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.
