Burj al Arab

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of the Burj al Arab, the "7-star" hotel shaped like a giant sail boat. The Burj is the primary landmark in Dubai, but it is one of the most expensive places to stay worldwide (or even to go for a drink or dinner). A coworker of mine is married to a woman that works with the hospitality company that operates the hotel, and so he was able to invite a few of us on a private tour.



Each suite is two-stories, and each "floor" has a concierge and butler to manage your reservations, shine your shoes, arrange correct attire for the event you are attending, etc. Most of the lobby and other areas are gold plated, with jumping fountains, enormous aquariums, and tacky decor.



From one of the corner rooms, we were able to take some pictures of the view, where we could see most of new Dubai: the marina towers, media city (where I work), the jumeirah beach hotel, the mall of the emirates, the Palm Jumeirah, and Madinat Jumeirah (resort, shopping, and F&B). A picture of Madinat Jumeirah is below:



Here is a picture of the underside of the famous helipad at the top of the hotel:



I have a few more pictures in the webshots link under the July 2008 album to the right. You can probably find much better ones by using google- we were a bit restricted from taking many pictures!