I have lived in Doha, Qatar for almost 8 years. Yes, I was in Bahrain in between, but overall for almost 8 years I lived in the Middle East as an expat. But, unlike many other expats who frequently go to Dubai for their R & R (Rest and Relax). Last time Keith and I went to Dubai was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Then Dubai was the razzmatazz center of the Middle East until suddenly everything went quiet due to the bubble burst of 2008. What we heard after that was nearly everybody was forced to leave Dubai. Then, the major Dubai attraction was the Burj al Arab with it’s 7 star hotel, and the ski slope inside a shopping mall.
Fast forward now, Dubai economy has picked up. When we arrived at the airport recently, I couldn’t believe so many tourists were coming to Dubai. The question is what are they now expecting of Dubai? What is the object of tourism? What activities are they gonna do?
Well for us, we are meeting Keith’s daughter and her new baby for nostalgia of living in Dubai/Arabia more than 25 years ago, when she was 2 to 12 year old girl. For me especially I was just going to see the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world), the new tourist destination in Dubai, and taking it’s picture as a Photography Enthusiast and a Seasoned Travel Photographer.
Experimenting with my new camera: Burj Khalifa at sunset, too bad that the picture is a but shakey
As we are already in Dubai, why not go up to the top, to see ‘view from the top’ of Burj Khalifa. So we booked the ticket to go to the top a week in advance since according to a friend who’s been up there told me to book well in advance, and no point to pay extra to get an express way to the top, the queue is too long to be able to squeeze in.
At the Top
The lobby and the ticket booth to go to the observation deck of “At The Top” was quite impressive; it shows where they are among the very ‘few’ tall architecture building in the world, as well as the model of the building with it’s surroundings.
Lobby to go to “At The Top” before taking the lift up
From this point, they direct us to the ticket checking point, we were led for a long walk towards the lift, with a few stops in between which explained the view point we will see once we we are “up there”
The point of the diamond is where we will take the view of Dubai. not really at the apex of the building.
The journey to go up in the lift was also unique, as to go up to the 124th floor took us only a minute in the lift, and one didn’t feel any dizziness or pressure on the ears as its traveled very fast. Once we are up there, there are plenty of telescopes to look down to the surrounding area of Burj Khalifa, and yes, the view was breathtaking.
Looking down from level 124 with a few other high rise buildings
On the way back down, we walked through a corridor showing a quick slide on milestones of the building during construction and all the pictures of people who involved with the construction.
Quick slide of the milestones of the construction of the building
However, as interesting and unique as it is the tallest building in the world at the moment, I question myself whether Dubai really needs such tall building, and once you are up there, was it a magnificent view or still a desert looking view?
View “at the top” from level 124 of Burj Khalifa on a hazy morning and a bit under developed?
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