Just land in the desert? Go Snow Skiing

Jet lagged? Tired? Just landed in the Arabian Desert? Go snow skiing!

Attached to a large mall in Dubai, UAE, is Ski Dubai. We saw it on the last trip but did not try it out. So I am back this time alone and with nothing better to do, I went Skiing today.
So the American Express Comercial: Two-way taxi fare $44aed, 2-hour lift ticket, locker rental, ski rental, pants, socks, and parka rental : $200aed, Ski Dubai Hat: $45aed. Skiing in the Desert: Priceless The slogan: Its more fun at minus one! At current conversion that is about $78us.

And for those who remember my last ski trip, where I fell and injured myself for the first time ever in a 20+ year ski history. I survived with only one fall/controled slide.

Taking a break from the slopes!

The plural form of the word slope is a stretch in the title. There is really one long slope, divided in the middle by the midpoint load/unload. The Alalanche Cafe is there and I enjoyed a cup of coffee with a friendly Canadian. The left side of the slope is Blue at the top and green at the bottom and the right side is blue at the top and Black at the bottom.
The Avalance Cafe has heaters on the deck, which is in a building cooled to -1c (30f), which is in a desert that reaches close to 44c degrees (112f) at times. Go figure.

A bit of humor at a sad time.

As many readers of the blog have heard, Leslie's mother passed away recently. Leslie and I went to be with her father and Ron and Danka came too.

While there was not internet access at Leslie's father's house, his neighbor graciously allowed us to use their wireless network. The best signal was from the front yard.

Cousin Kane gets props for naming the concept: Trailer Park Cyber Bar. Two trash cans, plank of wood, and lawn chairs.

On a later evening when it got cold, some of the patron's sat in the car for warmth and to get out of the wind.

Last Day in Hawaii

The day began with breakfast at the Moose Bar where a I had the Loco Moco. A local breakfast of a hamburger patty covered with fried rice then two fried eggs and topped off with brown gravy.

We drove to the rim of Diamond Head, but decided it was not worth the cost of admission to see the inside. I know there are many hiking trails, but we were all hiked-out and decided to enjoy the view from where we were. The picture is of the city just east of Diamond Head. You can see the houses flowing up the hillsides into the foothills of the mountain range.


From there we drive counter-clockwise around the island and stopped several times to see the surf, rocks, and in one picture, the blow hole. A formation in the rock that has an opening that faces the water and an opening on the top of the rock. When a wave hits the opening just right, water blows out the top hole.

On the trip to the airport, Leslie captured the rainbow over. A fitting end to a great journey.

Day two in Paradise

We started day two at the Rainbow Drive-in, a historic local dive, for breakfast. As with most meals, breakfast is usually served with white or fired rice. Spam was on the menu here as it is in most places. I intended to order it, but some how missed it.

We drove to the Bishop Museum to view some of the history of Hawaii. The museum included a planetarium, a hands-on science building, a small building of Hawaiian history, and the original building contained history of the Island, as well as, Polynesian and some Micronesian cultures.

There was artwork, relics, and samples of artifacts from all the peoples who came to the island. Including this mask that I believe looks like a famous (with kids) cartoon character. I will leave it up to you to decide if the writers at Sponge Bob Square Pants borrowed the image from here....


After the Bishop, we headed back to the northeast side of the island to see the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is a repository of cultural history owned and operated by the Brigham Young University. The students work for their room and board by teaching visitors about their cultural heritage. Here are links to the Center's website for each of the people they represent: Hawaii, Samoa, Maori New Zealand (Aotearoa), Fiji, Tahiti, the Marquesas and Tonga.

Leslie and I had been here before, but as it is a wonderful example of the cultures and peoples. There is also a production number that you can stay for that includes the dances of the men and women from the different cultures.

From there it was a late night drive back to the hotel. The next day held a final drive, sites to see, and packing for long plane flight home.

Hawaii Day 1

Day one on Oahu we spent taking Leslie's mom on an island drive. We stopped at Pearl Harbor and Leslie caught these shots. One of the memorial for the Arizona, one of the oil that still leaks up every few moments, and of the USS Bowfin submarine. We are in the airport heading home at this moment. We will finish up the blog when we get home tomorrow.

Second Half of Day 1

We started at Pearl Harbor and the Arizona memorial in the post below. The rest of the day we traveled in a clockwise loop around the center third of the island. Driving north, we stopped at the Dole Plantation. Here we saw various pineapple plants, a history of the plantations, a Koi pond, and a huge capitalistic enlargement of the gift store. This last was disappointing, what was a simple gift store with free samples of Pineapple juice 11 years earlier, is now 4 times the size and includes outside vendors selling everything from pearls to roasted nuts.

From there we drove on the North Shore hoping to show Sharon the huge waves that surfers jones for. Alas it was not the right time, we stopped at several beaches

We did observe some crazy people diving and jumping off of a giant rock. The lifeguards posted a note about the rock, but no one seamed to notice. "WARNING Jump Diving can cause serious bodily injury or death for your safety please stay off the rock"


We stopped again and I walked on the shore watching the reflection of the sunset in the clouds to the east. Later that evening we stopped for dinner at a local cafe. We ordered some local dishes including Kalua pork; a pig is roasted whole in a fire pit all day and then pulled.

Jungle Cruise (first of three posts)

On Saturday we had to layoff the diving, because you must be 24 hours clear of your last dive before you fly in a plane at any altitude. So we found ourselves on a Jungle Cruise. The first picture below is of the river. It begins with a variety of trees and the closer to the ocean they become Mangrove trees.
The second picture is of some interesting tree roots. They grow fan-like.
The final picture in this entry is of a home that you can only get to from the river. A nice place...if you do not want running water, electricity, or telephone.

Trouble ahead!!!!!

This is Rosie. She is the second alligator we encountered--and in the upper left-hand corner is the reason why these two have attacked our boat.

The second is Rosie at mid jump and the last at full extension.

Friday Dive day 2

Friday we dove again - this time "Blue Holes to Blue Corner" and then back to "Blue Corner" for the second dive. Afterwards we got to snorkel in "Jellyfish Lake", but those pictures will have to come later.

Kirk took all these pictures, but we also have an awesome DVD of the entire day because, Nick, the videographer, came on our dive boat, and documented everything with his high-def still and movie cameras!

The diving was, once again, a complete wonderland of underwater life. So many fishes, coral, turtles, sharks, and literally thousands of living creatures, I will never be able to name. It was total sensory overload.

The first photo is probably a butterfly fish, the second, a really cool brain-like coral and the third was a really big reef shark. Their eyes are so spooky looking, especially up close. And believe me, we got close enough!

Jellyfish Lake, 26 Sept

After our two dives we stopped by the Jellyfish Lake. You can read more about it here, but the short and simple is that this lake formed trapping two species of Jellyfish. Over tens of thousands of years with out preditors, they lost their sting. They adapted to becoming farmers and carry algee farms. In return for sugars, the jellys follow the sun all day, keeping their farms running. Here are four pictures and at the bottom a video. (We are in Hawaii now and have highspeed access. It will be another day before we are caught up. Please be patient.)