The Burj Khalifa

I went up the Burj Dubai Khalifa last Friday morning. I have pictures of the outside of the building in earlier posts. For Dh100, it was worthwhile. I can't imagine paying Dh400 for it though. You enter through Dubai Mall (near the More restaurant). The elevator was amazing. I've been in speedy elevators before that make you dip your knees because of the acceleration. However, we got on two floors underground and zoomed to the 124th floor in about 30 seconds with absolutely no sensation of moving. Some engineer did an amazing job figuring that out.


When you get near the building, you can look up through a "sight" at the observation deck. I didn't quite get centered when I took my picture. I'll have to try again some time.

I have, on occasion, had a touch of vertigo. However, I felt no nervousness on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. You get high enough in the building that you can walk 360 degrees about the building looking out over the entire expanse of Dubai. The day that I went up, the sky was quite clear.







The Burj Khalifa has a lot of information about the construction and the whole project at the ground level. It was nicely done and well worth a casual stroll through looking at the various exhibits.














This picture was taken to the south - toward the Burj Al Arab (the sail hotel).















This picture shows Dubai Mall on the left and The Address at the top of the picture.










The next picture shows The World project. There was no construction going on and I hope that it because they have decided to give it time to settle (something that I heard was a problem on The Palm).














I got a good shot of the Burj shadow beside the Dubai Metro station.















This shot is Sheikh Zayed Road looking northeast towards downtown Dubai.














And, of course, a gratuitous picture of me.

Amazon

Okay, I'm getting really upset. A friend lent me her Kindle and now I want one for myself. I'm hooked. UNFORTUNATELY, you can't get one in the UAE. GRRR!!!!! So I'm thinking I'll get one in Canada when I go back for the summer. Right! I can do that. But I can't buy books with a UAE credit card. If I get a Canadian credit card, I can use that (even though it will screw up my non-residency). Then I'll have to transfer money to the account to cover that card. This stinks. When I'm in the UAE, I could buy a gift certificate and give it to myself and then I can use that gift certificate to buy books. Really? Maybe!

I can't tell you how much I want a Kindle DX. I have the money. I have emailed Amazon and explained the situation and begged them to suggest something. No response. I tried Amazon Canada. No response. I would love to be able to travel with lots of books on my Kindle. Rumors that the UAE will be getting Kindle have been around for years. I want a Kindle, but I'm almost at the point of buying a Sony Reader Daily Edition or an iPad.

I'm perfectly willing to patronize Amazon. Amazon - please sell me a Kindle DX; however, my feeling is that the iPad is going to kill Amazon if they don't come out with a color screen and expandable memory. I don't need most of the stuff that the iPad does. I have a MacBook Air. I'd use that but I can't download the Kindle for Mac software in the UAE. Most of the books I read are fine in black and white, but the color screen on the iPad is cool. I don't need all the internet features that the iPad has. I just want to read books. If Amazon doesn't get their sh** in order by August, when I get back to Canada, I am going to go with the iPad. I've patronized Amazon for years. I've ordered thousands of dollars of books and DVDs from Amazon. I'd like to stay with them, but I'm really getting pissed. What happened to globalization? Whatever happened to trying to be competitive and offering what the customers want?

Dubai Mall

It has taken me awhile to figure out the video feature on my camera (and as you can tell, I still need to learn a little more). It didn't help that the software that came with the camera can't find the video on my camera, but iMovie on my Mac did.

The hockey video was taken a couple of weeks ago and I posted some still shots below. They were taken on the same day that I watched the hockey tournament. I stop by the aquarium at Dubai Mall almost every week for a little while just to watch the fish. It's close to my favorite coffee shop - Caribou Coffee.