Bart Bear's Blog

So many pictures from past trips... Here's a few from Dubai, a place where anybody interested in architecture can find amazing stuff everywhere. The surprising thing is that Dubai is desert, but there is water incorporated in many groups of structures. The top left is actually on the shore of the Arabian Gulf. It is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and from many angles it looks like a wave. At night it looks spectacular; I will try to find an example somewhere in our thousands of Dubai images. Top right and bottom left are of the hotel and lagoon of Mina A'Salam. We stayed here for a few nights on our last Dubai trip and I really enjoyed cruising around the acres of lagoon and browsing the treasures in the souk in the lower floor of the hotel. The last photo is my favourite little bridge. It connects the Palace Hotel complex with the Dubai Mall. The structure of the bridge is like that of bridges in the old Arabian cities, art combined with function, well worth visiting. Once again, there is a large artificial lagoon here, the site of the fantastic Dubai Fountains. When the fountains are operating in the evening this bridge is jam-packed with spectators, at other times it is a nice cool spot for overheated small bears to cool off.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

It's time that I showed some more photos from our 2012 Dubai trip. There are literally hundreds of them, but don't worry, I won't post all of them. The highest I have ever been in a building is on the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The Burj is spectacular no matter what the time. By day it towers over the rest of Dubai and by night it is lit up, at times with laser light shows or fireworks as well. You can have a really High Tea in the At.Mosphere restaurant (hey, I spelled it right! First time ever!) on the 122nd floor, 442 metres above ground; that's high. From the windows you can see new suburbs being built. By now they will be completed. On our first stay in Dubai in 2007 this whole area was a construction site, no completed buildings including the Burj. They really build fast in Dubai.There are two buildings that I want to point out. Note the bendy green one in the bottom left photo. It is wider at the top than it is at the bottom. The other building is in the photo with Mum. If you follow the direction that my foot if pointing, you can see the Al Manzil hotel, the best hotel I've ever stayed in. Oh yes, the high tea is pretty good too.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

How time gets away. Here we are over a year after our Dubai trip and I still haven't shown anywhere near even a small collection of the best photos. And the same for our New Zealand trip, and the Oldies Eurotrip. I just don't get much time at the computer. The big holdup at the moment is Dad, getting a set of talks ready for our next trip. We leave for Hawaii in less than three weeks and, after a week exploring the two main islands, we sail back on "Celebrity Millenium". Dad is the Enrichment Lecturer on the cruise. That means even more photos to process and show when we get back. A small bear-type travel reporter is always busy.
Anyhow, here's a few of the artifacts that impressed me in Dubai. The brass camel that I am sitting on is part of the mind-boggling collection of stuff at Sindbad's Antiques in the Souk Madinet Jumierah. You can spend ages browsing in this shop and almost nobody gets away without buying something. No, the Oldies did not buy me the camel. The big round plate thing is an astronomical calendar. The Oldies were very excited to see this in one of the corridors of the hotel. They actually know how it works. I preferred the huge coffee pot. How huge is it? Measure it from the photo: 1 sitting Bart = 18cm bottom to top of head, so measure the number of Barts and apply the fiddle factor. The other thing I tried at every opportunity was looking inside the big vases and pots that Dubai is full of. I just know that at least one of them has to contain a Genie. The ones in the picture are much taller than the Oldies (mind you, neither of them is actually very tall) but any genies that the pots contained were not in residence when I climbed up and looked. Next trip I will definitely catch me a genie.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

Dubai is full of interesting stuff. Not only the buildings, but the amazing things in the buildings and around the streets and courtyards. Near the Al Manzil hotel where we stayed, there is a souk (an Arab market). In the courtyard I found this sculpture of a chair in a rock arch. Now obviously it is not meant to be sat on, just looked at, but I really had to try it out. The hard part was getting up steps that are higher than me, but fortunately there was enough rough rock to clamber up  on. Inside the souk there are many large pots. I know that these sorts of pots were used to store and transport stuff ages ago, so I had to look and see if anything was in them. Maybe a genie? No luck, they are all empty; pretty things to look at though.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

