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I've just been claiming our air miles from 'Emirates' having earned enough from our trip to The Maldives and Dubai to be able to fly out there again F.O.C. and we enjoyed it so much we'd need very little excuse to jump on the plane again soon for another dose of paradise in the name of 'Reethi Rah', an outstanding and fantastic new resort island in the North Male atoll in the Indian Ocean.
So now you can see what I mean about 'paradise found'. Add gourmet cuisine and uncompromising luxury and you can conclude that 'it simply doesn't get any better!' Our beach villa fronted the Grand Beach on the top left picture.That's Dennis in our own private buggy that the Front Office very kindly allocated to us after Dennis fell off his bicycle on the first morning! (We did quite a mileage in that electric car through the week!) The bottom two photos show me on Fanditha beach near to the Arabic restaurant. The surrounding sea is the most beautiful azure and turquoise blue. We could wade out for a hundred yards to the reefs beyond before going out of our depth. We've never experienced water so warm and inviting.
As you can see, the two primary colours at Reethi Rah are blue and green (perhaps adding the third colour of lobster red as our newly acquired suntans progressed through the week!) Top right is Villa 150, our home on the island, looking across the lagoon to our favourite restaurant 'The Tapasaki' in the picture middle left above. What a fabulous location it was. We arrived most nights soon after they opened at 7 p.m., the Oriental staff in traditional costume greeting us at the entrance as we carefully parked up our buggy registration No. FO 24. on the sand outside. Offered a choice of open verandahs, covered pavilions, or a West facing table by the open plan bar and dining room, we chose to sit where the sea breeze blew in off the lagoon, watching the sun fall in the distance where the sea's horizon merged with the multi coloured sky as we enjoyed the first refreshingly cool gin and tonic of the evening.(I think I'm on the second drink already before the sun goes down in the bottom right photo!). By the way, the bottom left shot shows our freshwater pool, complete with underwater sunbed in front of our villa. Anyhow, back to the sunsets!
As darkness fell it was time to consider the feast ahead. Specialising in a tasty selection of tapas, we chose a variety of meat and fish dishes, some spiced, others curried, or served just marinated. Dennis came across a different type of fillet steak from the Far East, called 'Wagyu' beef, formerly reserved only for the Emperors of the Orient. Apparently their cows were cross bred with Scottish Angus, fed a diet that included beer, massaged on a daily basis, and reared and grazed on the plains of Northern Australia. Served as sizzling slices across a hot stone, Dennis enjoyed the Wagyu dish whilst I opted for fresh fish like Snapper. Dinner over and the sun well and truly set, it was time to weave our way through the palm trees in the dark, steering the buggy along the sandy tracks towards the Reethi bar to catch the live music performance each evening.
Was it only this time last week that we were there?! So what was a typical day, as we readily fell in to an enviable routine of working hard at idling away the days in the most luxuriant of ways. Well it went something like this. The sun would wake us sometime after 8.a.m. and so the first difficult decision of the day was whether to fall in to the swimming pool or the shower. We put the big flat screen TV on to catch up with Sky News whilst we wandered around the air conditioned coolness of the tasteful interior of our teak villa. The blast of hot tropical air hit us as we slid the verandah doors apart, getting in the buggy for the 5 minute drive down to Reethi for breakfast. The immaculate staff greeted us with big smiles as we took our table overlooking the bay. In the bright hot morning a plate of fresh fruit seemed the natural choice, followed by a spicy Thai chicken and fish pancake. Living in such a climate seemed to naturally lead to a healthier way of eating. We had already consumed our advised 5 portions of fruit or veg each day before breakfast was over! Plus, we can't begin to count the volume of water we drank to remain hydrated. Add all the exercise including the swimming, snorkelling and training in the gym and relatively early nights to bed and no wonder we were soon feeling so fit! We were on a full detox programme without even trying!! The Typical Day continued with a morning tour around the island, stopping off at any of the numerous beaches for a photo shoot or perhaps a wander around the formal gardens where the gardeners showed us around their greenhouses full of thousands of orchids, some simply suspended mid-air by wire, their roots absorbing moisture directly from the atmosphere. Back at our beach villa we would chose to take some sun or wade out to the lagoon with snorkels and masks for a spot of swimming. Showering off under the garden shower afterwards, followed by a dip in the pool and a lie in the shade on the sunbed, by mid afternoon we'd be seriously thinking about some exercise, and I'd head off down to the gym whilst Dennis booked himself in at the spa for a massage. Alternately we'd catch the afternoon boat out to a reef to snorkel with the fishes. Hardest decision of the day was 'where to dine'. Most nights found us watching the sun set from The Tapasaki. We never got around to dining in at the villa as many of the guests chose to do. Most evenings saw us in bed by 10.30, save one evening when we kept the bar open until the early hours after a really enjoyable evening with Ian & Kim, a delightful couple who joined us for dinner having invited us out for the afternoon on their catamaran, on which they had sailed from South Africa to The Maldives. Multiply the above by 7 and all too soon we were preparing for the onward journey to Dubai.
