Wildlife in Dubai

Taken at Safa Park.
Safa Park is one of the biggest and most popular park in Dubai. Created in 1975 and has 64 hectare area. Park contains 3 man-made lakes, over 200 species of birds and 16924 different trees and bushes.

Gold to go

Yes, yes it is ATM for Gold. 

I do not know the reason why it is there. Also I am not sure if someone used it or not. 

But I am quite sure that it is one the the most photographed thing in the Dubai Mall.  

Maybe it is matching with the image of Dubai. "Hey!! Dubai is so rich city, people use gold instead of coins" 

: )

Smile : )

I took this last year. I do not know who draw that smiley over there but it was good enough to make me smile everyday while I was going to work.

Afterwards our office has moved and I started to take another way to reach the office. Recently I passed at the same place. Unfortunately I saw that smiley face is not there anymore. The construction is more active and wide. 

I wanted to share this old picture. May be it will put a smile on your face as well. 

The Address Downtown Dubai Hotel

The Address hotel from the top of the Burj Khalifa

Here another iconic building of Dubai with little bit cliche picture.

Everyone who went to the Observatory deck at the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building of the world) took this shot.
the building on the left side is The Adress Downton Dubai. it is opened in 2008 and the height is 302 m.
I wanted to share quite classic view from Dubai. Lets say, touristic shot for today.

Merry Christmas

Of course we do not have snow but creative people put foam in the fountain so it looks like white and remind snow with the Christmas tree.
If you want to see the original view of this fountain you can check from here. At the beginning of December, this fountain was decorated for UAE National Day.

cloudy building

This morning there was heavy rain. when I was leaving the house the sky was still grey and hazy.

within half an hour, the sky get clearer and sun start to shine again. this morning when the traffic stopped because of road work, I noticed this building with reflection. I took a quick snap shot.

Gift Season

Today I went to MOE (Mall of Emirates) after work to collect some things and buy some gifts.
The mall was quite crowded. There were huge wrapped boxes under huge Christmas tree.

Christmas - 2013

I took this picture this morning. Christmas decorations are everywhere. 

a walk at Marina Walk

Today after work, we decided to go Marina Walk to have dinner and have a cafe afterwards with one of my colleagues. After we finished our foods, I catched this shot.

There are several highrise buildings along man-made Marina and lagoon. There are also many restaurants and cafes. The area is closed for traffic. It is good for jogging or walking around just to enjoy stay outdoor during nice winter time in Dubai.

Burj Al Arab from Madinat Souq

I took this picture from the most popular shooting point at Madinat Souq after Gala showing of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom..

There was an after party and all those bright lights coming from the party area.

I have several pictures of Burj Al Arab from the exactly same point. Even though the bright overexposed part in this picture, i like the light beams over Burj Al Arab, that's why i wanted to post this one.
cheers

Souk Madinat Jumeirah

Madinat Jumeirah is a complex of  luxurious resort. There are 2 boutique hotels, shopping mall, 29 summer houses, many gardens and lagoons. I took this picture yesterday.

Madinat Arena is hosting Gala screening for 10th Dubai International Film Festival also. After the movie I was going to parking area of the mall and these glass lanterns  took my attention. It was late evening and there were few tourists in the mall so the stand was not crowded and i didn't disturb anyone.

This area newly built in 2003 and the aim was to built traditional Arabian village and they kept the design in that way. Nice place to spent time, dine out, walk around, not just for tourists, also for residents.

Where are you from?

Harvey Nichols - Mall of Emirates

Harvey Nichols's window always has unique style. I took this picture couple of days ago at Mall of Emirates. Actually this decoration is there for a while. When I saw first, my camera was not with me, this time i had my camera and i tried to get nice shot without reflection from front shop.
Harvey Nichols founded in 1831. This luxury department store originated from London.

10th DIFF - Dubai International Film Festival

This year Dubai International Film Festival reach 10th year.
The Motto is "A film for everyone"

it will start on 6th of December on Friday with the gala of OMAR and will continue to till 14th of December.
Tickets are available online and also from the DIFF kiosks at Mall of Emirates and Medinat Souq.

You can reach official web site from here. The variety of films are really good and i observed the festival is getting better and stronger with every year.

Tecom Metro Station

Tecon metro station

The first section of the Dubai Metro (Red line) was ceremonially opened at 9:09:09 PM on 9 September 2009.
Yes! Very special and memorable date and time. 

The Dubai Metro also the first urban train network in Arabian region. After metro started to operation, the number of public bus are increased. New bus route for each station from nearby area are implemented. 
I took this picture last weekend while I was waiting a friend of mine from Metro station. 

The style of the metro station is so Dubai :) but i can't imagine this style in any city which is not newly build. 
cheers

JLT - Jumeirah Lake Towers

Sunset at JLT

Today, after work while i was walking to the parking area, i noticed the colour of the sky and i stopped immediately. Mostly the name shorten like JLT. There are several towers some of them for business purpose some are residential. there were two big man made lake. But this summer, they decided to convert one of them to the park. when all construction work (including road etc) this area will be nice to live or work.

42nd National Day

2nd of December is National Day of United Arab Emirates. This year UAE reached 42. anniversary.
After EXPO 2020 announcement, celebrations are more happier. I took this picture on Sunday at Mall of Emirates. It was all decorated with UAE flags and there was band walking around in the mall with special costumes. Unfortunately I couldn't catch them. For more about UAE history, you can read from this link.

Burj Al Arab

When I moved from Istanbul to Dubai because of my work, I was so excited to start a daily photo blog here. 

I was following Eric Tenin's blog about Paris and i wanted to share my first impression about Dubai with daily photo blog. But I was not aware the biggest challenge at that time. I was newbie in the town and no idea about the city plus i had to figure out many things and posting daily was not the easy thing with all. 

After 5 years i am more into Photography, i know the city little bit better and i hope this time i can manage to continue this blog with posting regularly. 

as a starter i want to share Burj Al Arab's picture which was taken from the Jumeirah Beach. 

Today when people hear Dubai's name, there are plenty of iconic images already in the mind. But 5 years back, the world tallest building was still under construction and Burj Al Arab was the icon of Dubai. 

with other way to say "The first hotel in the world with 7 stars" Don't ask how it could be possible when the standard is max 5 stars. Honestly I do not know but this hotel known with this way. 

Burj Al Arab literally means "Tower of Arabs" in English. The height is 321 m and it is the 4th tallest hotel in the world. It stands on artificial island 280 m from Jumeirah Beach and it is connected to the mainland by private bridge. Maybe because of this, it offers quite privacy to their guests. No one allowed to enter the bride if you do not have any reservation.