Abu Dhabi & Dubai [100 photos]
- Thread starter Russinating
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Thanks for all the comments guys.
It is a very interesting place. I was a bit underwhelmed with Abu Dhabi when I first arrived (especially having visited Singapore earlier this year) but once you get under the surface it is fascinating. I still know barely anything but if you're genuinely interested then Wikipedia throws up some nuggets with every sentence. Things such as:
- Obviously oil, but the fact that it was discovered by BP and run by them until only a few years ago. The current oil company is a monopoloy (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), all petrol stations etc run by them
- The fact that we were their sole defence providers up until the 1960s I think it was. We had to withdraw due to stretched forces, they offered to pay us to stay, we refused.
- The native Emiratis used to be paid cash when they matured. I know believe they receive land but unsure. Either way it means that none of the locals work yet are still very wealthy.
- Saudi gave its land to UAE (when they were just family controlled and nobody thought the desert had any wealth to offer..) and there's little reason why it wouldn't be justified to take it back. Coupled with the size of Saudi (look on a map :eek) and the fact that their regime could change to someone less keen on their decedant ways could make for a very interesting situation.
Sorry! Could have sworn I was told it was Alonso at the time so didn't double check
You'll be very surprised if you mean Dubai. Saw plenty of children and push chairs. It's hot but apart from the beach you'll rarely be outside - hotel to taxi to mall to attraction to hotel etc. It's cooler in the winter season (now). I'd definitely consider it if I had a 1 year old - the 8 hour flight will probably be the worst part of it all.
Thanks. Took my Sigma 10-20mm 3.5 and Canon 50mm 1.8 and then hired a Canon 24-70 2.8L. Barely used the 50mm, 80% are on the 24-70 and the rest (buildings mostly) are on the 10.
It is a very interesting place. I was a bit underwhelmed with Abu Dhabi when I first arrived (especially having visited Singapore earlier this year) but once you get under the surface it is fascinating. I still know barely anything but if you're genuinely interested then Wikipedia throws up some nuggets with every sentence. Things such as:
- Obviously oil, but the fact that it was discovered by BP and run by them until only a few years ago. The current oil company is a monopoloy (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), all petrol stations etc run by them
- The fact that we were their sole defence providers up until the 1960s I think it was. We had to withdraw due to stretched forces, they offered to pay us to stay, we refused.
- The native Emiratis used to be paid cash when they matured. I know believe they receive land but unsure. Either way it means that none of the locals work yet are still very wealthy.
- Saudi gave its land to UAE (when they were just family controlled and nobody thought the desert had any wealth to offer..) and there's little reason why it wouldn't be justified to take it back. Coupled with the size of Saudi (look on a map :eek) and the fact that their regime could change to someone less keen on their decedant ways could make for a very interesting situation.
Sorry! Could have sworn I was told it was Alonso at the time so didn't double check
You'll be very surprised if you mean Dubai. Saw plenty of children and push chairs. It's hot but apart from the beach you'll rarely be outside - hotel to taxi to mall to attraction to hotel etc. It's cooler in the winter season (now). I'd definitely consider it if I had a 1 year old - the 8 hour flight will probably be the worst part of it all.
Thanks. Took my Sigma 10-20mm 3.5 and Canon 50mm 1.8 and then hired a Canon 24-70 2.8L. Barely used the 50mm, 80% are on the 24-70 and the rest (buildings mostly) are on the 10.
Man of Honour
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Really nice photos thanks for sharing and taking the time to upload them.
By the way, as has been said Dubai is very child friendly indeed. We took a 9 month old inand apart from the odd day where it was too hot to do anything much outside we had a great time and the baby was fine.
By the way, as has been said Dubai is very child friendly indeed. We took a 9 month old inand apart from the odd day where it was too hot to do anything much outside we had a great time and the baby was fine.
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Awesome
. What do you do over there?Which marina? I was only there for 6 days and travelling alone, 2 of which were the F1. Plus there's plenty of photos I haven't included here
Awesome
Which marina? I was only there for 6 days and travelling alone, 2 of which were the F1. Plus there's plenty of photos I haven't included here
Dubai marina: http://www.choppershoot.com/gallery/13 JTL and Dubai Marina.jpg
have got lots of good shots around there
I work in IT for the company who's offices are the wavey building
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Ah, yeah, I had brunch at the Westin which I believe is somewhere within that lot.
I was only in Dubai for 2 days so didn't really go there solely for a photo op. The one thing I did find a bit soul destroying was the fact that the place is so hard to photograph from ground level. I really wanted a good shot of the Burj Khalifa from a distance sticking out from all the other high rises, but I spent about an hour walking randomly and there's just too many tall buildings that block the view. When you search Google Images for a place half the time it's obviously taken from a helicopter or the top of a private building which means its impossible to replicate.
