Phespirit goes to United Arab Emirates
Dubai     June/July 1999

EMIRATE OF DUBAI Up the Creek without a paddle, on an abra (water taxi) crossing from Dubai to Deira. Observe the only original-style dwellings to survive in Dubai, at Baskakiya, behind the abra station and in front of the more typical distant skyscrapers.
EMIRATE OF SHARJAH Centrepiece of the Koran Roundabout in Sharjah is a fine sculpture of the Koran itself, opened towards Mecca on the far side of Araby. In the cosmopolitan trade zones of the Emirates, Phespirit noted the Islamic influence in art, the proliferation of small mosques, and the generally oppressive defence of women's modesty.
EMIRATE OF FUJAIRAH Phespirit frolics in the Arabian Sea at the Sandy Beach Motel, near Al-Aqqa, on the U.A.E.'s east coast. Despite the best efforts of a raging midday sun, the alabaster Phespirit remains wholly unblotted by any kind of tan.