Swapping green for beige

When I touched down in Dubai airport things began to have that familiar feeling again. My conversational Arabic kicked in, the warm desert wind blew, the traffic raced 6 lanes wide and I was comfortable. Initially I had been a little over whelmed and surprised by the number of Emiraties in traditional clothing waiting to catch the flight to Dubai. However Dubai is their home, and sadly I had simply forgotten. Day one saw me catching the metro down to Dubai Mall where colleagues from the girls school organised a lunch in Dubai Mall. Lunch was wonderful and stretched well into the afternoon.
My long shorts suddenly didn't seem to stretch far enough as I felt under dressed in this a tolerant but conservative country. New laws are being introduced along those lines. The airport will be full of hoardings and pamphlets advising tourists that this is the UAE, you are welcome to enter but please dress appropriately . In fact dress.... The very briefest of shorts are not welcome.
Changes:
The metro is well used, standing room and crowded in places, by all nationalities even the traditionally dressed Arab mum and her family as my long legs flowed out from underneath my bag in my attempt to be respectful.
The days and times of the bigger salaries for education seem to have passed and Dubai appears to have found its place in the world economy. An international Teaching salary is around the 14 to 16,000 UAE a month mark which is standard across the world.
The expat community is migrating to Saudi. Not I said the little red hen.
I talked with Gill who worked with us who lives there. She feels comfortable and very safe and not too restricted outside the compound. Saudi is becoming a little more liberated as I guess UAE was 20 years ago.
Construction seems less. The sky line no longer framed by cranes.
The roadworks seem minimal.
The people still as pleasant and smiley.
Has the UAE come of age and taking responsibility for itself and doing well at doing so?
And the sand is still beige.