I visited Dubai for the first time over the holidays and, as a business reporter, was anxious to hear how the global economic crisis was affecting this financial hot spot. If all you did was drive through the city, you might not think the city was feeling the impact at all.

True to all earlier reports, there is ongoing construction everywhere. I’d heard a statistic that a third of the world’s cranes are in Dubai, and driving from the airport to the hotel, I thought, “Yep, that looks about right.”

Everything being built in Dubai is of the superlative nature -- the biggest, the tallest, the flashiest. The Burj Dubai (which I hear on good authority will rise to 818 meters -- though officially the final height is still under wraps) is truly an architectural wonder.

But probe a little further beneath the surface and you’ll find that Dubai’s coat of many colors is beginning to fray at the edges. There have been reports of project cancellations and mass layoffs, and the locals I spoke with said the slowdown is taking a toll on the city.

One editor I spoke with at a local paper said that a year or so ago, it was impossible to find an apartment for rent. But lately, she’s seen the number of “For Rent” signs skyrocket, a sign the real estate market is softening.

She also noted that a year ago, it would take at least an hour and a half for a takeout delivery from their favorite restaurant to arrive at their office at lunchtime. The restaurant was overloaded with the number of businesses it had to serve. Now? An order arrives in 15 minutes, at the same time that the restaurant has cut its delivery staff in half due to a downturn in business.

When I visited the Dubai Mall, which houses more than 1,200 stores as well as an ice skating rink, I was surprised to find that roughly half of the stores hadn’t opened yet. And the ones that had opened were surprisingly…empty. When I asked one retailer how business had been, she tilted her head from side to side and waved her hand: “Eh…” A friend of mine in Dubai had asked another retailer the same question, only to discover the store hadn’t sold so much as a shirt in weeks.

But the local ruler Sheikh Mohammed seems very set on preserving Dubai’s image and reassuring the world -- particularly investors -- that Dubai will weather this storm just fine. On some level, it must. Dubai has been flashy in its rise, and the surrounding Middle Eastern countries are watching closely to see if Dubai gets away with it -- everything from the flashy buildings to the liberal attitudes towards women. As one advertising executive I spoke with said, “'Brand Dubai' has to be saved.”