Multicultural Fresno

by Neil Woodburn on

I just got back from a weekend in Fresno, California.

Ordinarily, Fresno is a place you pass through on the way to the western side of the Sierra Nevadas. These days, however, it happens to be where my girlfriend’s mother lives and thus the weekend trip.

I’ve posted before about Fresno and how it is often ridiculed as an armpit of California by those who don’t bother to stop and check it out. Fresno is no longer the small little farming community it once was, however. The city is now nearly 500,000 strong and growing. And, as an indication that it has matured to a real city, it even has its own philharmonic.

I’m mentioning the philharmonic because while attending a show Sunday afternoon, I had one of those great multicultural moments. There I was with my Austrian born girlfriend, sitting in an American theater named after a famous Armenian writer, William Saroyan, and listening to an evening of Russian arrangements that included Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43 performed by a French-Armenian pianist named Vardan Mamikonian.

Wow, Fresno! It’s not just about growing oranges anymore!

City of Contrasts. Bite Me.

by Iva Skoch on

If I read one more time that a place X is a “place of contrasts” I am going to scream or start sending letters, depending on which side of the contrast spectrum I will find myself. Beijing has been called a “city of contrasts” by CNN, Los Angeles by PBS, St. Petersburg by The Mercury Sun, Genoa by The New York Times (Et tu, Brute?) The list goes on.

In fact, when you type in “city of contrasts” into Google, you get 113,000 hits. You get hundreds of pictures when you type in the same in Google Images. The funny thing is, most of those pictures show no contrast at all, even if the most trivial kind. Take the picture displayed. The description says: Kazan, Russia: City of Contrasts. And, where would the contrast be? The ugly houses versus the less ugly houses?

What I want to know: Is there a place on Earth that’s NOT a place of contrasts? Contrasts are everywhere – the poor and the rich, the new and the old, the beautiful and the ugly. Contrast is a given. Even my kitchen is a place of contrasts, if you examine the unwashed dishes next to the hand-cut crystal glasses.

As places start looking more gentrified and similar, travel writers will really need to get more creative. That is one good thing globalization could accomplish.

This is the Life Contest

by Erik Olsen on

We mentioned a while back a pretty cool contest by the makers of Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky wherein they offered several lucky souls $100,000 and the opportunity to travel the world. The winners would globetrot and then send back their notes, photos and such on the various places they felt were the best in the world. The idea was to find “the best that life has to offer”. One assumes each leg of the journey involved quaffing Chivas…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

According to the listing at the time, said adventurers “must be curious, intelligent, with strong writing skills and a sense of the world around them”. If that doesn’t describe a gadling reader, I don’t know what does.

Well, the winners appear to be two people named Bill and Dana, and they offer their thoughts on these best places at the site here. So what are their findings? Well, here’s a sample to make you extra-special jealous:

Taste of the Ivory Coast in the NYC

by Adrienne Wilson on

Treichville may be a neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, but it is also a restaurant in New York City, both of which I have never explored personally. However, for a sampling of the Ivory Coast and for less than half the cost one may consider swinging in for some fare. This Village Voice piece does a fine job taking us to the real Treichville by describing its bustling open-air markets, transportation terminals and nightclubs complete with French influence, yet the most African part of town. And just as quickly as the writer takes us across the Atlantic he ships us back across to the Treichville located at 339 East 118th Street, NYC where crab legs, mussels, clams, and shrimp can all be found on the menu.

From the sound of the piece it looks worth filling your tummy with a plate full. Again, I’ve never been, but if I were near by, without a question I’d be fueling up too.

Puerto Rico Island Hopping

by Iva Skoch on

From the East Coast of the US, Puerto Rico is an easy, short and cheap flight away. If you want to see the real beauty of Puerto Rico, get away from the mainland. The two islands off the east coast of PR–Culebra and Vieques–are both well worth the trip. There are no big hotels and no cruise ships, just chickens on the street and men playing cards.

If you rent a car to get around, you don’t have to drop off your rental car at an office. Just leave it parked on the street somewhere and they’ll find it (no kidding). But best just to walk or bike the islands, though, to enjoy the pace of life. And don’t forget to go swimming at night under their pitch-black skies, to experience the bioluminescent plankton in the water.

Getting there is half the fun, especially if you decide to take the island hopper plane run by Air Flamenco. It only costs about $50 and takes about 30 minutes. Sure, it is a little bumpy and the fact that the pilots look about 18 does not make one feel particularly safe (and don’t mind the red, flashing “STALL” warning light on the dashboard as you’re coming in for a landing), but seeing all the miniature “Robinson Crusoe” islands in the blue Caribbean sea from a bird’s perspective is a much better (and faster) option that taking the ferry. Try it at least one way.