Brighton Festival Fringe 2007. 5th May - 28th May 2007.

Last year I went to the UK for a business meeting, to a small seaside city called Brighton. There was a guy waiting for me and my colleague at the station, who said there had been a mistake and my co-worker and I were staying in two different hotels. My colleague's name was Harrison and he was from South Africa, and he really didn't care where he stayed, so long as it had 4 walls and a ceiling. Myself, I was just happy to have made it to Brighton in one piece - I hate flying.

As promised, we were taken to two different Brighton centre hotels. I got out of the car first and Harrison and the other guy kept going, without even showing me inside. My fears were allayed however, once I entered the vestibule - the place was fantastic. The decor was amazingly unique, and the hotel had all kinds of services. It even had a games room, where I played pool and poker with some Arabians who were staying there, also on business. We went to the sauna and chatted, and soon we were arranging other plans. In the evening we had a great dinner in Brighton, but I soon realised that almost everybody there was Arabic - pretty apt for an establishment that called itself the Oriental Hotel (though I later found out that was due to the place where the hotel was located).

The next day I met Harrison in the morning, who seemed like he'd also had a pleasant stay in his hotel. We didn’t have the chance to talk much because we were too busy in various meetings - the reason we had come to the city in the first place. By midday, we were extremely bored. But then we went to have lunch at another fancy hotel. There he told me he was staying in a Brighton funky hotel, to which I answered, "You too? Are all Brighton hotels built uniquely and stylistically?".

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon negotiating with some charming people. We had tea and biscuits and said goodbye. After that we took the rest of the day to visit the city. I thought it was fantastic - a kind of British San Francisco, very lively and fun. I could conclude that there wasn't just one luxury hotel Brighton should be proud of - from the bars and hotels we visited, the tourism in the city was rightfully rife.

Finally, I met my new Arab friends and talked until late in the evening. We arranged to do some business together the following month - they had looked very rich, and had been extremely polite too. I'm sure I'll never forget that Brighton hotel - the Oriental Hotel.