I visited Arabia.......

[Amaru]

....and this is what I saw:


































Thanks for looking.

[Retrac]

That's amazing, thanks for sharing the pictures!

[blkgsr]

what the costs of hotels, transport, food etc?

[highfive]

What camera did you use?

[swiftshift]

^ +1
Yes what kind of camera are you using, and photo editor?
The quality is phenomenally crisp and clear.

[Amaru]

Thanks all for the compliments / comments. I love re-living my past holidays, haha.

Originally Posted by blkgsr

what the costs of hotels, transport, food etc?

Flights were $1100pp CDN return including taxes, fees, etc (YYJ to Seattle and then 15 hours direct to Dubai on Emirates)... that was a special seat sale but I think the standard fare is closer to $2500 (which is still not bad).

In Dubai we stayed at the Raffles which was about $360 CDN / night including taxes. Stayed there for 8 nights. Raffles Dubai was the best hotel I've ever stayed at (and we've been fortunate enough to stay in some good ones). In Abu Dhabi we stayed at the Jumeirah hotel for 6 nights, I believe it was around $300 / night. Both were nice 5-star hotels but you could find a very solid 4-star in both cities for $150-$200 CDN / night including taxes.

Food was pretty expensive, especially when we ordered drinks (only some higher end restaurants can serve booze).... I'd say we averaged maybe $250 CDN per day for all food & beverages (for both of us). You could probably get by on a budget of $75pp per day for food (3 meals + a drink or two) if you were more careful (we like to eat well, lol).

Taxis and transportation in general are so cheap in the UAE. Safe to say that taxi fares in the UAE are about a third of what you'd pay in Vancouver for a comparable ride... a 20 minute cab ride would cost maybe $15 CDN? We definitely didn't spend more than $30-$50/day on taxis and metro fares, and some days we spent $0 on transport.

Attractions and tours and stuff like that were comparable to what they'd be here... for example, full VIP passes to the top of the Burj Khalifa were $150 CDN per person, and a 6-hour desert safari tour (with dinner) was about $180 CDN per person.

The standards for accommodation, food, and transport are very high in general.... a 4-star hotel will be a 4-star hotel, period. Taxis are super clean and safe. Food was excellent at almost all the decent restaurants we ate at. Service is superb everywhere (almost all service jobs are done by Filipinos and Indians).

Originally Posted by swiftshift

^ +1
Yes what kind of camera are you using, and photo editor?
The quality is phenomenally crisp and clear.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D7200 SLR, and either a Nikon 18-300mm or Nikon 10-16mm wide angle lens. No more than $3500 worth of gear in total.

Editing was done in Photoshop. Nothing special. I think that the forum's auto-resizing feature helps make the images look extra sharp (especially if you're on a Mac with a retina screen).... but, a 24MP DSLR helps too. :-)

[smoothie.]

So nice

[Inaii]

Wow, where are the first 2 photos taken? They're stunning!

[Amaru]

Originally Posted by Inaii

Wow, where are the first 2 photos taken? They're stunning!

Thanks. That's the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

It's actually more stunning in person, but sadly I couldn't find an angle to capture the absurdity / scale from the outside, nor did I get a chance to go back at night for the lit-up fountains.

The building covers 30 acres and it cost over $600 million USD to build (completed 2007). It's made mostly of Italian marble, features the world's most expensive chandelier (which is just one of 38 chandeliers) as well as the largest carpet ever made (which weighs 36 tons and took 1300 workers over 2 years to finish). It's also a big pain in the ass to visit thanks to their ultra-strict modesty rules (men can't wear shorts or t-shirts, women can't even show ankles, etc)...

The mosque sort of sums up the UAE's love of things that are 'the biggest' or 'the fastest' or 'the most expensive'.... in our 2 week trip, we visited the world's largest mall, the world's tallest building, rode the world's fastest roller coaster, visited the world's most exclusive hotel, etc..... Superlatives galore....

Inside (nothing to see here, just a standard light fixture...)

[gilly]

more pics !!!!!! plz

[Zedbra]

These are amazing pictures - thanks for sharing!

[Amaru]

Originally Posted by gilly

more pics !!!!!! plz

Don't have many more interesting UAE pics, but perhaps you'd like the pics from this previous trip? Or possibly this one? There's this one too... and of course, this one.