Notes on the Geography of The U.A.E. (Dubai): Dubai 2007 Update
The pictures in the previous folders were taken in 2004; in this and the following folders the pictures come from 2007.
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There's not a lot of public beach left in Dubai, but here's the way to one bit.
Pretty, but we're mostly interested in the background, with its highrise lineup along Sheikh Zeyed Road. We'll go over there and take a drive down the street.
Gulp. Driving while holding a camera: needs must.
OK? We've pulled over and stopped. On the left is one of the two Emirates Towers, completed in 2000 and designed by Hazel W.S. Wong of NORR Group. For a moment, this was the tallest office tower in the Middle East. The spiky-helmeted Marina Tower is next down the strip; in between, in the distance, is the Burj Dubai, as it was then called, under construction.
One of the Emirates Towers is a hotel, the other an office tower.
Looking back to the Marina Tower at the left and in the center the Rose Rayhaan Hotel, which claimed to be the world's tallest. Being the tallest or biggest or most expensive is a Dubai illness. Take heart, the sand is complimentary.
The Chelsea Tower Hotel, flanked on the left by the Emirates Grand Hotel Apartments. About now, one has to wonder what these hotels are for. Tourists coming for the shopping? Prospective investors?.
Heads up. The Burj Dubai advertises on the Sheikh Rashid apartment building. Tut, tut; tarnishing the brand by associating with a building that never was the tallest, biggest, or most expensive.
The Burj Dubai takes shape.
It's hard to get a sense of the how much taller it is than everything around it.
Another go.
You hardly notice the highrises at its base.
Instant downtown, which is to say more shopping. You're right; it's also possible to go to a restaurant or a movie. Just not too much walking, please. For five months of the year, the mean daily temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hard to say what's for sale.
Coming soon.
For now, the Mall of the Emirates will have to do. That white freeway overpass sticking out of the roof is the hyped indoor ski slope, no doubt the world's biggest something or other.
Looks like an old postcard, but that's because the photo is through a pane of glass. Lots of visitors to the mall take pictures like this.
The mall itself is starshippy.
But with plenty of Italian culture.
Mall-walkers are often pooped. Seats are hard to find.