Posted by Kanga.
Another one of our favorite water features –
Is now wrapped in a death shroud.
The reasoning is
“The future is clearer. We’re clearing away obstacles to make way for better shopping. Project: Opening sight lines. It’s all happy-ning.”
I have no idea what will replace this distinctive fountain, but it sounds like it will be more kiosks selling stuff. Very sad.
Posted by Kanga.
Winter decorations at the Mirdiff City Center Mall include a light garden complete with light camel,
Light horse, whose tail was on a break,
Light bushes in the water feature,
And light birds in the trees.
Posted by Kanga.
We recently took a trip out to nearly the end of the Jumeirah Palm Islands (Dubai) to an event held at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray hotel. So, here are a few pictures.
Posted by Kanga
This is a rather outstanding sculpture in Zabeel Park commemorating Dubai’s Australian sister city, Gold Coast. This is one of those things I never expected to see.
This fountain was rather fascinating. If they could just reduce the hissing sound of the mist jets, it would be very relaxing.
A lovely waterfall fountain.
The waterfall fountain from another angle. And, yes, that is a pool you see hanging off the side of the hotel. Daddybird thought this was cool, until he saw someone swim by. Not really a view you want to have of the average tourist.
This probably seems like an innocuous picture to you. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, if you live in a Muslim country and are aware of local customs and standards, you would know that there is too much skin showing in this picture. These tourists are apparently unaware of where they are vacationing. Yes, Dubai is very liberal, especially in areas predominately populated by tourists, but I still find scenes like this odd.
The wind was gusting so hard that it was blowing most of the water out of this fountain.
This “old” hotel is being torn down. No wrecking ball, just a large jackhammer slowly nibbling away at it. Keep in mind that this country was formed in 1971, so old is not necessarily old here. This hotel was probably the best at one time, but it is sitting on prime beach property and is behind the times, so down it comes. Everything is made of cement here, so this is a tangle of rebar and cement chunks. I don’t know if they don’t know about explosive demolition or if there is some reason not to do it that way.
This is the view from a restaurant where we ate sitting outside in the pleasant cool evening (cool is 60-70F). The water is Dubai Creek (more like a bay or inlet) and the bridge is lit with blue lights underneath. Very beautiful. While sitting there enjoying the view and the good food, we talked about how we no longer feel like newbies here, but this is our home. Not that we aren’t still seeing new things and being amazed by the unexpected, but we are very comfortable here and so very glad we came. Instead of asking ourselves “What have we done?” we are asking “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”
Here is our current rental car. We started out with a Caprice, which was rather large and a real challenge to get into our parking space. Then we had a Honda City, which was smaller, but not what we really wanted. So, now we have a Honda Jazz and really like it. It is small and peppy, both things that are advantageous when driving in Dubai. We’ll probably keep this one until June. Then, when we come back in the fall, we’ll lease or buy a new one.
For two days this week I attended a conference on teaching. It was very enjoyable and I learned some good things. The next four pictures are the view from the pool deck of the hotel where the conference was held. The large silver thing in the center of the first picture is the indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai, in the Mall of the Emirates.
The Christmas decorations have finally disappeared at Festival City mall and been replaced by brightly colored ribbons for the Shopping Festival. They also have a carnival set up on the walkway by the Creek.
Below is a fountain that consists of beaded strings that hang down several floors and water is running down the strings and then dropping into a pool at the bottom.
Below are several pictures of another of Paul’s favorite fountains. The stairs switch-back through the fountain which consists of water running over the “boulders.” He always has to stick his fingers in the water. It is imperative.
Below is a garden and fountain in the lower basement parking area. It is open to the sky directly above the garden. Leave it to Dubai to have a basement parking lot garden. Again, Paul had to stick his fingers into the water.
Now we move to Lamcy Plaza. A truly unique mall. Below is the waterfall fountain that you see immediately as you walk in.
Behind us at the entrance is a replica of the Tower Bridge (London tower???) Anyway, it is definitely European, not Middle Eastern. None of the decor here matched. Very eclectic. There were no walls and doors between the different stores either, so was hard to keep track of where you were and who you should pay for what you had picked up.
There you have it. Our week in Dubai. Home, sweet home.
Despite the scarcity of water and the fact that most of it comes from desalinization, there are innumerable fountains in Dubai. Every new construction involves some sort of water features – fountains, canals, pools, etc. Some of them are quite massive and some are quite creative and interesting.
Here is one of the massive ones. This is in Dubai Mall.
The diver sculptures are life sized, so that gives you some idea how tall and wide this is. Not only that, but this is one of a pair of fountains.
Below is one of Paul’s favorite fountains. He is a waterbaby and could watch fountains like this for hours given the chance. This is in Festival City mall and is an example of the interesting design type of fountain.
It is a sloped wall and at short intervals water comes down in waves.
The slope is covered with sea shells which is what causes the frothiness of the water and the sound of waves on the beach.
So, here we are in downtown Abu Dhabi.
This shot shows part of a mosque in the foreground and a beautiful highrise in the background.
They do love glass and shiny things here.
I didn’t take this photo for the reflection in the glass, but it turned out kinda artsy fartsy. If I had been trying, I’m sure it wouldn’t have come out this good.
It is not uncommon, in fact it is very common, to see large billboards and murals depicting one sheikh or another. This is probably Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE.
Here we are sitting on the steps of the Presidential Palace, which is not the Presidential residence, but an amazingly posh hotel.
Here’s what it looks like as you drive up.
They do love their fountains here. Water, water everywhere!
This is looking down from the steps. Notice the construciton in the background. It’s hard to find a view that doesn’t include construction and cranes.
More construction to the left.
There was a large greenscape all around the hotel. Very beautiful.
This is the view down the steps including the fountain flowing all the way down the steps. Water, water everywhere.
We came to the hotel to have high tea. It was very expensive, but yummy and fun. We each got a tray like this with three layers of plates filled with little sandwiches, pastries and desserts. I’ve decided that I really like clotted cream. Mmmm.
This is Daddybird enjoying a sandwich. I told him to look pretty and took a picture. Looked at it, then told him to look pretty with his eyes open. The golden glow to these pictures is probably due to the golden hue of everything there — the walls, the furniture, the lighting. It was very beautiful.
This is a shot upward at the top of the rotunda. Unfortunately, it is blurry. I failed to check the setting on the camera. But, hopefully, you can get a feel for the grandure.
Despite the grandness of it all, we both felt comfortable here. We didn’t feel like poor relations who had wandered in off the street. The acoustics were amazing, too. There was live music being played a short distance from where we were sitting and we could hear it just fine, but were unable to hear the people at the next table talking. We could also easily hear each other as we talked at our table.
Abu Dhabi is a beautiful city, but I don’t think I would take it over Dubai.
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