Chocolate Rave

First one must check into one of the many five star hotels. Dubai offers the some of the best in hospitality in all the world. Right along the Arabian Sea you will find the finest luxuries.
One always needs to take advantage of the good life. A day at the spa getting massages, manicures, facials after a hot jacuzzi soak. Then stroll out onto the beach for a nice walk in the sand and cool water. Feel the breeze in your hair and the sun on your face. When your all refreshed and peaceful, it’s time to see the town.

Roll up in a limo to the grand spectacle of the Mall of Emirates. Actually, you could spend a week touring that mall. I could spend a couple of days just skiing in the indoor ski resort. Then you could move into the movie theatre for a double feature on one of 14 screens. There is bound to be one movie in your language. There are hundreds of stores and I am confident you will find your favorite as well as a few unique designers that reflect the local flair.

If there are kids to be entertained try heading out to the Magic Planet gaming center. Start out on a few video games and then move to some mini golf. Get the whole family together in a bowling game or watch the little ones play in a crawling bungle jungle. To span all the ages grab a thrill on one of the hair raising theme park style rides. Stop for a little lunch and watch all the many cultures of people walk by.

When you have worn yourself out once again head over for a peaceful ride along the creek. Since Dubai has a creek splitting the city in two, they have offered a special experience there too. Take a dinner cruise at sun set and watch all the beautiful buildings light up in amber hews across the windows. Enjoy the local cuisine and fine cocktails with the ones you love.

Off the Iberian peninsula, seventy-five miles from the coast of Valencia, you will find Ibiza, an island containing many five star hotels Ibiza and Formentera make up the Pine Islands.  In antiquity, they were known as the Pityussa Islands, and called Ophiusis and Ebyssus — they were the base for pirates, until Annius, a Roman General, drove them away.  The island, founded in 650 B.C. was renowned for its marble, lead, and wine.  Today, it’s a popular tourist attraction that offers one of an incredibly beautiful and tranquil setting, but also known for a dance scene so vibrant that a genre of music, the Baleric Beat, was named after it.

In addition to its social life, Ibiza has many museums of interest, from the Ethnological Museum of Ibiza, which explores the first people living on the island to Musee de Arte Contemporaneo (Museum of Contemporary Art) to the Archeological Museum, examining the history of the island, to the Puget Museum in Dalt Vila, which examines the island’s rural life as well as the city of Ibiza.

The Ethnological Museum was opened in May, 1994, and there you will see examples of past cultures, including jewelry and clothing, farm implements, winemaking tools, and so on.  A much older museum is the Musee de Arte Contemporaneo, begun in 1969, and actually began its collections from the Ibiza Bienalle in 1964.

If you don’t have a taste for the night life or the museums, there’s plenty to explore: There’s Es Cana, a local marketplace selling clothing and handmade jewelry.  There’s the Puig des Molins, a famous cemetery, representing different eras in the history of the island, dating back to the Roman and Phoenician eras.  C’an Marca Caves are also worth exploring for the spelunker at heart.  These caves are over a hundred thousand years old and were once known as a hideout for smugglers, and they provide an incredible view of the Mediterranean Sea.

But for the traveler who likes some exercise, hike up to El Mirador, the highest point of the island, which offers magnificent views.

We’ve had many early mornings, but this morning, in Denali, we were a little more lax in our routine and woke up a little later than usual, around 6am. We didn’t need to get our luggage out until 8am and we had time to catch some breakfast at the restaurant in one of the luxury hotels Alaska has to offer all its visitors. We’ve never been on a tour before, so I do find it a little bit irritating at not being on my own schedule. My husband loves the regiment, but then he would. I have to admit though, that I am very grateful I don’t have to do all the planning for all the hotels, transportation and places to see. It’s all done for me. Another nice thing about being on a tour is that I’m having a nice time with just enjoying the experience, instead of planning and planning so more.

We spent the morning at Mt. McKinley. We just looked at Mt. McKinley. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it loomed over us like a ominous thunder cloud. Then, we went to the train station and spent a good portion of the day on the train travelling to Denali from Mt. McKinley. The train was one of those trains that was a double-decker, at least 5 to 6 cars. One of the cars had a nice observation deck on the top. I saw a moose, some beavers, and a tern.

My husband met a girl named Denali who was a total delight. Together we searched for animals and saw another moose, and a caribou all by itself. I hope it was alright. That made the last few hours of our train trip go by fast. We all had dinner together and looking forward to reaching Fairbanks, then off to the Arctic Circle!

Bangkok is a city that is continually on the edges of new evolutions, always defining itself and redefining itself according to the needs of the moment, yet maintaining a solid identity.  It’s one of the most distinctive places in the world, and it’s always shifting, reflecting some of the Buddhist ideas that are practiced by a large part of the population here.  There is also an enormous diversity to this city, and you can find just about anything on earth here.  With its rich tradition for hospitality, there are magnificent hotels in Bangkok, Thailand.   Every traveler here can find something that meets their tastes and budgets, and there are plenty of offerings.

It’s a spectacular city to wake up in, where there is an erormous human energy bursting through here, any time of day or night.  It might be a city that sleeps, but if so, it sleeps erratically and with absolutely no predictability.  This is one of the most exciting things about Bangkok, where expecting the unexpected is a good rule of thumb, and yet it’s also much more relaxed than most cities that are even close to this size.  And like all big cities, there is always something going on.  Bars and clubs are always hopping, and there are plenty of amazing performances to see.  The Japan Foundation, Bangkok is a particularly interesting resource for seeing what’s coming up.

They often sponsor events that are fascinating and also tend to be rather magnificent.  The curatorial board is very astute, finding excellent performers with excellent works.  A splendid example of this is Wearing Rose Pink, by Setsuko Yamada.  Presented at the Patravadi Theatre, this is dance work based on Virginia Woolf’s writing and Andrew Wyeth’s painting.  She is a butoh-trained dancer, having worked with one of the first generation teachers, and is now making her own forms in the world.  This is a marvelous new work by a marvelous dancer, and certainly not to be missed.