For many many years visitors to the islands of Hawaii have had to restrict themselves to just a few of numerous
islands in the chain. Everyone known Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii, and most know Kauai. But who has heard of
Lanai, let alone stayed there? The islands of Lanai for years and years was the location of the Dole pineapple
plantation. But now, as this International Herald
Tribune piece reports, they’ve built several high end resorts there so that you can wake up and smell the pineapple
and then head out to the links to golf 18 on one of the lesser visited islands in the state. As the article
states, it ain’t cheap. These are mostly big time exclusive resorts. But it does have an allure, taking you perhaps as
close to an island paradise as you’re doing to find in the Ol US of A (because remember, Hawaii is a state).
Thai Food on Google Video
Interesting what you find when you do a search for travel
on Google video. A random search came up with this pretty incely done (if you shrinnk the window a bit)
video about Thai food.
Nicely shot, and informative, you not only see Thai food being prepared (OK, that’s no big deal), but you get
lessons on how to order it the way it is meant to be: pet pet, or hot as hell. I’ll be checking out Google
video more often, and yan down what tidbits I think are cool.
World’s Best Bars
My searches to find some of the best dance clubs around the planet somehow led me to this site
featuring the world’s best bars. Could google have been lost in translation?
World’s Best Bars (WBB) appears to be a pretty top-notch site for
regulars and travelers with genuine interests in cool pubs and lounges. Often times I’ll run across a snippet
with little feedback from people like you and me, but the registered users at WBB make sure to give their thumbs up or
down.
Drop is the featured bar of the month. Located in Hong Kong, the place is said to be quite trendy catering to
both the regular elite crowd and a curious traveler or two from Amsterdam. Everyone seems to experience a
little attitude at the door, but if you can get pass the heart-felt welcome into Drop you’re bound to enjoy the
drinks. World’s Best Bars has been gathering great and so-so feedback on the location as far back as 2001. At this
point it’s up to you. To Drop or not to Drop?
C&Z Traveling French Food Fest
Even if you are not a super foodie, you may enjoy reading the wonderful world of Clotilde Dusoulier, on her food blog Chocolate and Zucchini. All year long Clotilde serves up the tastiest recipes from her home in Paris. And because the source of where each ingredient comes from is so integral to her cooking descriptions, I often feel as if I’m reading a niche travel blog as well. She provides wonderful details about the origins and history of all sorts of edible goodies. The travel tone is especially strong this month, as Clotilde posts about her recent vacation to south-west France. For the past two weeks, she’s been sharing fantastic travel/food tales each day about a particular variety of chocolat, pepper, or cheese tasted along the way. Her Travelling Gourmande archive is another great place to browse for wonderful travel food writing, and includes links to her trip to NYC earlier this year.
Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize
I’m going to guess that you have never heard of Garifuna Settlement Day. Come on, be honest! OK, maybe one or two of you know it because you did a trip to Belize way back when. Well good for you. That’s one of the reasons we travel, isn’t it? To learn about stuff like Garifuna Settlement Day. Well this November 19, just a few days away, marks the date that the Garifune people of Belize arrived in the area in 1802. Descended from African slaves who were shipwrecked off St. Vincent around 1635, the Garifunas mixed with the native Caribbean Indians there and now theymake up about 8 percent of the current population of Belizeans. But they have a culture of their own that is rich and varied, and that culture is on display during this event. As you might imagine that means ample music, food, traditional dress, all in a lovely locale reknowned for some of the best diving in the world.