I'm pleased to post a guest entry in my blog from my good friend Neilesh Patel. Hope you enjoying reading about his trip to St. Bart's. My New Year's was much less eventful. If you have any articles you wish to write, send them to me and I'd be happy to post here!
--Ravi
By Neilesh Patel:
I’ve
been thinking about writing for a long time now, but until this past trip I
never mustered up the time and energy. Something about this last trip caused
something in my brain to click. The result…now I am writing.
12/31/2014
– 1/1/2015
New
Years Amongst the worlds richest .0001% - St Barts 2014
Total
Cost $14,000
Length:
5 days, 4 nights.
We
arrived in St. Martin on American Airlines and instantly noticed the diversity
in population and cultural differences
–African-descent locals with their laid back and carefree attitude interspersed
with middle class American families on vacation. But St. Martin wasn’t our
final stop; this was not going to be the Caribbean Family Vacation. When we
boarded our flight (aboard a jet-propeller WinAir) to St. Barts the day before New
Years we noticed a change. Celebrities who were vaguely familiar and
fashionista women boarded the flight. On this flight, we two Indian-Americans were
the only non-White people aboard. The plane prepared to land in St. Barts over
a cadre of mega-yachts and large skippers. As we descended into St. Barts there
was a small terminal that had no security checkpoint either into or out of the
island.
We
were greeted by our villa owner (we booked the villa via Airbnb). The owner was an older Bohemian Frenchman who
had escaped the rigidities of Parisian society some years ago. We paid $1,891
for 5 nights in an exclusive villa overlooking the ocean, which was also
equipped with an infinity-pool. We knew
we were lucky. Had we not secured that villa almost 4 months earlier, we would
have been stuck paying the next lowest option which started at $8,000 going up
to $50,000 for a week.
The
first night we went to Le Ti, a French cabaret dinner show. A bottle of Bourdeaux
set us back €260 euros and dinner for two
another €200 euros (Euros were the preferred
currency on the island). Although many of the Americans paid in US dollars, the
exchange rate was often not as good, so the ATM was the easiest and best way to
get euros readily. There are two seatings here and it was obvious if you didn’t
go to the second seating which starts at 11pm, there would be no chance to see
the cabaret show, which started at 11pm. A nice group of two American couples
sat next to us. They had won a week at a villa in St. Barts from an office
employee drawing. Otherwise they made it clear they would never have been able
to afford a trip to St. Barts. They also happened to be the only down-to-earth people we met on the
island that week. Although we arrived at the first seating not knowing any
better, we opted to buy even more bottles of champagne which set us back
another few hundred euros. It was only then that the French management was open
to allowing us to stay for the 2nd seating. The American couple
didn’t make it out so easily and after their dinner arrived and they had
finished, they were immediately asked politely to leave, so a group who would
spend more money could be seated. To replace them came a mother with her
daughters; a typical wealthy hedge-fund family based out of Greenwich, CT.
Again, we were the only two minorities in the restaurant the entire night- not
that it bothered us and perhaps in fact we may have appreciated being different.
We definitely got more attention, especially after we started spending more,
especially from the French. The French tend to ignore you until you spend a lot
of money, then even they let their stereotypical high barriers down. Despite all of our expenditures that night, it
was pretty clear that we may have been one of the highest spenders that night
and even then when we got ready to get into our car at the valet, we were
stopped by the security as they “mistakenly” thought we had left without paying
our bill. When the restaurant manager came outside to confront us, she peered
into our window, then realized and said “no these are not the men she was
talking about.” Nonetheless, I found it quite ironic that we were the ones who
had been mistaken for skipping on our bill.
This
brings me to French culture. The French have grown up in an environment where
they were always the wealthiest and highest class folk in their country. They
sip fine wines and they eat the tastiest foie gras, liver pate and escargot.
Until now…The Chinese are now buying up Bordeaux vineyards and filling up
wine-making schools across France. Many plan to take their skills back to
China, which is quickly becoming a wine-making producer. The French have steep competition
on their horizon in many areas and industries from brie cheese to wines. Their
economy and segregation within their country makes it difficult for minorities
to rise in social and economic class. As a result, I think the French workers
on the island were quite shocked at specifically us two having so much fun. So
ironically, we saw that there were not many other people from non-European
countries and from outside the U.S. The Asians and the Middle Easterners seem
to steer clear of St. Barts.
