A Day At The Imar Spa

"Situated in the heart of Umm Al Quwain, UAE, Imar Spa is a haven of tranquility, a caring and peaceful environment created to nurture the true spirit of modern women." This is a quote from the brochure of the Imar Spa. I spent the better part of a day at this spa last summer while visiting my sister, Lavina. And this spa lives up to it's promise. It is surrounded by a tall fence and a beautiful beach. Men are not allowed on the premises. The buildings are beautifully designed and the atmosphere is very calming and relaxing. Cell phones are required to be turned off inside the spa.

Lavina and I tried a treatment for the first time called Abhyangam. It's a traditional massage from South India and it features very brisk massage combined with warm aromatic oils. It's different from other massages with oil in that in abhyangam they use lots of oil. It's warmed in these metal bowls and liberally poured on you. The massages are given in little rooms in a separate villa and once you enjoy a long, hot relaxing shower and change into your robe and complimentary flip flops, you are escorted outside and across the yard to your room. (Just a little footnote........I was in a country where the women are very small in stature and I wear a size 12 shoe. . . .you can imagine how comfortable those complimentary flip flops were.)

My masseuse was a small Indian girl dressed in traditional Indian clothing, complete with the jewel on her forehead. I began the massage seated on a little stool and oil was poured over my head. It was massaged into my hair until it was literally dripping in oil and then I was told to lie down on the table. Now, this table is not like a conventional massage table. It was large and dark hardwood, with leather bumpers all around. And the top was quite high for me and I had to step up on the stool I had been seated on in order to sit atop it. Next the little gal poured the warm oil over the rest of my body. The massage was very relaxing and the oil allowed the masseuse to squeeze the tension right out of my body. All was well with the world.

That stress free feeling lasted about 10 seconds! The masseuse, in her strong Indian accent, told me that she would leave me to relax on the table for as long as I liked. When I was ready to leave, I was told to walk back through the courtyard and return to the showers and wash all the oil off before proceeding to my manicure. With that said, she shut the door and vanished.

I didn't feel like staying on the hard table any longer than necessary so I immediately sat up and dangled my feet off the edge of the table. All of a sudden I realized what the bumpers were for. Had it not been for those bumpers I would have slid right off that table and found myself on the floor in a pool of oil! I didn't spend very long thanking the powers that be for that bumper when I realized that I was going to have to either jump off the table or slide myself over the bumper in order to get to the floor. I was not at that time, all that happy to find myself alone! I decided to try sliding over the bumper until my foot touched the floor and proceeded to give it a try. My plan was good until my slippery foot hit that marble floor and headed east without the cooperation of the rest of my body. . . . It was all over in a matter of seconds. It took considerably longer to get up on my feet and get that robe and those complimentary flip flops on again and get headed out the door. Once outside, I realized it was not a good idea to walk in the hot sun in 125 degree temperatures covered in oil. I arrived back in the shower room half baked. It was then that I made the suggestion that they put a slide in between the massage rooms and the showers. One could slide right off the table and not stop until she hit the shower.

Those of you who know me know that I love a good story. And while this was a good story, it was also a wonderful day of pampering. We started with a long swim in the pool and went from there to our massages. Then it was on to manicures and pedicures and I finished off the day with a artful henna tattoo. And there was so much more available at the Imar Spa. We just didn't have enough time to enjoy it all.

These are photos I took of the swimming area at the spa. It features a great view of the beach and ocean. Muslim women swam in the pool with their abayas on for years until the lint from the abayas started clogging the filters. Now these woman are required to swim in bathing suits but they are very modest and prefer to cover whenever in public. So when the Muslim women are swimming the doors are closed to give them privacy and those of us who do not cover in traditional abayas wait for the other swimmers to finish before entering the pool area.

Lavina and I spent the day here before going to the Burj Al Arab for high tea. It was the day that I flew home and it was the perfect ending to a great vacation. Thanks Lavina!

A Mosque For Everyone

While in the UAE I saw, and heard, Mosques everywhere. The Koran requires that there is a Mosque within walking distance for every Muslim. Five times a day you can hear the Call To Prayer. This is a chanted prayer that is sent out from a loudspeaker located high in the spire of every Mosque. It is quite an honor to be the man who gets to do this chanting. Every time it is the same and it is a time for Muslims to go to the closest Mosque and pray. Many Muslims do not actually close up their businesses and leave, but instead lay their prayer cloth on the floor and kneal in prayer. And they always face Mecca. On my flight to and from the Muslim country I noticed that the movie monitors directed fliers to where Mecca was so they could pray. This first one below is the Mosque that is on the University Campus where my sister is employed. It is located in the center of the campus. The architecture of these buildings is magnificent. They are very ornate and each one has that tall spire. I wish I had seen the inside of one, but maybe on my next trip. Here are some photos of some of the other Mosques I saw in my travels.







I found it interesting how Muslims went to Mosque when the Call To Pray began. All of a sudden the streets were filled with people. Men walked on the medians between lanes of traffic and women emerged from homes and businesses and all were headed in the same direction. This is even more obvious on Friday, the Muslim Holy Day. On Fridays, there is a service 5 times a day instead of merely a time for prayer. So the Mosques are even busier on Fridays. I like to compare it to Easter and Christmas in many of our churches where people who don't take the time to come to church every Sunday make the effort to attend services on these Holidays. On Friday Lavina and I were on our way to the beach when we drove past a Mosque that was located very near the desert. I had to take a photo when I saw that parked among the newer vehicles in the shade of a big tree were some camels that had been ridden to Mosque. Now that's not something you see in the USA.

