|
The plan for the night was to have a dinner and then go to the Burj al Arab for drinks. The Burj is the iconic symbol of Dubai, that big sail-shaped building you see everywhere (Owl City fans will recognize it as the cover image for Ocean Eyes).
DG hired a car to take us to the Madinat Jumeirah. According to Wikipedia, which explains it better than I could: It encompasses three components; two hotels; and clusters of 29 traditional Arabic summer houses nestling among the gardens and waterways, all built around the souk, the traditional centre of Arabic life at the heart of the resort. Linked by waterways to all resort areas, guests can travel from Dar Al Masyaf by water taxi to Al Qasr, Talise Spa, the bustling Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A’ Salam, one of the many restaurants, or any event held within the resort. It's unbelievably romantic. You dine outside under dim lighting along a river that's bordered by Arabic-style buildings. We ate at the Meat Co., a South African steak house where I had a to-die-for lamb cutlets and he had a huge filet. He tried to get me drunk on wine but I made him finish three-quarters of the bottle so the joke was on him :P We boarded a private abras (water taxi), which glided silently along the river. If you've ever been on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland you're familiar with the beginning of the ride when you're coasting past that indoor restaurant and the bayou. This was similar except it was real. We sailed past all of these Arabic-style homes and shops, all lit by golden light. The moon was full and rippling across the surface of the water. The boat was nearly silent. It was magical. I tried with no luck to get video. I wish you all will someday get to experience a ride similar to that. It's something you can never properly convey with words. I'll never forget it. I felt like I was sailing down a river in Saudi Arabia, or maybe the Nile in Egypt. It was a moment where I was transported back in time to a romanticized Arabian nation. The boat dropped us off at the end of the Madinat and then we boarded these golf cart-like buggies and were driven down a long winding path to the Burj al Arab. The drive was beautiful. The Jumeirah Beach was on one side, with pristine white beaches and gently breaking waves, and the purple/blue fin of the Burj was on the other. I wanted to walk along the beach because from there you could see the moon, the purple and green glowing Burj, and the blue lights of the wave-shaped Jumeirah against all the glitter of Dubai. Probably the best beach money can buy. But we had reservations at the Burj so we went on. The Burj al Arab is the most fantastic hotel in Dubai, and possibly most of the world. It's a seven-star hotel. Seven! It's 321 feet tall, and every room is not only a suite, but comes with its own butler.
This is the cheapest room starting at $1500/night. Lookie-loos aren't allowed to drive up to the Burj and gawk. You must be staying in the hotel, have reservations for dinner, or have reservations for the bar, which was what we had, otherwise you are turned away. If you go during the day you can also book for high tea or do as my brother did which was have the buffet. For us, going to the bar, DG paid a $78/person cover charge. Just to get in! The Burj is not cheap. Saying that, I felt more than a bit like a minor celebrity joining up with other minor celebrities as we finally entered the hotel. Everyone was dressed to the nines. I was conscious that most of the people there were probably insanely rich.
When you first walk through the revolving doors of the Burj, you're confronted by the sheikh and his brothers. I'm assuming they're here to remind us all that it's thanks to them that all this ridiculous architecture exists. Amen, guys.
The lobby. There are fish tanks on either side. The waterfall in the center is supposed to light up with different colors but I guess I was there at a time when they weren't scheduled.
You can see one of the enormous fish tanks here.
At the top of the escalators looking up into the 'sail' of the Burj. Another name for the Burj, in fact, is the Arab Sail. The design is stunning in person and doesn't look too shabby here, either.
Here's the buffet, Al Irwan. Lunch buffet is $145.00 per person or you can splurge on the dinner buffet for $165.00 per person. That better be a damned good buffet! My brother had the lunch buffet and he said it was no more impressive than any good buffet in Vegas. Our ticket to get in, as I mentioned, was reservations at the bar at the top of the Burj. We shared an elevator with a couple of British woman (mom and daughter) up to the 27th floor where Al Muntaha, or the Skyview Bar, is located.
The bar itself looks like the interior of a space ship. It also has perhaps the best view of Dubai, although I didn't get photos of that because they didn't turn out well with the interior lights. But here's an internet photo for you:
(credit: farm4.static.flickr.com)
The interior design is very cool, very futuristic. There are windows all around with a view mostly of the water, sadly. The reason for this is that the bar is located in what looks like a little clutch purse on the waterside. You can see it here:
The circular surface jutting out on the opposite side of the bar is a helicopter pad. Again, there was the feeling that I was in an ultra chic lounge with the most privileged people in Dubai, which was probably not far off from the truth. DG picked up the tab for everyone. I ordered three white chocolate and raspberry martinis at $33 a piece. I drank $99 worth of alcohol! haaha. Had I been here alone, I would have ordered a Coke. We spent maybe an hour or two there, chatting with the two women we'd met. The daughter was a few years younger than myself. I got the impression that they thought DG and I were a couple and that I was his mistress or something. Especially when he made a comment that he was going to be buying me a new watch before I left (which I think he said just to impress them). It was an embarrassing and strange situation to find myself in. Something unpleasant also occurred during this conversation, the first red flag, as it were. Being as the women and DG were all British citizens, they began speaking of life back home. They all seemed to agree that London was no longer what it once was and that immigrants had ruined it. DG, in particular, was adamant about how these immigrants had made him unlikely to ever live in London again. Plainly speaking, they were all being racists and it was shocking to me because those sort of comments just aren't made where I'm from. And to hear it from these well-educated, wealthy, well-traveled people was even more disquieting. Later in the trip, DG and I would be watching a boxing match on TV and DG would mutter in disgust, "Bah, he's just a darkie". I was furious. The time came when DG and I needed to leave and join up with his friends at another bar. Off the Jumeirah Beach is a short pier chock full of the largest yachts I have ever seen outside of Monte Carlo. The kind that easily sleep 20 people. We rode yet another buggy down the pier and were dropped off at the end where a circular club/bar was suspended out in the Arabian Sea. This club is called 360 for obvious reasons. It reminded me of an outdoor rooftop lounge that used to exist in Vegas called Hush, only less crowded.
