Travel into making

GoCar Go…

2010-10-05T17:21:00.000+03:00

Ended up in Barcelona, Spain for the third time around, not knowing what else was there for me to see? Fortunately, one night we got invited to a French lamb leg dinner at some crazy Americans, who also turned out to be enamored with all Romanian things. We started our dinner with an American southern style prayer, got interrupted by Spanish neighbors (for noise obviously), and ended up with Romanian history tales. Therefore, we shared some good wine, some common sense, memories, ideas, and jokes, and thus became friends. This is what you get by living a Globalized life!

This is also how I met my new travel date to Barcelona – P. of R. – an American HBS grad student, taking advantage of a summer vacation through Europe before the MBA chores were about to start in fall. Being two decently traveled tourists eager to experience a different BCN, we decided to ditch the public transportation and the double decker in favor of a small, bright yellow, convertible, three wheels scooter/moped like, loud GPS accompanied vehicle, which promised to bring us the fun we were missing in Barcelona...

Meet the GoCar – our small “Lamborghini” for the day:

The fabulous GoCar

It normally holds no more than two people, has an incorporated tour guide voice with the GPS, which happened to have a British accent that day, and was able to take us around the city’s turistic routes and on one off the map extreme excursion. We started in Plaça Catalunya, went down Via Laietana to Rambla del Mar and the harbor area. Due to the “petit” dimensions of our means of transportation we were fortunate enough to find free parking, take a walk in the sun, visit the aquarium, and have lunch. We circled the Colon three times, until the copilot finally figured the roundabout and why Columbus is not pointing towards the Americas^*; then took the way up to Montjuïc.

On hill Montjuïc we took advantage of the free parking for the “Beast” and emerged into the Hispanic art and culture at Joan Miró Foundation, at the 1992 Olympic facilities, at the impressive MNAC (National Museum of Catalonian Art) which grandiosely overlooks Plaça d’España and a good side of the city. Here is where we crossed paths with our new friends – the supporters of Atlético de Madrid soccer team.

Atlético de Madrid was meeting Seville’s team in the final of the King’s Cup soccer championship that day. Therefore, in the old Spanish tradition, the supporters were out on the streets of Barcelona since noon, sporting their favorite team’s jerseys and cheering on tourists. From the stairs of MNAC to the esplanade, to the Magic Fountains and all the way down to Plaça España there were only white and red striped people singing in the sun.

Esplanade of MNAC

Well, it happens that our next objective, set off our touristic map, in the hills of IESE business school, was en route to Camp Nou – the war theater for that nights’ confrontation. So, our trip was filled with supporters than made us feel like superstars, taking pictures of/with us, cheering, singing, smiling and yelling at us. The 45 minutes ride from Plaça España to Camp Nou was filled with laughter, photo shots, amiable conversations and that feeling of belonging to something bigger.

Unfortunately, our friends lost…

^* Christopher Columbus’ statue (Colón) rises 60m above the Southern most end of Las Ramblas depicting the explorer pointing towards the [Mediterranean] Sea/east and not towards the New World, because he is actually pointing towards Italy, where the finances for the expedition came from.

To the heart of México

2010-04-10T12:11:00.000+03:00

At 9am on a November Sunday, when the city was not awake yet, my cab stopped in front of the airport. Sunglasses on top of my head and a smile on my lips, I started walking with light and fast steps, wheeling a small, pink suitcase behind me… full with skimpy little summer clothes and bathing suits. Yeah! I see you smiling… I stopped in front of the AeroMéxico desk greeting in Spanish my dear Christian, at duty much earlier than me. Chris is the roommate of the ex-boyfriend of the girl that my sister shared an apartment with during her study abroad year in Barcelona, Spain, and whom we’ve found in San Diego, CA a few years latter. Now, he was the one that took care of the details for my trip, way south of the border, to his home country.

An hour later I was already in seat 1A, Business Class this time, with a glass of jugo de naranja in my hand, browsing through a presentation magazine for Mexico and curiously waiting to meet my travel companion. Unluckily, I’ve got the most annoying, impolite and blunt traveler equipped with a combo of Dorobanţi Blvd. pair of shoes and the breath of a very long night in Gaslamp District. Thanks Heavens, he felt a sleep as soon as the plane took off! So, I could admire in silence the identical image I saw on maps, now in front of my eyes, of the city/port of San Diego while the plane left Lindbergh Field … and two hours later, when we landed in Los Cabos, the one of the pick of Baja California dipping in the perfect turquoise of the Pacific.

Cabos turned out to be a short stop, good enough to get into the atmosphere and to get the Mexican stamp on the passport. Everybody that works in the airport is extremely kind. Amazingly, the laziness and the Latino calm didn’t seam to annoy behind the genuine smiles. There was no track of disgust like in Tijauna, in this oasis at the end of the desert, but only elegance and good will.

The second part of the trip to Mexico City brought me a Belcalian-type^*of trip companion. A chatty guy, between ages, who pretended to be a lawyer, owner of the Cruz Azul football team, linked to a few high end hotels and involved in concrete businesses in Mexico. What can I say?! too much information for a two hours flight. Anyways, before we landed in the capital I already had enough details about the city as well as the phone number of my companion, along with the invitation to fly with his helicopter to the concrete plant and hotels at the Pacific coast… whereas I was headed to the opposite direction.

... I was heading to a city full of history, culture, people with different features and pasts, dust, cars... life. The exploration started in a car full of noisy and happy girls reunited after four years. One was driving, another was playing the guide, and I was snapping pictures of a city always moving. Switched from English to Spanish, which I surprisingly manage very well! In the sound of our intertwined voices we left the Benito Juárez airport, passed the outskirts of the city and headed to Paseo de la Reforma – the bulevard that divides the capital Ciudad de México.

Before arriving here, all I had in mind were the independence angel statue and the other huge flag similar to the one in Tijuana. But, driving through Plaza de las Tres Culturas I learned that in México (the local name for the city), actually three cultures are traditionally melting: the pre-Columbian, the Spanish and the Mexican one, resulted from the first two. One can find here Tenochtitlan temples, ruines of Spanish conquistadors, and political parties’ modern buildings. No wonder this is the city with most muzeeums in the world, and largest quantity of culture per capita.

We circled the downtown framed by Paseo de la Reforma, Alemada Park and the central square. It is incredible how many cultural elements can be found at every step. The entire square is surrounded by Spanish architecture buildings which serve as ministers’ offices nowadays. Others are just breathing art. Casa de los Azulejos or the “house of tiles” is a restaurant of an almost European beauty, rich in culture and history, older than the Mexican revolution. Palacio de Bellas Artes built in art nouveau style is ‘la piece de resistance’ of the historical downtown. I had never seen it before in any of my friends’ pictures. I didn’t know anything about it and therefore it became the first reason to return to México City. The building deserves to be discovered entirely – as a lyric theatre, as a permanent art collection, as a host of Rivera’s work, and as the Museum of National Architecture of Mexico. In the center of the square, raises the proud twin of the flag I saw in Tijuana – one of the largest and tallest examples of national pride. Having in mind the dimensions of the other one and the impact it provokes when saw even from the US land, compared to the immensity of the central square that seams to mirror the immensity of Mexico itself, the grandeur sadly disappeared… However, the place still has that vibe of a meeting place for youngsters like Piccadilly Circus in London, St Michel in Paris, Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona or University Square home...

Following the traffic on Paseo de la Reforma we finally saw the towering column of the independence angel, the symbol of the capital. Rolling down to the park/forest Bosque de Chapultepec, the prime water resource of the Aztecs in the past and the main fresh air resource of Mexicans today – the Center park-like green oasis offers the chance to change the stereotype against Mexico as a third world country to a modern one with a envied civilization. The park hosts castles, gardens, monuments, artesian fountains, museums, royal hunting areas, a zoo, a lake, restaurants, and recreation spots.

As night felt, we left the busy downtown for the outskirts of San Ángel si Cayoacán. The artist Diego Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo lived in San Ángel, and because of their impact the town became historical monument of Mexico. In Cayoacán I was to spend the evening and night before my Mayan experience. Here is where the artist transformed in popular feminine hero, Frida Kahlo was born and died. Here is where we walked through typical Mexican bazaars with sugary fruits, traditional delights, souvenirs, parks and terraces filled with people even in the late hours of night. Still, what surprised me the most was the fact that the mass at Iglesia de San Juan Bautista – the main cathedral – was still on, that Sunday night, even after 7pm…

I ended the night in my friends’ living room, learning how to drink tequila Mexican style, as a medical remedy and without morning repercussions.

^* Gigi Becali is a controversial Romanian EU Parliament member, an “urban character”, who owns the Steaua Bucuresti soccer team and some real estate business. However, as his base profession he is a shepherd.

Mãrţişor

2010-03-01T06:13:00.000+02:00

Mãrţişor is the traditional Romanian celebration of first day of spring (March 1). This is the moment when we all wake up to life from the long winter – and for me, is the moment when good things start happening in my existence. It is like this every year!

Maybe the blood of my ancestors – Romans and Thracians – is still flowing in my veins. They also celebrated the Gods of agriculture, vegetation and land on this day. Since then, women or men (but I prefer women) wear this red and white string for the first week of March, to bring them good luck, power and health for the year to come.

This is a beautiful tradition, which I proudly pursued every year, wherever I found myself...

When back home, I would receive little funny talismans from class mates. Later on, growing up, dad would give us a jewel and the first Snowdrops of spring. Year by year, I would wear this every day until March 8 – Mother/Women’s Day… when other jewels were about to come...

When Bucharest, I would start wearing the red and white Mãrţişor string around my neck – as a sign of independence… - that's how I met Dodo.

When Paris, I would receive a string from home, in a little package, picked up from Galliéni bus station in the middle of the night…

When Barcelona, I would email a picture of Snowdrops, to enrich the spring feeling…

When Honolulu, spring was nothing like what I used to know… it was summer! We went to the beach on March 1. Mãrţişor was there, but nobody knew it. It was impossible to find any Snowdrops or any other spring flowers… at best I couldn’t dream of Hyacinths leis, but there were none …

When San Diego, it became more unconventional... In a place where people still didn’t know about this tradition, the colors of the string became more personal and special, but still there was a difference in mood from how people feel back home.

Snowdrops and the miracle of new life is all I want…

Who knows where next Mãrţişor will find me?...

Happy spring!!

Bellagio - Just like a dream

2010-02-25T19:25:00.001+02:00

I felt in love with Bellagio, in Las Vegas, NV the first time I gazed over its gracious singing and dancing fountains… and ever since I longed to explore more of it and desired to enjoy its amenities. My wish came true for the first time in Nov 2009, which also coincided with my big thank you trip to the Sin City for my parents.

After spending an unpleasant weekend at a different hotel I decided to move my family for our last night in this gorgeous location. Bellagio became my favorite attraction on my first visit to Vegas and since dreamed of being able to stay in its lush rooms. Surprisingly, Heaven has rates for regular people, too.

On the official website I found that Sundays have extremely low rates (almost half off) and that by calling the reservation office and by prepaying the reservation you can secure even a LOWER rate. Of course, the offer comes with restrictions – the reservation is unchangeable or impossible to cancel without losing your money, but hey!, who would cancel on such a beautiful place?!?!?...

We moved from the previous hotel at 11am, so the Bell Desk at Bellagio was kind enough to hold our luggage until check-in. Knowing the interminable lines at leading hotels front desks in LV, I attempted to avoid the hassle by delaying the moment of getting our keys, by continuing exploring the Strip. We toured of the property, first.

After watching amazing representations of the fountain’s show over the day and dusk, while listening to various artists – from the New York Philharmonic to Elton John, Madonna, Faith Hill, and Elvis Presley – we toured the impressive ground floor. Stepping through the main doors it’s impossible to miss the extreme attention to details. The legendary “B” is encrusted everywhere: in ashtrays’ sand, on door knobs, windows, elevator doors, souvenirs, coffee cups, candies. The refurbished lobby has beautiful flower arrangements mirroring Dale Chihuly’s ceiling sculpture of 2,000
dynamic hand-blown glass flowers. The casino who recently received a face lift offers a new color integrated palette, coordinated with the entire concept of the resort. Next, the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens amaze through the passionate display of nature and the work of 140 horticulturists in every season. Fall’s best treasured decorations were on display during our visit – a scarecrow, giant pumpkins, talking trees, immense glass leaves, rainy forest, and unexpected flower arrangements. Across this magical land, raises the one of Jean Philippe patisserie. This one has $6 European style deserts, along with fresh made on the spot crapes, and a breath taking
chocolate fountain display awarded with the Guinness World Records. Continuing the exploration, a spa, a bar and convention rooms follow the long lobby that circles the pool area. Coffee tables with arm chairs and inviting sofas are displayed along the lobby, in front of the tall windows with heavy curtains, overlooking the a series of pools, cabanas and long chairs through the enclosed sunny area. With every step admiration grew for this place and the masterminds behind all creation. It felt like I was in my own little wonderland. No wonder it was hard to leave for the inquest of other attractions of the city.

We returned long after dark, rather late in the evening, maybe around 9pm, after a long day in the city to register at the Front Desk. However, my plan of avoiding unnecessary waste of minutes after millions of tourists to gain access to my room didn’t work and I still ended up in line for 20 minutes. Nothing was rushing me and I actually enjoyed being in that wonderful lobby. Then the amazing agent, despite my incredible low rate, and without even asking, checked us in a room at the 21st
floor, with a fountain view!! I was happy, surprised and excited all together when he started explaining how to navigate through the resort in order to reach my room. I guess the policy is: if occupancy is low anyway, at least let’s make our guests happy. And it worked!!!! We were delighted to discover impeccable service everywhere around the hotel, as well as our enormous room with an almost similar size bathroom, exquisite amenities, and wonderful view over the fountains. With floating steps we reached the smashing silver doors elevators where a hotel attended asked us politely to show our room key for up stairs access.

Up on the floor I noticed that the music from the fountains resonates inside the hotel hallways as a perfectly integrated system. Inside the room, on the same note as the entire resort, everything was Spartan – the bathroom, his/her sinks, the shower, the beds, the windows... Oh! and on channel 21 on TV you can also hear the music of the fountain shows.

What really surprised me was to discover that Bellagio still has turn down service – something I did not see in a very long time in hotels. Therefore there was chocolate on the pillows… and fluffy they all were.

As we had an early flight, I was extremely happy to take advantage of the express check out box and not deal with the hassle of waiting again at the Front Desk.

Impossible to miss, the Bellagio lays at:

3600 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, NV 89109

What happens in Vegas…

2010-02-09T08:43:00.001+02:00

Attention: This is a spoiler of the wonders of Las Vegas, NV.

Over three years ago I had to change planes in the Las Vegas airport. Back then I thought that if I'd ever visit LV I will be horrified by the falseness of the resorts that imitate among others impressive cities of the world – New York, Venice, Paris, etc. And... as life went on..., it came a time when I didn't get to visit the city once, but two times – in October and November 2009. First time I flew to Vegas, second time I drove, and both times I was fascinated by the unexpected appearance. I found myself more and more fascinated, while arriving, with the luminous image that laid in front of my eyes, at sunset – when LV actually wakes up –, and it continued to make me smile as I took my steps out of the plane into the terminal where I was welcomed by slot machines!!!..., on to the streets, shops, hotels, and casinos… This admiration was about to grow with every step, until the moment the plane took off again. So much, that it made me wanna return.

My trip to Vegas couldn't be anything, but some sort of field trip to admire hotels, shops, and the human genius that made this real – tfter all, the greatest pleasures of my life (giving the fact that you cannot speak about culture here…). Therefore, as soon as I arrived at the hotel and checked-in, my friends took me on a convertible Mustang and drove to the Strip (a.k.a. the Las Vegas Blvd.). We stroll down the street while I was fighting with one hand with the inevitable wind [that was blowing my hair away], and with the other with the camera, bubbling with excitement and snapping pictures of those famous hotels I read in books and websites about for so many years... Aaaah, this is the way any arrival in Vegas: drive, especially at night, from one end to the other of the Strip - it is a Show on its own!

All I wanted to see first was the Bellagio fountains' show. So, that's where we stopped. And there, looking over the fountains and over the Las Vegas Blvd. to Paris resort I remained astonished at what human force and especially financial power can do out of nothing. The Paris Las Vegas represents a Eiffel Tower of 20 stories (so, not a perfect replica) built over a building that looks like the Latin Quarter's buildings, next to Palais Elyssée and the Arc de Triumph.

