Step back in time in Peru’s Ollantaytambo

by Kraig Becker on

In the heart of the Peru’s Sacred Valley, 60 miles to the northwest of Cusco, sits a city whose history dates back to before the 15th century. Ollantaytambo was built by the Emperor Pachacuti after he conquered the area, and the ruins of his ancient palace still dominate the landscape.

Today, Ollantaytambo is a destination that continues to be a draw to adventure travelers who come to Peru to trek the Inca Trail or visit Machu Picchu. The city offers access to some great trails of its own, and mountain biking, white water rafting, and rock climbing are just a few of the other activities that visitors can enjoy.

But the real draw to the city are the ancient ruins which often serve as a warm up for Machu Picchu. Many travelers make day trips to Ollantaytambo to acclimatize to the altitude, (the city sits at just over 9000 feet) and wander the cobblestone streets past the Fotress on Temple Hill and up the terraced mountainside. They take in the Temple of the Sun, which is impressive despite the fact that it was never completed, and they explore the nearby quarries where the Incans mined the stone that would be used in the construction process of the royal estate.

To find out more about Ollantaytambo, check out this article from CNN.com. The story has more details on the the items I wrote about above, as well as thoughts on where to eat while in town, where to catch the train to Machu Picchu, and more. If you’re heading to Peru, don’t miss out on this gem in the Sacred Valley.

Into Dakar: An introduction to cultural interaction

by Grant Martin on

As a travel writer, it’s almost cliché to say that a particular culture has the “most friendly, welcoming people in the world.” In truth, it’s easy to be see altruism and warmth when in that culture-hungry state of mind – even if it’s not at the surface, the brain interprets what it wants to find.

Alternatively, consider the Senegalese in this way: they take greetings and pleasentries to a whole new level outside of the empty cordialities of another country. It’s all illustrated in their greetings. Where many in other countries kiss cheeks four times, or mutter a “good day,” the locals here shake hands. Emphatically. Not among friends or colleagues, mind you, but preceding any physical presence.

One enters into a conversation or setting, for example, by shaking hands with everyone and opening with a “Ça va?” or “How are things?” Depending on the familarity between each pair, handshakes get more complicated and include fist bumps, hand slaps and all sorts of exagerrated motions. Put two large groups together and introductions can take a while.

Children pick up the habit from a young age, grazing hands with those they pass and wandering off in one single, dreamy motion, as if it’s programmed into their DNA. On the street, if a taxi driver is outside of his vehicle you shake his hand, exchange greetings and begin to negotiate prices. It’s almost a cordial declaration of war.

In a more formal environment, walking into a business, for example, one opens with the Wolof “Salama le’koum” or roughly “Peace be upon you,” to which you’ll always receive an “Upon you be peace.”

As a toubab (Wolof for “white person”) in Dakar, one is treated with respect, just like any member of the community. Notwithstanding the adaptation to non-western amenities, the most trouble that a tourist might have is in braving the markets and in negotiating taxis.

Like in many developing countries, market vendors are aggressive and a toubab will pay a fortune if bartering isn’t aggressive in kind. A pair of plastic sandals that should cost $3, for example, starts at $30 in the marketplace, while wooden trinkets advertised at $20 should cost less than $5. Similarly, taxi drivers (especially from the airport) will try to charge outrages prices for journeys across the city.

Bantering with prices is a way of life in Dakar though, and just like a visitor, locals have to argue for fair value as well. Once one gets used to the system, knows the proper price and sticks to it, the bartering system becomes a simple daily routine, and the faster one acclimates to it, the faster one can become comfortable in the culture. Only after crossing this line, integrating with the culture and really soaking in the way of life in Senegal does one really then start to appreciate this wonderful place.

Dim Sum Dialogues: Chinese Tea

by Stephen Greenwood on

One of my only objectives this weekend was to write an article about traditional Chinese tea. I had been entertaining visions of myself walking down a dark side street in Central and discovering an old wooden tea house guarded by an ancient man with a long wispy beard. I would then bow with respect or give him a secret handshake that would allow me inside access to a tea that the man had just spent hours brewing – and I imagine that it would be the most fragrant and refreshing tea I’ve ever tasted.

So I asked some of my local friends where I could go to get some proper tea, and the most popular response was “well…there’s a tea museum in Central park”…but the recommendations for drinking tea in a traditional tea-house were few & far between. I ended up going to the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (which is now undergoing renovations) to find out more. Although they had a nice collection of 17th century utensils, the overall exhibit was more disappointing than the realization that my vision of ancient men brewing special recipes from long expired dynasties would not materialize.
And I suppose that this is the story of Hong Kong. The practices of conventional Chinese culture have in many ways been paved over by a hybrid east-meets-west society that bears a significant amount of influence from western nations. Sure, the streets of Kowloon and Sheung Wan are still home to the conventional wet markets and local men that sit in the vast recreational parks playing mahjong with their shirts off. It will be generations before this Hong Kong disappears. But simple things like food, fashion sense, and popular culture are a sort of mash-up, resulting in a product that is perhaps unique to Hong Kong.

