Day 10 - Dubai (Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall)

Entering the Burj Khalifa is no easy feat.

First you have to navigate your way through the world's largest shopping centre, Dubai Mall. You have to figure out that you need to head down to the Lower Ground Floor - come in on the ground floor as most people do and you won't find many signs for it. That's the first thing to understand, that the Burj Khalifa tourist entrance is inside the mall.

The mall information desk men must be kept incredibly busy. It's one thing to understand on the signs where you need to go, but actually getting there is quite another.

Then due to the size of the mall, even if you know where you're going, you're guaranteed a hike. There's only four floors (Lower Ground, Ground, 1st and 2nd), so it means a long walk from one end to the other. And if you came in at the wrong entrance, good luck.

When you finally get there, you are greeted with this.

When you pass the first stage of security with your ticket, you see some inspiring words from Sheikh Mohammed. Very apt about not just the Burj Khalifa, but about Dubai itself.

And a beautifully lit model of the Burj is also there, I wished I could take it home with me...

Going up one of the fastest lifts in the world is quite incredible. 10 metres per second or 36km/h. A sound and light show envelops you as almost silently, you climb for the sky. You'll only notice the height because you have to pop your ears. After just 60 seconds, you reach the observation deck over 600 metres above the ground.

The attendants direct you to a viewing platform which juts out from the observation deck. You are mostly protected by glass, but there are gaps in it for people to stick their cameras through. No thanks! The floor wasn't helping either. On the platform, it is wooden and it moves up and down underneath your feet. In other words, it makes a nerve jangling experience!

This is looking down at "The Address". You might remember I took a shot where I made it look bigger than the Burj Khalifa. Here is the proof that the Khalifa is really taller, much taller in fact!

A lot to see in this shot. The Khalifa is in what's called "Downtown", but that's not the centre of the city. Look about 2/3 of the way up the photo on the right hand side - that's where the heart of the city is. On that same level but to the left, is Port Rashid.

Those long tubes on either side of the road are Dubai Metro stations. I found taxis cheap enough and I wasn't staying here long enough to bother trying it out, but by all reports it's very good and cheap. Believe it or not, the trains are driver-less!

And you thought you'd never see the world in one place? Here it is, "The World". That collection of islands off the coast are man-made. You can buy your very own piece of the world - if you want, you can say that "I own Australia" and you wouldn't be lying.

Off in the hazy distance of this shot, you can see the Burj Al Arab and just how big the Palm Jumeirah is. You think it's big, the biggest of the three Palm Islands will be twice the size!

This is the waterfall inside Dubai Mall. I think it's three stories high from memory. Even though the mall is air conditioned, it feels cooler around the waterfall - I think it's the same as how one of those mist cooling systems operates!

Is the Burj Khalifa worth it? Definitely. If you book your ticket as I did, you'll only pay 105 dirhams (around $30). But you'll need to book online probably 36 hours before you plan to go to make sure you get your preferred time.

The other option is to just rock up when you want to go, but you're looking at 400 dirhams for that (around $120). With the money I saved, I bought a beautiful golden statue of the building from the gift shop!

The other issue of when to go is the haze which is almost permanent here. You may have noticed it particularly in the shot of the Palm Jumeirah. Local sources tell me that the view is better in winter, because the source of the haze (the ever present desert dust) is less prevalent.

Well the battery's nearly dead and I doubt I'd be able to write about my Bedouin desert adventure last night in the time I have left. Maybe if I get lucky I'll have a power point to connect to somewhere? But I should warn you, that may not be until I get back home roughly this time tomorrow night!