Dubai: city in the desert

D Dubai is a place I had only read about and never really thought I would visit. But now as I cruise on the Queen Mary 2, it will be the destination at which I disembark. Apart from the 16 nights of dancing on board ship as we cruise from Hong Kong, one of the reasons I had for choosing this cruise was the chance it will give me to visit with one of my past students, who is now a department head in the adjacent emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Not knowing much about that part of the world I had to do a lot of reading, so here is my brief version of Dubai Introduction 101. If there are any errors in my summary please feel free to  comment and let me know
Dubai is one of the 7 emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates, on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Emirates, each governed by a hereditary emir are Abu Dhabi (the capital of the UAE), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain.
Dubai, also known as the Golden City,is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with modern skyscrapers, soaring from a desert land.
It is a city of contrasts from the old city al Bastikiya area, where wind towers provide the "air-conditioning" to the modern luxury of the Burj al Arab Hotel. The Palm Jumeira area where the world's largest three man-made islands have been created, seems to be a "don't miss" area. Other areas of interest are the Gold Souk, the Jumeirah Mosque - stunning moderm Islamic architecture and the Sheik Zayed Road, the "Manhattan" of Dubai.
I will be spending two days in Dubai and two in Abu Dhabi so the full stories and photographs on www.reviewfromthehouse.com will only be posted midway through the A to Z Challenge, but this is what I am looking forward to seeing.

Cruising the Seven Seas

C  Cruising the seven seas  while ballroom dancing is how I plan to spend my vacations for the next while as long as my budget and body hold out. But the question is "what are the seven seas?" Strictly speaking what I really should be saying is "cruising the seven oceans or the hundreds of seas".
The seven oceans are the Arctic, the South and North Atlantic, the Indian, the South and North Pacific and the Southern oceans. But the use of the term the seven seas has differed through the centuries from the ancient European grouping (Adriatic, Arabian, Black, Caspian, Mediterranean, and Red seas and Persian Gulf) to modern usage  (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Ocean, and the Mediterranean, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico).
So how am I doing? Right now on this trip from Hong Kong we transited the South China Sea on the way to Vietnam,  passed through the Gulf of Thailand on the way to Bangkok, and will head back through the South China see to Singapore. From there we pass through the Andaman Sea to visit the island of Phuket, then cruise the Bay of Bengal to Cochin in India, and finally go through the Arabian sea to arrive at Dubai. Right now we are anchored at the port of Phuket in the Andaman sea, and I am about to go ashore to explore the island.
For me, cruising is the ideal way to travel. You embark, unpack your stuff in your cabin, and then visit all sorts of places without having to pack and unpack your suitcase, and get into a plane or bus to the next destination.This trip I am on now is one of the segments of the Queen Mary 2 2012 World Voyage.
This world cruise takes 108 days from Southampton back to Southampton. It is not strictly speaking a world cruise as it doesn't quite circumnavigate the globe. It goes to the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, to Asia, Australia, back across the India Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and returns to Southampton. So it misses out South America - a destination that is next on my list.
Although I cant imagine spending so long  away from home, at the moment there are at  least 350 people on board who are doing the whole Southampton to Southampton trip. I have actually met several, in the do-it-yourself laundry, and in other places on the ship. They all seem to be loving it. One couple have done four full world cruises. Wow.
What do you think? If money was no object, could you see yourself cruising around the world for four months straight?

Ballroom Dancing - from samba to salsa

B Ballroom  dancing was the number two priority on my Top Ten List of Things To Do when I retired. But I had no idea of the range and variety of dances that the term implies. Most people think of couples in tuxedos and beautiful ball gowns whirling around in a Viennese waltz but there are so many more dances to learn. So here is a brief introduction.

 The first distinction that I discovered was that there are two major styles of ballroom dancing. These are the International – Standard and Latin, and the American – Smooth and Rhythm. International standard was developed in England and is the major style taught and danced in Europe and Asia. International standard style is danced in closed hold only - think the image of the waltzers I mentioned above. Smooth permits open positions and solo dancing. Both include foxtrot, waltz, tango and Viennese Waltz while the quickstep is unique to the International syllabus.

International Latin and American Rhythm  are also somewhat different. The dances comprising the Latin syllabus are chachacha, rumba, jive, samba and paso doble while the American rhythm has chachacha, swing, rumba, mambo and bolero.  The international rumba emphasizes straight legs whereas Cuban motion, stepping onto a bent leg, is more pronounced in the American style rumba – although the two styles seem to be merging more.
After four years of learning International standard and Latin, I went on my first ballroom dance cruise where I encountered the social dancing that is comprised of American smooth and rhythm and club dances.  I loved the freedom of the open smooth style but it was a big adjustment. I even had to adjust my counting. For example in the International rumba one steps on 2,3,4 while in American style it is 1,3,4.

Initially I found that I could follow different partners much more easily in the American style than the International style, possibly because my muscle memory in International was trained to expect certain sequences of steps from learning routines for the medal tests, and also because I had danced mainly with my instructor  with little opportunity to practice with different leads.  It would be interesting to see if that has changed with the switch to social dance and the fact that on these cruises there are different dance partners so I don’t get used to any one person’s style.

Apart from the dances already mentioned above, I have discovered the joys of West Coast Swing, East Coast swing, hustle, salsa, Argentine Tango, country –two-step and night club two step.