Yes! everything at a replica level, but a very good one! This is what impressed me the most, my aha! moment – the amount of work used for some replicas of some truly amazing masterpieces built in a relatively small space(!) through inside everything seams built at gigantic scales and even more grandiose in the night's lights. Not really the falseness I was expecting, when I was wondering why these people would choose to come here rather than seeing the real Paris.

NOTE: Las Vegas has mainly hotels with a specific theme where everything gravitates around that theme. Plus, all hotels include shopping gallerias and casinos. The later being the local economy engine, while all the other facilities become amenities. The crowd is mixed and anybody, indifferent of the provenience is treated at the highest rank of hospitality. Another amazing thing is the pampering the guests receive here – free parking, free monorail from one resort to another, local bus that runs 24 hours, casinos open 24 hours, malls that are designed to keep you inside forever...

The Las Vegas Blvd. starts with Mandalay Bay. Mandalay in reality is a beautiful place which use to be the last royal capital of

Burma

. Therefore, all statues in the Mandalay hotel in LV look like Asian dragon-dogs, all entrances seam to be temples, and you can see even waterfalls with luxuriant vegetation in the gardens... This is also the home of a giant shark reef aquarium ($16.95) and to Disney's Lion King Broadway show. I toured the lobby, passed through the casino, and the shops which form a passage that leads to the next hotel.

Luxor ...was built in an Egyptian style, black shaped pyramid that covers the tallest atrium lobby in the world. In other words, when stepping out of a room guests have the entire lobby at their feet no matter what floor they are staying at. Inside, of course, stand Egyptians columns, tombs keeper dogs, and stone walls that resemble the real pyramids. Details go as far as the door knobs shaped as pyramids. The exit takes you through the Sphinx paws to the suspended monorail stop, which rides to the next hotel.

Excalibur ... was obviously built as a Medieval Castle and has a knights and ladies type of theme. However, the finished product, with splashy colors and reduced dimensions makes it look more like a Lego job than a trip to the dark ages. I avoided it, as I found it tacky, tasteless and annoying, unfitted for this place. Therefore, I crossed another suspended pedestrian bridge, that helps avoiding traffic on the boulevard, and stopped at the next attraction.

New York, New York ...inspires bad taste at first sight and the strongest feeling that Vegas is fake, raising questions about the people that chose to come here instead of stretching the finance a little bit and visit the real NY or the real Paris or the real Venice... Still the details impressed me – here also, details of NYC go all the way to the door knobs, or souvenirs, or typical food, ethnic influences, just like in the city... Another must of this resort is the newest Cirque du Solei show, Zumanity or the newest club in town, Rok. We kicked it at the Irish pub, which really felt like somewhere else!

From here I crossed the next pedestrian bridge and found myself in front of a long lost love – MGM Grant. This hotel still holds the yardstick in the industry. It is the hotel we learned about in college books, the one I first saw from the skies before I landed in Vegas, and the one that probably was well outperformed by other resorts in Dubai or Macao. The property has over 5000 rooms, is the home of Cirque du Solei shows, the new Studio 54 which copies the one in NY, and even of a lions habitat. It is huge and the services reach impressive levels, as there is even a limos only parking!!

Out on the street, shops and markets are aligned; where by far the most attractive is the M&M's World store who manages to open the door to fantasy. Next hotel worth visiting is Planet Hollywood, mainly because here lays the first decent prices mall – Miracle Mile – spread over a mile of shops, attractive deals, plus a ceiling painting like the sky, and completed with lights and sounds that imitate the out doors (thunder, rain or dusk).

In front of it, just across the Strip there's Bellagio (which is the name of small town in the north of Italy by Lake Como). Bellagio is amazing, and the fountain show is impressive day or night! Inside, the lobby exceeded all expectations and surprised because of the unique ceiling sculpture in the shape of suspended glass flowers by Dale Chihuly. Another attraction of the lobby is the Conservatory, decorated for fall holidays with huge pumpkins, talking trees and unusual flower arrangements (chrysanthemums, wild mint and chilies)...

Turning around I noticed this is where people stopped exploring and taking picture..., but not me! I continued walking by Jean Philippe the chocolate shop, where melted chocolate is displayed on a real life fountain based on communicating vessels principles, awarded in the past with the Guinness World Records. I kept walking the hallway that circles an interior courtyard with pools, cabanas, gazebos, statues, and fountains all influenced by the Italian style, and all built with raw materials from this same name small town. Along the tall windows with long heavy curtains I found coffee tables and armchairs just ready to have guests sipping warm drinks in winter or refreshing ones in the summer gazing to the grandiose garden.

Walking through the sparkling shopping galleria one crosses into Caesars Palace – a Rome themed hotel. Allot of buildings, a Forum, showrooms, restaurants, casino, shops, long hallways resembling the ones in the greatest world's museums, with pictures of Roman gods like in the Louver, and painted ceilings like in the Vatican take guests into a different mood. At a crossroad there is even a real life replica of the Michelangelo’s statue of David from Florence. But what makes your breath stop is the pool... immensely large, with a massive fountain in the middle of it!! and statues that raise from the water like the fountains of Versailles. Stunning were the lavishing flat sun bathing beds of a queen size dimension lying around the pools. Forget about cabanas!...

The Venetian... lies across the Strip, and as the name announces it depicts an almost ridiculous Venice, Italy theme resort. It is an opulent copy of the main attractions of the lagoon city – piazza San Marco, the gondolas, the channel, the Rialto Bridge and the dodges' palace all together. Stepping in you're amazed by the painted ceilings typical to Italian museum, the columns, or by the Grand Canale Galleria which has a sparkling clean water and a sky-like painted ceiling where you can stroll in a gondola through the indoor channel, along the top designers boutiques.

The hotel lobby is the fair copy of the dodges' palace, transpiring a Louver or Vatican feeling – ceilings' paintings, golden columns, marble on the floors, massive chandeliers, murals... Even the valet parking canopy has Renascence ceiling paintings!

Next is Treasure Island – a “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme resort. Amazingly kitschy, the resort is the home of Mystère Cirque du Solei show, as well as the less attractive children inappropriate Sirens of TI – a waste of the front water pool and two massive sailors and pirates' battleships. The only remarkable reuse of the pirates’ ship comes to Christian Audigier's club (designer Ed Hardy's real name) where the club's terrace opens on the ship's deck.

Walking away from ti leads to the Fashion Show Mall, one of the great attractions in LV. This is the better sister of Ala Moana, just because it has something rare in US – a mix of American and European brands under the same roof.

Where I stop was the Wynn Hotel is an easy one. There is nothing too complicated on this resort. There is a general flow, a freshness, a breath of clean air everywhere. The exterior has a nice oval shape. The white ceiling and floor are completed with gold flowers, and the lobby with fresh flower bowls.

I finished my walk on the Strip at this end. The alternative to a tour bus or a long walk of the Las Vegas Blvd. was recommended by a witty concierge lady as the Deuce - the covered double decker city bus that links the Stratosphere to the outlet malls at the southern end of the city. This bus rides non stop, mainly along the Strip, for a 24hrs pass of $7 and offers a reliable, cheap and comfortable transportation.

Impressions on LV are still fuzzy. I tried to avoid the kitsch and appreciate only the impressionability force and imagination of humans who built a new word out of nothing. Still! the thing that impressed me the most was the level of hospitality of this industry. I heard repeatedly that LV is the place to toughen your skin as a tourism professional, because this place demands everything to the impossible. Thus, absolutely anybody that comes here is treated with the kindness and the respect of a five diamonds resort*.

* There is no hotels and resorts global standard classification, but in North America AAA offers diamonds to luxury properties, not stars.

Off season tourism

2010-02-01T23:54:00.003+02:00

It is not a new concept, but it seams to be the ideal traveling mode, good for both industry and tourists – the off season tourism. It also seams to speak mainly to the experimented tourists, who travels independently and organize the itinerary according to personal wishes, needs, finances, and interests. However, it doesn’t exclude the tourists that prefer to contract the services of travel agents. Though the ones that travel off season seam not to be so limited or hype, compared to the ones that travel especially during holidays and through the summer months of each year.

Adopting off season tourism brings some benefits. Travel agents, airlines and hotels have incredibly attractive sales during down season, that help saving for other guilty pleasures. Living in noisy cities triggers a huge satisfaction in succeeding avoiding urban overcrowds that suffocate under the tourists’ pressure. And last, but not least arriving at the destination things do roll: taxis come on time, streets are clean, lines are shorter in museums, waiters are more kind, sellers less stiff when it comes to negotiating prices, and front desk agents offer free up grades even without asking (like this 21st floor fountains view room at Bellagio of Las Vegas, NV in mid November '09).

Good Off Season Months:

Europe - April – June and September – November (Peak season is from June – July when the beaches and cities are packed)

Hawaii - January – April and September – December (before Christmas and New Years Eve when they have the coldest weather from the whole year) (Peak season is from Mid-June to August, along with Christmas and Easter vacation weeks)

Las Vegas - May – August: Super Hot! but great deals

Mexico - April & October – November: in order to avoid the crowds and rain (Peak season is from December – Easter & June – July)

Costa Rica

- May – November: has more rain

Caribbean - spring – July brings hot weather (Peak season is from December – March; August – November is hurricane season)

Thailand

- March – September: can be hot and rainy (Peak season is from October – February)

Fiji

- December – February (Peak season is from May – September)

Australia

and New Zeeland - springtime: which is their autumn (Peak season is in wintertime)

This concept is feasible and satisfactory despite the two permanent problems: finances and time off from work, which can definitely be regarded as low and easily adjustable excuses. My stories… to come.

So, this is Christmas

2009-12-18T06:49:00.000+02:00

Traditional X-mas @ home (2005)

- Romania -

X-mas before I left (2006)

- Romania -

International X-mas traditions with friends (2007)

- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA -

Kahala Hotel & Resort (2007)

- Kahala, Hawaii, USA -

Kahala Hotel & Resort (2007)

- Kahala, Hawaii, USA -

Kahala Mall (2007)

- Kahala, Hawaii, USA -

Our Hawaiian Xmas tree (2008)

- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA -

Ginger bread village @ Princess Kaiulani Hotel (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Moana Surfrider Hotel (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Moana Surfrider Hotel (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Moana Surfrider Hotel (2009)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Hyatt Regency Hotel (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Menehune (little ppl) sand sculpture @ Sheraton Waikiki (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Halekulani Hotel (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Hilton Hawaiian Village (2008)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Mele Kalikimaka (2008)

- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA -

Lights festival (2008)

- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA -

Kahala Hotel & Resort (2008)

- Kahala, Hawaii, USA -

Royal Hawaiian Hotel (2009)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Sand sculpture @ Sheraton Waikiki (2009)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

Halekulani Hotel (2009)

- Waikiki, Hawaii, USA -

- Romania (2009) -

Aaaa… N’awlins…

2009-10-13T09:25:00.000+03:00

New Orleans was not on the list of cities I wanted to visit in US. Probably because I was convinced that hurricane Katrina kidnapped all its charm, and everything that worth being admired was forever gone. I admit it, I was ignorant, but I abhor disaster tourism. I can see poverty and dirt anywhere! Any city in this world has a marginal hood, unhealthily, pity and indignation worthy! To waste my time eye dropping to other people’s misery it doesn't seam fare, nonetheless ethical. In conclusion, I didn't see any attraction in organizing a trip there.

So, when I found, through an online social network, that some of my former colleagues from college were flying over US this summer, I pitched in. We all decided in an instant to synchronize our calendars in the hope of a reunion. We got all our minds, schedules, days off and vacations, finances, nevertheless air schedules and fares together, and this is what came out: a Finish friend flew to Mexico for a backpack vacation, only to come back to EU through Washington DC, where she met a German friend and, coincidentally, another Norwegian friend (who was just passing through DC). In the same time, two friends from Austria decided to take a road trip down the US East Coast along with a buddy from Vermont – from New York to New Orleans, where they were to meet another American friend who lives in NOLA. In the end, in one weekend we were all in two great US cities, which if they wouldn’t be so far a distance, they would have brought us closer. I..., I waited too long, I messed up my flight deals and I missed the DC meeting…, but I managed to get to the New Orleans, LA one!

As soon as I've got the invitation of visiting the city I jumped on a tour guide. Ah! Jazz, Blues, Creole French, colorful balconies, voodoo, fleur de lis, jambalaya, etouffée, buildings with flowery balconies, Louis Armstrong!!!... I was feeling like hundreds of bubbles with images I refused to think of were popping in my head at an alarming rate. Overwhelmed, I understood I will inevitably fall in love with this place. So I stopped, thinking not to expect anything but delicious typical food, great music, traditional drinks and wonderful people.

When the day finally came, I flew with my heart fluttering to Houston, TX, where I changed planes and where, for the first time in my life, I had seat 1A. Well, it wasn't First Class(!), but the first seat given in the smallest regional airplane I ever flew. It was literally behind the pilots' door. However, the window offered an extraordinary view! From Houston to New Orleans you fly only on the coast, above the Gulf of Mexico, which has a wonderful nocturne view. I think is even better then the one seen between Romania and Spain, when you fly over Croatia and Italy, where you can make the boot’s shape as on the map due to the millions of lights in the night, only to be welcomed by the light explosion in the port of Barcelona. In the same way I could distinguish the South American coast, and when we've got over NOLA I could even see how neighborhoods are mapped, how the Katrina affected area is still in the dark, how Lake Pontchartrain lays in the north, and how the Mississippi river snakes to the gulf.

In the Louis Armstrong airport, his music was waving slowly from speakers, making my steps much lighter. The announcements transmitted usually in English and Spanish, were this time tripled in a beautiful and sweet Creole French, which made me smile instantly when I surprised myself trying to understand the words. Outside, I met the humid, subtropical heat, which opened my pores and allowed me to breathe and relax my muscles. Twenty minutes later I noticed that the mute cabdriver was taking me with the meter off through some empty streets, in some untrustworthy neighborhoods, where I couldn’t read the streets numbers nor names.

Exactly before I was about to panic we finally reached the destination – my friends' house, which seamed to be at the right address, but sunk in dark. The entrance door was open. I went in. Still in the dark, I could see the stairs that went on the next floor. I stepped without thinking where I could end up. Reaching the top of the stairs I saw another door. So, I approached it. Only in front of it I realized I cannot make up anything on the other side, and it hit me that I could trespass a private property. Shockingly, I was not scared I could get shot. I was freaked a wild dog might attack me! However! The moment I touched the doorknob the lights went on and I saw my friends, again, after four years. It was well after midnight, we were all tired, but still had the strength to chat happily about the passed time.

... The starting point of our exploration was St. Charles Avenue. We stepped into an old streetcar, with opened windows which ventilated the humid air, drove by a black machinist, with a soft voice, always nice and polite with tourists. When I met his smiley face I remembered New Orleans actually represents the heavy history of slavery, and I smiled. I didn't smile to the brutal images from "Uncle Tom's cabin"(!), but to the glamorous ones from "Interview with a vampire". Yeah, I know! you can't have one without the other, but I have a twisted selective memory and a curly mind! …In a Proustian way I started to remember the imagined charm of that time, while my imagination was fueled with a row of wonderful colonial houses rolling on both sides of the tram lines. One next to another and one more beautiful than the other, white houses with two floors, built in the old plantation houses style, displaying iron balconies, tall columns, French doors, swings or rocking chairs and mostly very green gardens. They all seamed suspended in time, and nothing of their appearance breathe modernism. I felt transported in the tale past where nothing was to surprise on a negative note.

... The tram named wish took us on Canal St. – where to its left was laying the French Quarter with its impressive charm, and to its right the small financial quarter with modern buildings. It wasn't totally disproportionate, but we still choose the touristy part of the city, where worth getting lost on its colorful and animated streets. This is exactly what we did, even if we were aiming to Bourbon St., famous for its annual Mardi Gras parades. In the French Quarter we met the same colonial architecture, but more urban than St. Charles Avenue. We saw balconies decorated with flowing flowers, classic, elegant souvenir stores, as well as kitschy ones, carnival masks shops, colorful beads, jazz musicians playing in the middle of the road, voodoo workshops and prostitutes. Yap! the French Quarter is obviously the "red quarter" of New Orleans, and a very impressing one, I might say. Crossing it to the south the streets will take you to Jackson Square with the beautiful St. Louis Cathedral in the middle, built in 1720, and bordered by the docks of the great Mississippi river.

