The audacity of the city's rulers is breathtaking. Running out of coastline to build hotels? Build vast artificial islands with 120km (74.5mi) of new beachfront. Need better connections with the world? Build up an award-winning international airline in 15 years.

Need some publicity? Stage the world's richest horse race, million-dollar lotteries, international tennis and golf tournaments, and a month-long shopping festival. Need a few landmarks for people to recognize? Up goes the world's tallest and most lavish hotel, perched on an artificial platform, and a city skyline to boggle the eye..

Dubai is really two towns merged into one and divided by Dubai Creek (Khor Dubai), an inlet of the Gulf. Deira lies to the north and Bur Dubai to the south. Both districts are home to traditional architecture and bustling souqs, but the old city centre is in Deira. Glittering new office buildings along Sheikh Zayed Road (known as Trade Centre Road) in Bur Dubai threaten to supplant it as the city's real centre of gravity.

The focal point of Deira's hustle and bustle is on Baniyas Road, which runs along Dubai Creek; Baniyas Square, which used to be called Al-Nasr Square and is still generally referred to as such; Al-Maktoum Road and Al-Maktoum Hospital Road; and Naif Road. On the Bur Dubai side, the old souq area runs from Al-Ghubaiba Road to the Diwan (Ruler's Office) and inland as far as Khalid bin al-Waleed Road..

There aren't really any street addresses in Dubai. People refer to the main roads by name, but the smaller, numbered streets remain largely anonymous. If someone offers you directions like 'It's in the white villa, next to the big tree, across from the Avari Hotel,' don't fret. Your taxi driver will know the way.

Population: 997,000
Area: 35 sq km (15 sq mi)
Country: United Arab Emirates
Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 4 hours