Lots of young, beautiful people were there, gyrating to some great trance music. The deck was obviously outdoors and mere yards from the Burj al Arab which towered over us like a multi-colored tidal wave. It was like a dream. I felt like I was partying on a yacht like you see in those gossip magazines. I met DG's friends -- who appeared to be friends of his foreman since they're all about my age and British. They were hilarious. If I met them in Vegas I would hang out with them all the time. But that was the problem.Or rather, that was the reality. I'll be honest: the trip up until then had been one awesome thing after another, in great part because DG was paying for it all. I couldn't have afforded to do much of what I did. I was highly aware that he is -- or at least was at the time of my trip -- exceedingly wealthy. He'd mentioned in conversation that he'd funded half a million for a football construction project he was trying to get off the ground in South Africa. He showed me pictures of his 10,000 sq foot former home in S.A. He was rich and he liked me, so of course it was natural that I would begin considering the possibility of making this a permanent situation. What if, I wondered, I moved to Dubai and enjoyed his hospitality and generosity in exchange for my company? Could I do it? Meeting his friends, specifically meeting his foreman, gave me my answer. It played out like one of those period dramas where the heroine marries -- through convenience or some other reason against her wishes -- a wealthy older man she's not attracted to, only to fall in love with her husband's gardener or less wealthy but younger business acquaintance. This foreman of DG's was young and very attractive. It was probably my first experience with love (or at least lust) at first sight. Standing on the deck of 360, I thought to myself that if this man (the foreman) was in Vegas and drunkenly suggested we go get married at one of those cheesy chapels, I would have immediately said yes, consequences be damned. The attraction was that potent and undeniable. Every time I looked over at him, he was looking at me and vice versa. And *that* is what convinced me that it didn't matter how much money DG had or wanted to spend on me, I couldn't trade the prospect of a life with someone I loved for a life with someone I wasn't attracted to who pampered me. It was a bit of a relief, to be honest. You always wonder if you could be *that* woman. Apparently not, in my case. So for DG, taking me to 360 that night was a mistake, as he'd soon learn. We hung out at the club until just before 1am. DG was drunk and asleep on his feet. It was time to call it a night.
Unfortunately, after we got home is when it all truly went south. DG had been very good about keeping his hands mostly to himself. When we got home, he was drunk and promised to behave if I would allow him to spend the night on the other side of the king bed. He'd been snoring the entire drive home so I naively thought there would be no harm in this and I'd been feeling guilty anyway that he'd been sleeping out on the sofa the entire time. So I said yes, as long as you behave yourself. Well, human nature under the influence of alcohol being what it was, DG did not behave himself and put the moves on me. Exasperated (and slightly worried, to tell the truth), I turned him down and that was that. In the morning, there was a definite awkwardness in the air and the sense that this was going to be one of those 'I was so drunk last night I don't remember anything' sort of moments, which I was only too happy to embrace. DG asked what I'd like to do today, and with me being unsure, he suggested a visit to Jumeirah to see the Burj during the day.
Burj Dubai again. It's so dramatically taller than the buildings around it that's almost laughable.
Mosques everywhere.
The 5-star Jumeirah Beach Hotel which we drove by in our buggy the previous night. It's designed to look like a wave to compliment the Burj al Arab's sail design. Close by here is the Wadi Water Park, although we didn't visit it.
I have never seen so many bottles of Dom Perignon before in my life.
The Burj really is a beautifully designed building. Say what I want to about the rest of Dubai, but this will always cause me to pause and stare a little. Here are some photos my brother took when he was in a helicopter tour:
The road behind me is the one we took to reach 360 the previous night.
Back of the Jumeirah Beach. This place has a beautiful pool which is divided into two areas: one for the public, and a private area for guests of the hotel. The hotel guests get these neat little chaise lounges with flags on them for indicating when you've got mail -- er, I mean when you require the cocktail server.
Nice aerial view of Jumeirah courtesy of an internet pic. This really illustrates the wave design. The Burj is in the lower right hand corner. We had lunch at Jumeirah, out at the cafe by the pool. It was nice enough. The weather was good. Afterwards, we went for a drive.
|
