the Gulf’s vast hydrocarbon wealth has allowed its better-off residents to luxuriate in western-style cities that defy the inhospitable desert.
Many of Dubai’s upwardly mobile still jet off to cooler climes during the peak of the heat, but those who remain can avail themselves of facilities that keep them indoors during the hottest parts of the day.
Dubai has ice rinks and an indoor ski slope, while emperor penguins and Arctic foxes live in Abu Dhabi’s SeaWorld, a vast indoor theme park. In the region’s shopping malls, the air is so chilly that one Dubai expat carries a jumper with her while shopping during summer, and says she looks forward to winter so she “can be warm again”.
Those determined to brave the blazing summer sun can swim in outdoor pools filled with chilled water or jog around the 1.14km air-conditioned outdoor path in Qatar’s Umm Al Seneem park.