There is nothing quite as interesting as digging around in the shops in an Arabian souk. The best one that I know of in Dubai is Sindbad Antiques in the Souk Mina a'Salaam. We checked it out both times we were in Dubai. This shop is a real treasure cave for small bears. It is full of old guns, knives, swords and other strange weaponry. There are all sizes of ships wheels; evidently Sindbad had lots of boats. There are old brass instruments that keep the Oldies fascinated for hours. Some they can identify straight away, sometimes they can even tell the shop owner what the strange brass contraption actually is. There are telescopes, sextants, compasses and measuring instruments of all sorts. Strange glass bottles and vases are there, packed in so tight that Dad gets real nervous walking past them. But the best thing that I found was a camel just the right size for me to ride. Naturally, the Oldies didn't buy it for me. Dad did buy a brass camel horn. It is probably a dud because although it makes a very loud noise when I blow it, there hasn't been a single camel come when I do.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

One of my favoritest buildings is the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. You will find pictures of it scattered through my blog, because I like it a lot. During our trip to the Emirates last year we stayed right next to the Burj Al Arab and the Oldies took gazillions of pictures of it. Here are three that show it in different colours. During the day it is just white and blue, still spectacular against the blue of the sky and sea. At night it is illuminated by coloured lights that change through many colours.  Here are just two of them. Two things that you really do have to see in Dubai are the Burj Al Arab, the prettiest hotel in the world, and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I love them both.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

This photo shows something that I never expected to see. Mum is actually not all that keen on birds and goes troppo when feathers touch her. The last thing I expected was that she would like a bird, let alone actually hold one and pat it. However, in Souk Al Bahar in Dubai there is a young Arab who lets tourists hold his falcon, called Bahadhor. Of course there is a photographer there to sell photos of the event; in this case an extremely unlikely event. So there is at least one sort of bird that Mum likes.

Labels: birds, Dubai

The biggest aquarium tank I have ever seen is the main one at Atlantis in Dubai. As well as gazillions of fish, the tanks have been made to look like the remains of a sunken city. It is very impressive and the fish really like the artificial reefs that the "ruins" make. The main tank holds all the sorts of fish that live in the Arabian Gulf, and smaller tanks hold examples of species from around the world. The other thing that makes Atlantis an interesting place to visit is the way that the paths through the aquarium are all made in tunnels and the walls are covered with fantasy artifacts and writing, supposedly Atlantean. I found some of the stuff a bit scary, particularly this giant warrior. I think he is not real, but I can't be sure; I was climbing on his axe thingies one minute and the next thing I was grabbed and Dad had to rescue me.  (For a bigger view of Bart in the grip of the Atlantean Giant, just click the image. - Dad)

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates, fish

Here's some more strange buildings in Dubai. It seems like most of the new buildings have to be different in some way. Although at first sight it might seem like there are no two buildings the same, there are in fact a lot of "twin towers". I particularly like the two in the first picture. I am not sure what they are, but they look a bit like twin penguins. The twisted one in the second picture is the Infinity Tower at Dubai Marina. This will be 73 stories high when it is finished and it will twist by more than 90 degrees. Construction started in 2006, but was held up for 18 months when a dam holding the marina cracked and flooded the foundations. It was just about complete when we saw it, and should be finished now. These buildings were seen from the Dubai Metro, a great way to see the architecture along Sheikh Zayed Road, the main axis road of Dubai.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

I love architecture, particularly the strange and the record-breaking. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have probably the best examples and that's why the Oldies keep going back to see what's new. Here are two of the buildings in Dubai that were completed between their 2007 trip and our one this June. The one on the left is of course the fantastic Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I still find it hard to believe that I went as high as it was possible for a small bear to go in this magnificent tower. It is really spectacular at night, all lit up and occasionally with laser shows and fireworks coming from it. We walked out every night to get photos and took hundreds. The pink building is the hotel at Atlantis on Palm Jumeirah. The palm is an artificial island (look at it on Google Earth) and Atlantis is right on the seaward edge of it. Atlantis has one of the biggest and most interesting aquariums I have ever seen and there are some photos of it on my blog already and more to come.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

