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Old Posted Feb 6, 2014, 10:22 PM
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DUBAI 2014 – Nightsky's trip to this ultramodern city

Dubai is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, and the capital of the emirate of Dubai but not the capital of UAE (it is Abu Dhabi). The city is less then 200 years old, and many parts of the city are less then 10 years old! Even if the city is considered extremely new and modern, there is also an old part, just south of to the Dubai Creek, called Bur Dubai, and the even older Shindagha district. To the North of Dubai Creek you can find the old financial center, Deira, and further to the North the large city of Sharjah. If you go to the south of old Dubai, on the cities main road -the busy Sheikh Zayed Road with 7 lanes in each direction, there is a very high contrast, since you very soon will enter the ultramodern New Dubai with its many supertall skyscrapers, (many in ultramodern, islamic and postmodern styles) that creates a very spectacular skyline (the most famous are Emirates Towers and Dubai Financial Center) and the New Downtown with Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building!

We stayed for one week totally in Dubai, and went for a short daytrip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. We stayed at Grandeur Hotel (3+) in Al Barsha, a new residential/hotel district in the south part of Dubai.


Read the whole article about my experience of Dubai, with many interesting facts on the bottom of this page:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai.html
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Old Posted Feb 6, 2014, 10:23 PM
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DUBAI MARINA
Marina Beach, The Walk, Skyline


Dubai Marina is a brand new neighbourhood in the South part of Dubai, parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road. It was just a desert some years ago, but now there are 3 lakes, some of Dubai's tallest and most outstanding skyscrapers, old tour boats and modern private yachts, de luxe hotels, tall luxorious residences, fancy restaurants, beach promenades, shopping malls and a part of the southernmost part of Jumeirah Beach is parallel to Dubai Marina.


You can red more about it on the link below:

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









You can watch tons of pics from Dubai Marina on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_Marina.html
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Old Posted Feb 6, 2014, 10:25 PM
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NEW DOWNTOWN
Burj Khalifa, Dubai Lake, Dubai Fountain, Dubai Mall, Dubai Aquarium


New Downtown is one of the newest neighbourhoods of Dubai, situated about halfway between the old Downtown and Dubai Marina. Here you can find Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building! The New Downtown is literally built around Burj Khalifa, a wide boulevard, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Blvd, surrounds it in a half circular shape. The views from Burj Khalifa can be found on this page. Burj Khalifa stands atop the world's largest shopping mall, the exclusive Dubai Mall, with over 1000 stores, and its own aquarium, souk and hockey rink. Inside the "circle" you also find the artificial and newly built Dubai Lake, with the spectacular Dubai Fountain show with light and music in the middle, that was one of the absolute highlights during our visit! It is the world's highest fountain. There are many other skyscrapers in Downtown as well (the two Address hotels for example), even though they are dwarfed by Burj Khalifa. There are also new residential buildings in Middle Eastern style with fancy restaurants built right next to the lake, as well as a new souk (Arabian market) and a fashion street is under construction.
Some of the tallest skyscrapers along Sheikh Zayed Road can be found on both sides of Burj Khalifa.


You can red more about it on the link below:

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


Burj Khalifa – the world's tallest building!








You can watch tons of pics from the New Downtown area on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_Newdowntown.html
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Old Posted Feb 6, 2014, 10:26 PM
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More Downtown:



Some night pics from Downtown with Burj Khalifa!


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  #5  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2014, 3:28 PM
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Business Bay


Burj Khalifa and JW Marriott from Sheikh Zayed Rd


Burj Khalifa – the world's tallest building!







Dubai Mall – the world's largest mall by area
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Last edited by Nightsky; Feb 10, 2014 at 6:55 PM.
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2014, 6:55 PM
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Some more views from Burj Khalifa:


Deira and the city of Sharjah!









http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_skylines2.html
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Old Posted Feb 10, 2014, 7:41 PM
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THE VIEWS FROM BURJ KHALIFA

Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building! It was completed in 2010 and is 829m to the top of the spire (739m to the roof) and has 163 floors! We visited the observaton deck, called At the top. The skyscraper was designed by Adrian Smith at the famous Chicago based architect firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The elevators are the fastest in the world! It is a mixed use building, so it houses both offices, apartments and luxury hotels, like the 7-star Armani Hotel. Inititally it was called Burj Dubai, but the name was changed just bofore completion to honour Sheikh Khalifa of Abu Dhabi (the president of UAE), since he borrowed money to complete the project in 2009 when Dubai went bankrupt.
Even if it's called At the Top, the observation deck is not at the top, it is situated about halfway to the top to the world's tallest building, 424m in the sky, the 124th floor. There are 163 floors in the building totally, but also a lot of height with just the spire and mast. It is important to know that you have to book you tickets a few weeks before your visit at this site and they are pretty expensive (125 AED for an adult)! The observation deck, partly outside, features a 360 degree view of Dubai, so you can see most parts of Dubai on a clear day! Unfortunately the weather was not the best during our visit to the top (a bit grey and foggy) considering it was in Dubai but could be worse of couse, and since you have to book several weeks before in advance (or pay 400 AED!) you can't really plan the trip considering the weather. The skyscrapers along Sheikh Zayed Road can be found on both sides of Burj Khalifa.


