Harrods is the cheapest place on earth

Or so said the chatty salesman in the Nespresso shop in the beautiful new Dubai Mall.

We had gone in to check on the price of my beloved Nespresso capsules, but the salesman breezily told us that they cost twice the price in Dubai. “No way do you buy here”, he said, “far too expensive. You should buy them at Harrods, it’s the cheapest place on earth.”  Refreshingly honest, though I am not sure that I entirely agree about Harrods.

In fact, despite the signs advertising sales everywhere, and the much touted Dubai Shopping Festival, things do seem expensive in Dubai, and not just in comparison to India.True, we did check an admittedly eclectic range of products.

The Longchamp “Le Pliage” bag is about 50% more than London (so thank you, Hari).  And they didn’t even have the lovely lime green colour of my bag in stock.

Ditto Nespresso.  50% more expensive than the UK.

And the idea of paying 625 dhirams to dive with sharks in the brand new aquarium did not appeal.  I can’t honestly remember how much it it costs to dive with the sharks in the Cape Town Aquarium – which Anjulie & I have done twice, for our sins -  but it certainly was nowhere like the price here.

What else have I checked out price-wise ?

Well, I actually found something that is cheaper than in India  – Ceres fruit juice from South Africa is a few rupees cheaper than my local Raj King underground supermarket in C Block – but what the heck, no-one comes to Dubai to check out the price of fruit juice, so who cares ?

What you do come to check out here is the OTT blingtastic stuff.  And boy, have I found it for you !

You know those football games that you find in all self-respecting French cafes ?  The French call it “baby foot” and I think it is called “flipper” in English.  Come on, you know what I mean…well, in Harvey Nichols here they had 3 flipper machines covered in varying degrees of crystals, with gold and silver opposing football teams.

And the price of the costliest flipper, do I hear you ask ?

So, for the totally-covered-in crystal version…for you, a mere Dh 520,000.  In other words, a mere US$ 141,569.79.

Wonder how cheap it would be at Harrods?

Oh, and by the way, you are not supposed to take photos of merchandise like that, but we sweet-talked the guard into letting me take a photo of Himmat “playing.” Himmat smiled at the guard and said, “I will never be able to afford to play such an expensive game ever again in my life.”  And so when I get back and download my photos, Himmat and the Dh 520,000 flipper machine will be a photo of the day.