High Tea with the Queen

One of the highlights of my trip to the UAE was going to High Tea at the Burj Al Arab. This beautiful motel shaped like a sailboat is even more spectacular in person. I took this photo at dusk and it really is outstanding.

I attended High Tea at the Burj Al Arab on the 27th floor. Above it on the 28th floor is the Helipad. It's much larger than it looks. Tiger Woods played golf up there last spring! This next photo is the Jumeira Club and private beach, taken from the 27th floor. On the other side of this floor you look over the new palm shaped development but it was very cloudy with sand the day we were there so I was unable to get any good photos of that landmark.

My sister, Lavina, surprised me the day I was scheduled to leave by telling me we had reservations for high tea. The custom of high tea at this luxury motel started when Queen Elizabeth was young and would ride in the early afternoon. She would return from her ride and would be hungry so she would go into the kitchen and make herself something small to eat. She did this so she would not be caught eating between meals. She would get hungry again soon as the small amount she ate would act as an appetizer. So she would eat something tiny again. When she was finally discovered it brought her embarrassment and she decided to start having high tea every afternoon when she would return from riding. Chefs would prepare her little sandwiches and sweets and she could eat them leisurely as she wished. This custom is now one of the most lavish treats in the UAE. We started our tea with a glass of fine champagne and berries in cream. Then we were treated to finger sandwiches. The main course was beef wellington and although I live in beef country, I can honestly say I have never tasted a finer piece of beef. (It was NOT local beef as I did try that, and it was not a treat.) After the main course we were served a fresh sorbet to cleanse our palate and then warm scones with fruit jams and clotted cream. Following this course was an exquisite selection of french pastries and finally hand-crafted Petit Fours. Putting the finishing touch on the experience we selected a specialty coffee or tea. During the tea, food was constantly replenished. If we ate a certain type of finger sandwich it would be replaced by a fresh one quickly. Fancy pastries appeared instantly! I was especially impressed by the Petit Fours. Each one was a miniature work of art. They were as much fun to look at as they were to eat.

Better Late Than Never

In July of last year I had the opportunity to travel with my sister to the United Arab Emirates. She lives in Sharjah and we travelled over together and I spent 10 days with her there. The Emirates are fascinating. I could have stayed much longer as there is so much to see and so much to learn in the UAE. I'm going to share some of my trip with you but there is so much to tell that I will have to do it in pieces.

The first word that comes to mind when I think of the UAE is contrast. You see some of the richest people in the world and living right beside them are some of the poorest people in the world. The immigrant workers who make so little working for the Emiraties feel rich, as they come from impoverished lands and are thrilled to have the opportunity to make such good money. These laborers make what amounts to about $200 to $300 US Dollars a month and they are sending most of that home to pay for the care of their families. And they continue to come to this land for this opportunity from many countries. I met people from many different countries who all came to the UAE to live out a dream. A lot of these workers reach a time where they are able to bring their families to the UAE to live with them. These are workers who have better jobs, in business and education. But the majority of immigrants have service jobs and will continue to support their families from afar.

Another big contrast that I found amazing was the housing and buildings. In the UAE nearly every large building has a crane on it's roof because it's still in construction. There is some of the most modern, high tech architecture in the world at home in the Emirates. And property right beside these wonderful buildings can be run down apartment buildings and shops where the immigrants live and work. My sister lives in a wonderful modern apartment building. It has marble floors, huge windows, lots of decorative artwork in the design, and a very modern gym and indoor pool. Upon leaving the building and crossing the street you come upon run down buildings with many people living in one room apartments. Next to that can be a laundry with no ventilation and the windows all foggy from steam and worn from blowing sand, or a small grocery store with goods all crammed together tightly to allow for the most merchandise in the smallest space.

And then there is the contrast between the lavish green lawns and the dessert just miles away. While in the city I was just amazed by how green all the vast lawns were and how spectacular the large flower gardens and trees. But when driving out of the metro area it is no time at all before you are driving through desert and seeing camels walking around freely or finding cover from the hot sun and blowing sand.

I'm including some of the photos from my trip. I have many to share with you and I would have more, but that's a story for another post!

Show & Tell

In lieu of the fact that today was a very ordinary day, I will post something much more exciting from the past. I want to share some of my favorite quilts so I'll start with one that I'm very proud of. "He Is Risen" hangs at the front of my church. I designed this one by adding a few elements of stained glass windows I'd seen with some quilt elements, and then collected fabrics for over a year. It was a lot of fun. I carried a little drawing of the piece with me and every visit I made to a fabric store or a vendor booth at a quilt show, I'd search for yet another perfect piece to include in this work. The colors are all batiks with the exception of the white dove and the unique brown cross fabric. That piece I found on ebay and was thrilled to find a nice wood grain fabric that worked so well for the cross. The quilt measures approximately 60" X 80" and is quite large for a piece that hangs on the wall. But I created this specifically for the church and I knew the wall would support a piece of this size. I'm happy to share this with you and would like to make more of this stained glass type of quilt to show off in the future.