazy. And nowhere is this more visibly expressed than in the city’s skyline.

The world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Dubai, has just open in January. It looks like an almighty shard of misplaced enthusiasm: a lofty syringe injecting dementia directly into the skies.