So
let’s back up, so I can paint the picture of St. Barts from a broader
perspective. Imagine mega-yachts docked along the harbor in Gustavia;
60-something year old men walking with 20-something year old models; security personnel
standing outside of restaurants with walkie-talkies and ear pieces; celebrities
shopping in downtown Gustavia with walkie-talkies, and then there was new years
eve…The scene here was billionaire Roman Abramovich with his party at Jean
Beach’s – La Plage, a swanky French restaurant that he rented out for the
entire night. Then there was P. Diddy’s party on his mega-yacht, Oasis.
Next, there were the parties for the rich who weren’t invited to any of the
exclusive parties: Nikki Beach, Le Yacht Club, Eden Rock Hotel and Le Ti. The
day before Russell Simmons had his party over at Eden Rock’s restaurant. A
couple we ran into paid €2600 ($3172) for a meal they
described as only “ok” and “total rubbish”. This price didn’t include any of
the late night new years party either, so they were forced to look elsewhere
before the stroke of midnight. The couple escaped and went to Nikki Beach just
in time to watch a few quite unspectacular fireworks fizzle in the sky. Nobody
was impressed. Over at Nikki Beach
bottles on the main tables started at €26000 and ranged as high as €35000
($31000 - $42700). Luckily, we were able to convince them to give us a coffee
table in the corner for what ended up being about €2800. The crowd was
basically older men with models…and I mean real models. The few women we spoke
to all told us they were models; many hired by the ultra-rich to accompany them
for the week: and they came from all over…from LA to New Delhi even, although
there were only 2 asian models that evening total. The average woman was 6 foot
and 100 lbs,; almost all came wearing a stunning evening dress. As we
interviewed one model her older grouchy, obese, long-haired scruffy “owner”
came up to interrupt us. He stammered, “How many times do I have to tell you
not to leave me alone?” “I thought we went over this before”, he screamed at
her. I wanted to help her, but I was in too much shock. Embarrassed, she waved
goodbye with her head down and lost herself in the center table commotion. As I started peering around, I noticed that
the average guy had a 20-something liter ace of spades Dom Perignon was at
least 60 years old, likely balding and definitely overweight, and was surrounded
by a group of models who looked like they were Victoria secret models. All the
women that night were “bought-out”, and frankly it was quite pathetic.
Let’s move on to the list of celebrities. Roman Abramovich and
Larry Gagosian, who owns a villa next to the Taiwana Hotel hosted a bash together. Many of the attendees
were Abramovich’s Russian and Jewish friends along with a smattering of friends
that he has in various circles. Then there was P Diddy’s party aboard his yacht,
The Oasis. Attendees there were Chris Rock, Riyanna and P Diddy. Interestingly,
even among the celebrities parties and social circles are highly segregated.
None of the African-American celebrities were seen attending any of the parties
hosted by any of the Caucasians. I think we have this misconception that if we
remove the financial barriers between two racial groups, that necessarily that
will foster or harbor integration. However, this showed me that no matter what
you do, unless you foster cultural awareness and acceptance, no two groups will
integrate regardless of raw intelligence or wealth. Numerous other celebrities
showed up on the island from Riyanna, Vivi Nevo, Heidi Klum, Salma Hayek, Anna
Wintour, Princess Beatrice, Chris Rock, Leonardo Dicaprio, Victoria Silvestdt,
Donnie Deutsch. One thing I noticed is that once a celebrity’s career has
peaked and troughed, they become less worried about hiring security and having
photos taken of them. During the prime time of their lives, celebrities live in
utter fear and try their best to be secluded. A few of them go so far as to
live in paranoia Riyanna on the other hand had 2 large bodyguards, who made it
clear to people that they were not to take photos of Riyanna. When one man
tried to take a photo, her security came to him and told him to put the camera
away. However, at one point, when she was sitting at her table at Do Brazil on
Shell Beach, Riyanna stood up and turned as if to be modeling for the paparazzi, who used
telescoping lenses to snap shots of her from a couple hundred feet away. All
these photos were then immediately put on the British tabloid DailyMail web
site. I noticed that the younger celebrities were much more business savvy and
more like to have a strong ego; they would inform the press ahead of time that
they were going to be at a certain event, and then they would allow the
paparazzi to take photos of them at a pre-planned event, as if to censor and
control the photos, outfits and settings at which their photos were taken. On
the other hand, older celebrities like Victoria Silvstedt and Donnie Deutsch
were happy to just lay on the beach cabanas without much ado. I think they
understood that their careers and time in show-business had come and gone. They
were much more able to intermingle with the normal-rich crowd on the island. Unfortunately,
they had to wait until the 2nd half of their lives in order to gain
a snapshot of a normal life.
