Dubai (& Abu Dhabi) - Part 3

I know it's a long time between posts relating to Dubai. Part 1 was posted weeks ago. Part 2 was posted this week (or was it last?). But I have been pretty busy and these posts are very time consuming, having to upload a lot of pics (I can only upload 3 pictures at a time =/ anyone else noticed this to be the case too?).

Anyway, enjoy the last of Dubai ^.^... (from 'Emirates Palace & Hotel' , you can enlarge the pictures for better viewing!)

Atlantis: The Palm

I'm sure you've all heard about Atlantis at some stage. Atlantis is situated on a man made island, shaped like a palm. It's very surreal, breathtaking, glamorous...words won't do it justice! Step foot on it yourself to find out how amazing it really is. Here is a better view of it. There's also a waterpark, which I wasn't able to see...

Inside Atlantis Hotel (I didn't manage to explore the entire hotel or area of the Palm. It's huge! Perhaps I will on my next visit).

The view outside, from one of the windows.

The Aquarium.

I'm liking the whole 'shipwreck' look of this aquarium. Cool...! Don't you think?

The arty view above - inside the hotel. This is one of the many arty walls the hotel boasts.

Driving away from Atlantis, I captured these views as quickly as my camera could!

Atlantis...

...and some nearby apartment buildings. Can you believe all of these are built on a man made island?

Emirates Palace & Hotel - Abu Dhabi

Some fascinating facts taken from its main website:
It approximately costed 3 billion USD to build the property in 3 years with 20,000 workers, designed by Wimberley Allison Tong & Goo of the United Kingdom

• 1 km from wing to wing, 100 hectares total area.

• 1.3 km private beach.

• 394 rooms and suites, ranging from 55 sqm to 680 sqm.

• 40 meeting and conference rooms.

• Ballroom with a guest capacity of 2400 theatre style.

• Auditorium with seated guest capacity of 1100.

• Open air concert guest capacity of 20,000.

• 619 plasma and LCD screens in guest rooms and meeting rooms.

• 5 kg of pure edible gold is used per year for decoration mainly on deserts.

• 128 kitchens and pantries.

• 200 tonnes of oranges squeezed for fresh juice every year.

• 6.4 km jogging trail.

• 114 domes, with the Central Dome at a height of 72.6 metres above ground.

• 8 escalators and 102 elevators, with a maximum capacity up to 55 persons per elevator.

• Marble imported from 13 countries across the world.

• 12 external fountains and 8 indoor water features.

• 1002 chandeliers, the largest weighing 2.5 tonnes.

• 8000 trees set in landscaped gardens.

• 2 wall display carpets, handmade in Thailand, weighing 1 tonne each.

• 818 parking spaces.

• Daily laundry capacity of 6 tonnes.

• 1800 employees from 49 different countries

• Emirates Palace offers the world’s most expensive one million dollar tailor made suite holiday.

Outside: Part of the Palace & Hotel.

Going inside...



And inside the hotel - behold it's magnificent views! Let the pictures say much more =)


























The view from one of the windows inside.

Heritage Village - Abu Dhabi

This was a lovely well kept attraction. However shops, stalls and restaurants were not open nearby because of ramadhan so we weren't able to soak in the 'real' atmosphere of the place. I would come here again! The views are amazing...simply amazing...


The little pond - see the ducks?


Magnificent city and sandy beach views!

Sheikh Zayed Mosque - Abu Dhabi

Some facts, taken from here and here:
- 8th largest mosque in the world.
- Holds record for: The largest carpet & chandelier.
- Accomodates 40,000 worshippers.
- Natural materials were chosen for its design and construction, which include marble, stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics.
- The 22,412 square metre Mosque site is equivalent to around the size of 5 football fields.
- Has more than 1000 columns.
- 28 different types of marble used from all over the globe.

I love this mosque...and wish I stayed for a longer period of time! I will definitely visit this again =)

Its beautiful mosaic tiles.





Part of the world's largest carpet.





Admiring the chandelier above...





Impressive design.

Four Points By Sheraton

This was the hotel I stayed in =). I'd recommend it to anyone! Very welcoming, warm, homely...what else? Very satisfying! This is without a second thought, a 5 star hotel to me =P eventhough they were only awarded 4 stars (their expectations for a 4 stars or 5 stars hotel are very very high... a 4 star hotel here is easily a 5 star in most other countries =P).

Look how tall it is...! I think it had 40 floors.


One of the rooms...





Swimming pool above the hotel.


Still at the top of the hotel - watching the sunset.


The view from the top at night.






The breakfast. There was a wide variety of food there... from croissants, to omelettes, to potato curry, to fried rice, to waffles.... and then desserts such as dates, other fresh fruits, nuts and so on...
You'll be impressed.

Random Sights

As the subtitle suggests, here are some random sights, mostly of buildings, that I captured ... truly beautiful & inspiring... pay attention to the architecture and the detail... imagine the amount of work & money spent on them...

Look at the sun setting!