… On the river's banks leis the French market where can be purchased alluring typical condiments. The Creole (Cajun) cuisine was born out of necessity and mainly from the slaves’ homesickness. The women forced to adapt to a new life tried to keep with them the smallest piece of their old life, and tried any possible culinary combination that could bring back the smell and taste of home. This is how the Louisiana Creole cuisine emerged – in the absence of refrigeration facilities and by combining any available ingredients –, a mix of fish, seafood, oysters, crawfish or shrimp, along with meat, sausage or game, rice and plenty vegetables, which in the end take you through the African, European and also Asian cuisine.

Another element of the Creole cuisine are the delicious beignets and café au lait served in the place that made them famous – Cafe du Mond. What are they? and why are they famous?... Well, “beignets” is the general term used for any type of fried dough. In other words home made mama’s donuts!! The same type as the Hawaiian malasada introduced in the islands by the Portuguese. This only proves one thing: the European provenience donuts are something else compared too the American ones, with a whole in the middle and sunken in icing.

On the local drinks topic though, New Orleans is famous for hurricanes. Aha! Hurricanes are frequent in the gulf area and the locals decided to adopt them. If they couldn't get rid of them, at least they were able to integrate them to the daily life. I have no idea what is mixed in this drink, but I know that it looks like a cocktail with some Grenadine and pineapple juice in it. And I also know that it’s served in overwhelming quantities, on a background of jazz... The jazz bars on Bourbon St., no matter how commercial could be enchant the ears and souls, with the warmth of the southern accent, with the local songs, with the images they awake in your mind, with people's relaxation when they listen to the artists, with the typical sound that makes its way through glasses and applause.

New Orleans made me smile from the first moment this trip started to get shaped and it still makes me smile thinking that I will go back one day. As I anticipated, I felt in love with the city before arriving there. For sure living in such a place wouldn't be bad. Wouldn't be bad at all!... Only if we wouldn't be so affected by this brutal economy...

Baja – South of the border

2009-10-05T20:12:00.000+03:00

One of the reasons behind my moving to California was also the possibility of visiting Mexico. It is such a large and complex world, much more developed than the Americans think, and with such a similar culture to ours, that I have the impression I will feel like home at south of the border. For many months I hoped, I tried, and I did not succeed to travel over the border that lies south of San Diego. I've been close though – at the end of the tram line, at the outlet mall, last time I even crossed the pedestrian bridge... I've got to the gate where I would've had to take just one more step... And now... finally! I went to Baja!!!

When traveling from US to Mexico by car, you don't even realize when you stepped from one world to the other. I guess some people don’t even think about this. One blink of an eye and you're already on the other side of many's dreams and tragedies. Found at 32km south of San Diego, CA the Tijuana border is the most transited international border in the world. Highway I-5 was drawn parallel to the Pacific Ocean, on a length of 2 222km, to create a direct connection, from the Canadian border (at north) to the Mexican border (at south), and at the crossing point it splits in eight lanes – five on the south bound, and three for the north bound. The crossing time in any of the senses can be overwhelming at certain times of the day, but we tricked the dead traffic around noon and didn't spend more time than we would waste at a street light. So, we crossed. Between the two borders there's no neutral zone or “nobody's country”... there's no exit from US sign, nobody checks your passport. You just see ¡Bienvenido en Mexico! and that's it!! you're in Mexico. You're already in Tijuana.

Like any other border city, Tj seams a poor town, with many precarious neighborhoods, with bad quality roads and cars, with people concentrated on producing as much as possible from tourists. I heard many people referring to Tj as to a tourists’ trap for bad quality souvenirs sold at exorbitant prices. On a first glimpse this is exactly what it suggested to me too and somehow, it reminded me of the peripheral street of Alexandria, TM. The architectural leit motif seams to be the unfinished building, on one or all exterior walls, the rusted fence and the cracked concrete more than we ever saw back home. The only thing that kept reminding me where I was, was the multitude of flags fluttering everywhere out of beautiful and strong Mexican pride.

As soon as we left the border area, we turned right and headed to Playas de Tijuana. Obviously, the beach of the city, which is after all situated on the shores of the Pacific, on the north of Baja California peninsula, unraveled a series of surprises. This is where I saw some images which I believe I should've picture, but whom somehow did not cross my mind before arriving there.

First was the image of the famous border fence that separates US from Mexico. The one well praised by the previous administration and which appeared in the press maximum reinforced with man power, as well as top defense technology so that the sinners from the south to not have any chance on penetrating the American dream. To my surprise, the American defense, in this case, leis in a poor and ugly fence built from rusted tin, which needs to stand for 3141km, from Texas to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (?!?!).

The next image that impressed me popped up when we were driving on a road parallel with the border fence. Being on a hill I could observe on the clear horizon the skyline of downtown San Diego, which is of course on the other side of the fence. For a moment I stopped to think: What could it be in the souls and minds of the people that get here? Many have the fortune of succeeding in crossing this line drawn by man and society, but others never had and never will. Instead they will live with the tragedy of an unfulfilled dream in their hearts, looking towards the horizon to the virtual answer of all their troubles... I smiled, sad at this life's irony and to the image in front of me, realizing what little value I give right now to my situation, to the life that I so easily choose where to live – today here, tomorrow somewhere else, while others raise the drama to the rank of destiny.

The last image was the one that encompassed the beach, and brought up a mix of feelings. One weird when I've got to see the urbanized image of San Diego in the background, when the shores should be dedicated only to the wideness of the ocean; another of disgust at the view of the lamentable construction development which looked pathetic and lacked the picturesque of the buildings we saw on the beaches of Vama Veche; and another of astonishment when I saw the fine sand, totally unattained, and the water, much cleaner than the polluted one by the San Diego harbor.

Back in Tijuana I discovered a dirty town, deserted of monuments or historical buildings, but rich in loungers, street vendors and touts ready to get your dollar from the pocket for any trifle, buildings with multiple destinations and sidewalks in decay.

The only attraction for me at that point remained the huge Mexican flag which can be seen even from San Ysidro, CA, on the American land, north of the border. The flag has two more replicas in Mexico City and Guadalajara, and despise its enormous dimensions it is visible from such a distance also because it is anchored on the tallest hill of Tj.

However, the goal of this trip was not to spend the time of my life in a border town, but to go down on the coast to the shore villages, famous for the beach parties and especially for the local cuisine based on lobsters, typical to Baja. I think the villages become more and more luxurious and pretty as you go lower into the south, to the tip of the peninsula, towards Cabo San Lucas. We, on the other hand, didn't have the time and stopped only in Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo.

Both beaches were deserted by tourists in the middle of the day, but even then the terraces built on the beach could create the image of a perfect place for nocturne extremely animated parties. The streets were filled with souvenir stores: vivid colored ceramics, different dimensions, forms and textures hammocks, folkloric decorations, and toys. Well, when it comes to food, however, Baja is extraordinary through the explosion of testes and aromas. The tortilla soup, for example, totally different from the one served in California, is more spicy and for sure better, while the fried lobsters are served with rise, tortilla and Mexican beans in quantities that could feed a whole family!

On our return we stopped at a Taco Shop Drive in – which was totally insalubrious. The restaurant is actually a grill set under a shed, exposed to sun and dust, next to a bar with high chairs, behind which you could park you car. I didn't even want to try thinking at the provenience of the meat, where or how it was maneuvered, or if in this country they have the BBB (Better Business Bureau). I focused on the purifying power of fire and charcoal, in the same way we do at home when we are attracted by a grill full with delicious mici on the side of a road. And that was the right attitude!!! as I never had in my whole life a better taco as the one I ate on the side of a dusty road in Tijuana!

He! He! I totally recommend.

Soundtrack:

San Francisco - an actual city

2009-10-03T18:16:00.000+03:00

I tried several times to plan a trip to the US west coast, that will include SF and I never succeeded from different reasons: I didn't know the city, I had no travel buddy, and I never had enough time.

However, this summer, Antoine – a French friend who I’ve met in Hawai`i – decided to ditch a PhD program in order to backpack on the west coast of South America from Baja to Chile and Brazil, for about six months or... until his money will run out. His trip started in California, and on the days that he passed through San Francisco I decided to catch a plane and join him. I was excited about this trip and extremely animated. Absolutely everybody that I've met and have lived or traveled there loved the architecture, the people, the culture, the cleanness, the shopping experience... So much that, a couple who stays regularly at our hotel even emailed me a walking tour of the city.

The trip started great, because I flew Virgin America which is by far one of the most fun airlines: the seats are purple, the cabin is illuminated by black disco lights, the headphones are pink and supra-dimensioned, and the safety video is for sure one of the lasts that impressed me and made me laugh in a long time (http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=eyygn8HFTCo).

Arrived in SFO (San Francisco International Airport) I already felt that the people who live in this city are more educated academically, as well as culturally compared to the average American, due to the exhibits displayed in the public areas, to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) technology, and the cleanness of the place which yes! is rare here, too. As soon as I've got into town, I met my buddy and started to explore. SF is known to have one of the best mass transits in US, therefore we took advantage of it, even though a ticket offers only one transfer. On the other side, SF is a city that deserves to be walked, so you need comfortable shoes and legs ready to climb all those hills and stairs.

First stop took place at Pier 39, famous for its sightseeing, and for the sea lions that started to arrive at the docks to sunbath after the massive 1989 earthquake, which measured 7.1 degrees on Richter scale.

Along with the romanticism of the fishermen's buildings and typical cuisine, from Pier 39 can be admired the on-shore – on-water play of the sea lions, Alcatraz island, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge and the skyline of the financial district.

Alcatraz, is as accessible as in the past, because tickets sell out weeks in advance especially during the summer, and of course I went there unprepared.

The Bay Bridge is "the other" bridge which crosses the bay linking the SF with Oakland. Part of interstate 80, the double-decked bridge was built between 1933-1936, has a total of 10 lanes, a length of 2822m, and a traffic of approximate 270,000 vehicles per day which makes it one of the most busiest bridges in the world.

Golden Gate on the other side was the attraction of the day and the target of our very looong walking trip – there are 7km from Pier 39 to Golden Gate Bridge. Well, that wasn't the worst thing. In Mark Twain's words "the coldest winter I ever lived, was a summer in San Francisco". Sunny California does not necessarily describe the Bay Area. In August there were 15˚C, so our trip was garnished with sun and clouds, short sweats and brief coldness, which resulted in a red face and afferent repercussions.

On our way, we first deviated trough Fisherman’s Wharf where old ships can be seen and the famous clam-chowders in sour bread bowls can be eaten at its best. Then, on Marina Blvd we looked at houses that have over-dimensioned windows, pale colors paint, and beautiful views overseeing the Bay. What made me smile was not the fact that these residents have the fortune of waking up to such views every morning, nor that they had the (miss)inspiration of painting their houses as a newborn's bedroom, but the fact that absolutely all houses have a room, on the street side, with an enormous window that has no curtains or shades. If in the middle of the day I could see their undone beds and furniture, can help but wonder what can be "admired" early in the morning or in the evening before bedtime!?

I left behind my puritan thoughts, and stopped at the next attraction – the Palace of Fine Arts – an open theater built on ancient Greek and Roman architectural style. This is one of the few buildings that escape demolition after the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. The theater impresses with its architecture totally different from the rest of the city, with the romanticism of the time passed from the turn of the century, and with the history of this place. Next objective was of course the Golden Gate Bridge, who attracts thousands of tourists every year, but which from a short distance didn't impress me that much... However, I saw pictures; pictures of the bridge among heavy clouds of fog, typical to the Bay Area which look magical. Our day was clear and we could admire it in its fullness.

Back to the downtown we got a chance to visit SF MOMA – the West Coast sister of the Museum of Modern Art from New York. Every first Tuesday of the month it can be visited for free. Well, if the trip doesn't take place in that specific day, the museum lobby, shop and café are always open to the public. Across the street from SF MOMA we found the Yerba Buena Park. It doesn't have impressive dimensions, but it brings a breath of fresh air in a city drown in concrete, on the grass, under a tree, or in the fountains where I use to cool my feet. Next on the list was Transamerica – built in a pyramid shape in the financial district, the building dominates the whole city. Unfortunately it cannot be visited due to the 9/11 events, but it still remains a symbol and the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco.

Disappointed that we couldn't admire the view of the city from the top of Transamerica, we decided to climb one more hill, fairly steep, to reach the Coit Tower – the one which for many years, with its 64m, held the title of the tallest building in SF. The tower was built on the Telegraph Hill, in Art Deco style, in 1933, at the wish of some Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who donated a third of her estate to the preservation of the beauty of her beloved city. From its base can be seen the incredible panorama of the San Francisco Bay, including Golden Gate Bridge, the Marine National Museum Park, Alcatraz, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Angel Island, Treasure Island, Bay Bridge, the city of Berkley and the financial district. Inside, the New Deal inspired mural which hides some surprising socialist details can be admired.

Going down the hill, somehow we ended up in China Town – first established in US. The crowd’s dynamic is exhausting at any hour of day, but the Asian fruits explosions of aromas and tastes worth the effort... From this point you can catch one of the buses that run on Stockholm Street and therefore headed towards downtown, after passing through the Chinese neighborhood, the Italian neighborhood, and the Russian neighborhood...

We got off on one of the streets that have the famous cable car - the symbol of SF – and with twinkles in our eyes we jumped in the first wagon that stopped at the corner of the street, in the same way they show it in the movies. We took it just for one stop, only to jump in another one which took us to Union Square. Later on we heard a driver charging a $5 fare.

Union Square, along with other symbols of San Francisco contributes to the metropolitan status. The square has the majesty of all great American cities, with its high, modern skyscrapers, but also with its massive, historical buildings that host now hotels, theaters, and especially shopping centers or department stores. Union Square in San Francisco rivals only Vegas on the number of luxury American, as well as European and Asian brands. Because of this place, SF can be named the Milan of the West Coast. The list includes: Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Barneys New York, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Prada, Armani, Boucheron, Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co., Piaget, De Beers, Bulgari, Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, Bijan, Marc Jacobs, Hermès, Ermenegildo Zegna, Old Navy, Forever 21, Anthropologie, Apple Store, United Colors of Benetton, Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, Zara, MNG by Mango, Kenneth Cole New York, Guess, Juicy Couture, Tumi, BCBG Max Azria, Banana Republic, Coach … uff!

Ah… Christmas will look very well!

Fun fly

2009-10-02T03:50:00.000+03:00

Even if I do have frequent flyer memberships here and there, I have to confess I am not a devoted customer. Is true, I cheat in the favor of the price. Therefore, I flew a good range of mostly American and European airlines.

Like everybody else, after a while I stopped paying attention to the Safety Videos that run before take off. So, every now and then when I catch myself watching I know is for a good reason, and I usually get pleasantly surprised.

Here are some that might raise your interest, too:

Virgin America - Sir Richard Branson has such a strong influence on everything Virgin

Delta Airlines - the largest airline in the world, has a very intriguing welcome video

Southwest Airlines - the only US airline that never knew failure

Air New Zealand - the bare essential of flying

My PC took me to PB

2009-07-21T21:53:00.001+03:00

As far as I know there are four beach areas in the city of San Diego: Coronado, Ocean Beach, Mission Bay Beach, and Pacific Beach. The later I did not yet visit in the six months I’ve lived here and didn’t really feel so eager to explore it anytime soon. Based on the prejudice that the area hosts a bunch of student rental houses kept me away from what I thought to be a campus like neighborhood.

WROOooNG!!

One shiny morning my Windows Vista PC crashed in front of my eyes living me with a day of despair, useless phone calls, runs to the library, questions, and failed attempts to restore it. In the end I picked some random phone numbers from PC repair shops in my neighborhood and cried for help. Needless to say none were successful until finally someone answered at the other end of the line, plus! had a satisfactory solution… However! it ended up to be located in Pacific Beach.

