Downtown

Another new part of Dubai is 'Downtown', featuring the world's tallest building and the world's largest shopping mall. Astonishingly the construction of all this only started ten years ago and was finished within five years, although due to funding problems during the GFC the tower was renamed from the planned 'Burj Dubai' (and all signage changed overnight) after the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi stepped in and bailed them out near the end of the project.

History aside, it is a very very imposing building up close

and the associated shopping mall has a huge restaurant & bar complex which overlooks the Burj and reinforces the enormity of the building 

There's also a huge 'dancing fountain' attraction, which apparently had the design brief 'it needs to be like the fountains at Las Vegas, but bigger' 

They met the brief...

When the tall fountains launch (up to 150m high!), you can hear the bangs from the water cavitating as it's pushed through the nozzles

All in all a very impressive display, although the steak I had at 'Meat Co' afterwards blew both the fountain and the view away...