Random Dubai 2

“High Falootin”

My long time friend, Frank Thomas (for those in the know) passed through Dubai for a night on his way to Cairo from Jakarta at the end of school last year. We only had an evening to hang out, but of course we did it up right! With him was Ms Kennedy and it was the first time that I really spent some timewith her. What a wonderful woman, and I can now plainly see why she is so important in Frank’s life. With only one night in Dubai there was only ONE thing to do and that was to have Afternoon Tea in the Sky Bar of the Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s swankest hotel and the only 7 star hotel in the world (self proclaimed, I might add). As one might expect, reservations must be made in advance, but I was able to get us in with only a week’s notice and at a pretty decent time – 4:00! At about $125 a person, maybe it was luck or maybe it was economic hard times! The place is popular with tourists and local residents. I have to say it was pretty cool to experience this for the first time – from the valet parking to the pictures next to the Rolls Royce on the way out. The Rolls are for the high ‘rollers’ – those that spend $5,000-10,000 a night get a chauffeur driven Rolls at their disposal! When I say popular with the tourists, I mean a popular destination to come to eat, drink, or stay if you have the money. There are no ‘sight-seeing’ trips to be had nor can one pop over to use the ‘facilities!’ The Burj is built on its own island and one has to pass a guard’s booth and have them check off the reservation before you are allowed to pass. [Funny side note: one of the best views of the Burj is from the water park that sits right in front of it. As you are climbing up the tower to the biggest slide in the park…… “viola”….there is the most amazing view!]

After the pictures and chillin’ in the lobby for a little while, it was up the escalator to the lobby floor. As one rides up the escalator, you pass giant aquariums. On this day, a diver was cleaning the glass and giving a wave to the guests! On the lobby level, you can also have afternoon tea for only about $80, but who would be that ghetto? It was to the top for us! After taking the glass elevator up to the 27th floor (not that high), but the entire inside of the hotel rises the height of it with no floors blocking the view up (what’s that called- an atrium?). Once at the bar, we were seated by the window. The ‘tea’ includes a glass of champagne, fresh fruit with cream, and then an assortment of cold drinks (soda, iced tea) and regular tea along with plenty of finger foods like little pastries, cheese, sandwiches, etc. Following this there is dessert. Except for the champagne, it’s all you can eat and you can stay as long as you want – at least on that afternoon. We were there for about two hours. The Sky Bar does have a great view of Dubai’s coastline and one of the Palms, the giant peninsula shaped like a palm tree with villas, hotels, and other buildings on it. We non-chalantly gawked, walked around, took plenty of pictures and talked about how ‘far’ we were away from Wando High School (in Mt. Pleasant, SC)-both literally and figuratively- and all the places we’d been since we both left the US for the international teaching world. (The next day Frank and Ms Kennedy were off to Cairo, and I was leaving the day after for Bangkok and Lao!)

By now it was almost dark, so we headed over to a mall that is built in the design of an old Arabic market (souq) as it provides, in my opinion, the best view of the Burj at night. The Burg is usually lit up in a purple-lavender color that is quite beautiful. Those that know Frank know that he can shop with the best of ‘em, so he picked up a few items from a store specializing in Indian handicrafts. We wanted dinner so we got the equivalent of Arabic takeaway…a rotisserie chicken, fries, salad, and hummus from a small café next to mosque. We ate it back at my apartment instead of at the little restaurant as one would normally do because it was still over 100* at 9:30 that night! All in all, a really great fun visit, but way too brief! But at least Frank made it to a place where I was living; he owed me! I’ve been to Jakarta twice.