Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Photos

I have been wanting to visit Dubai for the past year. Work and family life kept throwing obstacles in my way. Finally, in July; the hottest month in the desert, my co-worker and I were able to venture out there. We flew Emirates from Houston to Dubai non stop. On the Return, we flew on the upper deck of the A380 from DXB-JFK. Many thanks to the Emirates staff for taking care of our passes and allowing us to see a great city!

Nice rainbow as we are departing Houston.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7274/7...13525c1f_b.jpg

Emirates' business class cabin on their 777-300ER. They have a small TV - to control the big TV!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7...f6acca47_b.jpg

Usually the baggage area is the crapiest part of any terminal building. Emirates decided to make theirs look like a shopping mall. You WANT to wait for your bags!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7...bf99fcf7_b.jpg

The Burj Al Arab. One of only two seven star hotels in the world.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7...2b821896_b.jpg

Waterfall in the Mall of Dubai - the world's largest mall.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8010/7...94db20e6_b.jpg

Having a little fun with the statues on the waterfall.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/7...97aa8fa1_b.jpg

A hallway in the Mall of Dubai
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7...20cac3d1_b.jpg

Starving artist sale at the mall waterfall. With prices they were charging for these paintings, I would have been the one starving.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7...b5bccf45_b.jpg

Looking down at the world's largest mall from the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7...e7a6f504_b.jpg

Me and my counterpart at work; Al, at the top of the Burj. It was only 120F and about 90% humidity. The long pants were killing me.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7...5cd1f784_b.jpg

Sweating my ASS off at midnight. The mercury was showing a temperature of 105F.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7268/7...b1abcf4b_b.jpg

If you have seen the water show in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, then that was a warm up to this. The Mall of Dubai has the world's largest water show. It is insane to say the least.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7...4fe9f861_b.jpg

The Hotel of the Mall of Dubai
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8290/7...6f6633a2_b.jpg

Skyline of the Dubai Marina area. The fastest growing city in the world has a lot of cranes!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7...186e6690_b.jpg

Downtown Dubai from the top of the Burj Khalifa.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7...2d2c0b19_b.jpg

I had to go to the top again at night! Due to the high humidity and large amounts of dust in the air; it was very hazy.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7...9b66e2ec_b.jpg

Closer crop of the Dubai skyline architecture.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7...b388b69f_b.jpg

The Burj Khalifa at night
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7...2e790759_b.jpg

Sunset at the Burj with the sunset water show beginning.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7...e3885315_b.jpg

The tallest building isn't that big...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8285/7...9df830d8_b.jpg

Okay, maybe it is..
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7...9d28366b_b.jpg

Hanging at the marina. I was not officially drinking my Gatorade in public due to the Ramadan holiday.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7...6437d66e_b.jpg

My ride back from Dubai - The Emirates Airlines' A380 in business class.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7...0e5fc135_b.jpg

Those shots are insane! You have mad skills with a camera given that heat. The rainbow shot is priceless:cool:

Great coverage. Beautiful shots .. Gotta agree about the rainbow shot as well !

Thanks guys! I spent some time in the middle east are in the military, and I thought that week in DXB was much worse! The fact it the humidity was hovering around 100% made it worse.

Absolutely excellent set of images... truly enjoyed it!!

Speechless

Great shots. The ones of downtown Dubai remind me of Atlantis from the Stargate shows.

Great shots. My friend recently flew on the A388 to DXB but only stayed overnight on his way home to Yemen. He says that authorities in the UAE forbade him from taking photos at the airport. Is that correct? If true, I guess that they have security concerns as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Speedbird1

Great shots. My friend recently flew on the A388 to DXB but only stayed overnight on his way home to Yemen. He says that authorities in the UAE forbade him from taking photos at the airport. Is that correct? If true, I guess that they have security concerns as well.

---

I snapped that photo above waiting for my bags; however, Emirates doesn't have any "domestic" flights. So, that meant that I was shooting in the customs area. I did get a warning for that, as I would have in the states. As for other airport photography, I didn't encounter any trouble. I set up my tripod and snapped a wide angle of the main terminal building before we checked in for our flight. I guess he ran into someone who was a bit too over paranoid about photography like we have all ran into out here.

Great shots! Glad you posted them.

How did you like it there? OBviously the heat was much. What did you think of the culture?

Also, did you get a sense of the local economy? Some of the documentaries I've seen about the place feel that Dubai is headed towatds failure once it oil runs out and that they have to 8hope8 that tourist can sustain their future.

Lastly, re: the dust and heat. Did it bother your eyes? I remember being in LA during a wildfire and although it was miles away, the air was acrid enough to affect my contact lens wear. DId the extreme heat do a number on your eyes?

Amazing set of photos Tim! Let me know next time you wanna go!