Friday, October 24, 2003

02:00 - Baghdad. Since it’s a local target, let’s talk about the Al Rasheed Hotel.

Friday is Sunday here, and Thursday night is Saturday night, and we went on a recent Friday (before the rocket attack) to the hotel for a couple of cold Bavarians (from Holland). What followed was an event as close to a pub crawl as Baghdad is going to have.

Our first stop was the first floor bar, the Sherezhad. It’s done in black marble and blue carpet. The lighting is dim. There’s a variety of seating, from long sofas to cozy four tops, but we prefer to sit at the bar, where Jimmy (probably not his given name) does his best at interpreting our needs. Half liter beers are US$4, as is a handful of peanuts.

Down both hall and stairs, and we found the newly reopened basement bar, who’s name escapes me at this time, Al Something-or-other. Before the first war, this was the hotel’s bowling alley. At some time in between, the lanes were removed and replaced with carpet. The carpet is about the only soft thing in the place, as both bar and walls, and the remaining exposed floor are done in white marble. The effect is almost blinding and gives the establishment a sterile and uninviting presence. The coolest thing about this bar is that the locker room is still there from the bowling alley days, which can now be used to change into your drinking clothes.

As a brief aside, Brian met a guy on his C-130 flight into BIAP. This same guy was fully trained for his career in stage lighting, just the skills required in post-war Iraq. As it turns out, this stage lighting guy is now the morale contractor for this sterile and un-fun bar. We brainstormed improvements for a while but sadly, he has no control behind the bar, so we can’t work him for free drinks, despite the consulting. Well, at least the beers are only US$3 down here, so we grab a round and head up two floors.

The upper bar at the Al Rasheed also has a name that escapes me. Many just call it The Discotheque. It’s laugh out loud funny looking. Well, I could have been the only one laughing. It was loud in there, and I had consumed a couple of half liter beers.

This bar was all done in red and black, and with much less marble than the bowling alley, so it’s almost a comfortable place to sit for a spell, soothed by the gentle sounds of a DJ and his stunning collection of authentic American disco music; “Car Wash”, “Beat It”, “Stayin’ Alive”, all the classics. The first notes of “Play that Funky Music, White Boy” brought tears to my eyes.

The centerpiece of this bar is the dance floor, of course. It’s round, about ten meters across, and raised a couple of steps above the rest of the floor. There’s a low wall around it for seating which houses the flashing colored lights. A huge mirrored ball accents the entire scene. Unlike our first two stops, there were plenty of folks drinking, milling, and dancing, primarily the same folks from the CPA, and a number of young servicemen and women. Everyone seemed to be making the most of the opportunity to not work for a few hours.

On Friday, the Muslim population will take the day off, and we will continue our efforts at the PMO, trying to reconstruct this country as fast as possible.

Bad disco music at the Al Rasheed is the price we pay for this opportunity.

Unverified Saddam Anecdote: Someone told me that kitchen staff at every one of Saddam’s ninety-nine palaces would each prepare three deluxe meals a day, just in case he would stop by. When it was clear that he was not showing up, the meals would be destroyed, because to give them away would give the poor an indication as to how well he was living.