The best way I can describe it is as follows: if you went into a Dubai furniture store 15 years ago, you would see a large amount of very heavy, ornate, white laqured furniture, with carved flowers and other vegetal motifs, which were painted some pastel color. Often, these furniture pieces would also feature a built-in cassette player. Imagine taking the types of people who would buy something like that, and give them lots of money and building permits. Dubai is the result.
from winterspeak.com.
Background on the UAE here.
