The Biggest and The Best in Dubai

During our short stay in Dubai, it became very obvious to us that Dubai wants to have the biggest, the tallest, and the best of everything. With the exception of Beijing getting ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics, I have never seen or heard of a city under so much construction as Dubai is right now.

Currently, Dubai is building the world's tallest building named the Burj Dubai (burj means tower). While the actual final height of it hasn't been officially announced yet, it is reported to come in over 700 meters tall but some say it will be over 800 meters tall (about a half mile). In comparison, the Sears Tower in Chicago is 442 meters tall. It is estimated to cost $800 million to build the building alone.

It will have double decker elevators that will go 40 mph. It will also be surrounded by water (I wonder if it will have a draw bridge and alligators???).

Sorry about the bad photo...the building isn't really leaning...I had to take the photo out of a car window while the car was in motion. I have a feeling when the building is finished, it will be very hard to take a photo to get the entire building in one shot.


Dubai also has the world's only 7 star hotel named the Burj Al Arab. It is designed to look like the sail of a boat and is built on it's own man made island. It is also tall...higher than the Eiffel Tower. It has it's own helicopter landing pad, and I guess the hotel will pick you up at the airport and transport you this way. The cost of a basic room is around $1,500 per night and goes up to around $30,000 per night for the largest suite. (I was going to try to tell you guys this is where S and I stayed, but I didn't think you would fall for it). S and I wanted to go in it and take a look, but you can't get in unless you are staying there or have reservations at one of the restaurants...with afternoon tea/coffee being around $100 per person, S and I decided that we didn't need to see the inside of it that badly (plus I didn't figure we would be allowed in in our jeans and tennis shoes).

Reportedly, Dubai is also building the world's first 9 star hotel.

Now S and I were having the conversation...when did the hotel rating system go beyond 5 stars? Who set this hotel at being a 7 star? And now there's going to be a 9 star? What's next...a 20 star hotel? Our guess...someone or somebody is just making this stuff up to make it sound really good. Well, if that's the case, if you come stay with us, you will be staying at a 50 star luxury house in Chennai, India. At a minimum of $1,500 per night, what's the occupancy of this hotel on an average day? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that one could probably get a room anytime there without any problem at all.

Another thing that Dubai is currently doing is building a bunch of artificial islands. Three of these islands, known as the Palm Islands (click on the blue words to read more about these islands) will in fact be shaped like palm trees. The point of these islands...to draw tourism to Dubai. The other big island project in Dubai is the World Islands (click for more info), which are man made islands that will look like the world. S and I didn't officially see any of this construction...although a few times we went past areas with a bunch of construction equipment that we were pretty sure were these projects. We've decided that in a few years we want to return to Dubai and take a tour of the city by helicopter (or maybe we'll be able to see the islands from the top of the world's tallest building).

Snow in the desert? Yep! Dubai has one of the largest indoor snow ski slopes (I think there is now one bigger, but knowing Dubai they probably have another one under construction that will be even bigger...they don't want to be outdone by anyone). Now this ski slope is attached to one of the malls, so you can actually stand in the mall and watch the people on the slopes and on the ski lift. I guess the temperature inside the ski slope is very cold...but you don't have to bring your winter clothes as this is provided. Now S and I don't ski (I attempted once in my life and failed miserably, so no ambitions to try again), but if you do, how much more awesome would it be to go from 100 degree weather outside to below freezing weather inside? We also saw kids tubing on the snow...that looked like fun to me. I'm also guessing that they probably have snowboarding and sledding available as well.

Anyway, these are only the highlights of what's being built in Dubai. There are many more projects going on, and within a few years, Dubai will be as well known a tourist destination as any other place in the world.