The formalities of ancient tea preparation have been forgotten for the more relaxed and casual style found in dim-sum restaurants. The term Yum cha (飲茶), or “drinking tea” in Cantonese is primarily used as a verb to describe the act of going out to eat dim sum, showing just how closely tied the act of drinking tea has become to this style of food. In many of these restaurants it’s possible to be served teas like jasmine, chrysantheumum, and oolong – but the preparation is no special ritual. It would be uncommon for people in Hong Kong to only go out for tea, and instead most people would go out for “one bowl of tea – and two pieces of dim sum” (盅兩件) .

One of the most interesting traditions of tea that has evolved in Hong Kong is “milk-tea”. The British colonists that ruled Hong Kong for over 150 years brought with them the age-old habit of afternoon black tea, served with milk. If you’ve ever spent an extensive amount of time in England, then you know that a good cup of tea with milk is the lifeblood of the English. This tradition caught on, and evaporated milk began to replace the regular milk customarily mixed with several black teas at once, giving the tea a rich and creamy taste.

In modern Hong Kong, people drink milk tea with breakfast, lunch, or dinner – and take it hot when the weather favors it, or with ice cubes when the humidity of the summer is unbearable. The signs of a good cup of milk tea are found in how smooth and full-bodied it is, or if it leaves a white residue on the lip of the cup after a sip has been drunk. This is probably the most common type of tea that you’ll find across restaurants in Hong Kong, and definitely worth a try.

If I didn’t know the history behind things like milk-tea, it would be easy to assume that it grew out of a Chinese practice. But the more I try to dissect what makes Hong Kong special, I’m beginning to see just how many cultures have contributed to make this city a multi-cultural melting pot (or rice cooker) that’s slowly developing an identity of it’s own.

Five crazy Parisians

by Tom Johansmeyer on

You never know what you’ll see when you hit the streets of Paris. From performers to beggars to local strange, there’s an endless supply of color. Everyone has a Paris story, I’m sure, involving the bizarre. So, definitely add yours to the comments below. I’ll kick the process off with five of my favorite crazy Parisians.

1. The “Bosnians”
If you’ve been to any major attractions in Paris, you’ve seen them. Clad in a flowing skirt and headscarf, the woman approaches you, asking, “Do you speak English?” Then, she unfolds an index card with a sob story about escaping from Bosnia. Reply to them in rapid French (even if your accent and vocabulary suck, as mine do), and they’ll give up easily. Early in the morning, you can see dozens of them gathered in front of Gare du Nord, as if there’s about to be a shift change. That’s the beauty of France: even the beggars seem to be unionized.

2. The Nursing Student and Bride
This is one person, actually. A young lady needed money for her upcoming honeymoon, so her fellow nursing students dressed her up and paraded her through the Latin Quarter. I just had to give her a few Euros, even if only for the performance. This was much more entertaining than the brides-to-be wearing sashes and giggling as they enter the porn shops on Eighth Ave in New York.

%Gallery-67868%

3. The Frightened American
When you’re lost, running late or have any other question, you rehearse in your head what you play to say – I do, at least – and unleash it on the most sympathetic-looking local while trying to sound like a pro. I found my target and cut loose. He looked scared and slowly pushed the cuff of his sleeve back to reveal his watch. The poor guy had hoped I was asking the time.

4. The Openly Intimate
Another young lady, to honor her favorite fairy tale writer, brought her bed onto Place des Abbesses in Montmartre. Like the writer, she wanted to “share her intimacy” (not in that way, sicko). You could kick off your shoes and hang out in bed with her for a while. Definitely strange, but it was an interesting concept.

5. The People Drawn to the Openly Intimate
Yeah, these drunks were real weirdoes. Unsurprisingly, Ms. Shared Intimacy packed up her bed and left by midnight.

New York’s High Line Park stories

by Annie Scott on

In case you haven’t heard the hype, New York City had an abandoned, above-ground train track running from the Meatpacking District to Hell’s Kitchen. The historical track (authroized back in 1847) was going to be torn down, until some smart folks figured out how to save it: Make it a park.

The last train ran the track in the 1980s. A Chelsea resident and railroad enthusiast Peter Obletz worked hard to get the trains up and running again (in vain, but he was in part responsible for keeping the tracks from being torn down), but it was a group called Friends of the High Line, started by Joshua David and Robert Hammond in 1999, which finally found a way to save the High Line tracks for good. All they had to do was convince the city to make it into a protected park. They conducted a study in 2002 which proved that “New tax revenues created by the public space will be greater than the costs of construction.” Bingo!

One thing led to another, and then in 2003, a big Designing the High Line competition was held to figure out how to make the best use of the tracks. The winning design came from by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Their orginal designs were displayed at MoMa in 2005, and you can view the final designs here.

Completion is finally underway, and the first section, running from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened last month to the public! What’s it like? Well, it’s certainly unlike any park I’ve ever visited. But why listen to me yammer on about it when you can listen to Kevin Bacon, Diane Von Furstenberg and Ethan Hawke?

The Sundance Channel, as part of their “Online Only Orignal Content” series, has a collection of videos of public figures talking about the High Line called High Line Stories. You can watch Kevin’s commentary above, and click here to see the rest.