Re: dubai- all that its cracked up to be?
Yes it is materialistic and yes it is very artificial. No place in the world is perfect.
What I do like about "New Dubai" (that's how they call the part of Dubai that I live in) is the fact that it is very multicultural, it is becoming greener and greener (although these green areas are man-made) and that the people here are very open.
However I know that the situation is very different in Downtown Dubai.