HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Photography Forums > My City Photos


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #1  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 12:27 PM
FREKI's Avatar
FREKI FREKI is offline
Kicking it Viking style..
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Copenhagen
Posts: 7,085
Smile Freki presents Dubai

Dubai... is a mess..

Everything has a halfarsed feel to it and it seems nothing is ever really completed - it's directly hostile to pedestrians and decentralized to an absurd level.
And don't get me started on the insane sharia laws ( that they luckily chose not to enforce in their desperation of acquiring foreign cash ).

But it is also a very interesting place and it has a lot of scraper fan eye-candy to see - and chances are that is what you are here to see

We did have a nice vacation there and I'm not going to say people shouldn't visit - just be aware that it's basically like the old western movie sets where it's all empty and hollow when you look past the facades.





































































































































































That all folks
__________________
FREKI PHOTOTHREADS:
Kingdom of Denmark - Globetrekking
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 2:34 PM
photoLith's Avatar
photoLith photoLith is offline
Ex Houstonian
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Pittsburgh n’ at
Posts: 15,451
Did you visit the old city part of Dubai, I understand it's fairly well preserved.
__________________
There’s no greater abomination to mankind and nature than Ryan Home developments.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 4:16 PM
10023's Avatar
10023 10023 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: London
Posts: 21,146
Thanks for the great photos. Still not a place that I have any interest in visiting, ever.
__________________
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." - Isaac Asimov
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 8:10 PM
The North One's Avatar
The North One The North One is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,486
Old Dubai looks interesting, other than that it all looks so tacky. Like Las Vegas except lacking any of the self-awareness or playfulness.

I remember when the hype train for Dubai back in 2005-2008 was insane, now it seems like the hype has died out and the rose colored glasses have been taken off.

Great photos regardless.
__________________
Spawn of questionable parentage!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #5  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 9:11 PM
FREKI's Avatar
FREKI FREKI is offline
Kicking it Viking style..
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Copenhagen
Posts: 7,085
^yeah - I'm certainly not going to say people shouldn't visit - but people should know what to expect when they do.

What really surprised me was how halfarsed most things are - nothing seems finished, even in the most urban decade old areas it has a feel of still being under construction - and entire finished districts seems empty and devoid of life - like they just build and build without thinking about being able to fill the towers..

It's still great to see these things in real life and we had a good vacation there, but Dubai is certainly more Basra than it is Kuwait City

Make no mistake, even with all the expats and Asian slave labour and foreign investment and oil it is still very much the Middle East

The comparison to Vegas is not much off, but Vegas offers much much more than Dubai for tourists and normal citizens alike
Quote:
Originally Posted by photoLith View Post
Did you visit the old city part of Dubai, I understand it's fairly well preserved.
There is no old part - the Diera parts you see here is it..

There is a "fort" on the other side of the river turned museum, we also visited that, it looks the same. ( I can post some pcsof that later )

Dubai virtually didn't exist 60 years ago, so it's certainly not for the history or culture people should visit
__________________
FREKI PHOTOTHREADS:
Kingdom of Denmark - Globetrekking

Last edited by FREKI; May 19, 2017 at 11:17 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted May 19, 2017, 11:15 PM
giallo's Avatar
giallo giallo is offline
be nice to the crackheads
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 11,445
While I'd like to see the Burj Kalifa in person, and the old city looks nice, you'd have to pay me (basically, go there for work) to go to the UAE. The whole region is "anti-me".

Thanks for the pics.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 5:10 AM
photoLith's Avatar
photoLith photoLith is offline
Ex Houstonian
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Pittsburgh n’ at
Posts: 15,451
Dubai is for sure no place Id ever want to visit, I mean if I had the chance and it was free and or fairly cheap than hell yeah, Id go. But Dubai to me seems like a dead soulless fascist place with no character. Its basically soulless suburbia with supertall skyscrapers. NYC minus the city.

