That place is Dubai.Unlike many of its Arab neighbours, the emirate of Dubai has little oil. But at one time, it did. The emirate has used the revenue generated during that time to fund a massive building programme aimed at making Dubai one of the world's premier tourist destinations and financial hubs.
Everywhere you look there is construction, the most spectacular of which is based in and around the Palm at Jumeirah. As its name suggests, the Palm is shaped like a giant date palm. It is entirely man-made and juts out into the gulf from the Dubai mainland. It took almost 100 million cubic metres of sand taken from the ocean floor to build it and is now the site of some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
England football stars David Beckham, Michael Owen and Joe Cole were among the early investors - and they should make a handsome profit. Villas that were sold for around £500,000 just six years ago are now changing hands for 10 times that.
But how does Dubai manage it? Sultan Bin Sulayam - the man who oversees all the emirate's development for ruler Sheikh Mohammed - says that the local banks isolated themselves from the subprime markets. This means they are not feeling the vagaries of the credit crunch that have stricken so many other lenders worldwide.
The latest mega-project is called Atlantis - a £750m super-hotel with more than 1,500 rooms, the most expensive of which will set you back £15,000 a night. There is also a huge aquarium inside the hotel that is home to 65,000 fish, while outside there is a waterpark with dolphins and sharks.
It is all designed in order for you to have an entire holiday experience without leaving the hotel.
