On a Sandy Day You Can’t See Forever

Posted by Kanga.

Wednesday we took our first trip to the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, world’s tallest building. I say first trip, because we will probably go back at least twice more – once on a clear day and again at night. It costs 100 AED per person ($27.00) and is worth the price.

My ears popped during the elevator ride, but it was a very fast (1 minute) and smooth ride. It was almost like riding in Charlie’s glass elevator, not because it was glass, but the walls were very shiny and there were multiple video screens built into the elevator walls showing views as we moved up.

Along the way from the entrance to the elevator and again from the elevator to the exit, there were excellent informational displays about the building of the Burj.

It is summer and that means that sand is blowing around. The haze in the photos is not smog, but sand. It is just that season.

Above is the northwest view showing the Metro train station in the foreground and the Arabian Gulf in the distance.

Above is the view to the north showing the skyscrapers clustered around Sheikh Zayed Road.

Above is the view to the east of the roof of the Dubai Mall, one of the largest malls in the world.

Above is the Address Hotel and in the background is the Business Bay – artificial extension of the Dubai Creek. The waterway will eventually extend to the Arabian Gulf making a complete circuit.

Above is the view of the Dubai Fountain. As you can see it has a complex system of spouts. It “performs” to music. It is very impressive to see. Also, as you can see it has an impressive crop of algae. Below is a man cleaning the fountain. You may need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see him.

The observation deck it not at the top of the burj, but only the 124th floor. There is an outdoor deck where you can get unobstructed pictures (no reflection off the windows) and an air conditioned indoor deck.

This is the view up from the observation deck to the top of the building. Below is us on the outdoor deck, reflected in the windows.

Sunset & Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa

So, the Burj Khalifa opened this last week. Did we witness it? No. I was down with the flu and Daddybird was at Bu Qtair eating fish with friends and neither of us knew exactly what time the fireworks would be set off, so we missed it.

Those of you in America may have gotten sick of hearing about it due to the extravagance of the whole thing, however, it was a very important event for residents of Dubai and hopefully, all of the U.A.E. It is an unifying icon, not unlike the Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower, a symbol for a citizenry that is a minority in their own country and for the non-citizens who love this country and call it home.

You have to remember this is a very young country by world standards. We just celebrated 38 years in December. It is also a very small country. The U.A.E. is 1/3 the size of our home state of Oregon. Oregon is just under 3% of the U.S.A. geographically, (if my math is correct.) And, one could complain about all the wealth and the flaunting of it, but I think there is some justice in the fact that the people who lived in one of the most inhospitable places on the earth (pre-air conditioning) should be sitting on top of a “gold mine” of oil. Secondly, stop complaining about oil rich Arabs while you drive around burning up fossil fuels, but I digress.

Anyway, it was not just a spectacular spectacle, but a nationally important event and very moving to the people who live here.

CNN has a good video of the event – Click here

Pictures – click here and here

And for pictures showing how they will keep all those (23,000) windows clean – click here

For more on the importance of the Burj to people, read our friend Lara Dunston’s blog – Cool Travel Guide.

The crowds are lining up for hours to go up to the observation deck on the 124th floor (out of 160 floors). It will probably be some time before we go up there ourselves, but I am sure we will take a photo or two to share when we do.

Iconic Dubai

This picture was taken during twilight, so may not be a clear as it would be in sunlight. It is an iconic shot because in the  background is the Burg Dubai, the world’s tallest building (red arrow). In front of that is the skeleton of a metro train station under construction (green arrow). In front of all that on the shore of Dubai Creek is a shipyard where wooden dhows are built (yellow arrow). Old and new, all in one view.

Afternoon out with the Tweeters/Twitterers/Whatever

Just another ugly place in Dubai.
In case you are interested in the current state of the world’s tallest building, here it is as of Friday.
Here we are in all our glory. Yes, Donna, we are eating yet again. Notice the blur in the center of the picture. The waitstaff are really fast here.
Paul and Rami discussing Shufflegazine.
PK and Abha above, Rami and Kedar below.
We left this restaurant and headed across the street to a place where those who wanted it could smoke shisha.
Here’s a little snippet of conversation. Just a short panorama of our group (minus me, the benefit of being behind the camera!)
Paul smoking shisha. Sexy, huh!?!
Here’s Rami and Jamie just kicking back.

Burj Dubai, fog, traffic patterns

Here are a series of pictures of the Burj Dubai (world’s tallest building) as we get closer to it. Our original intention was to go to Festival City – one of the many malls – but if you miss your turn-off, you are up a creek. It is often easier to just change your destination than to try to get back on the path to where you originally wanted to go. So, our destination changed to the Dubai Mall.
These pictures were taken at dusk and, yes, there is a significant amount of pollution, but this was also the evening of our foggy day (see previous entry) and there was still a significant amount of fog hanging around. Warm and foggy, imagine! In fact, we had to run the windshield wipers because it was condensing on the outside of the windshield and making it nearly impossible to see to drive.
The frame of the building has reached its highest point, now they are just filling it out. They haven’t announced exactly how tall it has turned out to be, yet.