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| Burj Al Arab (The Arab Tower) |
Life's a beach. Tell that to the residents of Jumeirah, who could have direct access to the beach from their backyard.
Jumeirah meant "beauty". The beach itself was already groomed with clean white sand that spread so wide to the calm blue shore. The texture of the sand was soft, dry, and cool at our feet. The water was cold, though we still saw some thick-skinned swimming in bikinis. *shaking head*
As if it wasn't enough, on top of that, it was decorated with .. ta-daaa! .. that famous sail-shaped 5-star hotel, Burj Al Arab.
See, in Dubai, Beauty almost always came hand-in-hand with Luxury. Standing on a man-made island, Burj Al Arab was (is) one of the world's most expensive buildings, the most glamorous hotel .. with gold-plated surfaces, Rolls-Royce army and helicopter to pick up VVIPs, or .. *continue browsing the net, because I couldn't write all details. My head hurt just by imagining it*
I remembered when the building was completed and the media was (is) in awe for its unique (if not over-the-top) architectural and interior design, I received many promotional emails and pictures of this hotel. (Why, I worked in a 5-star hotel too at that time). And I remembered thinking, wow, it was so out of this world, how much would it cost to land a single toe on that hotel's floor?
The answer was easy. We could pay for a night stay, or we could make a guaranteed reservation at one of its restaurants. (Airplane tickets was excluded).
Reality check: We were not that rich.
So what did we - the humbler party of people - do at the beach, in the face of the iconic sail?
We stared at it with eyes wide opened and jaws almost dropping on the sand. Admiring it from afar.
The building was indeed beyond beautiful, reaching to the state of grace. Well, we could not get in there, but at least we were at the same beach.
We. Were. There.
.. to be continued to Day #4 Where's Aladdin?
Jumeirah meant "beauty". The beach itself was already groomed with clean white sand that spread so wide to the calm blue shore. The texture of the sand was soft, dry, and cool at our feet. The water was cold, though we still saw some thick-skinned swimming in bikinis. *shaking head*
As if it wasn't enough, on top of that, it was decorated with .. ta-daaa! .. that famous sail-shaped 5-star hotel, Burj Al Arab.
See, in Dubai, Beauty almost always came hand-in-hand with Luxury. Standing on a man-made island, Burj Al Arab was (is) one of the world's most expensive buildings, the most glamorous hotel .. with gold-plated surfaces, Rolls-Royce army and helicopter to pick up VVIPs, or .. *continue browsing the net, because I couldn't write all details. My head hurt just by imagining it*
I remembered when the building was completed and the media was (is) in awe for its unique (if not over-the-top) architectural and interior design, I received many promotional emails and pictures of this hotel. (Why, I worked in a 5-star hotel too at that time). And I remembered thinking, wow, it was so out of this world, how much would it cost to land a single toe on that hotel's floor?
The answer was easy. We could pay for a night stay, or we could make a guaranteed reservation at one of its restaurants. (Airplane tickets was excluded).
Reality check: We were not that rich.
So what did we - the humbler party of people - do at the beach, in the face of the iconic sail?
We stared at it with eyes wide opened and jaws almost dropping on the sand. Admiring it from afar.
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| Taking pics, anyone? |
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| Marking the territory |
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| Baywatch-ing |
The building was indeed beyond beautiful, reaching to the state of grace. Well, we could not get in there, but at least we were at the same beach.
 |
| An icon of wealth, unofficially rated as a 7-star luxury hotel |
We. Were. There.
.. to be continued to Day #4 Where's Aladdin?
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