Hmm… so, I though: my steps might take me today to an unexplored area, by the sand surf and sun, relax and hard/soft ware nirvana!??!... Why not?! I embarked a series of trams, buses and never before walked streets to a small PC repair shop owned by some young Israeli “Regie-like” boys who just made my day brighter!! Judah and Tom used to have an office in downtown, five blocks away from my house and just moved to PB due to economic restrains. The shop runs because of their skills (apparently Microsoft certified) and produces profit to fuel their surfing camp trips to the Pacific shores of Costa Rica. Because of them I’ve got to discover a new side of San Diego, which turns out to be another favorite place.

Pacific Beach might be a students mainly neighborhood, but it also strikes me as healthy, clean and family vacation oriented. The arena is populated with restaurants (street and ocean front), beautiful worldly shops, bicyclists, vacationers, relaxed people, holiday atmosphere. What I really like is the beach, which has beautiful views and wide golden sandy area, all though devoided of palm trees or shade. What I don’t like, which seams to become a leitmotif of the West Cost shores, is the abundant algae population and the low temperatures of the ocean waters.

On a professional side, I was immediately attracted by what I think to be the landmark of PB – the Crystal Pier Hotel. Established in 1927, this is a typical American beach cottage based hotel, built on the pier over the beach and waves. Their logo romantically invites guests to “Sleep over the ocean” and immediately transposes the spirit into the calm of the Pacific waves.

I asked the key keeper what type of clientele they have, giving the fact that it looked to me as a shabby, but not too classy place. The place would really use a facelift! Well, even though, while having only 32 cottages the rates gravitate around $300/night. This shoots targets into the family market and advises reservations to be made 4-6 months in advance.

Crossroads

2009-07-02T21:29:00.000+03:00

San Ysidro/Tijuana - music of Bic Runga – Gravity

Recently I discovered that the tram that passes by my house goes all the way to Mexico, to the border city of Tijuana. This idea exited my adventurous spirit who wanted to be so close and still not there... Off topiiiiiiiiic..., the tram also stops to an Outlet Mall that just happens to be there. ;)

Therefore, I bought a tickets, jumped in the tram and started so the adventure!

I passed downtown, the industrial district, some villages, colored wild flowers bordering the tracks, Tijuana river, all the way to San Ysidro – the border town of the Southern California.

Amazing how fast you reach an end of a road.

One crossroad up I passed a bridge (which has also a side walk!) built over the highway I-5 which crosses the two countries. I've got there around noon. So, the view had to impress me on my return, in the evening, when I walked the same road towards the tram station. The bridge offers a perfect view over the hills and towns from "the other side". What catches the attention, though, is the huge Mexican flag that flutters in the wind and obviously can be observed from an impressive distance. Hm... great idea!, but what just happened with the American patriotism?... Probably was all wasted through the building of some 500km of fence dedicated to the limitation of southern immigration?!

The moment that moved me:

Through the evening, an amazing number of Mexicans get back home from work, at the south of the American dream. Simple humans, that live their lives between two worlds, were walking home with different vehicles – cars (apparently bought and registered in California, because I have not seen even one car with Mexican license plates), Tijuana charters, tram, coach, on foot, etc. I was the only white person, but not Hispanic (!) that crossed the bridge in the opposite side – towards San Diego, not Mexico. All the people that walked against me had the same facial features, same road to home, and for sure the same cultural baggage. The ones that walked alone seemed generally sad, while the one walking in groups were happily chatting. Another Hispanic stereotype related to machismo – that attitude which falsely breathes "I'm always fine", rain or shine... On the middle of the bridge I took a look at the entire immediate section of the highway. On the north bound the traffic was fluid – one or two cars here and there, while on the south bound – jam on all seven lanes!! Bumper to bumper. My friends tell me this seems to be every evening's scenery, at the most crowded border in the world. For a second I tried to think about all the souls that managed or not to cross this border. What did this mean for each of them. I felt a mix of romanticism, drama and ignorance. How much do we actually know about these people? How much do others actually know about us? What is actually our road in this life?

I got back on the tram. Only now I realized how empty it actually is, when going back to the city...

The sun set over the Pacific, bringing night over Mexico... as well as over all of us, isn't it? Life goes on.

Note: George Lopez could raise the moral, right about now.

San Diego, CA

2009-07-01T07:58:00.001+03:00

Disclaimer: I have not yet visited San Francisco, which is so praised by any soul that ever walked its streets. Therefore, to me for now, San Diego is my favorite city in California, especially after I have been crudely disappointed by LA. It has an old European architecture, people are more relaxed, the beaches are nice and the harbors have restaurants or attractions that are used for promenade not only army and industry.

To this point life in this city was more as a vacation... and I had the chance to behave like a tourist. What did I learn from my expedition? San Diego is totally different, depending on what part of it you are.

I discovered Ocean Beach, the hippie neighborhood, which amazingly don't bother me at all! They are a little unwashed, but nicely colored, and enjoy all benefits of laid back life, have most of the time an animal companion, set up bone fires on the beach, play the guitar under the stars, eat health and love yoga... A! Yeah, there are also surfers... This neighborhood has the longest pier on the West Coast (601m). Also here you'll find Newport Ave – a strip full of bars, restaurants, antique stores and a typical Southern Cal atmosphere. Sunsets are spectacular every night.

Old Town is in fact the first settlement in the developing of San Diego, in 1850s. Today is some sort of village museum transformed into a touristy neighborhood, enriched with Mexican restaurants, old houses and wild wild west stores, where attendants are dressed like 150 years ago. Everything looks very authentic, Mexican music can be heard at every step and they say that the Mexican food here is the best that can be found out of Mexico.

After the (obviously!) Mexican lunch I took the Old Town Trolley which in my opinion is the best guided tour of San Diego. It takes you to the main attractions, you can get off at each stop, explore and when you finish, jump in the next trolley and continue the tour. The driver is also the tour guide who's telling stories to the passengers, the wind goes to your hair all day, and at night you're brought back from where you left. The tour goes from Old Town - the harbor - Seaport Village (one of my favorite places in SD) - Coronado island (where lays the historic Hotel del Coronado, and the beach is considered one of the most beautiful in US) - Gaslamp district (the old downtown, transformed into the epicenter of joy and fun) - Balboa Park.

Seaport Village is one of my favorite places in San Diego. It is actually a mix of restaurants and souvenirs stores in a park, where you can admire the ocean, walk on alleys, and take memorable pictures of the bay, the bridge, and the island.

Coronado is tied to the city through a magnificent long bridge (3,407m) that crosses the bay and shortens the trip to the other side. One half of the island (actually the peak of a peninsula) is the home of a residential neighborhood, and the other half the home of the American Navy. But what attracts the tourists there is the symbol of the island – Hotel del Coronado. At its inauguration in 1888 this was the largest hotel in world. Today, it is considered the oldest, still standing and functioning, totally wooden built hotel in all North America.

Gaslamp district is in downtown. I tested a few bars and restaurants, and all surpassed my expectations, in terms of design and ingeniousity, given the fact that we are in US. I already discovered my favorite place - Café Sevilla - a place with authentic tapas, flamenco shows and gypsy Spanish guitar. I recommended cheese fondue á la Spanish/Mexican mixed with mushrooms and garlic! Another nice place is Altitude - the bar set on top of the Marriott hotel, at the 22 floor, where you can see the spectacular lights of the city (something like MNAC, not La Motoare).

Balboa Park seems to be bigger than the Central Park in New York (1200 acres), only that the vegetation is affected by the local desert climate. It was planted in 1915 for the Panama - California exposition (something like the World Expo from Paris in 1900). The city got then the most important lifting in history and rose from the status of Mexican village to city, attraction and destination. The park hosts most of San Diego's museums, from aviation to art and sciences. The park has also botanical gardens, a theater and some sort of open air concert hall (the Spreckels Organ Pavilion) where every Sunday, rain or shine, at 2pm takes place a free classical concert. This Spreckels donated the impressive organ, with the highest tube in the world, to the city with the condition that the municipality to present one concert every week, on the day and time indicated by him.

San Diego Zoo is world renowned especially for it extensive research work, as well as the high standard conditions the animals live in. It was also established due to the Panama – California exposition. Soon after the exhibit ended, a series of animals were left behind, with no one to take care of them. This is when Dr. Harry Wegeforth decided to take care of these animals and keep them into one place. One thing led to another, and today the Zoo represents one of the most prestigious of its kind on a global level.

The Wild Animal Park is part of the San Diego Zoo as well, only that it is situated in the canyon of Escondido, 35 miles north of the city. It is home for many endangered animals from all continents. This is were I learned to beat my fear of free-ranged enclosures when it comes to wild animals - they seem to live in an open land with no fences, and look like they are able to walk free whenever they want, right before they could step out humans have built deep ditches which horrifies them and keeps them at a pleasant distance from visitors. Another attraction of the park is the night safari which from where I stand looks like camping at the zoo - you're still not allowed to interact with the animal, but you get to see them more active over the dark.

Sea World is the famous water park that attracts millions of visitors to the Mission Bay every year for its shows, marine life exhibits and educational programs developed there. Main attraction in the San Diego park is the Shamu – killer whales show which entertain visitors and splashes them on occasions. I learned is best to go there on a day with full sunny sky for the best experience. Along with the pretty Orcas, my favorites are also the Beluga whales.

La Jolla is the jewel of San Diego, found at 20 minutes north of the city. It gave me the impression I was back in Monaco, only that the stores don't have the glow of the European fashion. I spent a day on the beach there, where the highlight turned out to be the monk seals sun bathing on the shores, the seagulls and... pelicans, which seem to be typical on the West Cost!

Big Island - Snow and lava in Hawaii

2009-06-29T19:33:00.000+03:00

Note: From all 13 clime zones on the Glob, in Hawaii you will find 10. Therefore, it is not surprisingly to find the oddest combination of natural phenomena.

We went to Big Island, how is called the largest island of the Hawaiian archipelago, with the wild goal of playing in the snow. Yes, snow! Even if we were a bit over the tropics, I wanted one thing, and one thing only: to go up on Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world (10,203m) – height measured from the floor of the Pacific Ocean (from see level has only 4,207m).

We've got a monster Chevy Silverado truck, because it is allowed to drive up to the summit only in a 4x4 wheel drive. We passed the base of the mountain, actually a dormant volcano, therefore formed only from volcanic rock, which gives it an out of this world landscape. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get used with the altitude, and after an hour we started the trip to the summit, to the snow! It is amazing!! to sit in freezing cold, to get cold fingers instantly and to smile at the snowwoman (it had a hula grass skirt!)... On top, among the 11 astronomical observatories and hi-tech telescopes, we saw da boyz sliding through the snow on boogie boards (reminder that we are still in Hawaii!), but also snowboarding on last generation gear as they would do in the Alps. WOW! I was speechless.

The second day we dedicated it to the volcanoes. Another paradox, perfectly explicable from a scientific point of view: Mauna Loa (the long mountain) boils – on this mountain you find Kilauea, the most active volcano in the world, that flows (does not erupt!) lava continuously for 25 years, and next to it you find Mauna Kea (the white mountain) – volcano as well, but with snow on top well more than half of the year, every year. Over Kilauea we flew with a 4 seats airplane (oddly offer enough comfort), which took us over the lava rivers – small, because the volcano was taking a break that time, but we saw them!!! The pictures that I finally took represent just a second of my amazement when I did not know what to do first: stare, take a picture, or just faint of emotions. Excellent!

Going up on Kilauea, first you stop close to the top where steam gets out of the ground. The phenomenon gives you chills on any level, giving the fact that you sit on a ground that's boiling... Then you see the three craters one born from the other. On the summit you discover Hale‘mau’mau, the smallest crater, the house of Pele the goddess of lava and fire, fumigating gasses. It looks like the atomic "mushroom" and emanates sulfur in the air...

Next day we flew to Maui. As soon as we went on top of the clouds we saw a landscape I never imagined: on both tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, among the clouds, both crests had SNOW.

Unbelievable! On one side Mauna Loa is flowing lava, fire and boils, and a bit more up it freezes...

Only in Hawaii?...

Kaua`i - in search of a lost paradise

2009-06-28T18:43:00.000+03:00

First was the joy of traveling to a place so far away, literary in the middle of the Pacific, and compared to Romania, exactly on the other side of the Globe, at a 12 hrs (behind) difference. Once I arrived in Hawaii I was nicely surprised to discover that this place doesn't seem to belong to US. It still has a personal note that many of the American cities lost, in the process of industrialization, the downtown Honolulu does not look at all like Wall Street, the villages have a typical specific, the roads have curves like ours have, and the volcanic landscape determined where people created their lives and settlements.

Regarding tourism segment, I was sad to realize that the city displays a mix of American '60s kitsch – with hotels built in the same style as ours were during Communism at the shore of the Black Sea, the stores are crowded like in any resort, the traffic it's outrageous, the buses are late...
Every time I was complaining that I do not understand why tourists are so charmed with the Hawaiian islands and that I don't see the fantastic of the tropical region, people explained to me that in order to find the tropical paradise, for long lost in Oahu (the island of Honolulu) due to industrialization, I would have to fly to the other islands.

Therefore, one day we went in search of the lost paradise, north of Oahu, in the island of Kauai. Early in the morning, when not even the sun was up, I met my friends and headed to the airport. Between the islands of Hawaii, for now, the best way to commute is still the air, in average a 30 minutes flight.

We checked our backpacks, tents, sleeping bags and boogie boards at the late Aloha Airlines, took off, got a round of guava juices, returned the empty cans, and landed - in exactly 37 minutes. As a comic note – our bags made it with the next flight to Kauai, half an hour later, but given the situation no one got upset because as soon as you land in the island life seems different… The waiting room of the Lihue (capital of the island) airport is outdoors, has palm trees planted around and mountains can be seen at the horizon.

The island has a circular shape, with mountains in the middle and especially at north – so you are forced to go around it, in order to see all beauties of this place.

DAY 1:

Riding on four wheels we went from the south-east of the island (where the airport is), towards west, and the first stop was Wai`mea beach. For a moment I didn't understand why all of us jumped happy from the car when we first saw the beach – though we just left the same ocean a few hours ago in Oahu?!?!... Soon I realized that we all longed for the silence brought by the sand, the sun and the sea... and this place is perfect. The currents of Wai`mea bring high waves to the shores, perfect for surfers, but not really attractive for the mass tourist. The beach is empty and the sand delicate, of a sunburned wheat straw yellow, where my steps seemed to be the first to step on it everywhere…

In the west of the island you'll find the Wai`mea Canyon – "the Great Canyon of the Pacific" as Mark Twain named it – and about whom experts say it looks exactly like the one in Arizona. The experience is amazing: the canyon is 11 km long, but going up you can stop at different altitudes to admire its beauty. You can see very well the layers of rock, colors of all shades of earth, as well as lush tropical vegetation and waterfalls. This is a place that attracts and rejects in the same time, that offers the calm you need and the nervousness of the wilderness, which gives you the possibility to stop as a suspended second in the Earth's history...

After a whole day of driving and pulling on a side of the road, of admiring fascinating views, and taking outrageous amounts of pictures, we finally headed to "the middle of nowhere" at the most western point of the island, where we planed to camp that night. The place turned out to be the Polihale beach park, which is actually an eeeempty beach somewhere at the end of the world. Because of the mountains in the north of the island that don't have modern communication ways, except the mountain trails, the road stops here. Surprisingly even, the last five miles of the road have no asphalt, but only dust and bumps, rarely known to the Western world... However, the experience seemed worthy because it took us to a beach that looks exactly how I imagine Vama Veche 30 years ago – away from the civilized world, where's no GSM or radio signal, where tropical plants grow up from the sand, where are no modern facilities (except maybe the beach toilets and showers), where tourists have to bring and cook their own food, to light up the fire... and where they can admire beautiful sunsets without disruption, and leave their spirit run free without borders.

From the beach you can see on the left, towards south-west the two almost inhabited islands at north of Kauai: Niihau (also called "the forbidden island" – a private island that belongs to a Hawaiian family who lives upon ancient Hawaiian traditions, and speaks integral the Hawaiian language) and Lehua (island used by the American government for scientific research). On the right, to the north-west you can see the mountains that form the Nā`Pali coast, who served as set for movies like Jurassic Park and King Kong.

The night was extraordinary – clear sky, billions of stars like I haven't seen in a long while..., warm and nice. Go figure! while on the rest of the island was raining and thundering, on our side was perfect. Explanation: among all 15 climate zones on the Globe, in Hawaii you can find 10!!

