Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Waterworld


Dubai Creek basically splits the city in too and is a very busy shipping lane. This photo shows the sort of number of boats that use it for delivering goods to the country. It's quite interesting walking along the Creek seeing allsorts of boxes, bundles and sacks of things being unloaded from the dhow's, and luxury yachts being taken out for a spin.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Ski While You Shop


Besides the new Harvey Nichols store, the Mall of the Emirates houses Dubai's only ski slope. The snow is real, and the temperture is kept at a constant minus 1-2 degrees centigrade, but drops to minus 8 during the night when fresh snow is being made. Can Ski Dubai hold the record as the largest snow dome in the world?

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Going Underground


Sometimes things aren't quite what they seem. Take this poster for instance. You may think it is a map of the London Underground. But you'd be wrong. It's actually advertising the different departments that are inside the new Harvey Nichols store that has opened in the Mall of the Emirates.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Hazy Days


This was taken fairly early in the day, and you can see the misty heat haze surrounding the twin Emirates Towers hotel & business complex to the left. There's also at least 10 cranes in the photo. Dubai is undergoing a large building programme and it is estimated that 8% of the world's cranes are situated in Dubai at this moment.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Jumeirah Beach


This shot is taken from the top of the Burj hotel and shows the neighbouring Jumeriah Beach hotel, together with the Beach Road and surrounding area. Because Dubai is a very modern city; less than 30 years old, the road layout has been styled like that of New York, where everything is in straight lines.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Flying the Flag


This is the national flag of Dubai. There is a huge one on a very tall flagpole as you head towards Port Rashid, but I thought this smaller one on a dhow looks more effective.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Building a Life


Here is a photo of some of the building work on Palm Island. Most construction work in Dubai goes on 24 hours a day. The majority of the construction workers come from the Indian subcontinent. They are bussed in everyday from settlements on the outskirts of Dubai. By Western standards, they don't earn very much, but it's more than they would get if they had jobs in their homeland.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Living on an Island


Well not quite at the moment. But building is forging ahead for the first of the Palm Islands. An offshore housing & hotel complex that is being built out in the Gulf Sea in the shape of a palm tree. This scale model shows what it will look like. Dubai is building another one, together with another one that is made up of private islands that when you look down on the Earth, it makes up the map of the World.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Keep Cool Man!


Before the introduction of air conditioning, this used to be the Arabic way of keeping their houses cool. It is called a windtower, and cooler air circulates down the tower, replacing the rising warm air. Neat & simple.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Taxi!


This little boat is called an Abra, and you use it to cross the creek. It is a great experience which lasts for about 10 minutes, and you get to see both sides of the creek from the water. And all for the princely sum of about 15 pence.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Look up in Wonder


Following on from yesterday's photo of the Burg Al Arab hotel from the outside, today's photo show's what's on the inside. This is a vew of some of the different floors from taken from the centre of the hotel. I think it looks more like a painting or print, rather than a photograph.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Heaven's Hotel


The Burj AL Arab hotel is one of the most recognised landmarks in Dubai & is well known throught the world, as if usually seen on anything about Dubai. It is built on its own island and is rated as a 7* hotel. The building in the foreground is the Mina A' Salam.