Rich in oil and conservative in outlook, its rulers have viewed Dubai's penchant for frolic and folly with distaste and occasional envy.

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At lunch, its waterside picnicstyle tables are filled with customers watching seals frolic in the shallows of Loch Glendhu while eating crab, battered haddock or sole.

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Dubai, a short plane ride from Europe and much of Asia and Africa, offers its visitors accessible glamour and relative tolerance of other cultures: Bikini-clad Europeans frolic on beaches steps away from women in burqas, nightclubs are packed with revelers and the streets are dotted with Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

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