I have become a bedouin in the Dubai International Financial Centre.
Each day I begin afresh the trek through the marble hallways, the glass and concrete corridors, across the sun-baked piazzas in my quest to find a new “home” in Dubai’s financial centre.
Some days I think I have found an oasis of tranquillity and comfort, only for it to suddenly disappear like a mirage.
On other days, the trek goes on frustratingly, hour after hour. Is there no end?
Regular readers of this column will know that, for many years, I pitched my tent at the Dome Cafe, on the terrace next door to the offices of Rothschild and close to HSBC, Nasdaq Dubai and lots of other interesting DIFC institutions.
It was close enough to the action, but discreet and quiet enough to be a meeting place and a workplace.
The Dome had everything: good and friendly service, hearty food and a full range of newspapers each day. I felt almost like one of the family, on first-name terms with waiters and waitresses and grateful to them for the provision of a DIFC “office” for no rent, just cafe bills.
What the Dome also had was excellent and trouble-free internet connection. Until recently, that is. When the DIFC announced that the whole centre would have free internet access via a set-up called WiFi UAE, I found that internet access at the Dome became very unreliable indeed.
It would log me off randomly, or the Etisalat and Du sites would suddenly pop up to demand my mobile details, or sometimes my credit card details.
After putting up with this frustration for a few weeks, I decided to say goodbye to the Dome. With heavy heart I pulled pegs and began my quest for a new home. The trendiest part of DIFC is the little cluster of cafes, restaurants and bars on the other side of the Gate building, beside the bridge access to the Village. So I tried this first.
I felt very swanky indeed settling down for a day’s work at Bateel Cafe in the beating heart of this little complex, and it had its attractions. Great menu, excellent for networking, and a very pleasant alfresco location before the temperature started to climb.
On the negative side, it was a little pricey, and there were a lot of diversions in that particular “strip”. The DIFC’s female workforce seems to regard Bateel, Cafe Nero and Steak House as the places to be seen in the latest office chic. The fashion parade, fascinating though it was, quickly became a detraction from real work.
So I was off again. I spent several productive days in Costa Cafe, sufficiently off the “strip” to be able to concentrate on my work but close enough to benefit from the networking opportunities.
Good internet connection in Costa too, except for the occasional intrusions from Du and Etisalat service providers which rudely log you off Costa. (Is this what the DIFC meant by the promise of free, universal Wi-Fi access?) But it may be that I plump for Costa as my everyday workplace.
However, a more upmarket alternative has arisen. I’m tapping this out in the rather swanky surrounding of the Cake Cafe in Ritz Carlton Hotel in DIFC. The hotel’s in-house IT expert just took it as a personal challenge that I was having connection problems, and diligently sorted me out.
Maybe I’ll pitch camp in the Ritz Carlton? How flash.
fkane@thenational.ae
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