The Atlantis is a good example of that. Every good photo I've seen of it is taken from helicopter or boat, which is why the only photo I've got of it I tried to do something a bit different because it's all I could do!
I was only in Dubai for 2 days so didn't really go there solely for a photo op. The one thing I did find a bit soul destroying was the fact that the place is so hard to photograph from ground level. I really wanted a good shot of the Burj Khalifa from a distance sticking out from all the other high rises, but I spent about an hour walking randomly and there's just too many tall buildings that block the view. When you search Google Images for a place half the time it's obviously taken from a helicopter or the top of a private building which means its impossible to replicate.
The Atlantis is a good example of that. Every good photo I've seen of it is taken from helicopter or boat, which is why the only photo I've got of it I tried to do something a bit different because it's all I could do!
Yeah westin is next to the Marina and the brunch there is good
.Know what you mean with the Burj, it's so massive it's hard to get a pic with it all in.
However if you head towards the beach or the desert you can usually get a good pic of all the buildings on Sheikh Zayed Road all lined up, sometimes with a nice sunset behind them
If you want good aeriel photos I'd definitly reccommend a flight with Seawings, they do an aerial tour of Dubai.
btw in Pic 49 the picture is of Sheikh Zayed, founder of the UAE, he died in 2004
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Thanks for the tips but I don't have a return trip planned any time soon . And yes, brunch is fantastic. Expensive but worth it and certainly one of the highlights and sums up Dubai quite well. Took a video tour of it on my point and shoot but not many photos as I was too busy eating .
Cheers for the correct re: Sheikh Zayed.
. And yes, brunch is fantastic. Expensive but worth it and certainly one of the highlights and sums up Dubai quite well. Took a video tour of it on my point and shoot but not many photos as I was too busy eating .Cheers for the correct re: Sheikh Zayed.
Soldato
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Photos don't load for me either!
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Can you see http://rghjones.co.uk or www.rghjones.co.uk?
I see them if I turn off Adblock Plus. I imagine that ADP is unhappy with part of the image URL.
EDIT: Part of the image URL path is '/ad/', which ADP will be detecting and thus blocking all the images.
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Interesting. Just changed the URL to /abudhabi/ instead so hopefully that'll work...
Yeah, seems to have resolved the issue.
Work for me and I run adblockpro on Chrome. I only just saw these though since you said you changed the url/s.
@Russinating, what a fantastic set of pics. You should be proud to have captured what looks like an epic trip. Some of your photos are really nice. The Sigma 10-20 is a great lens. I used to own a 50d. Lovely cam. I'd love to get out to that part of the world, and should a business trip ever come about for something like that, I would be the first to take it up. Congrats. I have always thought to myself that staying out there would cost the earth...is this not the case? What about currency and cost of eating/getting about/doing stuff out there?
Fav shot is the below, mainly as I am a huge F1 fan:
@Russinating, what a fantastic set of pics. You should be proud to have captured what looks like an epic trip. Some of your photos are really nice. The Sigma 10-20 is a great lens. I used to own a 50d. Lovely cam. I'd love to get out to that part of the world, and should a business trip ever come about for something like that, I would be the first to take it up. Congrats. I have always thought to myself that staying out there would cost the earth...is this not the case? What about currency and cost of eating/getting about/doing stuff out there?
Fav shot is the below, mainly as I am a huge F1 fan:
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Thanks. I don't follow F1 and it was my first live race but I think I made it a good one. Saw plenty of drama and crashes right in front of us.
Accommodation was free as I just stayed in my dad's company villa for the week. I did one night in Dubai so I didn't have to travel back and that was £50 for a decent enough hotel. Would expect to pay over £150 for a similar hotel in London.
Getting about is cheap. Taxis are popular and cost pittance. The longest one I got was under £10 for a 20 minute journey in central Dubai. I knew I was going to go between Abu Dhabi and Dubai two or three times so I actually hired a car for £70 for the week. Petrol is dirt cheap but driving takes a while to get used to just because of 7-lane roads, central reservations, u-turns, tail gating etc. I wouldn't recommend driving if you're not good with directions and map reading; one wrong turn can add 20+ minutes onto a journey because of how long it takes to get back to where you were.
Cost of eating varies massively. I had the 'Friday brunch' in a hotel which was £90pp, but I ate lunch in the old town for about £3. Generally hotels will be £30-40 a main, anything outside of a hotel will be a quarter of that. Hamish I'm sure will be able to advise more than I can on that.
The doing stuff is also pretty cheap. Overnight dessert safari including pick up and return to Dubai, dune bashing, belly dancing, sheesha, food, soft drinks and some other bits and pieces was under £40 for 2 people. Going up the Khalifa is £20 so pretty standard for a tower.
I'd say if you want to go then go soon as they're at their peak at the moment. Not expecting a decline but everything is still new, still the best, still the tallest etc.
