The Oil Fueled World Of Dubai

As the world keeps spending more and more money on oil, Dubai keeps coming up with more and more amazing ways of spending that cash. Below are some of my personal favorites.

7. Ski Dubai
http://www.skidxb.com/
Ski Dubai is one of the largest ski resorts in the world, did I mention the average high temperature in Dubai is 92 degrees Fahrenheit. It has 22,500-square meters of indoor ski area. Ski Dubai is a part of the Mall of the Emirates, which is also one of the largest malls in the world. It is approximately 25 stories high and can accommodate 1,500 guests at any one time.


6. Rotating Skyscraper
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/25/duibai.tower/index.html
This one is just proposed at this point but it is to be a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors will rotate 360 degrees around a central core. Each story of the tower would be round and be attached to the center which would house all of the elevators. Each floor rotates independently and would controlled by the owner if they own the whole floor. Can you imagine that one, a 360 degree view all controlled by remote.

5. Burj Dubai
http://www.burjdubai.com/
If all goes according to plan, Burj Dubai will become the tallest building in the world by the end of 2009. The funny part is, we don't know what the exact height will be as they keep increasing it avoid competitors. The interior will be decorated by Giorgio Armani. It also will include the worlds fastest elevator at a speed of 55.2 feet per second (yikes!).


4. The Burj Al Arab
http://www.burj-al-arab.com/
It is a "7-star" luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates built by Said Khalil. It stands at 1,053 ft, it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel. The Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 919 ft away from Jumeirah beach. It's connected to the mainland by a private land bridge. Professional golfer Tiger Woods hit several golf balls from the helipad into the Persian Gulf and professional tennis players Roger Federer and Andre Agassi played a game on the helipad at a height of 211 meters (a record), which was converted into a grass tennis court.

3. Hydropolis
http://www.hydropolis.com/
This one is almost too hard to believe but Hydropolis hotel is the world's first underwater luxury resort. It will sit 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf and feature 220 guest suites. The Hydropolis was scheduled to open in late 2007, but has faced major delays due to cost issues and concerns over the project's impact on marine life.

2. The Palm Islands
http://www.thepalm.ae/
This one is just amazing. It is an artificial island created using land reclamation by Nakheel. Nakheel is some company owned by the Dubai government. It will include 3 artificial islands in the shape of palm trees that will hold nearly 500 apartments, 2000 villas, 25 hotels and 200 shops of luxury. It provides 125 kilometers of additional coastline. So basically they are taking a bunch of extra sand, dumping it in the ocean and making a multi-billion dollar land development.

1. "The World"
http://www.theworld.ae/
This one is my personal favorite! I mean look at that, what an awesome idea. It's 300 individual islands that are positioned to form the shape of a world map. It's currently being constructed 4 miles offshore from Dubai in Gulf waters. "The World" is being built using sand dredged from the ocean itself. It will cost you $15 million to $45 million to purchase your very own island. That's right, you can own the US southwest recreated, in miniature, in the middle of the ocean, off the coast of Dubai. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2009.