DAY 2:

We headed to what became my favorite part of Kauai, the most spectacular possible place – te east and north of the island. That part of the island is considered the touristy side, but it also hosts a series of extraordinary natural attractions.

One of them is the Kilauea park and lighthouse, serving as natural refugee for indigenous birds. The north has some beautiful villages with hidden houses through tropical gardens, on large or narrow beaches, with palm trees and high or low waves… We passed little bridges, over rivers, through the water, along rise or corn fields, under the rainbow…

Then… the surprise of the day popped up when we were on our way to the north and wondered why in the world has that mountain a constant giant cloud on top of it (?!). What were more beautiful were the rivers and waterfalls that flew almost vertical on the slopes of the mountain, all the way to the base. First, I just thought it is a nice landscape of a top of a mountain hidden among clouds, but later on I realized it is the Wai`ale`ale mountain – the most rainiest point on the Globe (!) – an unusual phenomenon, but with a perfect scientific explanation: because of the Pacific ocean's currents movement, clouds are constantly gathered above this mountain, therefore it rains about 360 days/year.

Another stop on our way to the north was made at the wet Waikanaloa cave – where you can swim from one room to another, underground, and to the dry Maniniholo cave. Both look like some giant wholes under the mountains, where you can enter straight from the drive way, and surprise through the fact that they don't have stalactites or stalagmites as I would've expected to see in a cave, but just emptiness and the amazing power to sustain an entire mountain.
Close by you find the last beach of the north – Ke`e, excellent for snorkeling through the tropical fish population.

From here starts the wonderful Nā`Pali coast – literary the best place in Kauai. Unfortunately it is awfully long – 11 miles (one way), which require a special hiking permit, plus about three days of constant effort. It is hard from the start, because you have to climb through very large rocks. As soon as you pass this part the trail it becomes a walk in the park, for the next section. From time to time you pass through mud, because of the frequent rains. However, when you walk with the mountain to your left and the ocean to your right ... and you have high visibility over the curves the mountain makes in the ocean ahead ...it worth! The landscape is breath taking! This is also where I saw for the first time in my life Humpback whales!

We finished the day and the trip at the twin falls of Wai’lua – two falls formed from the same river which fall in the same pool.

Indeed, the trip to Kauai unraveled an irrefutable tropical paradise.

The locals call the island of Kauai "the garden island" and say this is the most beautiful in the archipelago. And because of this they strongly oppose the mass tourism – perhaps the old traditions, as well as the globalization made them understand that if they don't defend their own environment, this will die with the tourists' invasion on the island. Unfortunately, the authorities inaugurated a Superferry line between Oahu and Kauai in the summer of 2007. The outcome: it raised the number of tourists, it offered them the possibility of bringing their cars with them, it endangered the fragile ecosystem of the island, as well as the beauty of the lost tropical paradise.

Maui... an island where you will always want to return

2009-06-22T08:14:00.000+03:00

Locals call Maui "the valley island". The Hawaii Tourism Authority considers it the main brand of advertising and the milking cow in any economic times. Tourists associate it with the idyllic place for honey moons. Yes! all the above statements are true. However, for me, Maui meant several times the perfect weekend getaway which made me say: "we went to Maui over the weekend and it was grrreat! I want to go back..."

Like any other students' trip, each time, we woke up before sunrise, grabbed the tents, blankets or sleeping bags (upon case), backpacks, and with our happy souls we headed to the airport or harbor (depending on which type of transportation was cheaper at the time). By ferry it takes three hours from Honolulu to Kahului, the capital of the island. By plane it takes 30 minutes. When we reached the destination, we always took the first trip to the rent-a-car company. Second was to the closest Wal-Mart (some sort of popular hypermarket) where as a tradition we always purchased the same 9$ barbecue, which ended up recycled at the end of each trip by a trashcan, along with charcoal and the rest of the food uneaten for other travelers. Only then we could start the trip...

The island has an approximate shape of number 8 leaned towards north-west, and attractions on all coasts. In the lower circle seats the Haleakala (3055m) crater of a dormant volcano for about 300 years. The mountain takes over 75% of the total surface of the island and displays some of the most variant scenery on each slope, from tropical forest to volcanic desert. When you go up (the main road comes from north), on sunny days you can see the rest of the island like you'd hold it in your hand, as well as the silhouettes of Molokai and Oahu. From the summit you can see as far as the snowy tops of Big Island (Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa) piercing the sky. Up there the landscape is selenary, and when you look down into the crater you feel how unbelievable small we are, and how powerful Mother Nature is... The colors of the soil vary from yellow clay to brown bear to slag or lava rock black.

At the base, on the south-east, slides the Road to Hāna – a three hours road (one way!), where you drive constantly with the ocean on your left and the tropical forest on your right, where the curves turn along waterfalls and hallucinating tropical vegetation towards the end of the world, where the volcano dies in the ocean, soon after the hippie town of Hāna. Until there it is absolutely necessary to stop at Wai`anapanapa beach which amazes with its black volcanic sand, protected by the lush tropical forest.

On the south-west versant of Haleakala you can reach the Tedeski winery, where is produced the white pineapple Maui wine, and further down the lavender farm.
At the base of the crater, on the south-west, the road takes you to the small town of Kihei famous for its spectacular sunsets and the view over the whole western Maui coast, along with the shapes of the other islands, and the famous luxurious Grand Wailea resort.

My favorite side, due to its beauty, romanticism and amazing memories has to be the north-west side of Maui. The road goes up the coast and looks a bit like the Transfãgãrãşanul when the asphalt pierces the rocks. Out on the ocean you can see first Kaholawe island – natural reserve due to the aggressive war exploitation during the WW2 and later on to the land mining training underwent by the American military, who seriously deteriorated the quality of the soil; the Molokini atoll – heaven of colorful corrals and tropical fish; Lanai island – which in the past use to be the main domain for sugar cane and pineapple plantations; and the Molkai island - with its abrupt landscape (grace to the mountain that takes over all island's surface), used to be the place where leprosy victims were sent to die. Stories talk about the fact that when a family member got leprosy was immediately deposited on a boat, pushed into the ocean's waters, and then left to the waves... Many never made it to the island, and those who arrived definitely found their end there, due to lack of food, medicine or fresh water.
The coast leis along the Hawaiian marine `Au`au channel where Humpback whales swim down from Alaska to the South Pacific, every winter to bread and feed. This is where I had another dream come true – a mother whale was swimming under the waters, calm and hard to identify. But next to her, by the shores, the baby whale was jumping from the waves and breaching in its entire splendor. This phenomenon is so rare that in the past years I have never managed to see it. All my eye could catch was an end of a tail or a fin, far away in the deep ocean, and one evening, in Maui, next to some one hundred people, I stared for minutes, with a constant large smile on my face, as long as that new born agreed to play. Then they left. No picture was clear. Though, I bet we're all going to keep that memory with us for a very long time.
On the same coast, on Honoapiilani Highway, between mile markers 11 and 12 is Papalaua beach – my favorite camping place. It is right on the edge of the road (perfect for parking and keeping an eye on the car, even if it is not necessary), it is separated from the noise of the road through a row of trees, who also offer shade, and the soft sand replaces perfectly the absence of mattress in the tent. In the morning, the view lets you speechless, when in front of your eyes you discover the small island of Lanai with its short crests.

Lahaina is my favorite town because here you meet the atmosphere of Vama Veche. Just relaaaax!... I like to call this place "Vama from the other end of the world", because it is exactly the way we like it – a small harbor, with nice terraces on docks, especially on Front St. among souvenirs shops and local art galleries, where every night tourists are walking hand in hand gazing at the romantic sunsets, the warm strip lights and the island typical music coming from restaurants' speakers.

Up from Lahaina, the road goes through Ka’anapali with its etalon hotel in regarding the display of local culture to tourists, and especially the educational activities that involve them in the Hawaiian history and traditions. Following the road to the north-east, tourists will see what actually gives the local name of the island – the famous sunny valleys, green due to so many waterfalls Maui has.

Therefore, the island addresses many types of tourists and tastes. That's why it is the pearl of the Hawaiian brand. It worth visiting for a weekend, a week, 10 day, or for months. It will always fascinate.

Oahu – an island in Pacific – host of Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii

2009-06-19T02:22:00.000+03:00

O’ahu surprises through the fact that it doesn’t look at all like a region that belongs to the architectonic, standardized, American style. The local plan doesn’t look like a math notebook paper. The roads go around the mountain, or along the shore. Honolulu is not a metropolitan city, but a rather small city – despite the fact this is the largest city in the world (by law any island or islet not named as belonging to a county belongs to the city of Honolulu, which makes all islands within the Hawaiian Archipelago all the way to Midway Island ~ 1,500 miles northwest of Hawaii, part of the city). People are more laid back, even if they are not always in holidays. It is a mix of resort and outback. And on top of everything, it has the great advantage that there is summer all year round (winter max 27°C, and summer max 30°C).

However, the main advantage of the island is the fact that it represents a cultural melting pot - the main one being the Hawaiian culture (with Polynesian roots), the American culture (which appeared after the overthrown of the Hawaiian queen), and the Japanese culture (facilitated by the fact that Japanese don't need visas to visit the USA).

Aside from this, as I like to say, Oahu is a smaller Romania. If I try imagining I can believe I'm home... Here you find about all geographical forms we have - from my room I can see the mountains, and on the other side of the house I can see the ocean. If I want to reach one or the other I don't have to travel for four-five hours, I just have to take the Bus for 15 minutes. If I want to take care of important issues, I commute through downtown, and if I want a vacation I go to Waikiki.

When the University of Hawai`i – Downtown – Waikiki becomes boring, I have the possibility of driving to any other side of the island:

East coast remains the most spectacular. If I would go on a tour of the island this is where I would start. First thing amazes as soon as you exit the city is Hawai'i Kai Dr. (Hawaii by the ocean drive) - my favorite residential neighborhood. Driving towards the east of the island, on the left you'll see the most beautiful private estates, many built on pillars above the water, with small boats docked on the front lawn, while on the right you'll always have the white of the beaches and the blue of the ocean. I sometimes imagine that the residents of this area have the fortune to admire the sunrise and the joy of the whales every morning, when they drink their coffees, on their porches... and this for me seam to be the most beautiful way of starting your day in paradise...

Next place worth stopping is Hanauma Bay (the curved bay) – a golf formed in a flooded volcanic crater hundreds of thousands of years ago, at about 16km east from Honolulu. Due to wind and water erosion, the eastern wall of the volcano crashed into the ocean allowing the water to flood the crater. The salty water and the fertile volcanic soil gave birth to spectacular corrals, and attracted large populations of colored tropical fish. Today, is one of the best snorkeling spots – the water is clear, you flow over the corrals, Humu’humu’nuku’nuku’apua’a (trigger fish - the state fish of Hawai`i) swims there everyday, and if you're lucky you can see the honu (green sea turtle), too. On the beach, though, tourists are allowed only after they stop at the educational center, where they have to watch a short movie on sustainable behavior towards the marine life and environment. One more thing they learn there is that the state of Hawaii charges a $27,000 fine or 5 years in prison for the harassment of marine wild life (sea turtles, dolphins, monk seals, whales, etc.).

Leaving behind the colorful little fish while driving forward, you reach the Makapuu lighthouse, which worth hiking on a bright day just for the chance of seeing the silhouettes of the Moloka`i and Maui islands on the horizon, as well as to admire the game of the Humpback whales during the breading season (November through March), when they swim to the south of the Pacific, through the Hawaiian marine `Au`au channel. The lighthouse can be seen, but cannot be visited because it belongs to the US military. What you can do is: go down to the Makapuu beach, which has a great view of both ocean and mountains, a turquoise water, and fine sand. Attention! this is one of the most dangerous beaches in Hawaii, due to its very strong currents. Urban legends talk about Olympic swimmers that were challenged at times in these waters.

Sea Life Park is an aqua park found just across the street from Makapuu. Here, tourists can swim with Bottlenose Dolphins, can watch monk seals shows, or sea turtles races.

Most of the times the trip end at Waimanalo Beach Park – the place where we used to organize barbecues, because the state already designed the place for these types of weekend activities, but even then the beach is quiet and laid back. It is one of those remote beaches found in tropical paradises, away from the usual city noise, where you can enjoy the beauty of the nature at its best.

A bit more north is Kailua beach – one of the reputable most beautiful beaches in the world, which makes it so attractive to so many tourists who steal the remoteness that goes so well with "paradise".

More beautiful is the road that goes along the east coast of Oahu - a two lane road, where locals drive slowly and make you take the time to enjoy the view. Driving up, the highway passes by the Valley of the Temples – a chain of cemeteries of different religions, lying on the slopes of Ko’olau Mountains. Behind all these saint places, in a pit of the mountain, in an oasis of silence and vibrant nature is hidden the Byodo-In Buddhist temple. It seams odd, because this place officially belongs to the US, and still, you see Asia at every step. On the other side it doesn't seam so odd, because in Hawaii not only cultures are melting, but also all the religions from the all over the world, in perfect harmony.

The north shore is surfers' paradise, especially in the winter, when the Nordic currents become more powerful and the waves huge. Famous beaches are Waimea, Wailua, Sharks Cove, Turtle Bay and Pipeline. In the north the atmosphere is totally different then the one in Waikiki. It is extremely laid back. Locals call it the country [side], and it actually feels like the country side or Vama Veche/ 2 Mai where you go to relax and enjoy the nature.

On the north side of the island you'll find the no 1 paid tourist attraction - the Polynesian Cultural Center. Some sort of living village museum with an educational component. The property has seven Polynesian villages where volunteers teach tourist old traditions. The guests can take part to the daily activities, watch ethnic shows or an educative movie in the IMAX cinema, eat traditional food, learn the history as well as the geography of Polynesia. In the end, who ever gets there is "forced" to spend a whole day full of fun activities that usually ends with a luau dinner and a typical Polynesian fire, knife and dance show.

Another fascinated place in the north is the Kualoa ranch, which owns 4,000 acres of land in that side of the island – mountains, cropping land, properties, golf courses, beaches and small islands. The ranch organizes horseback, bicycle, and ATV trips over the whole property, along with safaris and boat trips, agriculturist workshops, special events parties, concerts, weddings, etc.), and the most attractive component - visits on movie sets. Jurassic Park (1993), Godzilla (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), 50 First Dates (2004), and recent Lost series are only a few of the movies that were shot here.

The west coast hosts mainly the local community (of Hawaiians), that retired in this area after the American and later on tourists invasion. It is a quite area which worth visiting for the beauty of the raw scenery and spectacular sunsets. The landscape in this area is amazing, and the community that lives here is totally different from the rest of the island - has a quite, laid back life, enriched with old local traditions, and sweet pidgin (Hawaii Creole English).

The south coast represents mainly the city of Honolulu. This is how the road takes you back.

The most important attraction of this area, after the capital of the state, is Pearl Harbor - built first as a cemetery for the 2,400 deaths of the Japanese attack of the WW2, now this is one of the few free attractions of Hawaii, reason why this place is flooded with tourists from all over the world every day. This is exactly why in the next two years (!) authorities expect this museum to sink in the golf's waters...

Interesting though… at the entrance of the military base tourists will find information even in Romanian! At every visit each individual has to watch a mandatory historical movie which represents the Japanese attack over the American military base in Hawaii (described in the most propagandist American style), after which tourists board on a ferry that will take them on the memorial built on top of the USS Arizona, sunk during the attack.

Back to Honolulu, in Waikiki, is Diamond Head – a volcanic crater that James Cook's explorers rushed to describe it as a diamond mountain, when they first discovered the Sandwich Islands (name given by the great explorer, who also found his glorious end here). Today this represents a perfect spot to admire the beautiful panoramic view of the whole city, as well as the perfect reason for a healthy cross to the top of the extinct volcano.

Many people that plan to visit Hawaii and never think about Oahu. They prefer Maui. Most of them don't even like this island, because they see it as a busy, touristy place, which lost the silence of the tropical paradise they're looking for. I, on the other side, still trust the fact that the tourist of our century travels to enhance his culture, to learn from others, to know, to acknowledge and to share, not only to lay on a sunny beach. I trust that there are people out there who would go on a trip around Oahu, and this is sustained by the daily ratio of three tourists to a Kama'aina (Hawaiian local). In other words aside from the 800,000 locals, there are 2.5 millions tourists every day. And they are not all here for sun, sand and surf.

