“This is our next one” Melissa announces excitedly. The ‘next one’ she refers to is our next ladies night outing, we are making a bit of a stretch for Soha and Sura’s birthdays.
By the time the day comes around, about a month after the initial announcement, the outing has been much anticipated. The candy floss pink stretch limo awaits us by the lake where we have all arranged to meet. This gives us a chance to congregate and surprise our birthday ladies all together. As everyone arrives, there are exclamations of surprise and excitement and we all take turns for photos in front of it. Even in Dubai this sort of thing remains a novelty it seems.
I’m not quite sure how 20 of us girls have managed to keep this a surprise for so long but the look on Sura’s face and then a few minutes later, Soha’s, as the birthday girls arrive says it all – they were not expecting this!
Utterly thrilled there are hugs all around and yet more photos while we await the last of the party before getting settled in the back of the car which is no mean feat for 20 of us. We set off in our bright pink ride. Nour gets 3 Daat (3 Beats) going and we sing along to a few tunes as we no doubt, turn a few heads on the road.
All too soon we arrive at the Taj Hotel in Business Bay. This hotel offers an intoxicating fusion of extravagance, heritage and contemporary style occupying a prime location. The prime location affords us incredibly views as we find out.
Melissa has organized dinner at the Tree House lounge and we have an area outside on the terrace, overlooking the Dubai Opera house and with the unmissable backdrop of the Burj Khalifa. The decor is a mix of rich Indian artistry and traditional influences, suffused with a cool, vibrant twist although out here, it is the vista that draws the evening crowds.
We settle in to the comfortable couches in the outdoor lounge area. We have two large sections with plenty of room to spread out. We order some bottles of grape and a few shishas to get the party started and then we kick back to enjoy the view and the company.
This urban rooftop oasis certainly oozes cool sophistication, despite the laid back atmosphere, situated above the bustling city. I’m impressed with the cocktail menu offering interesting concoctions with names like The Herbalist, The Notorious and The Purge. The food sounds good too and as usual, we are all hungry. The bar ingredients include homemade syrups, infused flavored liquors and fresh products. The trendy space comes to life when the lights go on and the house music, played by the resident DJ, wafts over our comfortable conversations.
When the food arrives there are plates of Emirati fries with sumac and zaatar, tuna-salmon maki with spicy mayo, Wagyu short rib sliders and satay sticks with a delicate sauce. It is delicious and beautifully presented but the plates are small and we need to order more.
Sometime we may take to dancing after dinner but tonight the view is intoxicating enough and there are many more photos than usual. It’s hard to resist with this backdrop and the girls all look as stylish as always.
It is a particularly lovely night. The weather has not quite turned yet although it’s clear that summer is on its way. The days are bearable and the nights decidedly cool still, though not enough to need jackets any more.
There are the usual catch ups about family, work and life but although the stories do not change dramatically from occasion to occasion, that is simply not the point. It is the fact that we choose to be here that therein lies the beauty.
We have nothing forcing us together. We are not bound by physical attraction, money or children. It is very straightforward. We are friends. Perhaps not as romantic a notion as fairytale love but in many ways just as hard to come by. Friends can add to our fulfillment in many ways and in some ways this can overlap with that heady feeling of romantic love. The support, understanding, connection that we feel can be just as powerful in the right friendship as romance, after all, in both instances it is a relationship that we are undertaking.
Tonight we sing our ‘happy birthdays’ to two of these special ladies. They even have co-ordinating cakes, white and dark chocolate, with ‘Soha’ and ‘Sura’ lettered in the icing. It is not the pink limos, the fancy restaurants and the backdrop that matters. We are here to celebrate our friends and let them know how much they mean to us, no matter what else is happening in our lives.
As the cakes are eaten and the photo opportunities are exhausted, the conversation turns back to children, work and plans. I need to get going as I have a lot on tomorrow but I am glad to have been here to celebrate two friends – and I’ll admit that the pink limo, fancy restaurant and stunning backdrop doesn’t hurt one bit.
Would I Return?
Yes. This view shouldn’t be missed and it is certainly a wonderful spot for a celebration. Plus, it turns out making a bit of a stretch is well worthwhile.
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