Articles Archive 2011

Above my pillow, the Maltese lace curtain billowed in the Mediterranean breeze, and beyond the window, a donkey brayed in one of the back lanes and a cockerel heralded the dawning of a new day. Soon the fishing village of Marsaskala would be bathed in a soft, golden light. This, my first morning on the island of Malta seemed idyllic, then, the unexpected happened. My soporific state was shattered by the noise of repetitive volleys of gunshots reverberating off the cubic limestone buildings. I gingerly edged my way onto the flat rooftop of our bed & breakfast lodging to check out the fracas. Unperturbed, a neighbor was beating clouds of limestone dust from her Moroccan carpet, nuns attired in pristine white habits were escorting young orphans to the bus stop. Caged canaries trilled in the shaded courtyard. All seemed to be well with the world. ...read more »

Wales, unlike England it's rather staid neighbour, is a land of whimsy.

It is early spring in Llangollen, North Wales and hedgerows like dark eyebrows run along the edges of fields where mother sheep fuss over their newly arrived lambs. Our mini-bus drops our group off at Plas Newydd, a Tudor style house, with a façade resembling rows of black and white dominoes. ...read more »

Japanese bentos, spicy Asian, all-American; Palau's multi-ethnic cuisine is pleasing to any foodie's palate and is a direct offshoot of this tiny nation's culture and past. The lush North Pacific archipelago, located between the Philippines and Guam, has seen its share of dictators. It was ruled by Spain in 1686, bought by Germany in 1899, sold to Japan in 1914 and won by the United States after WWII. Finally on October 1, 1994, it gained independence and became a free nation. Although it's enough to make your head spin, coming out of this political game of pass the hot Palauan potato is a culinary line-up that offers a lot more than just spuds. And during our week-long stay, we have the opportunity to sample the fusion of flavours. Here are a few of the recommended eateries. ...read more »

There's one way to temper your fear of alligators: put yourself in a canoe in the Hillsborough River, 13 miles from downtown Tampa, and paddle through gator-filled swamp. By the end of the journey you'll barely bat an eyelid at the eight-foot-long reptile sunning himself on a log just meters from your canoe. ...read more »

The backstreets of Bangkok aren't the most salubrious, but for the traveler who relishes 'the inside track', navigating the winding back alleys will deliver some of the most authentic experiences. And you can't get more real than the local boxing ring where contenders in Muay Thai duke it out with fist, heel, knee and elbow. ...read more »

I've never had great balance. Nor am I crazy about dipping into the frigid Pacific. So when my daughter, Emily, suggests we head to BC's West Coast for some surf time, I'm pretty sure she's flipped. In all my years of living, I've never set foot (or body) on a board-and I'm not sure now is the time to try. But I don't want to let her down. Over this past month she's been slammed with exams and pre-wedding pressures. And I feel honored that she's chosen me to escape with. ...read more »

Have you ever seen something so bizarre as to defy logic? As my eyes sweep over the vast array of pre-historic stone jars of mammoth proportions - there it is! A mind boggling enigma! What ancient peoples fashioned these vessels, and for what purpose? I am rendered speechless as I run my hand over the rough charcoal-coloured mottled surface of the largest, standing 3 meters in height with a diameter of 2 meters, and estimated to weigh a tonne. ...read more »

I lost my family in a Seattle chocolate factory, somewhere between the coconut curry, the cherry almond and the grey-salted vanilla caramel flavours. We'd come to tour Theo Chocolate in Fremont, and from the moment we arrived, everyone dispersed like the wind, drawn magnetically to the chunks of chocolate tasters all around the store. ...read more »

It was a disappointingly ordinary looking bedroom, considering its rich history. Some of the most famous men in the world had slept there. I was in Virginia City, Nevada at the Mackay Mansion, built in 1860 by George Hearst, father of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. ...read more »

It was a Coca Cola umbrella that first caught my eye. It seemed somewhat incongruous, flailing around in the middle of traditional Africa ... rather like the opening scene from the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. For a moment, I mused if the parent company was taking a stranger-than-fiction moment and propelling it into a larger-than-life television commercial until a sharp, shrill whistle jarred me to reality. ...read more »

"Welcome to Gananoque," my husband reads, pronouncing it incorrectly, as we cruise beneath the stone and timber archway. "It's actually Gan-an-ock-way," I respond, sounding out each syllable, "and it means 'a place of health'." During this two-day getaway, (while reminding him of the pronunciation at least a dozen more times) we discover that this hamlet, thirty minutes east of Kingston Ontario, lives up to its name. ...read more »

We are standing at a lookout point on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and our guide, Carmela, with a theatrical sweep of her hand, announces, "Folks, I give you the Old City of Jerusalem!" A wag among our group says, "Really? You sure you don't want it any more?" ...read more »

A golden glow covers the rolling hills. It is a gentle light, softly bathing the grasses and distant trees. Shadows fill the hollows as evening approaches and birdsong breaks the silence. A deer freezes into a statue, has a short staring contest with us, then bounds up the hill. The landscape is Tuscan in feel, but those aren't grapevines before us and we aren't jet lagged. ...read more »

I'm always up for a good jaunt, but I'm not a fan of major heights, so when Brent, my Sherpa-fit husband, suggests we check out The Tundra Communities Trail, I get a little queasy. For the past four days, we've been in Colorado, exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, where 359 miles (768 km) of hiking trails scroll its 265,770 heavenly acres. A quarter of these routes snake above the tree line and sixty peaks are higher than 3700 m (12,000 ft)-this being one of them. ...read more »

We're halfway up a steep grade on a mercifully quiet road just out of Risdon Vale, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania's capital. It's Day One. We've cycled across the lofty Tasman Bridge with the wind up our noses and the rain down our collars but there are two things we're thankful for: one, today we only need to cycle twenty-nine kilometres, and two, we're 65ers, and we're still pumping. ...read more »

In the Judeo-Christian world, the sacred and the profane are polar opposites - the one hallowed, the other obscene; in Hinduism the two concepts meld into one another-indivisible and eternal as the cosmos. Nowhere is this more evident than in the erotic temple carvings of Khajuraho in northern India, where spirituality and sensuality, playfulness and profundity meet in a joyous celebration of life, energy and passion. ...read more »

Normally the emerald green swath is a golfer's domain. Instead, on a chilly August Sunday, this ocean-side fairway is bejewelled with ultra-rare, chrome encrusted, spit-and-polished, elegant, luxury automobiles. Dating from the 1910s to the 1960s, most of the cars are restored to impeccable standards. I asked a regular attendee for his estimate of what the cars on display are worth and he replies "About $100 million." It's not just the scent of the sea on the wind -you can almost smell the money. ...read more »

Over the last year we've been venturing out on our own-mainly because our youngest son has made it clear that he no longer wants to 'hang out' with us. This foray into the world without children has been fraught with plenty of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead moments-like putting together the new bike rack and learning how to steer a two-person kayak. ...read more »

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