The two British paramours arrested in Dubai for allegedly having sex on a public beach have been sentenced to three months in jail.

After a high-profile trial, the Dubai judge imposed the three month sentence on Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors, who became unintended celebrities in the British tabloids and examples of the clash of cultures between East and West.

It all apparently started with a champagne brunch in July where the two met before heading off to a nearby Dubai beach for a little snogging.

That might be fine the UK or America or France. But not in Dubai.

So when the police came across the snogging couple, it landed them in the pokey.

It didn't end well.

In many ways, Dubai is several cities that rarely overlap or mix.

There is the small percentage of extremely wealthy, though conservative, Dubai/UAE citizens that runs a city-nation build on foreign labor.

There are the poor Asian cconstruction workers who build the city and then lurk in the shadows, living in mile-after-mile of cramped labor camps.

And there's the large, Western, ex-pat community that weaves through Dubai, spending nights at the Buddha Bar and other night clubs where they can enjoy the lavish excess the city has cultivated.

So it's no surprise that the excess and conservative cultures sometimes clash, especially since, as the BBC notes, after Florida, Dubai is the second-most popular long-haul destination for UK residents.

Palmer, who lives in Dubai, has taken the brunt of the criticism.

"She is a silly girl," Samantha Wright, a 26-year-old expat from Bristol told the BBC. "Before I came here I read up on the dos and don'ts. I wouldn't dream of kissing my friend out on the street. This is an Islamic country. We have to respect their traditions. We expect the same in our country. You should dress and behave appropriately when you are somebody's guest."

Wael Al Sayegh, a cultural consultant in Dubai, told the BBC that Dubai may be being over-sold as a Las Vegas of the Middle East.

"There are businesses outside the region that are now selling Dubai in a manner that might be financially viable for their business but not in any shape or form a cultural reality," he said. "When you get given a brochure that sells Dubai as some glamorous party city that is not the cultural or legal reality that is found here. We have always been an open-minded and tolerant nation and obviously different lifestyles are accommodated for, but not at the expense of our culture and the very elements that made us tolerant in the first place."