Since my sis is visiting, my best friend, her husband and I decided to take sis to a sheesha cafe. Personally I cant stand smoking in all forms but she was interested to see "genuine" sheeshas in action...so off we went. 2 minutes in the door of Le Maison reminded me why I dont like going to them...the air is so thick with very heavy smoke...I find it incredibly hard to take a full breath...smells kind of nice though.
Anyhow...we arrived at around midnight after having dinner at the Chinese Garden in the Gulf Hotel...which I might add had very lousy slow service. Food was good though...when it evenually arrived well over an hour later. We contemplated having dessert but figured we might end up spending the night waiting for it.
Something that surprised me when we got seated and comfortable and the dim interior became easier to see through with the smoke etc...were the number of small children that were in there. Not only was the hour late but the air was thick with smoke. There were babies as well as toddlers and I was shocked to think parents would bring their children to such a place. I was wondering if its the policy of Le Maison to allow such underage "customers' within its doors? I also noticed that all the children were of Arab decent..no western children so to speak...so that speaks volumes from my point of view. If Arabs by and large cant be bothered to put seatbelts on their children....then whats a little sheesha smoke?
3 comments:
"There were babies as well as toddlers and I was shocked to think parents would bring their children to such a place."
This is widely popular in the region. Though Egypt has shisa places were kids and wives would not generally be taken, the rest of them had children in there until the wee hours of the morning-same for the UAE. I think it's less common with the Emirati families (who often don't go to such places together), but more common w/ those from the Levant.
For once I guess we can say here is where KSA perhaps shows more sense...at least in Riyadh, sheesha bars are not allowed in the city proper. They can be found on the outskirts of town and (not surprisingly) they are men-only establishments which also means children are not allowed.
Although in Jeddah where it is more open, some malls and family centers have open non-segregated areas where groups will sit and one can have sheeshas brought to the table. Here one will see mixed groups which may include children but I guess if there is a silver lining, this is a large open airy area so one does not have the haze and fog of all the smoke.
Carol
my first thought if they were saudi families there for the weekend and had no one to watch their kiddos.
shame... one would think the establishment had more sense if not the parents.
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