The UAE has two cities of real significance:

–The political capital of the country, Abu Dhabi.

–The economic and tourist capital, Dubai.

As you might expect, the cities are rivals. Residents of each are likely to defend their home city and belittle the other. And this applies across the economic spectrum. Emiratis of the two cities will argue their merits, Westerners will, subcontinenters will …

We spent most of the day and night in Dubai, and the contrasts came into focus again.

It was a wedding that got us to Dubai. An Arab wedding at one of the city’s 99 five-star hotels (The Address), and the wedding was loud and boisterous and very happy, and the amount of food a person could have eaten, had he been of a mind to, was truly inspiring.

The bride works for The National, which is based in Abu Dhabi, and she invited a batch of coworkers, most of whom live in Abu Dhabi to attend, and the ongoing debate broke out again. Not that journalists tend to be contentious, or anything.

Dubai complaints about Abu Dhabi:

–Nothing to do.

–All the architecture looks alike. (Had not heard that one till tonight.)

–Housing too expensive.

–No civic light-rail system.

–No culture.

–Not enough clubs.

–No indoor ski runs, no tallest building in the world, not enough malls and malls without the right shops.

–Not enough flights out of the local airport.

–Too much traffic.

Abu Dhabi complaints about Dubai:

–The most nightmarishly confusing road “grid” in the history of the world.

–Not keepin’ it real; too many plasticky poseurs.

–Too many drunk and disorderly locals.

–Too many drunk and disorderly tourists.

–Too many clubs full of shallow dopes who believe clubbing equals culture.

–Impossible for a human to walk anywhere.

–The slowest metro system in the world.

–Too much traffic.

It is an argument that never will be settled, of course.

Dubai will remain the leading tourist destination because it wants it more than Abu Dhabi does. It will have more scheming and possibly shady businessmen. It will have more skyscrapers, and will remain overbuilt for years, if not decades, and most of the world will continue to believe it is the actual capital of the UAE.

Abu Dhabi will remain the home of the people who actually run the country, where something vaguely approximating the modern “Emirati” experience is likely to be seen (as opposed to Dubai, where Emiratis are thin on the ground). Abu Dhabi will remain more on a human scale, with large tracts of what appears to be suburbia and only a handful of plus-60-story towers.

Abu Dhabi will have the Grand Prix, Dubai will have Meydan Racecourse and the World Cup. Abu Dhabi will be more expensive. Dubai will be more crowded. Abu Dhabi will be richer. Dubai will be more populous. Dubai will be where you want to visit; Abu Dhabi will be where you want to live.

Dubai will be more self-confident. Abu Dhabi will fight an inferiority complex.

And we will argue this all along.