/ 24 February 2012

Material world rolls out the red carpet

Material World Rolls Out The Red Carpet

Travel writer Alain de Botton says that from the vantage point of your seat on an aircraft there is an “order and logic” to the landscape: “roads curve to avoid hills” and “rivers trace paths to lakes”.

Flying over the desert on the outskirts of Dubai, there is seemingly little of this logic. Deserted roads, punctuated by huge traffic circles, are etched into the sand. And then there is the famous offshore property development, the World — a kind of exploded view of islands that vaguely represent the Earth’s continents. I do think I recognise the boot of Italy, but the development is deserted.

The city of Dubai seems airless, like a still photograph from a science fiction future. Apart from the traffic humming along Sheik Zayed Road, the central boulevard, everything seems deserted and some of the high-rises have huge “for rent” signs.

Unnatural order
Everyone I speak to seems proud of their country. There is free education, the possibility of a preferential housing loan, free medical care, almost no crime and all the bus stops are air conditioned.

Just toe the line, they say, and you will be looked after.

The month-long Dubai Shopping Festival takes place every year. Lights mounted on the centre of the highways advertise the event — its motif a shopping bag containing a family.

According to a study by MasterCard, about eight million tourists visited the emirate last year, most of them setting out from London, followed by visitors from Kuwait and then Beijing. Britain is a six-hour flight away and many appear to come for the weather, judging by the number of people lazing on sun loungers.

There are more than 200 hotels in Dubai and some of the best (not counting the self-proclaimed “seven-star” Burj Al Arab) are to be found on the Palm Jumeirah, another massive man-made development that juts out into the Gulf.

Sprouting in the desert
This is connected to the mainland by a “trunk” that has “fronds” radiating outwards on which high-rise residences and hotels have sprouted. At the end of the main trunk is the luxurious Atlantis and, a few fronds beyond, the One&Only.

There is another One&Only, the Royal Mirage, on the mainland, next to the Palm. Here, the hotel’s architects have designed a series of low, tan-coloured buildings next to a private beach and it is not hard to get lost in the maze of courtyards and passages. The resort is thickly planted with palms and low hedges of bougainvillea. There are also peacocks — and flocks of crows that swoop down to snatch unattended food.

The One&Only Palm is a grander affair. You can book an entire “mansion”, which has 10 rooms, or stay in one of the suites. There are also “junior” suites that come with a pool and a view across the bay of Dubai.

Of course, having high-powered guests, or even medium-fry guests, creates a certain frisson of expectation. Leaving the jetty-side Restaurant 101 (which serves excellent tapas), a hair-gelled young man with an attractive companion asks sharply if they are expected to walk — all of 300m — back to the main hotel. They want a buggy to take them back.

Opulent tastes
There is an excellent restaurant, Stay, just off the lobby, which was conceptualised by Yannick Alléno, the triple-starred Michelin chef from Le Meurice hotel in Paris. The restaurant is a fusion between Arabian chic, with black-and-white arabesques, and a formal French dining room.

Unusually, pride of place goes to the pastry station, here called a “pastry library”, which itself appears to be a confection, glistening with bowls and jars of sweet ingredients. You walk around the counter and choose your dessert from glass-fronted fridges and they are prepared, or dressed, in front of you.

Staff at the One&Only ask many questions among themselves before you arrive: Is it a return visit? What did you eat or drink the last time you were here? Are you going to be arriving with your wife, or someone else? Should you be an important person, or a very, very important person, the One&Only will not breathe a word that you are staying over — unlike other hotels that shamelessly accrue PR points by touting their VIP guests.

They will also evaluate your needs before you visit. One guest apparently wants 60 towels a day on hand and the soap, shampoo and bodywash must be replaced as soon as they have been used once. The staff are still evaluating the request.