3/10/2004: Tiger Woods' unique tee-off
 

http://cellar.org/2004/woodsteeoff.jpg

The richest man in the world is not Tiger Woods; it's the sultan of Dubai, who constructed an island in the Arabian Gulf so that he could contruct an amazing awesome modern hotel, as high as the Eiffel Tower and shaped like a huge sail.

http://cellar.org/2004/burajalarab.jpg

The Burj Al Arab Hotel has a heloport two-thirds of the way up, and that's where Tiger took his playful tee shots into the Gulf, from a height of about 1000 feet.

http://cellar.org/2004/tigertwo.jpg

I would imagine it's nice to be the sultan; and I would imagine it's nice to be the greatest golfer of all time. We can only look at amazing pictures like this, and imagine.

real constructions? looks like models. And the golfer, fair play, or air play? Money makes man mad. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

The view of the slums in that last picture is really nice. I know, they aren't slums, but they are eysores. I think the Sultan needs to do a neighborhood beutification project, so he can have something nice to look at. He can afford it.

This place is pretty impressive. Check out the following links:
http://www.jumeirahinternational.com/about_us/
http://www.burj-al-arab.com/

Hmm... if I stay there one night on the 11th of May it'll run me:

$811.59/night

Not bad, not bad. I wonder if they put a little mint on your pillow?

I should think that they would put a little Rolex on your pillow for that rate.

That's nothing: the Delux twin is $2898.55/night.

For the price of a decent car, you can stay there a week and relax.

"One of the Big Rooms" at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort comes close at $2450/night during peak season.

...but this Forbe's article details the most expensive room in the world: one at the The Mansion at MGM Grand for a mere $5000/night.

But at the world's most expensive hotel, The Mansion at the MGM Grand, the $5,000 price tag is simply for the room. Meals and alcohol are charged separately. What guests are getting for their money is plenty of space--the villas range from 2,400 to 12,000 square feet--as well as original Picassos on the walls, and the prestige that comes with being able to afford a room there.

The most expensive hotel I ever stayed in (on my own dime) was $250 a night. It was "The Inn at Sunrise Point" just north of Camden, Maine. Damn, it was nice. Very posh. We only stayed two nights. Had our own cottage on a beach. Breakfast was a sort of home fries with chunks of lobster meat. And fresh berries too.

Well, if you make reservations make sure your passport doesn't carry any Israeli stamps. Dubai, like many Arab countries, will not even let you in if you've merely visited Israel.

Gee whiss like you'd better get your priorities right or you'll never make a sheik!
Well you have to realise that the sheiks don't really have all that much spare cash to spend on those luxuries.
You see they really really REALLY need hotels built in the sea, or at the top of mountains. All those people pestering them about the thousands of pakistani workers and their awful conditions...no wonder they need some serious "me time"!

The night I went there I went to the roof of my building and thought I was high from lack of sleep as I was seeing a stairway to heaven...but no such luck.
I was informed that the sheik of that emirate decided one day that he'd like a hotel RIGHT ON TOP OF THIS BIG ASS MOUNTAIN for his international friends(not for use for us common folks by the way) There wasn't so much as a road on it before he came along. Now there's a huge hotel with big security and a really long seriously windy highway (The lights on the road were my stairway).

Now don't tell me thats not money spent for the common good.:rolleyes:

I'm going to marry that Sultan of Dubai one day. I could easily live like that :joylove:

I wonder how far Tiger's ball would have traveled? Someone smarter than I could probably figure it. We'd only need the height, given by Undertoad at 1000ft, Tiger's normal driving distance, assume no wind, hmmmmm. Sounds like too much work for me. Bet the ball went at least 1000 feet, eh?

Imagine the bounce!

Probably wound up in the sand trap ....

Then again, water trap

I wonder how much Woods got for playing in the Sultan's golf tournament?:rolleyes:

This joint is, apparently, the only seven star hotel in the world open to the general non-jewish public. The pool in the background is part of a massive water park called the Wild Wadi. It has some of the highest, longest rides in the world. In order to get to the start of the rides you sit in a large tube and water jets propel you up ramps. No climbing.
We were allowed into the hotel for a looky-lou after paying 100 Dirham for which we received a redeemable coupon valid at the stores inside.
Dubai is far and away the best place for Western tourists. The laws are the same as in any muslim country but much less rigidly enforced. It's common to see arab businessmen in town to avail themselves of cheap liqor and russian prostitutes. The man usually cracks on folks too drunk to walk or gettin' it on (in public) but anything else is fine.
The York hotel, affectionately known as the 'four floors of whores', will have 200 to 300 girls working at any given time. Or so they tell me.