Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - part two

The Kingdom Centre was out of this world. I could see it from miles away, and it grew ever larger on the horizon, lines of bright lights stretching up past the palm trees and into the ink black sky. Built in 2001, it is 296m (984 ft) tall, about the same height as the Eiffel Tower. To reach the Sky Bridge on the 99th floor (at the top of the bottle opener) you have to take two elevators - the first 50 second ride takes you to 180m, and the second elevator takes another 40 seconds to reach the top. On the lower floors of the Centre you'll find a shopping complex, with stores like Marks & Spencer, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Dior; the upper floors are mainly offices and luxury apartments.

As we pulled up at the Four Seasons Hotel, which occupies floors 30-50 of the Tower, we were met by men in pristine black suits who knew our names and greeted us by them. I felt almost famous.

There’s one word to describe the foyer of the hotel - opulent. Magnificent arrangements of bright flowers burst out of their vases, as a towering water feature bubbled from the high ceiling.

Illuminated palm trees stretched at least two floors. When I arrived in my room, my luggage was waiting for me, along with a welcome letter and the most delicious assortment of cakes, fruit and sweets, arranged on a platter in the shape of the Kingdom Tower. Very, very impressive.

And then there was the view. The city stretched out as far as the eye can see, and the patterns of multicoloured lights made the cityscape spectacular.

I slipped into my complimentary slippers (about four sizes too big, but who was I to complain?) and had the best night’s sleep between the feather-soft sheets. I could totally get used to this life.

The next morning I was up early to get my first glimpse of Riyadh by day. That’s when I became aware that we were right in the middle of the desert. Sand stained the windows, but the view was still something to behold. I had a room service breakfast, threw on my gym clothes under my abaya, and headed off to find the womens’ gym.

It was well hidden, but I was lucky there was one. I almost walked into the privacy screen which shields exercising women from the eyes of the male staff who come to clean and maintain the room. There was a treadmill, a bike, and some weights, but there was also a TV. Bet you didn’t know they show the Family Guy on Saudi cable – with Arabic subtitles.

Later that morning, I met the crew for our first order of business here – interviewing HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman of Kingdom Holdings. We were escorted into the waiting area, which was decorated with pictures of HRH with various world leaders, along with the logos of some of the brands Kingdom Holdings has substantial investments in – including Apple, Paypal, and TimeWarner. The hallway had shelves of magazines with HRH on the covers. When word came that he was due to arrive in the office, there was a flurry of activity. The women who work in his office lined up alongside his elevator to greet him as he emerged. We stood and watched him pass. A few minutes later we were ushered into the room where we were to interview him.

It was a very large room – bigger than my entire apartment, and possibly the apartments below it too. The majority of the couches were zebra print, the cushions more sedate. Plants and art and family photographs lined the walls. We were given a five minute warning that HRH would be joining us soon, and were told his personal film crew would be filming us filming him. He swept in, wearing an immaculate white thobe, red and white ghutrah, and black igal (see photo above.) He was very pleasant, very businesslike, and spoke excellent English very quickly. New Zealanders are known for speaking quickly, but HRH was in another league entirely – he might even be more fluent in English than me. I, of course, didn’t conduct the interview, which went very well. As soon as it was done, he rushed off to another engagement, and we were left to pack up.

It had been hinted that if HRH liked us, we may be invited to film at his desert camp. While we waited to hear, we had a lot more to see and do.