LA in one day

2009-06-17T05:24:00.000+03:00

6:20am – landed in LAX Terminal 5.

7:00am – my friend picks me up in a silver Volkswagen Golf and drives me to the cozy motel where we crashed for two nights. The motel was in a very shady area of LA, but it had clean sheets and clean towels, plus cable TV. All I needed for my first weekend break in the city.

9:00am – we leave the motel in our great exploration of the fabulous city.

9:30am – passed the McDonald’s pancakes breakfast and the ride out of the ugly part of LA, we drive on Wilshire Blvd. by the great UCLA. There’re banners everywhere with extraordinary students which make you think if all of them (the students) will make it in life or steer at the uncertainty like many of us.

9:40am – we’re already on Sunset Blvd. where all the starts should shine. That Saturday, they were all hiding in the shade of their imperious residences. Still, I appreciated the clean neighborhood streets, the freshly cut green high fences, and the last generation hi-tech surveillance systems.

10:00am – we drive through Beverly Hills 90210. No Brenda or Brandon; though, the same houses style on both sides of the road.

10:50am – parked the car and begin walking on Hollywood Blvd. The smile from my face starts fading after the first 50 steps. Disgust appears along with reading tens of celebrities’ names under the golden/gray stars encrusted in the tiles of the sidewalk. Hope starts dyeing in front of the mall. One more wince at the glance of the Hollywood sign from the hills. And then…, in front of the tourism information center of the mall…, my LA heaven for tourists hope goes into cerebral death, when the associate shows me a map of the city with no attractions – just shopping places…

11:50am – start walking on Rodeo Dr. 20min into the promenade I have to express my disgust for splashy, exorbitant fashion. The Coach store looks by far the most acceptable. The only thing that totally impressed me: the fact that in an intersection you can get green light on all four corners and pedestrians can cross the street in any direction, including diagonal!

1:00pm – Pasadena, CA – “The city that feels like a village” – nice southern Californian combined with Mexican atmosphere, finally nice shops, kind ppl, lovely rose mosaics, good food, and the heaven of parking meters! This is one of the highlights of California: the genial solution for one thing I was wondering for ages - when will authorities implement parking meter credit card payment methods?!!? And… YES! they have it in Pasadena, CA. I love this place!

3:00pm – Venice Beach, CA. For a long time now seagulls have not been in my life on the beach… therefore this one was a remarkable encounter. The area… gave me chills.

8:00pm – Long Beach, CA (this time). One stop for a walk and an Italian dinner in the harbor where you can see the greatness of the city lights.

Eastern European School of Life

2009-06-15T18:52:00.000+03:00

If you had the privilege to be born and raised somewhere in the East of Europe, in a former Communist or recent developing country, it doesn’t mean you are stigmatized for live, that you cannot understand the 1^st Amendment of the US Constitution, or that you cannot understand what democracy means for “privileged” Westerns; it means you’ve learned a lesson more important for your existence – how to defend yourself wherever your steps might take you in no matter what frame of thinking!

Flashback: After traveling, living, and studying in 15 countries, in less than 4 years, I ended up on a Saturday night, in Señor Frogs, in Honolulu. Finally! After several months of hard work I got the chance to taste life, as a young student, for a few hours, with my friends.

Fine! The club was full of tourists and a few students re-experiencing the Waikiki night fun. We loved the place, we knew some waiters there, plus we felt like regulars, and we knew the place very well. We’ve got the table, some rounds of free drinks from our acquaintances, and we started dancing. Not for the first time, my purse was laying in the middle of the table and my roommate’s on a chair. Even if I never had a bad incident in US, I kept an eye on them, just in case. “Bad” habits never die… One of my buddies was getting friendly with some drinks – so, I considered him an extra protection for our ‘assets’. We were dancing right next to the table and there were not too many people close to it.

The plot: Because my buddy refused to dance (he is my favorite dance partner) I started to make fun and introduced some girls to him, so they could keep him company. Then I left... At one point, I realized that my friendly buddy was not at the table, and that my purse was not there anymore. I concluded that he hided it just to make me worry. I didn’t stress. When he came back I ask him to drop the joke, ‘cause I needed my phone. Of course he denied. I laugh. I checked everybody, I asked again, and things started to get serious. I realized it might not be a joke after all. My purse was missing for 5-10minutes.

In action: I told my waiter friend from Peru that my purse is missing. He assured me he will tell his colleagues. I didn’t see anything happening. I grabbed a cell phone and started to call myself. It was ringing! I went to Security. They all said they will take care of the problem. Only that I realized that nobody moved a finger. They were all preoccupied like the club was on a ticking bomb and my purse was the last thing on their minds. I kept calling myself. It was ringing and then going to my voice mail. My phone was somewhere. So, my purse was somewhere, too. I finally got to the chief of security – Mexican guy. He listened to my story: “It’s a black small purse. I have my ID, my cell, some money, my house and car keys in.” Nothing irrecoverable, but I wanted them back. I kept hearing in my mind: “You don’t steal from me! I’m from Romania! We invented the whole concept!!!” The chief of security called the chief of waiters – another Mexican. He heard my story, too. Said that he will inform his men. Hope was that somebody would bring my purse to Lost & Founds... But my phone is ringing!! He told me to send a message to my cell asking the person who took the purse to return it to Lost & Founds. Let’s do that, too! though… experience taught me is not the best idea… My phone was ringing!! I left them and I started to look around, on my own, under the tables and in garbage bins. It was a pretty funny image of this young lady, all fixed up, paying so much attention to the garbage in a club… and not even being drunk. Well…that was me, keep looking. At one point one of the handsome waiters saw what I was doing and approached me to make sure I am ok.

Here’s our conversation:

“Are you looking for something?”

“Yeah, my purse is missing, but my phone is still ringing!” (makes sense, isn’t it?!) I’ve got “the look” again, so I felt that I had to explain my logic: “My phone is in my purse and it is still ringing. You know? When you steal a cell phone…”

And here it is where he innocently said: “… I wouldn’t know…”

“Right! Well… I am from Europe and I know. When you steal a cell phone…, the first thing you do is to take the SIM card out. Or at least, you turn it off! Then when I would call it, it would go directly to the voice mail. Mine is ringing! That means the phone is still on, and it is somewhere!” I believe this is a perfectly Romanian logic…

So, I continued my search by looking into garbage bins, in Señor Frogs, in Honolulu… I went around the club, and when I finally looked into the bin next to the restroom… GOOOOOOLLLLDD! There it was!!! My pretty black purse, purchased in Madrid, Spain, in the winter of 2006, was reigning over the empty beer bottles and plastic cups in that garbage bin! I was looking for my purse for over 20 minutes, and it was still on top of the pop like it was just dropped… Inside there were my car and house keys, my cell phone, and my ID. No money. Whatevah! I considered I’ve been buying drinks on my account for some other people all night long. After all, my friends and I were having free drinks that night, too.

Happy end!

Chief Ali'i

2009-06-03T17:12:00.000+03:00

Chief Ali’i Tour is not a very well advertised attraction. There are no brochures, no website, no ads in magazines or even guides. It has a good reputation especially among international tourists, only due to word-of-mouth. They say the tour is an authentic local experience and that it worth trying. Indeed, as soon as we got there – at the Macadamia Farm Outlet, up on Ka’a’awa, Oahu – we were nicely and warmly greeted in a truly Polynesian way, by young local men in malos that talk with a specific accent, and who invited us to a nice, free cup of Kona coffee, before the beginning of the tour.

This is a tour about the ancient Hawaiian culture, about the local agriculture, and about the modern preoccupations of the people that live and work there.

The white group (no joke!) embarked on a mini bus that use to be the star of “Jurassic Park” movie set and the driver turned up to be both the tour guide and the ‘chief’ of the “local village”. The bus ride started through the farms’ fields where he explained all fruits and vegetables that are traditionally planted in Hawai’i, answered all questions, and served some of the crops (macadamia nuts, star fruits, tangerines, guava, etc.). Next stop was at the “local village”. First, Chief Ali’i showed how locals used to make fire by using only two pieces of (same!) wood. Than, he demonstrated the multiple and total use of a coconut: the shredded body of the nut is used in alimentation, the juice and milk are drinkable, the husk helps starting fire, the nut can be decorated, and if the milk is left in the sun for a few days it transforms into coconut body oil. At the end, he performed a fire dance, and offered flowers (yellow hibiscus – the state flower of Hawai’i) to the ladies in the audience.

Next, the group was taken on a canoe on an ancient man made fishing pond where the tourists have the opportunity to see the Ko’olau mountains, the artificial island and the fields used as filming sets in different movies: “50 First Dates”, “Gilligan’s Island”, “Jurassic Park”, “E.R.”, “Lost”…

The tour ended with a last ride on the farm, some more fruit tasting, other stories, and Mahalo! (Thank you!). Everything was very intriguing because Chief Ali’i is able to give much agricultural and historical information, which seem accurate enough for an American tour. For tourists that come for the first time to the islands is a must – they get the chance to have an accelerate history/culture live class right on the spot at a reasonable price ($15/person).

Address:
49-227B Kamehameha Hwy.
Ka’a’awa, HI 96744
Phone: 808-781-2474

Hours of Operation:
Wed-Mon, 10:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Tour begins every hour.
Tue, One tour only begins at 10:45 a.m.

DOLE

2009-06-02T16:54:00.000+03:00

What does an American when he shuts down a farm (so he can move it to South America)?

He makes it a MUSEUM !

… The word for pineapple in Hawaiian is “halakahiki” which means “foreign fruit”. The pineapple is not even an indigene fruit of these islands. It is believed that it first originated in Paraguay or Brazil, and that it was introduced in Hawai’i by a Spanish shipwreck in 1527. But in time, the pineapple became the expression of hospitality and today, one of the symbols of the ‘rainbow state’.

James Dole – the “Pineapple King” arrived in Hawai’i in 1899 with 1,000$ to invest in horticulture, bought land in Wahiawa, O’ahu and started to grow pineapple. He wasn’t the first to do this here, but he certainly was the most successful and influential man who ever did it. Soon after he started to mass produce, he came up with the idea of packing and sealing the pineapple in cans, so that it can be exported on the international market.

From 1900-1990 in O’ahu, Hawai’i, USA functioned the most important pineapple plantation in the world, and in Honolulu the most profitable cannery ever (now, they do business in over 90 countries).

Later, when Globalization had a more heavy word in this business, too, and Dole saw the opportunity of moving the production to cheaper places – first form O’ahu to Lana’i (converting it from a cactus-covered island with 150 people into the largest pineapple plantation in the world with 20,000 pineapple-producing acres and over 1,000 pineapple workers), then from Hawaii to Latin America (Colombia and Ecuador), where labor force is much more cheaper.

The properties shrunk to the official buildings and some little land which were transformed in a tourist attraction. The main building on Dole plantation is today, an expensive souvenir shop where tourists can buy logo items and delicious pineapple based sweets (especially the world-famous DoleWhip). The court yard is divided in the part dedicated to the independent fruit vendors, and the one dedicated to the Dole Maze, to the Plantation Garden, and to the Pineapple Express.

No 1 attraction of the Dole Plantation is the 2001 World Largest Maze (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) – about two acres with a path length of 1.7 miles of labyrinth! It is exciting when you think about it, but not so much when you actually get there… Unfortunately, the maze has no actual logic, or continuity, or organization; and this gave the owners the idea to invent a game, in order to keep attracting visitors, and to add value to their trip all the way to the middle of O’ahu. Well… you have to go through all bushes and find nine stations, then come back to the gate, and register your time. The record now is 6min (~ that person cheated for sure!). Fee: 3$

No 2 attraction is Pineapple Express – a two-mile, 20 minutes train ride on the fields. The good part of this short trip is that you get the chance to hear the history of the pineapple, of the agriculture in Hawai’i, of James Dole and his business. The bad/booooring part is that the train goes around some fields with plants in different stages of their cycle and abandoned tools once used for agriculture – nothing spectacular! More than that you have to pay a 7$ fee… it doesn’t seem a good deal for me…

No 3 attraction is the Plantation Garden – where tourists can learn, with the help of an audio guide (!!), about different native and traditional plants from Hawai’i (pineapple, bananas, coffee, cacao, mango, papaya, etc.). Fee: 4$.

Admirable is the fact that they’ve got innovative. The idea works, attracts tourists from all over the world, and it is enough for one time visits to reach profit. For tourists this is an opportunity to go deep into the island of O’ahu and get to know this beautiful area, too. It worth even if is not as spectacular as the rest of the places.

How to get there?

By TheBus: From Ala Moana Shopping Center take the bus 52 “Wahiawa-Circle Island” and get off at Dole Plantation. The bus ride takes 1-2 hours. Fare: $2 (ask for transfer to save money!)
By car: From Waikiki, take H1 West to H2 North. Continue to Kamehameha Highway (99). It takes approximately a 40 minute drive from Waikiki.

Dole Plantation is located at 64-1550 Kamehameha Highway, Wahiawa, island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, USA.
Phone: (808) 621-8408.
Web: www.dole-plantation.com
Hours: Daily, weather permitting: 9:00am–5:00pm;
Summer months: 9:00am–5:30pm.
Closed: Christmas Day.

Hanauma Bay

2009-06-01T17:09:00.000+03:00

History:

The Hanauma Bay lies on the southeast shore of O’ahu, on an old crater which formed tens of thousand of years ago, through a volcanic eruption. In time, the waves and wind erosion forced one wall of the crated to fall and the crater was invaded by the ocean’s water. The current bay formed on top of the cooled lava, and today, at 10 mile from Honolulu, Hanauma is housing various types of marine life.

Formed from two Hawaiians words hana which means “bay”, and uma which means “curved”, Hanauma Bay attracts some 1 million visitors per year. They come there for the clear waters, for the large variety of tropical fish, for the beauty of the reef, and for the opportunity of encountering a sea turtle.

According to the official website of the city of Honolulu, the first time when Hanauma came into the public eye was in 1918, when a magazine presented the bay as an indicated place to stop for people traveling in those parts of the island. In 1929, the City and County of Honolulu start the long management of the area, after it bought it for one dollar from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

Through the years the management took some good and bad decisions which affected the bay indefinitely. In the 1950s the Hawaiian Telephone Company who was in charge of installing the trans-Pacific undersea telephone cable, blasted a wide swath through the reef, destroying the central portion forever. Unfortunately this was not seen as an ecological disaster at the time, but as a sacrifice for progress. In the 1960s Hanauma declared a Marine Life Conservation District. Fishing and any removal of any coral, rock, or sand was prohibited. In 1970s surfing activity was stopped in the bay. And the place became tourist oriented. In the 1980s the management enlarged the parking lot, thus the number of visitors reached 10,000/day. Those visitors, in order to make their activities in the bay more exciting started to feed the fish bread, peas, and snack. This attracted more and more fish into the area – fish that normally wouldn’t live there, that would endanger other species existence. The beach and water became overcrowded, because the commercial tours were monopolizing the area. The bay was suffocating.

Today, the bay is managed by the City and County of Honolulu on the part of Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve lying above the high tide line, and the State of Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources manages the underwater portion. And what they decided, after realizing the imminent danger of loosing one valuable natural resource, was to rebuild the ecosystem and to minimize the human impact for the future.

What we have learned so far:

Hanauma Bay is a natural preserved park, with spectacular natural resources.
Since 1929 it has been managed by the City and County of Honolulu.
During the 1980s the bay was heavily abuse by tourists and commercial operators’ supra exploitation – the number of visitors reached 3 millions/year.
In the 1990s the authorities started the environmental restoration of the bay.
From 1999 to 2002 Hanauma Bay was closed down for public, in order to leave the reef to come back to life in a natural way.
Today, the management takes serious measures towards protecting the natural habitat of the marine life in the bay: reduction of visitors number – every Tuesdays visitors access is closed, educational programs and one mandatory video which are teaching the tourists conservation, supportive restrictions – most commercial activities are banned, protection and preservation of the bay, tourists safety warnings, and volunteers who can attend in any moment to visitors.
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve is about 10 miles east of Waikiki just off the main coastal road (Kalaniana'ole Highway, Route 72, Hawaii, USA)

The park is closed on Tuesdays.
Every second Saturday of the month tourists have the chance to snorkel at night.