So, before even leaving we were planning our return. Should we forgo the skiing in Courcheval this year and return next month?! It goes without saying that we'd thoroughly recommend Reethi Rah to anyone as the ideal retreat from the outside world, without having to forsake all the luxuries. Most important though is to mention our appreciation of the entire staff across the board from the Directors, Michael, Stefan, to the staff including our villa host, the boys poolside attending our every need, right through to the restaurant teams, barmen and maintenance staff, always ready with a smile as we passed by in our buggy. Early on Thursday morning we boarded the powerboat, leaving Reethi Rah for the sea crossing to Male airport. Our Emirates flight touched down for an hour in Sri Lanka before landing early afternoon in Dubai, where we planned to stay for a couple of days at the stunning and iconic hotel called The Burj Al Arab. Having stayed at The Burj a couple of years before, we knew what to expect, but it never ceases to amaze. The building is located off shore on a man made island, standing isolated like a massive billowing sail above the sea, the outer curved structure like a supporting mast to the canvas which forms the World's tallest atrium. The skyview restaurant 27 floors up is like an oversized wedge that has been slotted in to the tip of the tower by it's middle, balancing precariously and seemingly defying all laws of physics. Because of it's sheer uniqueness, The Burj Al Arab typifies modern Dubai, a city that is booming, and spreading out into the surrounding desert, the sand taken over by towering skyscrapers, inland marinas, golf complexes, urbanisations, shopping malls, autodromes, race tracks, media cities, and not to forget the amazing reclaimed islands forming The Palm, a whole residential city constructed miles out to sea as is The World, a series of reclaimed islands shaped as a map of the World. The development continues unabated and the population has doubled since we were last there. As English is the primary language, there is a definite Western feel to the country and it's difficult to remember that there's a war currently being staged just further up The Gulf in Iraq. With petrol at 15p a litre and all shopping and indeed living being tax free, the material wealth of the United Arab Emirates is all evident, and they do love their gold and vibrant colours, as reflected in the interiors of the ultra luxurious hotels, and talking of all this impressive bling, The Burj Al Arab leads the way!! Collecting us at the airport, our chauffeur rolled up to the foyer of the Burj where the hotel fleet of white Rolls Royces vied for parking space. Guest's Ferraris and Lamborghinis were placed on the side or in the underground car park below. Inside, the foyer is a mosaic of loud primary colours reflected in the thick carpet, red gold and blue floor tiles, towering gold columns and a complete rainbow of colour reflected through the ceilings of the 27 floors towering up either side of the central atrium. Precise curved rods of water, sprouting concisely from tiered fountains with beds of semi precious multi coloured stone cascade down the central foyer following the descent of the escalators, themselves edged by massive aquariums alive with tropical fish. All bedrooms are duplex suites, so every room comes with marbled entrance hall, sweeping staircase up to the bedrooms, dressing room and bathroom, whilst downstairs the open plan living rooms accommodate a study, dining area and lounge whose floor to ceiling windows overlook the Palm Island development and the 'Manhattan' style skyline of the distant Dubai Marina. Again the style of décor is vibrant and colourful with a heavy use of gold, and royal blue. Take a look at the pictures below to get an idea of the place!