My usual answer to the question “what is your favorite dance?” is “the one I am dancing at the time” – but I confess that I am developing a strong partiality to Bolero- when danced with a really great partner. Do you have a favorite dance?

So that’s B for Ballroom 101, as I understand it. Questions and comments are welcome, and as I am on a dance cruise I can consult an expert before I reply. 

AtJill’sReviews takes the Challenge

A: I could have titled this first entry - A Confession- except that I did not know whether using A as an article rather than as the first letter of a word would be within the rules of the challenge.  The confession? It’s that I really should not be doing this  and it is only the intensely  competitive part of me (the part  that I am trying to suppress) that got me to sign up.  Why not the blog challenge you may ask? Well in this post which introduces me, Jill, author of AtJill’sReviews and the website www.reviewfromthehouse.com, it will become very clear!

First let me explain that I am posting this from my cabin on the beautiful Cunard ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2. Five days ago I boarded the ship in Hong Kong for a 16 day dance cruise  past Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Cochin in India, through the Arabian Sea to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

During this journey, which takes place over the first half of the challenge, my primary writing task is actually to write my Travelblogue, “Dancing to Dubai on Queen Mary 2”, a comprehensive diary of the cruise.
The themes of my posts for the A to Z Challenge will be chosen to complement my Travelblogue posts by focusing on interesting facts and information in the primary areas on which I write, namely food and wine, dancing, travel and theatre.
Now to introduce myself in a few short words: I am a retired baby-boomer medical professor with a passion for ballroom dancing and cruise travel that has taken me around the world on ballroom dance cruises. I love to share my experiences with fellow “wordies”, “foodies” and “winies”, and no that’s not a typo - I did not mean winos.
I hope you will travel along with me and share your thoughts by commenting on the A to Z posts and on my Travelblogue.

A to Z from the Queen Mary 2

It is 6:38 AM on Saturday March 31st and I am on the glorious Queen Mary 2 ocean liner, soon to dock in the port of Laem Chabang, Thailand. Today is the day for visiting Bangkok. Since I stayed for several weeks in Bangkok when consulting on laboratory services several years ago, and recently spent a couple of days there after doing an SE Asia Dance Cruise, I decided to enjoy having the ship quiet with few passengers on board, and catch up on my writing.  

The A to Z Challenge officially starts tomorrow and I wonder how may participants are writing from vacation spots rather than their homes?  

My dual challenge will be to keep up the daily A to Z posts while not getting too behind on my Travelblogue on Dancing to Dubai.  And of course enjoying the fantastic posts from all my co-A to  Z Challengers. I better get reading.  See you on line soon!

Toronto Time

From Bata Museum Collection

Three days to go till I  embark on my ballroom dance cruise. I am here in sunny,  warm Toronto. And no I am not exaggerating. Amazingly it is a spring-like evening in Toronto and it is only March. I arrived in Toronto from an unusually frigid Vancouver. On the other hand there are no crocuses out yet  in Vancouver - and it is already March! Oh how one's perspective is changed by travel.

I have been enjoying exploring the city with a friend and sharing some excellent meals. So far the food we have enjoyed includes lunch at Caplansky's Deli and at Wish restaurant, and dinners at Lucien and Smith. 

We have also visited the Ontario Art Museum and the Bata Shoe Museum. I especially loved the exhibit they had at the Bata Museum, of the Roaring Twenties, great dresses, great shoes, liberated women and the Charleston and they were playing great music as we wandered around. Although my museum-visiting attention span is remarkably short,  I perked up and my exhaustion disappeared when I heard the dance music.

According to the curator of the Twenties Collection the shoes shown on the left  were called Lido sandals after the pool area on cruise ships. I thought it an appropriate picture to use in happy anticipation of my cruise.

Let them eat pigeon! unless I win the lottery

from www.Copyright-free-photos.org.uk

Perhaps it is something to do with St. Patrick's Day. P is for Patrick, pigeon and for poop. Or maybe it's because I have been starting my dance-fit class  by warming up to Stevie Wonder singing Superstition. But whatever the reason, for the first time in the many decades I have inhabited this planet I got pooped on by a pigeon.  And that pigeon had diarrhea plus.

I was just outside the Bay store at Oakridge  when the darn bird targeted me. I was dressed in an unusually funky (for me) style.  Tight fitting pants that kind of looked liked leggings, and a black tunic sweater  mid-thigh length.  Maybe the mistake I made was not wearing green.

Fortunately I was dashing across the driveway because the stream landed on the back of my sweater.  A touch slower and it would have hit my hair and that would have been irremediable. But thanks to the kind lady at the Valetor dry-cleaning at the Oakridge entrance, who handed me paper and a hand sanitizer,  I was able to wipe most of the poop off my sweater and then gingerly take it off, leaving me shivering in a short sleeved black T-shirt.

So off I went on a mini-shopping spree and acquired a white top and a green funky bolero (to appease the Irish saints.) Three people then told me that being pigeon-pooped meant really good luck! Feeling icky not lucky  I thought "how can that be?" but then to honour Stevie Wonder and his "Superstition", I bought a lottery ticket anyway.  So wait for it folks. If I win I will let you know and you can go out and look for your own pigeons to poop on you. If I don't win, I think we should turn the darn things into food supply.