My first time entering the United Arab Emirates
I had been told that they were somewhat draconian about searching luggage for forbidden items, such as porn and sex toys. I had heard stories of women having their bags pulled open and vibrators confiscated by officials, so I was curious to watch the process. Did they pull open everyone's bags to look for naughty pictures and phallic shapes?

No. They put them through a scanner, and the guy running the machine never looked up from his smart phone.

I wonder exactly how they supposedly caught all these people?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 19 Apr 2013, 8:46, 1 reply)

I had everything taken out of my bag and examined by a very serious chap with a tea-towel on his head
I'd bought an ornamental stone tortoise for my mum's garden from a little shop in Singapore, which they had insisted on wrapping in an entire newspaper. I'd chucked it in the bottom of my bag and presumably this bundle had looked suspicious on the scanner, as he painstakingly removed every single sheet and checked it before uncovering the little stone tortoise at its centre. Looking very disappointed, he then went and fetched me some sellotape and helped to re-wrap the entire thing before letting me go again.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 19 Apr 2013, 11:04, closed)