Burj Khalifa? Is that like Burj a King?

Have now been to the observation deck at the Burj Khalifa.  I like skyscrapers and will always go up to an observation deck if there is one*.  This is hardly a rare opinion.

It was good but mildly disappointing. Not too keen on mentioning downsides; LJ always seems to exaggerate the downsides, but I do want to record my thoughts. This is a journal after all, and not a puff piece. 

So, the observation deck - it's on the 124th floor.  At 452m it's barely half way up, so nowhere near the half mile to the top.  That should still give a good 50km of visibility or but it's not possible to see anything like that far, even on a good day it's just too hazy.  And there's not really that much to see.  There's desert all around except to the sea, where there's sea all around

On the plus side, the "telescopes" are pretty cool.  Digital camera based, with a recorded view of a good relatively clear day and a good clear night and a time several years ago (wasn't specific.  Just said "historic"), and labels to tell you what you're looking at.  It is the highest observation deck in the world, and higher than any other building in Dubai.  It's pretty cool to look down on all the skyscrapers, and watch the cars whizz about looking like toys. 

And the footprint of this thing is huge!  It looks so slim and slender from a distance but even with those steep edges, an (roughly) conical building half a mile high is going to be pretty wide at the base. 

The visit is quite interesting with videos of the building being constructed, and touch screens telling you about the place.

Dubai Mall is interesting, having a waterfall, a fountain outside, and aquarium**; generally lots of water features.  When you're in a desert city, water represent opulence. 

*Always seems a shame that London's viewing point in the BT Tower but it's been closed to the public for 30 years).

**Additional lists of "things to do", visit the underwater zoo, or the ice rink at Dubai Mall.

21st Century camel train

So, today was the driving around on Sand dune days, and the full Arab Experience (Disneyfied for the tourists).

Stop at the Sheik's Palace for a photo op, then the driver heads to the desert.  Really big road, very few cars.  For some reason a lot of the desert is fenced off.  No idea what we're being stopped from seeing.  It's slightly bizarre that they're building towers out here, and there's the occasional store.  I wonder why so far from the city centre.  Also saw Universal studios. Don't think it's open yet.  Either that or it's modelled after Diggerland. 

But anyway - the tour itself.  Stopped in the desert.  Took photos of the desert.  Took photos of each other.  Got back in the cars, and drove over sand dunes.  Lots of sand dunes.  Cool stuff.  Lasted a while.  Was keen to get onto the next bit.  We eventually got off the sand dunes and onto a track and then onto a road.  Soon arrived at the destination.  A Beduin village where we got a short camel ride, were taken into the village itself, the locals attempted to flog us loads of stuff using the sales tactic of not understanding the word "no". 

So inside there were various further attempts to entertain us and possibly sell us photos, although we could take our own.  So there was the chance to hold a falcon (handed my camera to a guy with a nice camera since he probably knew what he was doing, and he did). 

Watched a video about the early days of Abu Dhabi before it was anything.  it was a very old video in black and white and narrated by a very Chumley-Warner narrator.  Were given food.  It was tasty.  We were entertained by dancers.  An al Tanoura dancer (spinning around in multiple skirts) and a pretty good belly dancer.  Not seen Al Tanoura before.  The guy was a real showman, and was simply fantastic. 

So yes, on top of all the things I mentioned in the last post, driving around on sand dunes is also an option and kinda fun.