Here's another peculiar building that we saw on our trip to DoBuy and Abu Dhabi. It is Capital Gate Tower in Abu Dhabi and is the most leaning building in the world. The top floors of the 160 m tower are almost completely outside the bottom floors. It looks impossible, but clever engineers have made it work. Building started in 2007 and was only just complete when we were there. It was a bit hard to get photos of it so forgive Dad for the first photo. It was taken out of the car window and needed a bit of straightening. The only parking spot we could find was where the second photo was taken. It is almost in front of the building so the overhang is not as obvious. You can find some great images of the building on the web. I love these strange buildings and the Emirates are the place to find them.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

Here's a few photos of the inside of the Grand Mosque. The flowers in the mosaics and reliefs on the walls and floors are inlaid with gold and semi-precious stones. The carpet is around 5,600 square metres and it took around 1,300 Iranian carpet knotters two years to make it. The chandelier above Mum's head is one of 7, made of gold and Swarovski crystals. Note that Mum is dressed properly for visiting the mosque. Courtesy demands that arms and legs be covered and that ladies wear a head scarf. The Oldies always fit in with local custom, that's why they have so much fun and get to see so many interesting places. How do small bears dress? Well, this one stayed tucked inside Dad's backpack with only my eyes showing.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

This is the most impressive building that this small bear has ever been in. It is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. We visited it one day while we were in Dubai. According to Mum the only other buildings that come close to it for sheer impressiveness are St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London. She has seen all three, so I guess she knows. This mosque is absolutely beautiful. It is the eighth largest in the world.It has 82 domes, over 1,000 columns, 24-carat gold chandeliers and the world's largest carpet. The building is entirely marble of different colours, from Macedonia, Italy, India and China. It can hold over 40,000 people. The mosque is surrounded by gardens and pools. An absolutely breath-taking bit of architecture and something that you must see when you visit the Emirates. No, the minarets are not crooked. That's just the effect you get when the thing you are photographing is so big and high; it's called perspective. The camera sees things slanted but your brain knows that they are really straight and that's how you see them.

Labels: Dubai, Emirates

Mina a'Salaam is a fantastic resort. It is built at one end of a 30 acre lagoon, a canal system that surrounds it and the Al Qasr. The most fun way to get around this part of the Jumierah resort complex is to use the abras. Abras are small traditional Arab ferry boats. Unlike most boats, you don't sit IN them, you sit ON them. Only the driver has a seat in a small cockpit that goes inside the hull. There are lots of abras that take you to any place around the lagoon where there is an abra station, so you can go to the souk (Arab market) or the spa or the ressertorornts (I just can't spell restaurant no matter how hard I try) by boat. For a small bear that loves boats, that makes travel around this resort the next thing to heaven. With golf buggies and abras to ride I had a great 3 days at Mina a'Salaam.

Labels: boats, Dubai

We stayed in two places when we were in Dubai. The second one was a big resort called Mina a'Salaam, right on the Arabian Gulf. It is part of a group of resort hotels that includes Al Qasr, Jumierah Beach Resort, and the fabulous Burj Al Arab. If you stay in one of these places you can use the facilities of most of the others. There are 2km of private beaches that you can use. There are golf buggies running a shuttle service around the whole complex and we did several trips, day and night, to get photos. The drivers soon get to know you and some of them let me help drive. So here we are out on the jetty at one end of the complex, and zooming along the road near one of the beaches. There aren't any hills like there on Hamilton Island, the other place that I've used buggies. Golf buggies are great for this sort of transport and I wonder why more places don't use them.