You can red more about it on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_skylines2.html










You can watch tons of pics of the views from Burj Khalifa on the link below:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Dubai_skylines2.html
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2014, 9:08 PM
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Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
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  #9  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 1:22 AM
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Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
No. Not at all.
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Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 9:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Nomayoplease View Post
Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
Dubai: the city where architecture goes to die. Either that or they're designing their buildings using Sim City.
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  #11  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 11:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Nomayoplease View Post
Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
Definetly not. What an awful place.
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 10:18 PM
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I have heard people critize Dubai a thousand times judging just from pictures but it's not a bad place to be actually. Dubai is a really interesting place to visit if you like modern architecture and skyscrapers, it's not bad at all to see the world's tallest building for example and it has alot of tourist attractions, friendly citizens and very nice beaches. The city lacks the charm of New York and Paris for example but it is really recommended to go there if you are into skyscrapers and modern architecture. I also think the city will look much better then all the parts that now is just desert have been transformed into greenery according to plans (Abu Dhabi is a much greener city for example). And there is an old part that is pretty big, Bur Dubai, that I will show you in the next post. The parts I have shown so far are the modern parts.

I wouldn't like to live there though, much because of the importance of religion and because it's too car oriented.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 12, 2014, 1:07 AM
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I have heard people critize Dubai a thousand times judging just from pictures but it's not a bad place to be actually. Dubai is a really interesting place to visit if you like modern architecture and skyscrapers, it's not bad at all to see the world's tallest building for example and it has alot of tourist attractions, friendly citizens and very nice beaches. The city lacks the charm of New York and Paris for example but it is really recommended to go there if you are into skyscrapers and modern architecture. I also think the city will look much better then all the parts that now is just desert have been transformed into greenery according to plans (Abu Dhabi is a much greener city for example). And there is an old part that is pretty big, Bur Dubai, that I will show you in the next post. The parts I have shown so far are the modern parts.

I wouldn't like to live there though, much because of the importance of religion and because it's too car oriented.
I like modern architecture too. However, there is a difference between good modern architecture and bad modern architecture.
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Old Posted Feb 17, 2014, 7:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Nomayoplease View Post
Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
I was just thinking that also. That place looks like the ugliest, most forced, city in the world.

The buildings have little or no urban connectivity to each other.

Someone needs to break the news to them that good urban planning does not consit of all trophy ego skyscrapers.
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  #15  
Old Posted Feb 17, 2014, 8:12 PM
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^^^^

Just recycle that statement about 50 more times and then you'll know where this thread started and where it where end.
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Old Posted Feb 17, 2014, 8:16 PM
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I was just thinking that also. That place looks like the ugliest, most forced, city in the world.

The buildings have little or no urban connectivity to each other.

Someone needs to break the news to them that good urban planning does not consit of all trophy ego skyscrapers.
And Houston is a beacon for the world in terms of its urbanity? No.

Dubai does have an old city which is more dense than most American cities. Its kind of like looking at Houston and avoiding looking at downtown(which is waaaay dead compared to old Dubai) while only looking at the burbs.
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Old Posted Feb 18, 2014, 2:41 AM
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And Houston is a beacon for the world in terms of its urbanity? No.

Dubai does have an old city which is more dense than most American cities. Its kind of like looking at Houston and avoiding looking at downtown(which is waaaay dead compared to old Dubai) while only looking at the burbs.
have you been to Houston...lol

It's a city of 6+ million that had to get by on true grit, not glam, and somehow managed to carve out some unique cultural pockets (montrose, museum district, hermann park, the village, Heights, etc.) that are distinct to Houston..... and Houston alone.

I can truly say that Houston is heads and shoulders above a place like Dubai. Why because they learned the hard way that the dubai way is NOT how you build a great city. True, Houston may have built a handful of trophy lifeless skyscrapers in the 70's and 80's but the picture today is totally different.

If you've been keeping up with Houston lately, you will know that they are really focusing on that urban connective tissue that really ties a city together. City parks, mixed use developments, mass transit, residential pockets, etc. are all under construction right now and it is a very exciting time for Houston.

A lesson I've learned from studying the growth of cities are that Cities are built in layers...each layer must naturally follow the last. you can't artificially create a layer of a city or artificially create demand.

Hopefully Dubai can learn form the mistakes of Houston. I don't know the debt load of those buildings or the occupancy sitiuation but hopefully Dubai can make it to its "next layer"
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  #18  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2014, 5:22 PM
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Great photos but am i the only one that doesn't find Dubai appealing?
Nope. I have absolutely zero interest in ever visiting.
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  #19  
Old Posted Feb 11, 2014, 11:00 PM
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Its entirely car oriented despite the Metro. It has no charm whatsoever, its strangely empty and depopulated-feeling. You go there for the architecture and to shop. And the prices are higher than the US, so why would you shop there? Its good for a 3 day stopover and that is about all. I feel almost the same about Vegas, but the street life in the evening in Vegas rivals Times Square, its all tourists, sure, but full of life at least. Other than that, can't stand Vegas, either.

I will probably stop over there for a night or two if I go to India or something, otherwise it makes for great photos and not much else. Sorry. (And I don't expect all people to like my hometown of L.A. either)

Dubai is like a city planned with SimCity, indeed.
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Old Posted Feb 13, 2014, 10:52 PM
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Dubai is like a conservative on this forum: hated.

I went there for a week, stayed in the Rose Rayhaan. LOVED IT. Woke up everyday on the 51st floor to amazing views(above the clouds one day). THE CITY IS NOT NYC. THERE IS NOT THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FEEL OF THE WEST OR N.A.

Get over it.

It is different and interesting in its own ways. It will 'aw' anyone who goes. You may not want to live there, but I think any skyscraper enthusiast needs to visit at least once.
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