Dubai's sand castles crumble amid credit crunch

There was always something surreal about Dubai’s fantastic development plans. Skyscrapers were rising in the desert faster than anybody imagined was possible. While some wondered about such rapid growth, others marveled at the plucky Dubaians’ go-get attitude. Nothing was considered out of reach; the sky was the limit, literally--the tallest building in the world, the most expensive hotel suites with helicopter landing pads, manmade islands, huge shopping malls, indoor sky slopes and ice skating rinks in the desert--all meant to attract foreigners and their investments. And they came, by the hundreds of thousands. Dubai was nicknamed, “Do Buy”!