this is getting old

for $14,000 Emirates airline is allowing their most affluent passengers to take showers above the clouds.

Anara skyscraper

What fun the skyscraper architects must be having with the oil money in Dubai. It seems that if it can be imagined, it will be funded and built. The latest wild skyscraper is Anara, which will be 125 floors high and have multiple uses, including offices, hotel, apartments, galleries, and shopping. The building will only have one apartment that was built for the sole purpose of being dubbed the most expensive in Dubai.

British firm Atkins, who are erecting many structures in Dubai, are responsible for the Great Exhaust Fan of Dubai.

so not necessary

nov 4, 2008

DUBAI — The highly anticipated Dubai Mall opens today, unveiling the first phase of a new retail, fashion and entertainment mecca.

---

At 5.6 million square feet of retail space, the mall is considered the largest in the world. There are 1,200 stores plus 160 food and beverage outlets, and the mall is expected to attract 30 million visitors in its first year. And while Dubai, like the rest of the world’s economies, is experiencing a slowdown, the mall is poised to do business in this major shopping and leisure destination.

Capital Gate Tower is Four Times as Crooked as the Leaning Tower of Pisa

If you thought the Leaning Tower of Pisa was messed up, get a load of the Capital Gate tower currently being constructed in Abu Dhabi. Actually, saying it is "messed up" is incorrect given that the 18 degree westward incline was completely intentional. In fact, the project's architects have submitted a joint application to the Guinness Book of Records to recognize the tower as the 'most inclined in the world.' In order to support the awkward angle of the 35-story structure, the design called for a foundation of extremely dense reinforced steel mesh and 490 piles sunk nearly 100 feet into the ground. We can only wonder how many slaves will die or get injured building that.

Keep feeding them

UAE shoppers ranked second internationally as the biggest fans and purchasers of Gucci (31 per cent) and Chanel (21 per cent), and third globally for Giorgio Armani (19 per cent).

UAE also topped global rankings in believing that designer brands are of significantly higher quality than standard products (43 per cent). Three in five (59 per cent) of UAE consumers said people wear designer brands to project social status.

Full article [HERE]

Unbearable demands: Broken promise

The dreams of middle-class Asian expatriates are losing their sheen as they quietly toil away and battle with the rising cost of living in Dubai. Meeting the great expectations of their families and relatives is causing great anguish to many.

This struggle to satisfy the demands of their people back home is leading to great distress for many expatriates – in some instances even forcing them to take extreme steps.

Full article [HERE]

DJ talks to God

A Dubai DJ was "let go" after he mocked religion and impersonated God on the air. The sketch involved quoting from an article about a US court throwing out a lawsuit against God.
Read it here

A new generation for a new world

There is no such thing as a composite Arab youth. In an ongoing series, The National will cross borders to discover the individual hopes, realities and issues that face this booming generation, while reflecting on the historic opportunity that unites them all, Craig Nelson and Hamida Ghafour set the stage.




Read the whole article [HERE]

Healthy mind and body

Abu Dhabi: The UAE Cabinet, during an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, approved an amount of Dh42.2 billion as annual budget for 2009. The amount represents an increase of 21 per cent to the 2008 budget. The education and services sectors have been allocated 23 per cent and 37 per cent respectively of this year’s budget, which reflect the great priority the government gives to these sectors, particularly the health sector.

/Finish reading [HERE]

top 10 Dubai nail salons

If weekends on the beach and work days in heels have left your toes looking less than an attractive and your talons torn to shreads only a mani/pedi will do. But where?

Tips And Toes Nail Haven

A hidden gem in the bustling new JBR complex. Expect complete relaxation in this nail haven and the results are nothing short of superb – but be aware you’ll always need an appointment!

24 hour mall experiment

[T]he one thing I don’t do, weirdly, is shop. But then Dubai’s malls are about way more than shopping. As Tom Miles, senior general manager for the retail division of Dubai Festival City, points out, ‘If you look at the major players in the market place, each one of them has chiselled out what their unique selling points are.’ The likes of MoE, Ibn Battuta, DFC and Wafi have worked hard to become destinations in and of themselves by ‘creating an environment that makes it enjoyable for people to spend time there’.

Read the rest [HERE]

Dubai's Agriculture

Several research projects are studying how to best utilize the land in the UAE. According to the Minister of Environment and Water, the UAE has reached 100% self-sufficiency in production of dates and fish, 92% self-sufficiency in dairy production, 32% in vegetable cultivation and between 10-25% self-sufficiency in meat and poultry production.
Agriculture accounted for only 2% of the country’s GDP last year.
Click here!

Dubai Mallrats

Here's an article about what the youth are spending the free time doing in the UAE. The most popular places for young people to go with friends are to the mall and the movies.
Article

Free the shark!

Many are demanding that the whale shark, which is being kept at the aquarium of The Atlantis in Dubai, be set free. While it was originally said the endangered animal was "rescued", former employees have come forward saying it was always the plan of the hotel to get a whale shark. Now the hotel is refusing to say if or when the shark will be released.
Article

interactive map of dubai

here is a link to a site with an interactive map super full of information. there is also a pdf version for your own fun.

Still Climbing

The villa segment of Dubai's real estate market has seen prices spiral by almost 50 per cent in the past two years. An estimated 13,800 villas are set to be completed within the next two years in various locations of the emirate, according to experts. A majority of these villas will be in Nakheel's Al Furjan development, while others will come up in Waterfront, Jumeirah Village, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Read the rest [HERE]

Partner Up

Popular choice

Instead, commuters depend heavily on approximately a million private vehicles registered in Dubai. There are 1.6 passengers per vehicle in Dubai, according to Mohammad Bin Fahad, Director of Planning and Business Development at the PTA.

Also, mass transit – in the form of the Dubai Metro project – is not due to open until September 2009. While the road toll is Dh4 per crossing, the Metro ticket is speculated to be under Dh10. Al Hassan said the price would be announced in two months.

Fines for sewage dumping

Dubai will start charging fines for dumping raw sewage illegally. The consequences include a fine that could exceed AED100,000 ($27,000).
Article

Sheikh wins big!

All The Good, a horse co-owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and a 50-to-1 outsider, won Saturday's Caulfield Cup. The race is a lead up to the November 4th Melbourne Cup.
Article

New airport terminal

A new terminal will be opened at the Dubai International Airport which will increase the airport's capacity by 50%.
Article

Bridge to (no)where???

On why Dubai would want the longest arch bridge in the world and spend lots of money on it, I wouldn’t know. The most publicized emirate in the UAE has already chosen the New York architectural firm FXFOWLE to design the longest arch bridge that will be 205 meters tall and 667 meters long.

The Dh3 billion project is targeted to be completed by the end of 2012. It is said to be longer than the reigning world’s longest arch bridge-the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, China.

According to xpress4me.com, “The design is based on an “acoustic wave” and will depend on an artificial island built just to the north of the existing Creek Island where the proposed Dubai Opera house is planned in coming years.”

Just down the road...

Not content to be the fashion and financial center of the world, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, wants to become the media center of the world with the launch of twofour54 media park.

The city already has some heavy hitters committed to locating to this burgeoning area. The companies working on the twofour54 Abu Dhabi media park expansion are CNN, the book publishers HarperCollins and Random House, the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Financial Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charity arm of the financial news giant Thomson Reuters.