Also, after further research, it seems the fort is the oldest building Dubai and was built in 1787 and other than a fort there wasn't much in the city until the early 1900's, which is surprising, considering the region is one of the oldest inhabited places by humanity, being close to Iraq, Iran etc which was home to nearly the oldest human civilizations on the planet. I would have figured Dubai had been home to some sort of port for thousands of years but this doesn't seem to be the case.
__________________
There’s no greater abomination to mankind and nature than Ryan Home developments.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 5:54 AM
mousquet's Avatar
mousquet mousquet is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Greater Paris, France
Posts: 4,548
It looks weird but partly sort of interesting in pictures, somehow.
There's even a couple of good looking towers, like this sleek glass on the left.



They used to do a bit of the same plain sleek glass here in the 90s, before strict environmental regulations severely hit the local construction sector and building design as a whole.
Hopefully, our big effort in that respect ends up paying off by some cool eco-friendly engineering and development.

Now back to pictures, even they ooze messy planning meant for cars exclusively. This looks like a place a SimCity newbie from a rural region of NA would design.
And if most of this is still empty, then it's really super weird.

Let us say that overall, it seems pretty awkward, quite obviously.
Anyway, I would go if they paid the trip for me.
I guess.

Thanks for the pictures, Freki.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 8:37 AM
jens's Avatar
jens jens is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Sydney
Posts: 648
I can't believe the way Western women dress. It's not even Lebanon - it's the Arabian peninsula.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 8:49 AM
10023's Avatar
10023 10023 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: London
Posts: 21,146
Quote:
Originally Posted by giallo View Post
While I'd like to see the Burj Kalifa in person, and the old city looks nice, you'd have to pay me (basically, go there for work) to go to the UAE. The whole region is "anti-me".

Thanks for the pics.
If you have American citizenship, there is no point in going there for work. You don't get to take advantage of the tax rate. For the Brits it's about putting up with it for a couple of years in order to earn over the odds and pay very little tax.
__________________
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." - Isaac Asimov
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #11  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 9:09 AM
giallo's Avatar
giallo giallo is offline
be nice to the crackheads
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 11,445
Quote:
Originally Posted by 10023 View Post
If you have American citizenship, there is no point in going there for work. You don't get to take advantage of the tax rate. For the Brits it's about putting up with it for a couple of years in order to earn over the odds and pay very little tax.
Oh, I wouldn't take a permanent job out there. If I was contracted for a few weeks or months, sure.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 4:59 PM
FREKI's Avatar
FREKI FREKI is offline
Kicking it Viking style..
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Copenhagen
Posts: 7,085
Thanks all!
Quote:
Originally Posted by photoLith View Post
after further research, it seems the fort is the oldest building Dubai and was built in 1787 and other than a fort there wasn't much in the city until the early 1900's, which is surprising, considering the region is one of the oldest inhabited places by humanity, being close to Iraq, Iran etc which was home to nearly the oldest human civilizations on the planet. I would have figured Dubai had been home to some sort of port for thousands of years but this doesn't seem to be the case.
Here's the fort:



The difference between Iraq and the Arabian peninsular is that Iraq had the freshwater rivers ( Tigris and Euphrates ) coming down from the mountains of Kurdistan - plus back then doing the end of the ice age Northern Africa ( Sahara ) was very lush bringing a lot of moisture in over Iraq making it a literal garden of Eden

The UAE on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula was even back then in a rain-shadow and had virtually no freshwater - certainly no powerful rivers like Iraq had - and when ocean currents changes and Shara became a desert living conditions got even more impossible - so until recently only normadic tribes ( beduins ) would enter the area freighting goods back and forth..

