The Tallest Building in The World Opens!

it's official.

the burj dubai rises from the desert to become the tallest building on the face of the earth, standing at 828m tall.

the opening ceremony was long planned to be on the 4th so that it coincides with the 4th year anniversary of sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum as ruler of dubai, and the vice president of UAE.

* dubai is one of 7 emirates in the UAE, the capital being abu dhabi.

for years since it's started building, it's known as 'burj dubai' - but suddenly changed to 'burj khalifa' during the opening ceremony

it's really scary when you look at it too long. it's too high up and the tip seems to go on forever reaching the sky!

oddly enough, and much to my surprised, the name 'burj dubai' which was what the building was long known for - was suddenly changed to 'burj khalifa' (bukan khaleef ye! hihi) as a respectful dedication to the president of UAE, and ruler of abu dhabi, sheikh khalifa bin zayed al-nahyan.


interesting facts and figures of the tallest building in the world, compared to the previous record-holder (before taipei 101 took the crown) our very own malaysia petronas twin towers:

• 'burj dubai', or now known as 'burj khalifa' means 'khalifa tower' in arabic
  
• tallest man-made structure in the world
• its height is 828m (our petronas twin towers are measured at 452m each - but we have TWO! hihi)
  
• constructions start in 2004 (our petronas twin towers took about 6 years to complete too)
  
• estimated 1.5 billion spent in building the tower
• contains 160 floors (our petronas twin towers has 88 floors)
  
• has the worlds highest, and fastest elevator in the world
• the highest mosque in the world will be at the 158th floor (this is gonna be amazing!)
  
• it will take more than 30 cleaners 3 months to clean the glass windows of the burj from top to bottom (it's reported that it takes 2 months to clean our petronas twin towers)
• rumor has it that if you stand at the very tip of the burj looking out, you can actually see the curve of the earth across the sea - scary, huh?
  

we took my sisters syida and azi to visit the tallest building in the world when they were here in dubai few weeks ago

click here to read about my sisters' visit to the burj.

an observation deck on the 124th floor will open to the public today. it's reported that the ride to the top takes just over a minute. how much do you need to pay?

100 dirham (or RM100 lebih kurang) for adults and that's just the starting entrance fee. hmm, program balik modal dah mula...

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tambahan pada 10 jan 2010 - kan dah kata program balik modal! hihi.. terkini, visitors perlu bayar dhs400 kalo taknak beratur seperti 'orang kebanyakan' dan bole jump queue untuk terus ke atas. tempat tujuan sama je dengan yg tak bayar dhs400...kalau sanggup beratur 3-4 jam, hanya bayar dhs 100-200 saje...