Dubai - Burj Khalifa

December saw a 2 week holiday for government schools in Abu Dhabi at the end of Semester 1. The opportunity was taken for a trip up to the northern Emirates of Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah and onto Musandam in Oman. A stop over to see Dubai from the Burj Khalifa before heading north was a must.

This blog has a few photos taken in Dubai and Sharjah. A following blog will show you some of the sights taken in Musandam.

Dubai

Burj Khalifa

Millions of photos must have been taken of the world's tallest structure. However this is one photo and nothing stitched together to get it all in! My ultra wide angle, Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens fits it in easily. Although the sky looks quite blue here, a little help for a polarising filter intensifies the colour. When we were driving up from Abu Dhabi, the morning was very hazy but it cleared a little by the time we got to the viewing level.

A word of advice about going to the viewing level 124 floors up. Book on the internet first - it costs 100 Dirhams. If you roll up it will cost 400 Dirhams. The day we were there, there were cruise ships in and all the slots were fully booked and even if you were prepared to fork out, you still wouldn't have got up unless you went late at night.

 A view from the top. This is how you are most likely to see Dubai. Lots of construction, sand and very hazy skies. There is one side of the viewing area outside and some places where you can take photos unobstructed. The other side is enclosed and photos can only be taken through glass, hence some of the reflections.

Sheikh Zayed Road (from left to right) looking towards the harbour area.

 The cruise ships were only just visible through the haze. Out the other side, the Burj Al Arab was similarly lost in the haze.



Looking towards the sun

 I took this photo for our friends Dee and Tim, who are now back in New Zealand and lived in one of the blocks in the foreground. When we visited them, around the time of the financial crash there were many tower blocks in the complex which were completely empty and others nearby at which construction stopped when they were 90% finished! Rental prices have come down considerably to less that NZD35,000 per year for a 1 bedroom apartment from over NZD80,000. Now that's a bargain!

Apartment block complex



Roof top view of the Dubai Mall on the left.

Abra. No visit to Dubai is complete without a trip across The Creek

Sharjah 

Looking towards the sun at The "Blue Souk" in Sharjah. Highly polished tiles give great reflections.

Sharjah skyline from The Blue souk, the same water feature as in the previous photo.

Doorway in the Museum at the Al Asra Souk


Unknown building on the Sharjah waterfront.

Sharjah was an overnight stop on the way up to Ras al Khaimah. We spent two nights in the Hilton as our base for a trip up to Khasab in Oman.

First blog on Oman, the Musandam peninsula is now online.