DUBAI 2014 – Nightsky's trip to this ultramodern city

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by Bailey

This is my whole point. Dubai is artificially trying to skip steps in its evolution. It's like somone trying to turn a city the size of San Antonio into a New York City overnight by simply throwing money at it to create flashy "archtiectural" icons.

The market has to develop at its own pace and it has a skyline that is more indicative of a city with 6, 8, or 10 Million inhabitants. Water will find its level and the luster of the "new" buildings will wear of and Dubai will once agiain it is a city of 2 million people. I even read somewhere that a large % of that population is migrant workers from India, Bangledesh, Pakistan, etc. that have been brought in to work on the construction projects. What happens when they return and when the novelty of Dubai wears off?

The real question I would like answers to are:

What is the occupancy rate of their buildings (office and residential)?
How were they financed? Who financed them? and similar questions that speak to the economic viability of the city or else we could be lookign at the biggest bubble the world hasN ever seen.

Naw..the skyline doesn't say nearly 6, 8 or 10 million. It says around 2-3million. Its not as massive as Chicago s skyline, just some taller ones

[SHiRO]

Great photos Nightsky!

Dubai is an interesting place, much more than most are giving it credit for, I'll be going there in May 2015.

And you're absolutely right, the comments in this thread should focus on your photography, not the millionth discussion about the perception/envy of Dubai by people who have not even been there and have a lot of trouble understanding places different from the North American standard as it is (really? Dubai hasn't got as many interesting places as Houston? And its skyline says just 2 million?)

In fact, say the word Nightsky and I'll delete any comments that are just ignorant comments that have nothing to do with your thread.

That said, my impression about Dubai being the cleanest and safest city, is that that probably only goes for the parts that you get to see as a tourist. A city with such restrictive laws which is 75% male to boot, is bound to have a seedier side (probably behind closed doors). We all know the stories. Also, there are dozens of reports about people getting in trouble for doing things that are perfectely normal at home. Sometimes serious trouble. And then there are the guest workers camps...

These are more important issues concerning critisism leveled at Dubai than "tacky architecture"...

I'll guess I'll see for myself next year. My friend's wife is from Dubai and I'll be going with people who have family there and/or who have been there before. I'm hoping I'll be getting more than the standard tourist experience out of the trip.

[Nightsky]

Originally Posted by SHiRO

Great photos Nightsky!

Dubai is an interesting place, much more than most are giving it credit for, I'll be going there in May 2015.

And you're absolutely right, the comments in this thread should focus on your photography, not the millionth discussion about the perception/envy of Dubai by people who have not even been there and have a lot of trouble understanding places different from the North American standard as it is (really? Dubai hasn't got as many interesting places as Houston? And its skyline says just 2 million?)

In fact, say the word Nightsky and I'll delete any comments that are just ignorant comments that have nothing to do with your thread.

That said, my impression about Dubai being the cleanest and safest city, is that that probably only goes for the parts that you get to see as a tourist. A city with such restrictive laws which is 75% male to boot, is bound to have a seedier side (probably behind closed doors). We all know the stories. Also, there are dozens of reports about people getting in trouble for doing things that are perfectely normal at home. Sometimes serious trouble. And then there are the guest workers camps...

These are more important issues concerning critisism leveled at Dubai than "tacky architecture"...

I'll guess I'll see for myself next year. My friend's wife is from Dubai and I'll be going with people who have family there and/or who have been there before. I'm hoping I'll be getting more than the standard tourist experience out of the trip.

Thanks for your comments, Shiro! No need to delete posts after all, even if they are ot about the number of photos they will increase the number of posts, at least something good. You are absolutely right. The problem with the treatment of guest workers and the exhaggarated religious laws (for example a norwegian woman got punished for being raped, that kind of laws are not ok at all!) are much more important then discussing the architecture, that actually is not bad at all compared to many other cities. Anyway, all the dark things I heard made me hesitate going to Dubai, but after all it is a nice place to visit as a tourist, very interesting for architecture fans whatever your taste is, and it is much cheaper then going to other Asian cities, so I decided to give it a try (my original plan was going to Hong Kong but it would be too expensive right now) And I'm sure all parts are not that clean, like labour camps for example, but thats what I saw, even in non touristy residential areas like Al Barsha and the resiential parts of Bur Dubai.

More photos will come soon. I will show you many different parts, like Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeriah Road/Beach, Al Barsha etc....

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by SHiRO

Great photos Nightsky!

(really? Dubai hasn't got as many interesting places as Houston? And its skyline says just 2 million?)

