Month: April 2000

My log falls silent for this last day of our holiday.

Did we play tennis? I have no idea. I think probably not.

Did we have a splendid and massive breakfast? Almost certainly yes.

Did we go down to the beach to say goodbye to our camel friends, Cadissa and Fred? Just look at the headline photo and be informed.

Here are a few more photos from that day. I wanted to put a roll of film through Janie’s new camera, hence far too many pictures of us doing the square root of nothing much at all.

I do recall that it had become very hot and humid on our last day at the Ritz-Carlton, such that we realised that we had timed our break there rather well/fortuitously, as it was not fun sitting out for any length of time that last day.

We returned to Splendidos for our last meal. Without a log to help me remember what we ate, I’m afraid that vital information is lost in the mists of time. But whatever it was , it looks from the picture as though it pleased us.

You can see all the pictures from that final leg of our journey on the Flickr album linked here and below.

Rose a bit later – no tennis – breakfast.

Lounged out on poolside (little/no sun for two hours in the afternoon!).

Taxi to Jumeirah Beach – bought Daisy a camera – then buggy ride to dinner at Marina Seafood (superb food, service, ambience and even value!) Sashimi of tuna beautifully presented as a starter. Tried Omani lobster and Daisy tried hallouyoo [aka kanaad or] (“the sheik’s fish” – a bit like seabass) and we both enjoyed Matthew Lang Traminer Riesling. Then coffee upstairs on terrace.

My most abiding memory of this meal was a conversation with the waiter who was tempting Janie into trying the so-called “Sheikh’s” fish. He sang the praises of this fish and wanted Janie to know that the Sheikh himself was partial to this fish, asking for it whenever he dined at that establishment.

Janie asked the waiter what the Sheikh is like. The waiter repeated his shtick about the excellence of the fish and that the Sheikh is indeed partial to it.

“Yes, but what is the Sheikh like?”…

…asked Janie again. Again, the waiter did that thing we expect from politicians, waxing lyrical about the fish and the fact that it was royally approved.

I decided to intervene.

“We understand that the fish is excellent and known as the sheikh’s fish. We understand that Sheikh Maktoum likes this fish. What Janie here wants to know is, what is Sheikh Maktoum like? She wants to know about the Sheikh himself.”

The waiter looked left and right to be sure that he was not within earshot of anyone else.

“He’s absolutely horrible”.

So now we knew. Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. No longer with us.

Janie certainly enjoyed the fish.

You can see all the pictures from that final leg of our journey on the Flickr album linked here and below.

Rose early. Played tennis – breakfast – lounged by pool.

Went first to Jumeirah Beach Hotel for nosey & to book dinner for tomorrow. Then on to our dinner at Arab Tower [Burj Al Arab] “Al Muntaha” on 27th floor. Incredibly kitch interiors and pomped up staff, for very good meal nonetheless.

One of the attractions of booking Al Muntaha for dinner was the opportunity to have a guided tour of the interior of the Burj Al Arab. The hotel was selling tours at quite a sizeable rate – I think about $20 per head, whereas the tour was thrown in for free if you were dining at Al Muntaha.

Arab Tower has now overtaken Gazelle d’Or [near Taroudant, in Morocco] as the most pretentious and snotty place on earth.

Enjoyed the people watching.

I have one very special memory of the people watching.

Janie and I had gone to some lengths to ensure that I had the requisite clothing to meet the requirements of the dress code, which was basically to wear a collared shirt and tie with tailored trousers.

We were sitting quite near the entrance to the restaurant. Soon after we arrived, a couple arrived, the gentleman of the pair wearing a casual polo shirt or t-shirt, with no tie. The maître d informed the gentleman that he was required to wear a collared shirt and tie in order to gain admittance to the restaurant.

The gentleman said, very loudly, in a gruff voice…

“well, I don’t have a shirt and I don’t have a tie, but I do have loadsa money”…

…while extracting and waving a wad of notes in the direction of the maître d.

This way, sir…

…said the maître d, hurriedly ushering the couple to their table. How many of those notes changed hands, if any, is lost to us as neither Janie nor I saw the very end of that transaction. Al Muntaha. Possibly not quite so pretentious and/or hypocritical 25 years later.

You can see all the pictures from that final leg of our journey on the Flickr album linked here and below.

Rose early, played tennis had breakfast and lounged by pool. Caught 6:15 [pm] Wafi bus – looked around Wafi shopping mall (yuk, but bought some CDs).

“Precisely which CDs did you buy?”, I hear many readers cry.

I’m glad you’ve asked me that question. These two albums, which Janie and I used a lot to help make up playlists for parties in the early 2000s. I have replicated the tracks from both into a YouTube playlist, which you can access through this link or the picture links below.

Took a taxi to “fake souk”, Souk Al Kararia, where we bought a designer shirt for £8, designer tie for £2 – subsequently discovered that it goes with my [Catalan] cardi! And three designer watches at £9 each. Then on to Golden Fork for dinner where the seafood was good and the service defied description. Taxi home.

The purpose of the “designer” shirt and “designer” tie was to enable me to comply with the dress code for dinner at the Burj Al Arab’s Al Muntaha Restaurant, which we had booked for a few days later.

You can see all the pictures from that final leg of our journey on the Flickr album linked here and below.

Rose early – played tennis and then had super breakfast (amazing muesli!). Sat round small pool for morning – washed and changed – then went on bus tour with guide Ali and driver Farooq. Saw hotels (Jumeirah Beach, Arab Tower), the Jumeirah Mosque…

…and drove through town, city centre, silly stops, then went round museum of Dubai (old Fort)…

Silly stops means those unwanted shopping opportunities that might occasionally work with some people, but simply waste time with me and Janie!

…then went to pick up water taxi – saw sites from creek…

…dropped off at spice souk – then walked to/through gold souk. Finally fish/veg Sukh and we said goodbye to tour (not too soon)

…and went off on our own to Riqqa Road. Walked to restaurant strip and settled on Automatic restaurant for shawarmas (very good) and juice.

Early night.

You can see all the pictures from that final leg of our journey on the Flickr album linked here and below.