Dear Asma,
As I sit at the office desk of Suite 3001 at Mandarin Oriental Downtown Dubai to write you this letter, the clock reads 11:11. My mind, usually full of digressions and eager to leap into the next thought before the previous one has fully arrived, immediately ran to Google to explore the meaning of 11:11, because, as I always tell a dear friend who visited me here, “times are peculiar.”
I am not going to beautify the paragraph any further, because it already is what it is. So I am simply copy-pasting the first thing Google generously offered when prompted with “11:11”:
“Seeing 11:11 is widely considered a ‘wake-up call’ from the universe, symbolizing spiritual awakening, alignment, and a powerful moment to manifest your desires. Often called an ‘angel number,’ it represents synchronicity, confirming you are on the right path and encouraging positive, conscious thinking.” The universe has its ways, dear Asma.
I have been teaching myself lately to bite my tongue, yet somehow it always finds a way to deliver the message. Even these letters I write, is this really me? Or merely an idea, selfishly trying to escape my persona and enter the world through you?
Back to the “powerful moment to manifest your desires,” because Mandarin Oriental Downtown Dubai offered many of those. Alexandrine, Masa, Luka, Ben, Ali, and many others in this fabulous hotel made sure that whichever direction I turned, a beautiful moment would appear.
It began the instant I entered my spacious suite, which felt less like accommodation and more like a journey of discoveries. Moving from one corner to another, I kept surprising myself with yet another “wow.” There was no point trying to contain the excitement, as it would have been impossible.
I need to dedicate a paragraph to the central table in the suite’s living room, because I could barely see it beneath the abundance of extraordinary little gestures that together created a core memory for me in a city I have called home for the past four years. A gorgeous flower arrangement, a premium drink, strawberry cake, fan-shaped chocolates, macarons, and cookies whose names I am unfortunately incapable of identifying, Assouline’s beautiful Mandarin Oriental coffee-table book, an exotic fruit platter, and Orlebar Brown x Mandarin Oriental swimming shorts accompanied by the quirkiest note from Ben, the General Manager, which made me laugh then and still does now. Quantity and quality aligned perfectly. The more truly was the merrier, and I loved every second of it.
The suite offers panoramic views over Downtown, City Walk, and Sheikh Zayed Road. You can feel the tempo of the buzzing city beneath you. You feel entirely in the middle of it all, unable to miss a single thing, positioned right at the centre of the fun. And yet, if you wished to disappear from it all, you absolutely could, exactly as I did on the second day of my stay.
I opened every curtain. I dislike blackout curtains; I always prefer knowing what part of the day it is without searching for my watch. Then I closed my perceptions instead. I love those rare moments when you are capable of observing everything around you while absorbing none of it at all. Very few spaces allow me to reach that state, but here, on the 30th floor above the business of life, it happened.
And then I thought of time again. Time is our greatest problem, Asma. We believe we have it. We believe we own it. We believe it will always wait for us. Yet we so easily disregard how painfully short our existence is in this beautiful world. “Seeing 11:11 is widely considered a wake-up call from the universe…” Remember? I spent almost an entire day in bed, and it was one of the best days I have had in quite some time. Time wisely spent.
The following day was its complete opposite. The dear friend from the beginning of this letter came for breakfast and brought me a book about life and art expressed through flowers. She wrote the most beautiful little message inside it, one that turned the skies lilac and gave me a subtle push I did not even know I needed.
People passed by around us: families, groups of friends, couples, and those rare individuals who genuinely enjoy their own company enough to treat themselves to moments like these.
Later that afternoon, I visited the spa, a world suspended above the city. Everything there felt intentionally slowed down: the light, the voices, even time itself. After a 60-minute massage with the lovely Hanifah, I walked out feeling impossibly light, as though the noise of the world had briefly loosened its grip on me.
Lunch followed at Noia by the Pool, a Greek-inspired space that somehow transported the spirit of the islands into the middle of Dubai. Later in the evening, I had a Chinese dinner at YU & MI, overlooking the glittering skyline of the city at night. There will always be something utterly romantic about Dubai after dark.
And as the evening settled over Dubai, I watched it all with the curtains fully open. No blackouts here, my dear Asma, simply because we have no time for those. In the background, RAYE was singing, “Don’t forget me, or regret me, I tell him goodbye, Henri.”
Yours,
Milo
