Pavilion Hotel Phnom penh

In Phnom Penh did the Queen Mother A stately pleasure dome decree:Where Mekong, the sacred river, ran Through deltas measureless to man Down to the China sea. The ancient city of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is like a lovely child swinging playfully on the hip of her beautiful Mother, the Mekong River. Reborn from […]

The Supermen and Wonder Women of Azamara #1

There are a lot of sea days onboard and now we (just call us Ari and Jackie) are sailing on our very large ship, the ghost ship with only 60 passengers left onboard. This is giving us a chance to talk to the fascinating, multi-talented, multi dimensional, extraordinary people on the Journey. No one seems […]

Dislocated Recipes for Success: Small, crunchy, crispy, fried Mauritian thingies

At Eureka, (St Louis, Mauritius), the perfectly preserved Creole mansion built in the 1830s we were served these small, crunchy, crispy delicious thingies and had to find the recipes. Our Scotian buddy Barb had expressed interest in the details of Mauritian Tucker so here it is. Mauritian gâteaux piments Ingredients • 500 g split peas • […]

Mauritius

We swirled through Mauritius in a blaze of colourful skirts, French accented patois, oh-la, vegetable samosas, Tamil temples and even stops at colourful sausage shops. The furthest East African country, sitting prettily in the Indian Ocean, south of the Seychelles and East of Madagascar. The Sun rose on dotted island outposts. We were tugged into […]

Dislocated Recipes for Success: Bill’s new favourite

Bill has discovered the daiquiri. Very much in the same sense that Captain Cook discovered Australia. He sailed around it, declared it Terra Delicioso, and claimed it for our Glorious Sovereign King Charles III, his heirs and descendants. It’s a long sea voyage and one has to keep the scurvy at bay. Here is an […]

The Dancing Arabs of Azamara

Who they were and where they came from none of us could tell. And as we sat and gaped at them they laughed and danced like hell. These grinning Arabs exuding charm and brio stomped and leapt and danced and swayed to a beating drum and a wailing bagpipe. A strangely hypnotically swirling keening that […]

Lou, Lou, Skip to m’Louvre, Skip to m’Louvre, my Darling

I admit it, I never knew there was an outpost of the Louvre at Abu Dhabi. In 2007 the UAE paid France a lot of money (400 million euros) to license the Louvre name (for 30 years). Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s people talked with Jacques Chirac’s people. Then Abu Dhabi […]

SIR BANI YAS

No, not an Arabian Knight of the Garter, but an artificial island, built on oil billions, a radical experiment in water recycling and animal and plant conservation. We steamed into the Persian Gulf agog and wondering which Djinns might appear and which of our wishes they would grant. We had been rubbing the bottle pretty […]

Dislocated Recipes for Success: Barb’s French 75

Our lovely Shipboard buddy, Barb, introduced us to this light cocktail. The boys at the Atlas Bar prepared it (nightly) with aplomb. Needless to say we drank far too many. BARB’S FRENCH 75 Ingredients • 15mL sugar syrup • 15mL lemon juice • 25mL gin • Piper Heidseck Champagne or sparkling wine • Garnish: […]

UAE ? Oi OI OIL !

Abu Dhabi is ultra modern, incredibly clean and well organised, with beautiful buildings, startling landscapes, grand notions, elegant designs and very fine people. The Arabs that we met were charming, urbane and hospitable, we liked them. But all of this is a very recent thing. Until the mid 1960s most of the people were living […]