Pics from Dubai
Emirates Mall - "fishtank" at the entrance to the underground aquarium
Stainless Steel diver - against a waterfall backdrop - difficult to get the water motion
The actual waterfall - yes, it's in the middle of a frikkin mall
Ice rink in the middle of the mall - about the size of a footbal field
Burj al Khalifa (pronounced "Boorj al ghaleefa") - highest building in the world
The Abra's on The Creek - tourist water taxis
View up The Creek
The base of the Boorj al Ghaleefa
Some other building - there are some fantastic constructions in the UAE
The Brindle Bass in the aquarium tank - I lost count of the number of protected species in that tank...bastards
More boats on The Creek
A lane in one of the Souq's (markets)
Back on The Creek
Back on The Creek
Another lane in another Souq
More highrise buildings - some of them were spectacular
Back on The Creek
Gold buddha in the Gold Souq
More gold figurines
Pics from Abu Dhabi
Head office to one of the airlines
Spices for sale in the New Souq
Handcarved elephants from India
One of the lanes inside the New Souq - everything was done out in latticed woodwork - would have got rich off that contract
Entrance to a park in the city centre
View from my hotel room - every prayer time the muzzin would chant the usual "Allah u Akhbar" in about 20,000 different tones
View from the Corniche waterfront looking toward the city centre
The Corniche waterfront walkway
The centre court of the New Souq...awesome
This is some kind of calendar - can't remember the exact info about it, but it was fuckin' expensive otherwise I would have bought it
Another lane in the New Souq - the pace is three storeys high
Another mosque, with night lights
Sunset on the Corniche
Sunset on the Corniche
Fisherman on the Corniche - they catch tiddlers there
The walkway - it is 10km long and tiled the whole way
Gardens and delivery entrance archway at the Emirates Palace Hotel - the only SEVEN star hotel in the world
First images of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - taken on a brilliantly clear day, but also when the place was closed to non-Muslims - more later
The main entrance to the mosque
The pool on the hotel roof - and it was heated to 32degC
View of the city from the hotel roof
Inside the Emirates Palace Hotel - breathtaking
An archway just outside the Palace Hotel
The outside, main entrance, of the Palace Hotel - Ferraris and sports cars lined up outside the door
Etihad airways new head office buildings, still under construction
Another frontal view of the Palace Hotel - fountains off
The Japanese Tea Hut - a gift from the emperor of Japan to the late Sheikh Zayed
View of the gulf beyond the Palace Hotel windows
The windows mentioned above
The main dome in the Palace Hotel
The Palace Hotel - everything has a golden hue about it
Designs of future buildings - can't remember who is going to occupy them, but it is multinational companies
The night view tapestry, showing the hotel at night - about 10m high and 25m wide
The daytime view tapestry - same size
The window between the tapestries - the night time one is on the wall behind the staircase
Rows and rows of ancient artifacts, all for sale - some dating back to 300BC - I wanted one piece, but it was something like R16,000...
More inside the hotel
Model dhow, from the building model below, another future project for the city
Another future project - one of them, can't remember which one, is going to be a Guggenheim Museum
View of the Palace hotel through the palisade fencing that surrounds the place
Etihad towers through an archway
A tapestry inside a closed shop - through the window - it was a fantastic piece, also a couple of hundred years old
View of the city through one of the hotel's windows
Looking down to the "basement" of the Palace Hotel
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - the pic is out of place from the rest
Inside of the Marina Mall - these guys don't do small malls
The walkway leading up to the Marina Mall
Close-ip of the delivery entrance archway to the Palace Hotel - as Wreckless puts it, it's like an Arc de Triomphe - and there were four of them that I counted
The archway again
The Grand Mosque - the pics will say most of the words
Each of the domes was uniquely patterned
I lost count of the number of columns in the place
The main prayer hall - there were three of these chandeliers - each one is about 10m high and 6m across at its widest
Another view of a chandelier
This chandelier was a "small" one, located at the entrance hall to the main prayer room - everyone had to remove their shoes before even venturing into the entrance hall
Same chandelier as previous - further away
View of the main dome from the large courtyard
The names of all six of the daily prayer times - these would alternate with the actual prayer times, which vary according to the season
Back in the courtyard - the sky was a dull colour due to the fine sand in the air
A smaller prayer room for the women and children
The scrollwork on the walls was just fantastic in detail
No more words - the pictures say their own thing...