Next, there was the cheapness factor of the rich. If there is one
thing that was obvious, it was that the rich became ultra rich because they are
frugal. The ultra rich become rich by being frugal and relatively greedy- there
is no other way unless you count the lottery. It was definitely apparent in
their spending habits. The tipping was often non-existent. The ultra-rich were
happy to take drinks from us when we offered to buy them and since this was
largely a social experiment for me, I was always happy to do so. Some of the
people that were excited to take our drinks were people like the owner of
Brazil’s largest packing company. The rich never spent a lot of money at the
night clubs. Most of them had their own private parties. However, when we
bought bottle service, they were always happy to join in for the drinking bit.
Many of the yachts that were rented, were often rented as part of a promotional
deal, where there would be some type of kickback from the yacht owner perhaps
or publicity that would come from renting the yacht. Other than billionaires Leonard Blavatnik
(Odessa docked in Gustavia), P Diddy (Oasis docked in Gustavia), Roman
Abramovich,and a few others, many of the yachts were rented. Typically yachts
are rented for the new years week by celebrities worth under $1 billion. Most
larger yachts are about €100,00 - €200,000 / week not including the crew. The
multi-billionaires are more likely to be owners of their own yacht due to the
high year-round operating costs. Personally, I found very little to be
interesting about being couped up on an isolated hundred-foot boat for new
years. I’ve been on cruise ships before, but cruise ships have show lounges,
multiple dining halls, 1/8 mile running tracks, full-on gyms, nightclub, pools
with large waterslides, and even ice skating rinks. These yachts, while
impressive, lacked those kinds of amenities and to me just seemed boring. Even
on New Years eve, other than on P Diddy’s yacht there was very little
decoration or such aboard to even insinuate a looming party aboard. I spoke to one SF bay area techie, who spent
New Years on one of the yachts. He said it was “boring” as he shook and twisted his hand back and forth left and
right, as if to tell me it was just “ok”.
Coupled with the cheapness, often there was the ego. Many of the
rich seemed to be out of touch with reality and more importantly the average
working person- a problem I see often in developed countries such as America
and Europe, etc. For
instance, one girl at the local juice-bar told the poor Parisian juice-maker
that his juice was fantastic and that she would advertise him all over
instagram to her 30,000 followers, she boasted. “Your juice is great, so I’m
going to announce you to make 30,000 followers on instagram…I’ll make you
famous”, she boasted. He looked back at her confused, as if to say, “I don’t
care about being famous, but it would have been nice if you left a tip in the
jar…”
Yet, one thing stood out as the overarching factor on the island:
overpriced. I’ve been to expensive restaurants and $200 steak dinners in Vegas,
and tantalizing Italian dinner in NYC. They are what I would call expensive,
while the food on St. Barts I would coin as overpriced. At Jean Jorge’s Sand
Bar we paid €34 ($41 for a cheeseburger and fries; then when we went down the
street to a fast-food joint called JoJo Burger we paid €15 ($18.30) for a
cheeseburger and fries. Bottle service for a 2004 Dom Perignon ran €500 on off-nights
and €1500 for the magnum version. On New Years eve night 20 liter ace of spades
were over $42000. One liter of unleaded gas cost over €1.50. Our average lunch
bill was €100 ($122) and dinner was normally €200 ($244) or more most of the
time. There are no chain restaurants or resorts anywhere on the island. Even a
small pizza at a local pizzeria was €30 ($36.60) or €52 ($63.44) for the large.
Whether I was eating local Caribbean mahi-mahi or mango papaya soft blue shell
crab at Black Ginger, the chic Thai restaurant, nothing stood out as “wow”.
Honestly, I would have must rather eaten the Chilean sea bass at PF Changs over
most of what I ate on St. Barts. And I did exactly that a couple days after I
got back in the USA. The beaches were small with limited sand space – no depth.
I’d much rather be on South Beach or Rio de Janeiro’s Posta beaches. The people
were mostly French, and you know how their restaurant service is. Heck, the
service in Asian countries such as Japan or even home in America is much
better. Nontheless, I left with no regrets because it was a life experience, and
I live for those. However, it is pretty obvious that the ultra rich are not
eating any more tastier food than us middle class folk, and they for darn sure
are not having nearly as much fun as us either.