Labels: boats, Dubai

This is the Waterfall in the Dubai Mall. Dubai hasn't got any real waterfalls, so they built one in the Mall. It is four stories high and has dozens of statues of people diving down the waterfall towards the pool at the bottom. We liked to stop for coffee and snacks at the cafe near the waterfall. Actually, I got into strife there during our first visit. The water looked so cool, and it was so hot outside, that I figured a quick dip would be just the shot. Well, I managed to climb up to the top of the fence while the Oldies weren't looking. I was all set to see if I could look as good as the statues while I dived in. But that eagle-eyed mother of mine saw me and hauled me back. What's the use of cool water in a hot desert city if small bears are not allowed to swim in it?

Labels: Dubai

Here I am at the highest observation deck in the world. It is on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. That's 452m (1,483ft) above the streets of the city. The observation deck has an open area and an indoor one. Even though it looks like I am a long way up, the Burj has 40 floors and a spire above me. You do get a great view of Dubai from up here. One of the things that enhance the view are the hi-tech view screens like the one that I am sitting on. These show you the bit of the city you aim them at in day, night or historical view, so you can see what it looks like at other times and what it looked like before all those buildings were built. This can be a great help if you are unfortunate enough to be there when the dust in the air makes it hard to see with your unaided eyes. I really liked the elevators that take you up to the observation deck; they travel at 64km/hr! So fast that Mum didn't have time to video the floor counter numbers flicking away. A tip from me: if you want to go up the Burj, buy your tickets online before you travel. They are much cheaper that way and saves you having to wait in long, slow-moving lines when you arrive. Of course, you are locked into a certain day and you might be hit by dust, but that's the risk anytime. Anyhow, I now claim to be one of the world's highest bears. Note that aircraft don't count for this claim, and even if they did, I have been pretty high in A380s and 747s.

Labels: Dubai

The most important thing that you have to take overseas with you is lots of money, and it has to be money of the country you are staying in. So here I am, all set for shopping in SingyPaw and DoBuy. My stack of Aussie dollars has been turned into Singapore dollars and UAE dirhams. If you check back through the postings you can see my Aussie dollar pile and the results of my shopping. Overseas trips are great, you see lots of very different things and learn lots. Everybody should travel overseas sometime. Aussie is great and we do travel as much of it as we can, but overseas extends what you know and makes small bears even smarter.

Labels: Dubai, Singapore

One of the most fantastic things that we saw in Dubai is the display put on by the Dubai Fountains. These are in a big (30 acre) shallow artificial lake near the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. Late every afternoon and the first half of the night they put on displays every half-hour. Not just fountains squirting up or out, these ones dance to music. There are hundreds of individual jets and they can all swivel and shoot water to heights up to 75 m. The displays are all set to music, and around 6,500 lights make the night shows really pretty. The fountains are spread out over a pattern that is 275 m long. You will see photos of the whole system later. Here's a couple of photos to start with. The top one was taken from a long way away, around one side of the lake. We were out walking and didn't realize that we could see the fountain from where we were, until it started. The bottom one was taken from the edge of the lake, just in front of the Burj Khalifa. You get a good view from there, but can't see the whole system. We liked the fountains so much that we saw several shows most nights of our stay, and it was different every time.

Labels: Dubai

One afternoon we decided to ride the Dubai Metro from end to end. This is a great way to see most of the exciting buildings in the city, because for most of its length the Metro runs on elevated tracks. It only goes underground when it has to pass through the old city and the creek. I really liked the ride because I could sit on a ledge right at the front of the train and see everything. Think about that for a minute; if I am right at the front, where is the driver? Guess what, THERE IS NO DRIVER. The whole system is run by computers. There are two lines on the system at present, the Red line and the Green. It is the longest fully-automated metro in the world. It seems to work superbly. The trains are always on time. The trains and the stations are air-conditioned and when the trains arrive at stations the platform doors open and seal against the train doors. I thought that was great, no chance of small bears getting too hot.

Labels: Dubai, train