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BURJ KHALIFA
So there's a new sheriff in town: the Burj Khalifa. The tallest building in the world cost a cool US$1.5 billion to build. It was originally supposed to be called Burj Dubai but, when oil-rich sister emirate Abu Dhabi had to bail Dubai out of its debt crisis, part of the deal was to rename the building after Abu Dhabi's President, Khalifa. I would've liked to have been a bilingual fly on that wall. No matter what its name, the 160-story building is sure to be Dubai's pride and joy for years to come-it's truly amazing.



BURJ KHALIFA RECORDS
Upon its opening in January 2010, the Burj Khalifa set a number of records. At over 800 meters (2,625 feet), it is not only the world's tallest building but the world's tallest structure, a record previously held by the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota (I'd never even heard of this structure), and the tallest free-standing structure, a record previously held by Toronto's CN Tower. I'm not sure how long it will keep these records, though, because I hear Saudi Arabia is building a taller building.

INSIDE BURJ KHALIFA
Unfortunately, Burj Khalifa's (website observation deck on the 124th floor was closed when I was there due to elevator problems (I heard on the down low that it dropped 20 floors-yikes). Highlights of the building include a fine-dining restaurant on the 122nd floor, 900 residences, 37 office floors, a 160-room Armani Hotel, and 144 private Armani Residences. The tower's architecture and engineering were handled by a company out of Chicago. It is the centerpiece of the entire new Downtown Dubai, on which they've spent US$20 billion. Words can't describe the beauty of the exterior of the building. It is gorgeous during the day and even more so at night.

ADDRESS HOTELS
On this trip I was introduced to a hotel chain I'd never heard of, Address Hotels. There are five upscale Address hotels, all in Dubai. My first night in Dubai I stayed at the Address Downtown Dubai. The following nights I was next door at the Address Palace.

DOWNTOWN DUBAI
I had no idea what to expect from the Address Downtown Dubai, so I was pretty much blown away when I walked through the front door. It wouldn't have been surprising if I'd known that the hotel was part of the US$20 billion Downtown Dubai project. The government basically created this area just a few years ago as the city of Dubai was expanding.

DUBAI FOUNTAIN
To the right of the hotel is the world's largest mall, and in between is the 30-acre Burj Dubai Lake featuring the Dubai Fountain (website), the world's tallest performing fountain, which almost makes the Bellagio Hotel's fountain in Las Vegas look boring. The fountain performs daily for five minutes every 20 to 30 minutes from 6 to 11 p.m. There are at least 13 shows a night and on weekends there are 16. Each time the fountain is choreographed to different music, from Celine Dion to Arabic pop. If the fountain does look reminiscent of the Bellagio's, that's because it was built by the same company. But Dubai's is 25 percent larger. It's 900 feet (275 meters) long and 500 feet (150 meters) tall, with over 6,000 lights and 1,000 different water expressions.

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