Yes, to me the city featured in the following thread just has more soul and grit than what I see from Dubai, as a place. Just my opinion.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=209723

[Nightsky]

Again, don't turn this into a city vs city thread, this is about my trip to Dubai and nothing else, how hard can it be to understand this? . All comments that are not about the photos will be ingnored! You have to make a separate thread to discuss this!

[Nightsky]

AL BARSHA:

Al Barsha is a district in Southwest Dubai, between Downtown and Dubai Marina, mostly known for the Mall of the Emirates, a fancy mall with many stores and a famous indoor ski slope! The area is mostly filled with midrise residential apartments, restaurants and a lot of hotels - everthing very new since the area was constructed just a few years ago. Some blocks are empty blocks filled with desert sands, in the middle of luxury hotels. It consists of six sub-communities and is bounded by Sheikh Zayed Road and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road.

Al Barsha is the area where we stayed, at the Grandeur Hotel.

MALL OF THE EMIRATES:








Ski Dubai






Kempinski Hotel

[Nightsky]

AL BARSHA, OTHERS:






This is what most metro stations of Dubai's red line look like: a futuristic golden curved building. The elevated metro track goes right throught the stations. The trains are computer driven and driverless, just like in Copenhagen! This is the Mall of the Emirates metro station.






The streets where flooded due to heavy rainfall the day before the evening we arrived. It usually rain only 2 times a years, during our stay it rained 3 times during one week! Climate changes!

You can watch tons of pics from the Al Barsha area, and read about our hotel, on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_Albarsha.html

[Xander202]

I think it's disgraceful that people are ready to ruin someone's photography thread with their negative opinions of a city. This is not a city vs city thread, nor is it an appropriate place to debate the merits of Dubai. This is a thread about nightsky's photos that he has kindly bothered to upload for other peoples interest. If you can't respect that don't open the thread!

Thanks nightsky for your photos.

[Nightsky]

Originally Posted by Xander202

I think it's disgraceful that people are ready to ruin someone's photography thread with their negative opinions of a city. This is not a city vs city thread, nor is it an appropriate place to debate the merits of Dubai. This is a thread about nightsky's photos that he has kindly bothered to upload for other peoples interest. If you can't respect that don't open the thread!

Thanks nightsky for your photos.

Thanks for your support, Xander202! From now on I will ignore every comment that is not about the photos. I'm sure there are many people who want to see the photos, whatever they think about the city.

[Nightsky]

INTERNET CITY AND MEDIA CITY:

Internet City is a neighbourhood designed for IT companies. It is situated between the New Downtown and Dubai Marina in the South part of the city. It is not very big, but has a few skyscrapers, most prominent are two Chrysler Building clones. Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia and IBM are among the companies that have offices here, and it is declared a free economic zone. Dubai Media City is bordering Internet City to the West. The Media City, focused on media companies, was established in year 2000, also got some skyscrapers and is very close to the shore where the road to the Palm Jumeirah Island begins.








Skyline of Media City (front) and Internet City (back). Al Kazim Towers (middle) from 2008 are practically two clones of Chrysler Bldg in NY.





You can watch tons of pics from the Internet City and Media City on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dub...ernetcity.html

[Nightsky]

Comments (about the photos) much appreciated!

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Nightsky

Woke up and swam every day with a view of these buildings during our stay. We stayed in a condo on the Palm Jumeirah.

I love viewing your photo's. Thanks.

[Nightsky]

^Thanks a lot, Biff! Nice to hear after all negative comments

[Danny]

Thanks a lot for all these pictures of Dubai, Nightsky! Dubai is spectacular. It´s a very luxurius city. Its skyscrapers are impressive, specially The Burj Khalifa, of course.

I like the contrast between this amazing large city and the desert surrounding it.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[gilsonmanuel]

Thanks a lot for sharing such a nice pictures of Dubai.
Really awesome and representing true picture.

[Nightsky]

Thanks, guys!

MADINAT JUMEIRAH:

Madinat Jumeirah (literally the town of Jumeirah) is the largest resort complex in the Emirates, inaugurated in 2004.
It is built in Middle Eastern style, situated between Jumeirah Beach and Jumeirah Road (the intersection where it
changes name to Al Sufouh Road. It consists of large buildings in traditional style, that has been oversized.
The architect designed the complex to resemble the historic Arabic windtower houses in the Bastakiya and
Heritage Village historic districts, but much larger, and without the limits of the technology that was available then.

