It’s becoming a familiar journey – my third visit to Dubai in three months. It’s one of those places that’s closer in my mind than it really is. At seven-and-a-half hours, it’s actually closer to Europe than it is to Singapore. 

It’s a beautiful sunset as we land – lovely shades of oranges and reds casting shadows on the very arid landscape below us. When you’re in Dubai, you forget you’re actually in the middle of a very land which hardly sees any rain.

Yet the golf courses and gardens are somehow kept very green. We go without rain in Singapore for two months and not only we are crying for precipitation but so are our flowers, plants and trees.

In Dubai, I think they cry only when the building stops or when there’s nothing new happening.

Even just a month away and something’s changed at immigration. There’s now a camera you have to look up to.

“Is that new?” I asked. “It wasn’t there last month.”

“Yes. In Dubai, there’s always something new,” replied the officer.

At Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach Residence, where our WIT Middle East event will kick off on Wednesday, there’s lots of building going on too. They’ve just completed a new mall – The Beach – and it looks like there’s still work going on. (below)

The Walk has just opened. Apparently this is the place where residents from the region come and show off their fancy cars. The hotel is surrounded by retail and eating outlets – all familiar brands from around the world – from Sephora to Pappa Rich.

I go off for a meeting at Emirates Holidays and boss Marc Bennett shows me the view where The World is taking shape. Yes, the project is back on track.

“Quite amazing, isn’t it? All reclaimed land. They’re building amazing things there like a nature sanctuary and they could be creating an entirely new eco-system over there,” he said, over our lunch which was, by the way, the best Indian curry takeaway I’ve tasted in a long time. So good I forgot to take pictures of it beforehand.

Each time I visit Dubai, the word “amazing” pops into my mind. Amazing occupancies. Hotels are running full on average rates of 1,000 Dirhams and above. Amazing mobile adoption. Going through some of the presentations handed in by some of our speakers, I think we’re going to see how mobile is absolutely going to transform the market here.

What I’ve also found amazing since my arrival is the support of the team at Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach Residence. This morning, we had a meeting with the entire leadership team, led by general manager Bernd Schneider. I met everyone from engineering to security to banquet.

I also met the sous chef who then prepared a food-tasting although I’d rather call it food-feasting. He’s planned each break to have a theme. Now if this image on the left doesn’t whet your appetite, I don’t know what will …

Okay, now I got to stop thinking about food and get back to the planning of WIT Middle East.

Amazing, how much more last minute this market is too.

See you