High High Tea

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This was a lovely gesture from daughter to mum and very posh. It was a bit funny seeing some big blokey men sitting eating daintiies but good for them because they are smart- they would have either booked it as a surprise for for their gals OR went along with the suggestion by the said gals. There were a few mum and daughter duos and we fit that scenario. Upon arriving at the majestic Burj I had my taxi door opened by the tallest man I have ever seen. This was going to be some tall experience. He was charming and wearing the traditional dishdash and hat called the 'Ghafiyah' which seemed to feed our awed 'alice in la la land ' expressions.

We walked in to the foyer and were greeted by beautifully gowned women who were simply there to meet n greet and expertly directed us to the entrance for the lift which would take us to the restaurant serving the High Tea. First the escalator had an aquarium to the side - a sensory yet opulent ride to the first top. The roof art was amazing.A glass lift gave us a gravity defying ride to the top (the la Arab is built on an artificial island on the sea so the lift gives the appearance of traveling up out of the water) where we arrived to our restaurant in the sky.

We waited to be escorted to our table and once seated were introduced to our two private hosts for the afternoon. The view was panoramic, a perfect view of Atlantis and the surrounding beach resorts, reminiscent of a scene from the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. Champagne kicked off an infinite selection of savory followed by sweet, morsels with the offer of top ups. We really couldn't get through the first round but now I'm seeing the appeal of the big blokes having High Tea! The guy next to us was sitting on a stairway to heaven.

Our host made the comment that today was the first day they were going to see the sun set in 3 weeks, due to haze and other weather conditions.

We did a bit of exploring on the way down and discovered this 7 star hotel features a helipad; Tiger Woods hit a few off the roof; Agassi and Federer played a match up there too; the smallest apartment is approx 170 sq mts and the latest is 700. It has only about 200 rooms. Prices per night start at $1000 and go up to $25,000. The shape is inspired from the sail of old boats. We decided to walk down the scenic road from the Hotel to the main street - I'm not a car aficionado but every car that passed looked like a Ferrari. A fleet of Mercedes were standing to attention outside the entrance, waiting ....

The Jameira Hotel created a beautiful skyline Then, at the base of the road we saw it - WILD WADI- a fun water park. Maybe I'll come back. There is still so much to see and do. ATLANTIS seems the ultimate water experience (swimming with sharks) and yet DUBAI WORLD is still in the planning stages with the Global Village operational from October to March.

Best way to get to The Burj la Arab (if you don't have a Ferrari) is to catch the Metro to Emirates Mall station and then a short taxi ride to the Burj.

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