Perhaps now you can understand what I mean when I say that there's nowhere like it! The opulence is reflected through to the amenities, catering, and the service of staff, with a butler allocated to each suite and Manageress to organise our daily activities. As for the food, the city's restaurants represent every type and style of cuisine from all the corners of the World. In the Burj alone we were spoilt for choice. I've never seem such an impressive buffet spread as provided each morning for breakfast. Our meal for the first night was at 'The Mahara' seafood restaurant located 'underwater', the tables edging a massive aquarium populated by sharks, moray eels, and every type of exotic tropical fish, all eyeing us up as they floated serenely by. Our favourite meal, though was at the other end of the Burj, 27 floors up in the Skyview 'Al Muntara' restaurant, or in the 'wedge' as we call it, where we sat towering above the glittering city below in the lights of the evening. The following day we were keen to get out and about and explore the new Marina development and go boat watching.Yasuf, our chauffeur, took us around in the comfort of the white BMW limo, first in to the marina where we spotted a newly delivered Sunseeker 82 being prepared by the crew for the imminent Dubai boat show. We saw a really strange thing in the fabulous new marina complex; namely vacant berths!! This is something that just doesn't exist down in The Med where 20 metre berths are selling for literally £millions (Puerto Portal, Majorca). As an investment opportunity, they're a dead cert. As the properties around The Palm are completed, each with private moorings at the bottom of the plot, Florida style, boating will surely become the primary leisure activity, and also a very easy and enjoyable way of getting around, and the new marina will cater for the larger vessels. It seems that everything about Dubai is 'The biggest, tallest, most ambitious, most luixurious,…and at present the ruling Maktoum Royal family are having built for themselves the World's largest private vessel, to be named simply 'Dubai', an appropriately suitable representation of the image of the place! Strategically placed at the centre of the continents between East and West, and already the World's largest trading port, Dubai within the next decade is said to become the World's No.1 tourist destination, and as if the current airport isn't large enough, the future World's biggest (of course!) is about to be built further down the coast. In the Winter months particularly, it is an ideal family destination. The hotels are all 5 star or more and provide all the activities to entertain both children and adults. Already, major sporting events are being staged here, the Dubai Classic golfing competition recently completed, to be followed by the Dubai Tennis Tournament, attracting all the top international stars. Fancy a spot of snow skiing during the 50oC heat of the Summer months? No problem, simply go along to the newly opened indoor artificial downhill run! The Jumeriah Beach resort, the hotel shaped like a giant wave that the Burj overlooks, features a fabulous Wild Wadi Water Park which is a great way for a whole family to enjoy. The choice of restaurants seem endless and health spas and gyms are ever present. I'm sure we'll become regular visitors to the place in future, mainly because it will be the obligatory stop over for transfers to The Maldives, The Far East, Australia, and even South Africa with Emirates Airlines, and it would be a shame and waste to simply pass through without stopping over to sample the opulence once again. Well that's all our news for early February. Back here in England there's almost a hint of Spring in the air now that the sub zero temperatures have finally abated. Next Monday we are finally taking delivery of the new Aston Martin, the latest model in their range; the Vantage V8. It was delivered to the dealers three weeks ago and in going away, we asked them to store it, and delay registration until 1st March when the new '06' registration comes in. So, for the first week it will have to remain in the garage as it's not road legal until next month. No doubt I'll be polishing it up on the driveway all next week. Anyhow, we dashed down to London to the Park Lane dealer who kindly drove the car to the front pavement for a quick preview, and here are the first photos of the car.
I think we ticked every 'extras' box, right down to an exclusive choice of paint colour, in our case Grigio Titanium, a deep metallic grey with hint of blue in, formerly used for the Ferrari Maranello. Inside we've chosen two tone black and red leather with brushed aluminium detailing. As you can see, for the first time Aston have created a hatch back in this strictly two seater sports car. We now need to plan some interesting driver's destinations to be able to open up and fully appreciate the car. When the new DB9 was delivered in the Summer of 2004, we immediately took it up to the Scottish Highlands; perhaps a bit cold this time around in early March! No doubt we'll feature our travels in the next newsletter. For now we send our best wishes to everyone. Colin & Dennis. |
