Dubai's still got it, at least when it comes to offering the kind of largesse, luxury and opulence that can impress even a pampered multi-millionaire like Kim Kardashian.
Fans of the Kardashian clan in the UAE will have to wait until next month to watch an episode of one of their four reality shows featuring Dubai.
But footage of the four-day stop in October by the 30-year-old superstar of the family and her mother, Kris Jenner, aired on Sunday night in the US on Kourtney & Kim Take New York. The show's second season only launched in the UAE on New Year's Day, meaning the episode should air here on February 12.
In it Kardashian oohs and ahhs over first-class treatment aboard Emirates airlines – "Oh my God you are going to die when you get on this plane," she tells her mom, who (luckily) was on a separate flight – and is greeted by Sheeraz Hasan, who brought the duo over for a high-profile opening of his Dubai Mall Millions of Milkshakes outlet.
"Everything in Dubai is so stunning," says Kardashian, while being escorted into a luxury suite at Atlantis, The Palm. "I'm so excited to be here."
She was welcomed with what could have been world's largest bowl of fruit as well as a personal butler. After one summons with the press of a button, Jenner claimed he was so "cute" she was going to take him back to the US.
In one scene, a pair of fans in a Dubai taxi wave at Kardashian and Jenner in their limousine.
"Look at their faces, they're frantic," says Jenner.
Cameras also capture the crowd of an estimated 3,000 people who turned up to the store opening at Dubai Mall, many of them having waited for hours.
"There are so many people just like, screaming. It's so crazy..." says Kardashian. "It's a pretty special moment."
The segment of the episode that is getting the most attention internationally, however, shows Kardashian admitting to major cracks in her 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries. In one scene before she leaves New York, the professional basketball player asks if he can come along.
"Kim does not want you to come," older sister Kourtney tells him. "She is so excited for this break."
During one particularly long, dark limousine ride in Dubai, Kardashian confesses to her mother that she is unsure about her new marriage to the 26-year-old Humphries and admits that being away from him felt like a "huge relief".
"There's something in my relationship I just feel isn't right," she says. "I don't know, I'm just learning a lot of things about him that I didn't really know before. I don't know, married life just isn't just what I thought it would be with him. I mean, is this normal? Should I be feeling this way? I just feel like something's off."
Insert awkward pause before Jenner replies: "No Kim it's not normal. It really isn't normal to feel like you don't want to go home to your brand-new husband. This is the stage in your relationship where you should be obsessed with each other."
But it's a new year and all that is over – along with the marriage, which Kardashian dissolved two weeks after leaving the UAE. So when she took to Twitter while the episode aired it was to call the visit "epic" and thank Hasan for organising it.
"I miss Dubai!" she wrote. "Such good memories! Need to go back soon!" Humphries tweeted a grumpy "I can't wait for the truth to come out".
Kourtney & Kim Take New York airs Sunday nights on E!
amcqueen@thenational.ae
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
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The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
More coverage from the Future Forum
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Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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The five pillars of Islam