Dubai itself is basically founded on pearl diving - being an easy stop on the way for ships sailing up and down the gulf it eventually became a trading port and when it invested in an airport and habour facilities it's central location made it a local success story
__________________
FREKI PHOTOTHREADS:
Kingdom of Denmark - Globetrekking
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #13  
Old Posted May 20, 2017, 11:59 PM
Austinlee's Avatar
Austinlee Austinlee is offline
Chillin' in The Burgh
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Spring Hill, Pittsburgh
Posts: 13,092
Nice pics. I can't believe they are still building lots of highrises. I thought they would slow down a bit by now. Maybe they have?


This cluster is very interesting:

__________________
Check out the latest developments in Pittsburgh:
Pittsburgh Rundown III
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #14  
Old Posted May 21, 2017, 12:26 PM
Nightsky's Avatar
Nightsky Nightsky is offline
Illustrator, editor
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Malmö
Posts: 3,690
These pictures are really wow, mate! Brings back memories from my visit some years ago. Was there wintertime, so about 25 degrees then, but isn't it too hot now? How warm was it during your visit? Did you go to Abu Dhabi as well (made a daytrip when I was in Dubai).
I really hate the sharia law, and yes its stiff but its desert after all and it was really really exciting to visit Dubai. It's a very safe city (as long as you follow the law) with low crime rate, most people are friendly, architecture is stunning (not beautiful but like a sci fi movie) and I think it is the only Middle Eastern place I will ever visit. I'm also glad you showed the old parts, it's really different since it looks way more genuine.
__________________
Website about my travels in USA and Europe:
http://www.worldtravelimages.net

All my diagram drawings - more than 700!:
http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?14670510
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #15  
Old Posted May 21, 2017, 12:35 PM
Nightsky's Avatar
Nightsky Nightsky is offline
Illustrator, editor
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Malmö
Posts: 3,690
About old parts: Deira on the opposite side of Dubai Creek is fairly old compared to the new downtown and the marina but there are two older looking parts, did you visit them?

Bur Dubai (where the museum is):

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

Al Shindagha (the oldest and most genuine part of Dubai):

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

And when we have Madinat Jumeirah, that you showed, that is designed to look old but is almost brand new!
__________________
Website about my travels in USA and Europe:
http://www.worldtravelimages.net

All my diagram drawings - more than 700!:
http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?14670510
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #16  
Old Posted May 21, 2017, 6:52 PM
Coldrsx's Avatar
Coldrsx Coldrsx is offline
Community Guy
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Canmore, AB
Posts: 66,638
The things I loath in this world are manifested by Dubai.
__________________
"The destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building" - Jane Jacobs 1961ish

Wake me up when I can see skyscrapers
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #17  
Old Posted May 22, 2017, 4:50 AM
bobdreamz's Avatar
bobdreamz bobdreamz is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Miami/Orlando, FL.
Posts: 8,119
A attempt at Coruscant ? Nice pics of the skyscrapers !
__________________
Miami : 62 Skyscrapers over 500+ Ft.|150+ Meters | 14 Under Construction.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted May 25, 2017, 9:00 PM
Austinlee's Avatar
Austinlee Austinlee is offline
Chillin' in The Burgh
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Spring Hill, Pittsburgh
Posts: 13,092
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobdreamz View Post
A attempt at Coruscant ? Nice pics of the skyscrapers !
They will have to try a LOT harder to become Coruscant if all the city can muster is one linear street of impressive skyscrapers!
__________________
Check out the latest developments in Pittsburgh:
Pittsburgh Rundown III
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted May 26, 2017, 1:40 AM
AviationGuy AviationGuy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Cypress, TX
Posts: 5,310
I'll be the outcast and say that I like it, especially the mid-rise areas. It does look like something out of a sci-fi movie. I'm not crazy about the Burj Khalifa. Never have been. It's extreme overkill.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #20  
Old Posted May 26, 2017, 2:34 AM
Murphy de la Sucre's Avatar
Murphy de la Sucre Murphy de la Sucre is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Antwerp
Posts: 1,059
Don't judge, go to Dubai for fun.
__________________
I am delusional, I talked to photos.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Photography Forums > My City Photos
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 9:40 AM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.