Skiing in Dubai

It's a natural high!

A couple of months ago, I set myself the target of having at least one new experience every month. Last month was the trip to Bali, which included some new experiencettes, like having lunch at the rim of a volcano, but this month is set to wipe the floor with March. First up, dune bashing in the desert. For those of you who are new to this sport(?), it is the name given to a roller coaster ride up and down the sand dunes in Dubai in a 4 x 4. It was great fun - although best undertaken on an empty stomach, especially if you are sitting in the back seat! Apparently you can also engage in a spot of sandboarding on the dunes, but that will have to wait for the next trip. I also fitted in a camel ride - more of a lurch really - and saw the palest sunset I have ever experienced. It was so white, it was like watching the moon set.

But the piece de resistance was the skiing. My friend Steve - he of the super cheffing skills - is also a huge fan of taking your life in your hands on the powdery white stuff, but has never been able to persuade me that this was a sensible use of my limbs. How wrong I was! Now you are probably wondering if the Dubai I was camel riding in is the same Dubai I went skiing in. Can there be two Dubais, one existing in a parallel universe, as cold as the other is hot? Not quite, but close, since the ski slopes (there are 5 of them) exist in a huge shopping mall - the Mall of the Emirates - and I consider all giant shopping malls to be part of a parallel universe. But enough of my shopping prejudices and on to the skiing.....

My only previous experience of skiing was on the nursery slopes at Aviemore, in north east Scotland one rainy February many moons ago. In fact, I never actually got to ski, although I did do a fair bit of falling over. I had to borrow the skiing instructor's skis because they had run out of skis the right length for me, the nursery slopes had almost no snow on them (remember, I did say that this was a rainy February) and the instructor was an impatient sort, with no gift whatsoever for teaching beginners. Not the perfect mix of ingredients you will admit, for an inspiring introduction to the sport. Suffice to say that after falling over a few times I did actually manage to ski a few yards downhill, but not to stop. Fortunately (my opinion, not shared by Mr Nasty who was more worried about his skis than me - imagine!), there was a picket fence at the bottom of the slope, with gaps the width of a ski between the fence posts and my skis, swiftly followed by my legs, slid through and stopped when I sat down on my (by now extremely damp) bottom. So, not a great start. After that, I gave up and have never really fancied trying again, but there was something so surreal about the thought of snow skiing in the desert that I had to give it a go.

There was a group of us, several of whom were beginners, and we had two really great instructors. I managed to get the hang of the snow plough (the action that makes you slow down and stop) early on, and after that there was no stopping me. I came flying down the hill (well maybe I had not entirely mastered the snow plough) screaming and laughing and didn't fall over once. Magic!

I really thought the trip couldn't get any better, but a couple of days later I learned African drumming as part of a team building event. It was totally and absolutely the business! I have attached the drumming and skiing links so that you can see for yourself. Next month's new experience is Tai Chi, and I'm hoping to persuade Chris to come along, since he has a bit of catching up to do.

http://www.dubaidrums.com/about.html

http://www.skidxb.com/English/default.aspx