Hawai’i – who would've think?...

2009-05-31T16:32:00.000+03:00

Hawaii is the only state in the US that once was a kingdom…

Who were the Hawaiians? There are 2 standing theories about the provenience of the people of Hawaii. They either came from SE Asia, especially from Tahiti (to whom they resemble in looks, language, and ancient skills), or from the Americas (because of the commune features shared with the Incas). As a support to this theory it has been demonstrated that in those days they could sail through the Pacific, all the way down to the Horn Head.

The history of the kingdom of Hawaii is written at the Iolani Palace museum in Honolulu, on island Oahu of Hawaii.

Iolani Palace – a beautiful establishment, built in 1882 in a Victorian Style, is unfortunately an almost empty palace, due to the ignorance of early American conquistadors, who either stole, destroyed, or auctioned every item that belonged to the dynasty. However, the lobby of the palace can tell the whole history of Hawaii.

The first king of Hawaii, who had the vision of unifying all the (8) islands of the archipelago, was King Kamehameha I, who after fighting his own father in-law (ruler of one half of the Big Island), was able to bring together, under only one kingdom all his people. He established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810, and during his kingdom he developed friendships with the major Pacific colonial powers, preserved the independence, and guaranteed peace and prosperity.

In 1819 King Kamehameha II was groomed to be heir to the throne at the age of five. He was the eldest son of Kamehameha I and his highest-ranking wife (out of 28). He was succeeded by Kamehameha III in 1824, IV in 1855, V in 1863.

The Kamehameha dynasty got to an end, with the last king who didn’t have any direct heirs to the throne and refused to name a successor. So, in this case and in concordance with the Constitution of that time, it felt on the legislature to name a new king. Therefore, after the elections Kamehameha V's cousin, William Charles Lunalilo, was named the sixth king of Hawaii , in 1873.

King Lunalilo reigned only 13 months and left no heirs to the throne. That’s how another dynasty came to an end, and in 1874 new elections took place.

King David Kalākaua won the elections, though he run in the previous ones too, but lost in favor to former King Lunalilo. Raised and educated in the western European style, Kalākaua started his reign off with a tour of the Hawaiian Islands, to improve his popularity.

In 1881, King Kalākaua left the kingdom and went on a trip around the world – becoming the first king to do such a thing. He also wanted to study how other rulers ruled. In his absence, his sister and heir, Princess Lili'uokalani, ruled as regent and oversaw the building of the Iolani Palace in Honolulu.

The King first traveled to San Francisco, then sailed to the Empire of Japan, China, Siam, Burma, India, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Romania, the French Third Republic, Spain, Portugal, UK, and back through the US before returning to Hawaii. During this trip, he met with many crowned heads of state, including Pope Leo XIII, Umberto I of Italy, Victoria of the United Kingdom, and Carol I of Romania.

Apparently, even though the history never states it, King Kalākaua and Carol I met in 1881 and had a great amiable relationship. Probably they saw each other just once during their lives, but when Kalākaua visited the Kingdom of Romania he was decorated by Carol I with the Order of the Crown of Romania – “Through Our Selves” (“Prin noi inşine”) – the proof lies next to some other decorations, in Iolani Palace’s Gallery in Honolulu, just across the world…

Another proof is one of the letters Kalākaua sent to Carol I – it is written in French and is displayed along with other three letters addressed to important western personalities, on king’s desk, in the top floor of the palace…

----------
The excitement of finding something from back home so far away from home, is replaced now by the questions of “Why the history didn’t note this aspect, in a corner of a notebook?”, “Why aren’t we taught what proud to be Romanian means, anymore?”…

Even if we didn’t conquest lands, we've got far enough… Don’t you think so?!

From the islands

2009-05-30T16:52:00.000+03:00

The blessed people of Hawai'i say that any person of this world must have the
permission to believe.

This is all these stories give you.
Please follow this link: gohawaii.com/stories

Mahalo nui loa!
(Thank you very much!)

Creation

2009-05-29T16:26:00.000+03:00

A trip to Rome, Italy is always a fascination. That place is filled with so many of the world’s creations, so old, and so beautiful, that only the trip itself gives you the feeling that you will walk along the steps of the greatest people in the history. And only this gives you chills!

Being in the “Eternal City” obliges you to visit one other ‘eternal’ place – the Vatican City – the womb of Christianity. As a person who believes in anything saint, you have to visit this peaceful place, at least once in your life… if not for the Holiness, at least for the priceless pieces of art, gated in this incredibly small and rich country.

To get inside might be a test of endurance – hard, but not impossible. The Holy See is surrounded by a tall and thick defense wall, and early in the morning the wall is surrounded by thousands of people waiting to get and see what is the ancient wall defending. The visiting hours are daily from 10:00-15:30 (with some exceptions).

... After winning over the infinite line of tourists that want to see pretty much what you don’t know that you will see, you get inside. You pass through Security, and when you thought you’re actually the winner, you find out there is another line you have to defeat – the one for the entrance tickets (Regular 13 €; Reduced 8 €; Special 4 €; some times Free). With the ticket in one hand, you make the next step – start the trip through all the incommensurable values of all art history – from antiquity, renaissance, modern era, and all the way to the contemporaneous one. Through an interminable journey with emotional stops in front of unique pieces of art, by Raphaello, Michelangelo, da Vinci, and also thousands of more or less famous painters and sculptors, you flow down the corridors of the Vatican Museum – the place where tens of generations of priests gathered and preserved the most important proofs of the human creation. The trip is long, exhausting, it lets you stunned in front of many of the pieces, it takes all your powers if front of such beauties...

Nevertheless, the peak of the trip is the Sistine Chapel – the place where beauty meets genius, myth and faith. Getting there is unexpected. No matter how much you would know about this place, is impossible not to amaze you, when you first bump into it. Everywhere in the museum there are sings announcing that you are heading to the right direction, towards the most known and visited place in Vatican... At one point you even get to walk some small stairs, being pushed by tens of people hurrying up, God knows where (?), and suddenly you find yourself in a new room. It is different form everything you’ve seen before. You look... still having in your head all those veritable art proofs you’ve just seen... But nothing compares to this. At one point you realize you’ve even forgotten why were you walking through Vatican. And then…, you clearly see it: you’re there! You finally made it, there! Of course, after a whole morning of facing art, this amazes you more, all close to tears. You are overwhelmed. You don’t know where to look. You don’t see it. A moment later you remember it should be in the middle of the ceiling, between all those faces, and bodies.

And then…

The Creation.

Why go to Paris only on Valentines Day?

2009-05-28T18:48:00.000+03:00

GOOD TO KNOW: Paris, in February, it’s cold!! There must be a hot someone next to you, to warm your heart! Still, “the city of lights” can be romantic, even on a horrible weather. There are enough romantic spots, whether needed all over the place.

Here’s my list:

Le Butte de Montmartre – the neighborhood, there’s no need to go to Sacre Cœur, thou if you take all the stares up to the basilica you’ll have a free spectacular view of the city. Steal a kiss at the carrousel. Remember how Amélie Poulaine (« Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulaine », 2001) found her love there and follow their steps. Montmartre is mystic, bohemian, and deserves to be walked and admired. There is also a tourist little cart.

Pigalle – is a metro station between Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur. This is the Red Quarter of Paris. If you look for a kinky Valentines “the girls” work day and night, sex-shops are everywhere, some porn cinema, and even an Erotic Museum. As a friend of mine says: “At Pigalle you find only things, which when you keep them in your palms, they give you sounds and pleasure” – in this area you can find sex in any shape and musical instruments from all over the world.

Opéra Garnier – it is a gem of the architecture, has 2200 seats, beautiful interiors and magic shows. Can be visited when no rehearsals. One tour is 7 €. Palais Garnier – Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris, Mº Opéra, RER Auber, Bus 20, 21, 22, 27, 29, 31, 39, 42, 52, 53, 66, 68, 81, 95.

Arc de Triomphe – for 4 € you can climb the staires to the top deck to admire the Charles de Gaule l’Etoile square with its 12 boulevards rising from the arch. At 5pm the lights on the boulevards, on Champs Elysée, at La Défense (the financial district), and at the Eiffel Tower are switched on. At least 10 minutes every hour the Eiffel Tower blinks giving a dreamy sensation al over the city.

The Ice Skating Ring from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower – especially at night, when the city is lighted. The view is magnificent. Ice Skating is sexy and free. Take the stairs, not the elevator – 4€.

Cruise on Seine – the best cruise boats are Les Bateaux de Pont Alma (5€). They have the best narrations (on English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese) on the history and the traditions of Panames*. Such a cruise is most romantic in the evenings, when the 24 bridges and all buildings on each side of the Seine are beautifully lighted in the dark. The Bateaux-Mouches worth’s especially when it comes to romantic dinners on board.

Île Saint Louis – has nothing especially on it, but that gives the whole charm and romantic feeling of the old city. Get lost on this island, you’ll feel like on a different world, but also feel the real Paris.

The Quays of Seine – walk on any side, next to the water or on the sidewalk. A bottle of [French] Champagne is recommended, or better (it warms you up!) a bottle of red Bordeaux. Red wine is an aphrodisiac and 2001 was a very good year for red Bordeaux!

Pont des Arts – is the bridge where lovers meet. Start your walk in the evening, on the left bank, cross the walking bridge of lovers, admire the Seine, enter the Louvre’s interior yard and go to Napoleon’s Garden, where the pyramids are. In the night everything is lighted, and you might have the chance to hear talented musicians playing their instruments.

Rue de Rivoli – lies along Louvre. It is a commercial street, not really Champs Elysée, but if shopping can be romantic, that’s the place to be!

Cité Universitaire – this is the oldest campus in Paris. Established at the beginning of 1900s, the campus has 35 villas belonging to different countries, showing different architecture and style. The parks between the buildings are extremely romantic and bring you back to college years.

Going out:

Café Mabillon - Mº Mabillon, line 10, 164, boulevard St Germain. You find it between Odeon and St Germain, in the bohemian center of Paris when the café is vivid, especially in happy-hours from 7-9pm. The tables are full inside and outside, even if it is summer or winter because of the brilliant cocktails (4,50 €/cocktail) they do. Friendly advice: Don’t mind the annoying waiters – usually they’re not customer friendly because that’s a rare species in Paris!

Chez Papa (St Germain area) - has a great atmosphere, especially when there is live jazz music during dinner. Waiters are always nice with their clients. And at birthdays sing "Joyeux Anniversaire" for every 'aging' person in the house.

Latin Lover (rue d’Harpe – St Michel area) - very gay bar, with very gay waiters, and also with really crazy cocktails. Worth tryin'!

Bistro des Artistes (6, rue des Anglais – just across from Notre Dame Cathedral) - hided from the tourists' view, and still in the most touristic area of Saint Michel, the bar brings in more Panames than foreigners.

Bario Latino (Mº Bastille, line 5) - look for Bossa Nova night. Good food, nice cocktails.

Noura (Mº Vavin, line 4) – The best Lebanese restaurant in town. Moderate prices, delicious food, extraordinary Lebanese wine.

Au Pied du Chameau (Châtelet area) – Moroccan restaurant with traditional belly dancing shows.

Bistro (Mº Jaurès, line 7) – Typical French bistro with delicious raclettes and fondus.

Dans le Noir ? (rue Quincampoix, 75004, tel +33 (1) 42 77 98 05, Châtelet area) - offers an unforgettable experience. In this restaurant all waiters are blind. The guests have to be guided to their table by the assigned waiter and then to eat in perfect dark. This unusual exercise awakes in everyone of us some strange primeval instincts. More surprisingly is the fact that we learn in a dinner time how to rely on other senses than our sight. (www.danslenoir.com)

Bonus: France is under 26 friendly

*Paname - nickname for Parisian citizen

Catri's guide to Paris..., France

2009-05-27T18:19:00.000+03:00

Remember that Paris is a very touristic city. Therefore, despite the traditional French nationalism you will find help. And if you don’t, and get lost on its streets… enjoy it! That’s where most of its charm lays...

FROM THE AIRPORT: From CDG take RER B and will take you in 30min all the way to downtown in Place St Michel. One metro ticket can be used for one trip and transfers. The tickets look the same for metro, bus and RER (just in the city!) – for trips that will take you out of Paris (i.e. Versailles) you need to buy different tickets. In the bus you can buy tickets from the driver.

ORIENTATION: Wherever you find (airport or metro station), get a free city map. In metro stations there are some small pocket maps which are actually the most complex plan of the Parisian metro and RATP – extremely helpful whereas Paris has 14 metro lines + 5 RER lines (a rapid train which travels as an express in town and as a connection between small neighborhoods out of the city) + ‘n’ bus lines… At the metro stations you also find tourist maps.

OBJECTIVES:

M° St Michel -- Place St Michel -- Saint Michel Fountain (ground 0 for gay ppl, meeting point for everybody). Try the cafés in the area.

Routes:

1. rue de Harpe (facing the fountain at your left) – just get lost on those tight streets with tones of ethnic restaurants. Advice: they are a little pricey and the food is not always extraordinary (I had a good meal just about once!), but is nice to see the night promenade, especially when the Greeks break plates and sing to pretty ladies… Local bars on the other hand are precious (e.g. Bistro des Artistes – 6 rue de Anglais 75005 Paris; M° Maubert Mutualité, line 10; www.bistrot-des-artistes.com or Latin Lover – rue d’Harpe – St Michel area)

2. rue Andrés des Artes (facing the fountain at your right) – plenty of lovely bars. If you walk down this street and follow its curves, you’ll end up on rue de Buci which ends at Caffé Mabillon (164 Blvd Saint-Germain 75006 Paris; M° Mabillon, line 10) – Happy hours 7-9 pm – DO NOT MISS the best cocktails in town. Plus, right now you are in the Odeon – Saint Germain de Press area – walking distance. Try Chez Papa restaurant (St Germain area) – it’s a nice restaurant with live jazz music.

3. turning your back to the fountain, cross the street, then the bridge and you are right in front of Notre Dame – I was always fascinated by the transparent, multilingual confessionals. You can go up the cathedral’s tower (7€), but it takes allot of time. There are other free options to see the Parisian panorama. – Facing the cathedral, in your left, across the street there is Shakespeare & Co bookstore (full of romantic history) and further down the oldest tree in Paris.

4. go around the fountain, on Blvd Saint Michel and walk down to the Latin Quarter (Rîve Gauche), Sorbonne, Jardin de Luxembourg.

This involves shops, restaurants, bars and clubs.

Îlle de la Cité: Notre Dame -- Hotel de Ville (City hall) – in winter they always have an artificial ice skate ring Conciergerie (the jail where Marie Antoinette was decapitated) Palais de Justice the Cathedral St Chapelle. These buildings are one next to each other.

