Dubai Mall, the Aquarium and the Dubai Fountain

The first photo was taken at Dubai museum – strongly recommended and very deceptive in size – perhaps 90% of the museum is underground (and air conditioned, like everything else in Dubai) below the facade of some artefacts, old trading boats etc on the ground level. Most astonishing is how quickly the city has developed; the skyscraper era started in the late 90s (with the notable exception on the Dubai World Trade Centre built in 1979. More on the skyline tomorrow, but the tallest skyscraper in the world, mentioned earlier, the Burj Khalifa is  the subject of the final photo, under which a stunning water display is held every half an hour. Details from Wikipedia: “The Dubai Fountain is the world’s largest choreographed fountain system... Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 coloured projectors, it is 275m (902ft) long and shoots water up to 500ft (152m) into the air accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. It was built at a cost of USD 218 million.” It truly is magical, grander than the Bellagio fountains in Vegas – another big is beautiful place.

Middle photos are taken at the aquarium set within the enormous Dubai Mall. Opening in 2008, the mall has several accolades to its name including the world’s largest shopping mall (1200+ shops and 5.9m sq ft) as well as attracting more visitors in 2012 that New York City had tourists!

Technical details: Sony a850 with Tamron 28-75mm and Tokina 19-35mm lenses.