A big thanks here must go to Annie and Martin, our generous hosts in Dubai, for letting us stay with them and for taking us out to show us the city.

After wishing them farewell, we took off in a taxi across the desert from Dubai headed towards Abu Dhabi. The drive takes about an hour and a half and, whilst the road is almost perfectly straight, many people have warned us that the journey is fraught with danger. You see, most of the locals here (both native and expats) are really quite horrid drivers and think nothing of excessive speeding, overtaking, undertaking, anytaking, beeping, flashing lights, driving for hours without rest breaks, reading the newspaper at the wheel and talking and texting with their mobile phones. They all drive such big cars that we get the impression that people here feel somewhat invincible… until they wind-up in a high-speed accident, that is.

Our favourite (it’s true): A guy talks into one phone in his left hand, whilst texting on another in his right. While driving downtown on a six lane road…