Îlle Saint Louis is the second island of the Seine and is there just to walk through, but is the place that gives the quintessence of Paris.
walk along Seine’s quays and its beautiful bridges (there are 35 in total).
at the end of Saint Louis cross the bridge and visit the Institute du Monde Arabe - the architecture of the building is amazing. Look at the windows’ shade mechanism.
Rîve Gauche – the left bank of the Seine: Institute du Monde Arabe, Cart Latin, Place Saint Michel, Sorbonne, Jardin de Luxembourg (designed by the same architect that imagined the Cişmigiu garden in Bucharest) – there you’ll see the building of the Senate house, Panthéon, Eglise de Mont (this is my favorite white cathedral which looks better than the next door Panthéon)
up on the left bank: Musée d’Orasy, Assemblée Nationale (the Parliament)
trip to Eiffel Tower: start at Pont Alexandre III (the most beautiful bridge on Seine) walk the esplanade + Les Invalides museum, walk around the right side of the Invalides to Ecole Militaire (on the area you'll find the Romanian Embassy - a very nice building), on your right you'll see the Mure de la Paix (hint: is made of glass) -> Champ de Mars - ideal for nocturne picnics in the summer (somewhere on the right side is the Romanian Restaurant Doina – the only Romanian restaurant in Paris) -- > you’re facing the Eiffel Tower
the Eiffel Tower (10€ to the top) – first go all the way up (I know you won’t resist it!), but when you go down please stop at the first floor (2^nd for US ppl) and don’t miss: the movie in the cinema (it is only 7min long), the hologram of the tower (next to the cinema), try a hot chocolate at the bar or a full dinner at Jules Verne Restaurant. And if you visit it in winter DO NOT MISS the ice skating ring!
when you leave the Eiffel Tower you have 2 choices:
1. in front is Trocadero – is nice to be visited in day time or at New Years Eve
2. IT'S A MUST! Go down the stairs at the river, at Pont d’Alma, on the right from the Eiffel Tower and take the Bateaux de Tour Eiffel (5€ for students, 10€ for adults). Don’t waste your money with some other cruises (unless you want a private dinner cruise), because this is the most complete in cultural/historical information and the most beautiful one. It takes 1hr and it worths every Euro cent. I repeat: do not take another boat! It’s a pity. Oh! The cruise is lovely at night when all the city lights are on.

the right bank of the Seine: rue de Rivoli (waaaay cheaper and stylish than Champs Elysée) -> (go along) Musée du Louvre -> Napoleon's Garden (the one with the pyramids) -> Jardin de Tuillerie (if you cross this park you arrive in) -> Place de la Concorde -> (and here's where it starts the famous) Champs Elysée -> Arc de Triomphe -> (now you can go on top of the arch and admire the 12 famous boulevards - 3€ for students)
another beautiful route is to cross the street at Musée d’Orsay over the lovers’ bridge (the only pedestrian bridge over the Seine), it’s an wooden one which will take you over the Seine directly into the Louvre’s courtyard (more romantic in the evening)

Châtelet Les Halles is some sort of mall – can be checked out, but more worthy seam the small streets and little bars around it. Is nice just to get lost. In the same area you’ll find Centre Pompidou - the contemporary art museum will stick to your eyes because is made only of glass and metal tubes. However, in front of it you'll find Brâncuşi’s workshop.

here you MUST try a memorable experience – Dans le Noir restaurant – has only blind waiters, and the clients have to dine in the dark (51, rue Quincampoix, 75004, tel 1 42 77 98 05; www.danslenoir.com) – it’s a parallel street with the Centre Pompidou – turn your back to the Centre and walk forward, it is the last street before Blvd de Sébastopol.
also try Au Pied du Chameau (Châtelet area 20, rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris; www.aupieddechameau.fr) – Moroccan restaurant with traditional dancing show.
don’t miss a tour in the Opera Garnier (7€ for a walking tour), then go around its right and enter the Societé Generale Bank, behind the opera – it is the most beautiful bank premises in the world! Behind the bank you’ll find the Galeries La Fayette and Printemps. Shopping!!!
behind Printemps there’s Madeleine and in front of it Place de la Concorde
go to Gare du Nord, then to Montmartre (M° Anvers), climb to the top of the stairs of Sacre Coeur and admire the free town scape, take the funicular and then get lost again on the streets
another MUST – take line 14 to Gare de Lyon – the most beautiful metro station in Paris, then go up in the rail station and look for Le Train Bleu. Built in 1900 once with the Eiffel Tower and the Opera Garnier this restaurant seams depicted from the Titanic. Go up the stairs, enter the restaurant (have lunch or not), then walk to the end of the hall in the left. On the right side is the Big Ben Bar (you won’t see it above the door, but is written on the menú) – is more of a salon. Stay at least for a tea – is one of my most loved places in Paris…
check out the Marais neighborhood – the Jewish neighborhood at M° Saint Paul
try the Hägen Daaz ice cream and desert places along Paris (my favorite are the one in front of Louvre & la Comédie-Française, and the one on Champs Elysée) – don’t mind the prices, they’re the same everywhere (in the world!).
if you get to Montparnasse, go to the top floor deck for the view, but it will cost. In the area don’t miss the Lebanese restaurant Noura - is the best in town! I bet you’ll love it... (Mº Vavin, line 4)
there’s Père la Chaise cemetery – home of Jimi Hendrix, Victor Hugo, etc., but I never went there. Is like taking a trip to Bellu in Bucharest.
Out of Paris:

Chateaux de Versailles (RER C – make sure you buy the right tickets!) about 6€. Buy the 12€ ticket so you get to see as many as possible rooms. The gardens are paid separately, but in winter look very sad… in the summer on the other hand there are beautiful music and water shows.
La Défense – the financial quarter. Check out Arc de la Défence – looks more modern than the Arc de Triomphe, and has a nice restaurant on the top. If you have one day for shopping and you’ve seen everything that was to see in Paris, take RER A (make sure you buy the right ticket!) to Val d’Europe – as soon as you exist the metro station you are in Marne la Vallée – an outlet mall/village European style. Closes at 5pm!
2 RER stops away is Disneyland Paris – useless to say, you need a whole day there. (40€/pers)

The Great Wall of China

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The Great Wall was built more than 2 000 years ago. The construction started between 7^th and 6^th century BC, now stretching on some 6 000 km (4 000 miles) from east to west of China.

It was enlisted as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987.

They say it can be seen from out of space, but I wasn’t able to see it from the plane…

When I first reached it I was already exhausted – Chinese guides took care of this! Ours got there late, in the after noon, because the summer heat was too high, [even there], making the air impossible to breath.

I took a moment and a deep breath when I first stepped on it. Its ends cannot be reached by the human eye. You ask yourself where it starts and where it ends, when, where, why and especially how they started its construction?...

Once I began to walk, with every step, a strange feeling raised in me: the feeling that I wanted to stop climbing, because I had no straight for doing it, and, in the mean time, that I wanted to continue as far as the feet could take me. I wanted to reach the end. But, again, which end? And after the End, what?! With every drop of sweat my forces were ending far too soon…

Even if I reached only five check points, at the end of my ‘Walk on the Wall’ I looked back and I couldn’t believe my eyes. The beauty of the wall is immeasurable. The immensity of the Wall left me speechless and breathless. It is an extremely exhausting experience, but when you finally get there… it’s amazing!

The only thing I could think about was: “How fortunate I am!” – I never fought my steps will take me so far, on this side of the world, on this masterpiece of the mankind, on this beautiful land that looks so pure.

That was the ultimate experience! It's exhausting! It's great! It's unimaginable! There, I really felt like on top of the world!

Practical tips:

ü The Great Wall of China lies 70 km northeast from the capital. If you don’t have a solid plan for Beijing, book rooms at Leo Hostel (52 Da Zha Lan Xi Jie, Qianmen, Beijing, zip code 100051, China). When you first arrive in the city get to the hostel – they have very good tips and trips concerning the Great Wall.

ü Don’t go there without a bottle of water. You risk to dehydrate!

Shanghai, China

2009-05-25T17:52:00.000+03:00

My first thought when I decided to visit China, was that I’m going to be very pissed with all that crowd of little Chinese who’s wearing funky haircuts and is crazy about Mickey Mouse. I was worried that I will spend my time with people that are speaking an impossible language, and that I will be bored to death, while millions of fake little red items will pass in front of my eyes. Eating with chop sticks was the last threat on my list…

The only relieve was Evelyne and her presence there.

When the plane landed on Pudong, Shanghai‘s International Airport, I smiled thinking that it looks [ironically!] small – like a local airport, where only a few jets take off and land everyday.

But after I stepped on Shanghanese land the wideness of Asia knocked me out. On the ground, actually, everything is enormous – first the line at the Custom, then the airport, which presents very modern facilities like any other international airport in the world. The good news is that immediately after the serious Custom Agent is giving you the non-penetrating look, plus the red entry stamp on the passport, things start flowing easily.

Shanghai (meaning "On the Sea") has 12.3 million people, who can see the sun rising in the same time as all their compatriots (China operates as one time zone), but has 8 hours ahead the Greenwich Mean Time. Also, there is no daylight savings time adjustment in the summer. Rich country! What can I say!? … In fact there are only 60 million millionaires in China.

Currency: Money can be changed inside the airport and within all the banks in the city. The national currency is 1 Yuan or 1 RMB (1 € ≈ 10 RMB and 1 $ ≈ 8 RMB). The bills are all having the portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong. They represent 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100 RMB and the coins have values of 1 RMB. Smaller divisions are called Fen.

Transportation: Inside the airport can be found the train station for Maglev – the fastest train in the world. The Maglev Train runs 30 km between the airport and Longyang Road Metro Station, in the city, in 7 minutes, reaching a maximum speed of 431 km/hour. Tickets can be bought online or from the two stations. Prices (RMB): One Way Ticket: 50, 100 (VIP); Round Trip Ticket: 80, 160 (VIP)

In the city, a large net of buses and trolleys can be used, plus 4 lines of metro, connecting the main squares and junctions. Under or over ground passages for pedestrians can be found in the most crowded boulevards. Street Assistants are helping people to cross the streets and manage successfully to make a more fluid traffic.

In Shanghai, 70% of the cars out on the road are taxis. The licensed ones are charging 10RMB + 2RMB/km on daytime (5a.m.-11p.m.) and 13RMB +2.6 RMB/km on nighttime (11p.m.-5a.m.).

From the rail stations, trains are leaving to different parts of the country. Tickets should be booked in advance. However, there is always a English Speaking Office on site.

Highlights:

Nanjing Lu – “the Champs Elysée of China” is the most prosper shopping street in the country. The 1 033m long pedestrian road is crowded with tourists and locals on daytime. In the night is the living room of beggars and homeless. Still, after 10pm it becomes one of the few relaxing places in the city for a quiet promenade under the lights of the well known brand shops.

Yu Garden – situated in the downtown, south of the Bund is a 400 years old, most beautiful garden at south of Yangtze. Now, all 30 traditional pavilions and pagodas are transformed in vibrant bazaar packed with souvenir shops and restaurants. Main attractions are the Temple of the City God and the golden fishes from the lake aside.

People’s Square – the down town of Shanghai is the shelter of the municipal Museum, the city Theatre, Peace Cinema and People’s Park.

The Huangpu River – crosses the city and flows into the East China Sea. Cruise boats are riding along the river for a “blink-blink” view – on one side lies the Bund (the landmark of Shanghai), with old impressing buildings, and on the other (the new side) – all the lighted skyscrapers. Every night, from 7-11p.m., all the tall buildings in the city are lighted and can be admired better, because the air is breathable at that time of the day and the warm summer nights are perfect for long walks.

The Bund – the 2km boardwalk that lies along the Huangpu River is the birthplace and the symbol of East. This is the most famous sightseeing spot in Shanghai, which has always been closely linked with the development of the city.

The financial district Lujiazui – skyscrapers everywhere. This is a 28 km² area, with a population of 540,000, into a financial, commercial and trade zone, which can be fund just opposite the Bund, across the Huangpu River.

The Jin mao Tower – the tallest tower in Shanghai, is “a must” for any tourist. The building of its 88 floors and 421m was ended in 1998, and since then can be visited every day. I missed the top observation deck, but I checked Cloud 9, the highest bar in the world. That’s a beautiful way of admiring the view, even if is not a 360° tour. Drinks are not expensive, but surprise, surprise they ask for a 110 RMB minimum charge to clients present after 8pm. So, don’t be surprised! Anyway, they have great deserts.

The Oriental Pearl Tower – the television and radio tower that was build in 1994, is located in Pudong Park in Lujiazui. It has 468 m and 14 floors that host 9 television channels and 10 FM radio channels. I never went there. This is one of my reasons to go back to Shanghai! But I found out that the admission fee is 50 RMB, that is opened from 08:40 to 21:30, buses 81, 82, 85, 870, 871, 872 stop there, and that 4 and a half hours for visiting are enough to get an idea.

The Tongji University Campus – is huge. The atmosphere is very Chinese. International students can get housing over the summer in the foreign students dormitory. There are double rooms with bathrooms and air conditioned system. That’s a blast, once you see the rooms for resident students. So, appreciate what you get there.

Tip: On top of the building there’s place for watching the city over the night and the sunrise at 5a.m.

Nightlife: – Dinner, in China, is around 6p.m., because the dark falls always around 7p.m. So, parties take place from 9p.m.-2a.m. The only clubs that are opened until 5a.m. or early dawn are the ones for expats. Bars’ street in Shanghai is Maoming Lu. Bars are just next door. Price lists are posted on the sidewalk. Make your pick, step in and enjoy! Chinese know how to party!

Anadolu – the only delicious Turkish restaurant in Shanghai. Wonderful atmosphere, beautiful Arabian music, extraordinary service, the best chicken döner! They also serve delicious kebabs and Turkish pizzas. Where? On Hengshan Lu

Café de Montmartre – typical French food in the middle of nowhere. Where? Xiangyang Nan Lu, next to the Xiangyang [‘Fake’] Market

Crepperie Française – delicious St Maló style galléte with Bretagne cider. They provide even forks! The cider is autentic and expencive! Where? Xiangyang Nan Lu, next to the Xiangyang [‘Fake’] Market

Yu Garden – traditional dim sum restaurants, on traditional pavilions

Bar Rouge – on the wonderful terrace of Bund 18, at the 6th floor, offers both a stylish bar and a large outdoor terrace with a breathtaking view over the financial district, Pudong and the Bund. Where? East ZhongShan Rd, at 10 minutes walking distance east of Henan Zhong Rd. station, Metro#2

Buddha Bar Shanghai – psychedelic atmosphere on bars’ street. Where? Maoming Lu

The House of Blues and Jazz – live shows, too small drinks, perfect atmosphere, international environment. Where? Maoming Lu

Mint – expats disco. Hosts a wide selection of house DJs throughout the week. Where? Tongren Lu

Mural Bar – French owned, happy hours, Latin treats, ladies nights, free drinks, excellent dishes, extraordinary interiors, dancing atmosphere. Michelle, the owner, is always between his guests, trying to make them feel well and helping them getting around the city. (www.muralbar.com)

Pegasus – expats kids disco. First impression: international high school party. But, Friday is an open bar night; general entrance 50 RMB.

Rojam – disco with Chinese flavor. Two rooms for different styles, cheep drinks, a lot of well dressed, happy, young, fashionable Chinese. They party better then in other mega cities. Ladies night are every Monday and Wednesday.

People:

Despite my being afraid of Chinese aggression, I was very impressed by their kindness and hospitality. Because Shanghai is a free zone from the '30s, the locals are used to foreigners and treat them normal. They have their own fashion style, but they know all the trends and brands in the world. They listen to good music and the Chinese pop sounds very nice. Many of them understand and speak very good English – especially taxi drivers, sellers and hotel stuff. Still, an interpreter is needed.

In services area everybody uses white (always clean) gloves. What impressed me the most is how they treat their clients like royalties! In a shop, one doesn’t have to do anything – they close in every button of a coat. They make sure that all the personal services are extremely well accomplished. Sometimes they are better then in the West and the final smile looks more real then in our society. The difference is made by employees’ attitude towards the client. Unfortunately, tips are forbidden by law.

The city is best to visit in spring and autumn. Summer is too hot and humid, and in winter, temperatures can drop below zero.

Places I've been and I love

2009-05-24T20:58:00.002+03:00

Visited Lived in Wanna go to

1. Ro: Bucharest, Vama Veche (2001- _)
2. Hungary: Budapest (2003)
3. Austria: Vienna (2003)
4. USA: New York [NY], Niagara [NY]('04,'08); Honolulu [Oahu, HI], Lihue [Kauai, HI], Lahaina [Maui, HI], Hilo [Big Island, HI]; Los Angeles [CA], San Francisco [CA], San Diego [CA] ('07-'09); New Orleans [LA]; Las Vegas [NV] (2009); Washington, D.C.; Boston [MA]; Miami [FL], Key West [FL] (2010)
5. France: Paris, Normandie, Cote d'Azur (2004-2005)
6. Czech Republic: Prague (2005)
7. Italy: Milan ('05, '06,'10), Venice (2005), Rome (2007), Florence (2007), Verona (2010)
8. Germany: Köln (2005)
9. Monaco: Monte Carlo (2005)
10. Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam (2005)
11. China: Shanghai, Beijing (2005)
12. Switzerland: Lugano (2006)
13. Spain: Barcelona ['06,'09,'10,'11], Granada, Seville, Ceuta (Africa), Ibiza; Madrid, Toledo (2006); Bilbao (2010); Tarifa (2011)
14. Turkey: Ankara (2006)
15. Vatican City (2007)
16. Mexico: Baja, Mexico City, Playa del Carmen (2009)
17. Bulgaria: Balchik Castle (2010)
18. UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai (2011)
19. UK: London (2011)
20. Morocco: Tangier