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The Burj Dubai is finally finished (the structure at least). I've been taking pictures of its progress skywards over the past 3 years and its nice to see that despite the economic slow down the building's construction has survived the Emirate's staggering $80 Billion debt (there are only 1.2 million natives).
Regardless of the white elephant/monument to vanity/ derision which is sure to follow its final completion, I think its still an achievement in engineering.
Its not bad on the eyes either.
Sprawling around its base is the newly opened " Dubai Mall".
The biggest shopping mall in the world ( measured by total area), it covers 12 million square ft of shopping nirvana.
Featured attractions include: the world's largest Gold Souk with 220 retailers; the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) Fashion Catwalk atrium; Fashion Island (Avenue), with 70 stores dedicated to haute couture; the Middle East's first Galeries Lafayette department store; Oasis Fountain Waterfall; and WaterFront Atrium. Other attractions include the region's first SEGA indoor theme park, SEGA Republic covering 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2); KidZania, a 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) children's 'edu-tainment' centre; a 22-screen Cineplex, the largest in Dubai; and The Grove, an indoor-outdoor streetscape with fully retractable roof. It also features over 160 food and beverage options, 220 gold & jewellery outlets; a supermarket and an organic food mart. Among the shops is British toy store Hamley's, which opened a 32,000-square foot (3,000 m²) store that includes a replica of London's Regent Street, with the franchise owned by Retail Arabia.
Many shops, however, will remain shuttered for a long while to come. Bloomingdale's might open by 2010. It also has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes. The Mall has over 14,000 parking spaces across 3 car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system
So says Wiki
To me it appears much like any other mall with all the usual stores (albeit A LOT of them) except it has an aquarium and a ton of other non shopping stuff.
Oh and the tallest building in the world outside its door.
These are the only pictures I've taken of Dubai and I only got a chance to do so because I made a foraging trip to the pharmacy to pick up bottles of water and Imodium.
I've been sick as a dog and had my first food tonight since Tuesday.
Food poisoning.
Regardless of the white elephant/monument to vanity/ derision which is sure to follow its final completion, I think its still an achievement in engineering.
Its not bad on the eyes either.
Sprawling around its base is the newly opened " Dubai Mall".
The biggest shopping mall in the world ( measured by total area), it covers 12 million square ft of shopping nirvana.
Featured attractions include: the world's largest Gold Souk with 220 retailers; the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) Fashion Catwalk atrium; Fashion Island (Avenue), with 70 stores dedicated to haute couture; the Middle East's first Galeries Lafayette department store; Oasis Fountain Waterfall; and WaterFront Atrium. Other attractions include the region's first SEGA indoor theme park, SEGA Republic covering 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2); KidZania, a 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) children's 'edu-tainment' centre; a 22-screen Cineplex, the largest in Dubai; and The Grove, an indoor-outdoor streetscape with fully retractable roof. It also features over 160 food and beverage options, 220 gold & jewellery outlets; a supermarket and an organic food mart. Among the shops is British toy store Hamley's, which opened a 32,000-square foot (3,000 m²) store that includes a replica of London's Regent Street, with the franchise owned by Retail Arabia.
Many shops, however, will remain shuttered for a long while to come. Bloomingdale's might open by 2010. It also has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes. The Mall has over 14,000 parking spaces across 3 car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system
So says Wiki
To me it appears much like any other mall with all the usual stores (albeit A LOT of them) except it has an aquarium and a ton of other non shopping stuff.
Oh and the tallest building in the world outside its door.
I arrived in Dubai at 5 am Tuesday morning. After checking into my hotel and grabbing a shower it was back to the airport and I hopped on a flight to Qatar.
Despite the extravagant monuments to capitalism, the airport hints that all is not going according to script .
The parking lot is littered with abandoned cars.
Expats who've lost their jobs and run up their credit cards have simply "gone home" to their bankrupt home countries.
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I've been sick as a dog and had my first food tonight since Tuesday.
Food poisoning.
The tsunami hit around 2 am Wednesday morning.
I sprinted from bed to toilet all night and spent Wednesday in bed fitfully dozing, vaguely worried that dehydration would cause me some sort of permanent damage.
I couldn't hold down a tea spoon of water.
Forget about thinking I was dying.
I sprinted from bed to toilet all night and spent Wednesday in bed fitfully dozing, vaguely worried that dehydration would cause me some sort of permanent damage.
I couldn't hold down a tea spoon of water.
Forget about thinking I was dying.
I wanted to die.
The strangest part was the procession of bizarre dreams.
Over 22 hours of fitful sleep I came to understand these were simply cues from my stomach it was time to wake up and feed the porcelain god...
Happily I seem to be on the mend.
Spare a thought for me my American chums:
As you tuck into your Turkey, I've been fearfully nibbling at plain yogurt and dry toast.
The rest of the pictures are from my quick dash to Doha.
It feels like a long time ago since I took them , blissfully unaware of the waterfall/volcano brewing in my guts.
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Yikes!
The strangest part was the procession of bizarre dreams.
Over 22 hours of fitful sleep I came to understand these were simply cues from my stomach it was time to wake up and feed the porcelain god...
Happily I seem to be on the mend.
Spare a thought for me my American chums:
As you tuck into your Turkey, I've been fearfully nibbling at plain yogurt and dry toast.
The rest of the pictures are from my quick dash to Doha.
It feels like a long time ago since I took them , blissfully unaware of the waterfall/volcano brewing in my guts.
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4 comments:
Yikes!! Poor sausage.
Never quite sure about Imodium, unless you absolutely have to take it (in transit etc.), if your body wants it out... there's probably a good reason. I'm assured that iv rehydration works wonders.
Hope travel goes to plan at the weekend (and you're not too knackered to enjoy it).
Take care
TR-HW
Wow, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better! See you next week in London? Enjoy the weekend with your kid :-)
I'll be shopping around in London from Sunday afternoon ...
I am glad to see you are feeling better, have a safe trip to London. stay healthy and enjoy the time with Jessica.
See you soon...
i didn't know i needed to download omg by mark ronson til i heard it on your blog :-) thanks
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