Naked, Performing with Snakes: NYTimes on Dubai Nightlife

Dubai is starting to seem like the weirdest place in the world. To get a really good idea of just how weird, check out George Saunders' essay "The New Mecca" in the 2006 edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading. And then there's this article on Dubai nightlife from a recent issue of the New York Times. I particularly enjoyed the final paragraph:

As 3 a.m. approaches, all the Grey Goose at Trilogy is polished off and the imported D.J.’s pack away their records. “The thing is,” says Jessica Glunz, “Dubai definitely has the potential to be a party capital of the world if the government wants it to be. It’s already the world’s most famous city, and that took them how long? Ten years?” From here the revelry moves behind closed doors: I tag along with a couple of wealthy party boys, who cruise around looking for pretty people to scoop up. We join the after-hours party at someone’s hotel room, where there are drinks and dancing and enough drugs to fill a pharmacy. Pretty soon, the live entertainment arrives: naked male and female dancers paid to perform with snakes, à la Britney Spears.

Wow, those kids know how to throw an afterparty.