Madinat Jumeirah contains two luxury boutique hotels -Mina a'Salam and Al Qasr, canals, small lakes with tourist boats,
29 summer houses -called Dar Al Masyaf, landscaped gardens with palms, 40 restaurants/bars, a theater, an exhibtion hall,
stores, bridges and a souk (Arabian market) that occupies a large part of the complex. It is home to the Dubai Film Festival
and the Art Dubai International Fair. The Madinat Jumeirah is a very nice area, very pedestrian friendly and definately worth
to visit even if it is a bit touristy. Especially the architecture is definately worth checking out!


Madinat Jumeirah with the Mina A'Salam (harbour of piece) and Burj Al Arab hotels in the background and an abra (old ship) to the right.




















Madinat Jumeirah is illuminated by neon at night.




The entrance to the Souk Madinat Jumeirah

You can watch tons of pics from the Madinat Jumeirah on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_Madinat.html

[Nightsky]

More Madinat Jumeirah:









http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_Madinat.html

[Nightsky]

PALM JUMEIRAH ISLAND:

Palm Jumeirah is an artificial archipelago with a shape of a palm, when seen from above, created by Nakheel. It is the only one of 3 palm islands that had been completed at the time of our visit (2014). Palm Jumeirah is the world's largest ariticial island and is filled with many luxury private villas, luxury apartments buildings, resort hotels, a water park, beaches, marinas, restaurants and a small airport. The private villas and some of the hotels are situated on the 16 fronds (palm blades), while the apartment buildings are situated along the boulevard in the middle. In the middle of the boulevard, there is an elevated, computer driven, driverless monorail train with stunning views of Dubai! In the end of this boulevard, the most famous structure of Palm Island is situated; the Atlantis resort, one of only two luxury hotels with this name, themed around the sea (the other one is on Bahamas). Surrounding the palm islands there is a crescent island with 14 themed resort hotels (like Atlantis, Fairmont, Trump, Waldorf Astoria and Kempinski). Celebrities like David Beckham and Brad Pitt own mansions on the island. Construction was started in 2001 and the first inhabitants moved there in 2006. There were a controversy about the island, since Nakheel extended the residences from 2000 to 4500, increasing the cost a lot, and there are rumours that the island is sinking.


The Atlantis Resort Hotel and Aquaventure Beach seen from the elevated train. The Atlantis, built in 2008 as the first resort on the island, is a copy of Atlantis on Bahamas. It is based on the theme of Atlantis, there is an underwater aquarium, 20 restaurants, and a waterpark inside.









The monorail train from Palm Jumeirah to the mainland of Dubai is driverless, elevated and has amazing views of Dubai! It is the first monorail in the Middle East.





You can watch tons of pics from the Palm Island on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dub...mjumeirah.html

[IMBY]

So there are more interesting areas of Dubai, rather than the "museum" part of this city, as I should have guessed. My intuition tells me there's lots of poor people here, and that's the areas I'd find most interesting, their commercial areas, etc. When I OD on modern San Francisco, I head off on BART to 16th & Mission, or wander the Tenderloin district, some place more human scale.

The "museum" part of this city doesn't look walkable at all, "museum buildings" spaced too far apart. Where's the pedestrians?

Rains 2X a year? I can only imagine the car accidents on those days, as a result of months of oil build-up on the roads, must be quite the show to watch!

That happens here in Las Vegas. That first day of rain, after months without it, accidents everywhere, very dangerous to be out in it!

Thanks for revealing some other sides to this city!

[Nightsky]

Originally Posted by IMBY

So there are more interesting areas of Dubai, rather than the "museum" part of this city, as I should have guessed. My intuition tells me there's lots of poor people here, and that's the areas I'd find most interesting, their commercial areas, etc. When I OD on modern San Francisco, I head off on BART to 16th & Mission, or wander the Tenderloin district, some place more human scale.

The "museum" part of this city doesn't look walkable at all, "museum buildings" spaced too far apart. Where's the pedestrians?

Rains 2X a year? I can only imagine the car accidents on those days, as a result of months of oil build-up on the roads, must be quite the show to watch!

That happens here in Las Vegas. That first day of rain, after months without it, accidents everywhere, very dangerous to be out in it!

Thanks for revealing some other sides to this city!

Thanks for comments! I think the old part, Bur Dubai is the most interesting in some way, since "normal" people live there, mainly south Asian guest workers.

There are not many pedestrians in the financial district for example, but you find them in old town (Deira and Bur Dubai), Dubai Marina wintertime when its not too hot.

I didn't see any accident the rainy day, only one minor on one of the sunny days. I was surprised by all these large number of cars driving like cars with so few accidents, I've read there are many though.