Home to the world’s only six star hotel, what Dubai lacks in tradition it makes up for in opulence.

It is as though everyone is wearing roller-skates and someone very strong in the back of crowd is pushing us along. My girlfriend mentions something about the bathroom. I laugh.

Macau has been getting a lot of press lately, as its recent glut of casinos helped it bankroll more than Vegas this year for the first time. There’s more to Macau, though, than the splashy new Wynn and Sands.

Yes, that’s right: today is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (I’m choosing to ignore the you dratted southerners who are basking in summer sun right now).

Travel headlines for the weekend of 12/03/06.