Dubai – Burj Khalifa – tallest building in the world

  Bloomingdales is a poor mans Harrods but was still fun to look around. Having warmed up from snow skiing we sought out some of the other “supersized” structures in Dubai. We jumped a Range Rover Taxi to the Burj Khalifa; a tallish building in the centre of Dubai, which is coincidentally connected to another super mall so more golf buggy fun was inevitable.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum named the building Burj Khalifa in honour of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan. Sheikh Khalifa is also ruler of Abu Dhabi, the emirate that came to Dubai's help late last year to the tune of $US10 billion ($A11.15 billion) to bail out the bankrupt project. The Sheikh al-Maktoum is now building a taller building in Abu Dhabi with his name on it. Boys and their toys!

(note how large the base of the building is to get a sense of scale)

At 828 metres and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:
• Tallest building in the world
• Tallest freestanding structure in the world
• Highest number of stories in the world
• Highest occupied floor in the world
• World's highest observation deck with an outdoor terrace
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
• Fastest elevator at 80 kilometres per hour in a single shaft
• Tallest single elevator in the world

The trip up in the elevator was a juxtaposition of chilling and astounding. The lift car is pitch black and lights up like a nightclub as you hurtle to the observation deck at 80kph. The sense of drama of this incredulous trip was heightened as one indigenous child began to wail in a non-melodic tone the moment the doors closed. The lift began to pulse with coloured strobe lights and Arabic music; the wailing increased; the lights pulsed faster; the wailing increased; the music and the wailing synchronised into a single crescendo of light and sound climaxing in the doors opening at the top of the Tower of Babel. Phew, that beats reading compliance messages in the lift at work…..

Stepping out of the lift was a simultaneous auditory relief and a sensation of movement under foot as the Burj Khalifa sways between 2-6 metres; more than your average palm tree on a windy day at Manly. Words struggle to alliterate the feeling that goes with the view. Everything below appears so small but you know everything below is larger/taller than most Sydney buildings. There are electronic viewing binoculars to help you take in the panoramic curved-world view programmed to switch from actual view to video replay mode if a sandstorm obliterates the view. They replay exactly where you are aiming the viewer and replay a blue sky and blue sea image even though you can’t see it. WOW! WOW! WOW!

We took tea (drank not stole), accepted requests to photograph several NASB (Non Arabic Speaking Background) tourists with their own cameras and then excitedly headed back to the nightclub they call an elevator.