The world's new culinary capital?

Tomorrow's NY Times will publish an interactive feature called The 44 Places To Go In 2009. You can vote on each and you can order them by filters such as "luxury," "foodie," "culture," "party," "eco," etc. I've been to 23 of their recommendations, from Reykavik, Buffalo and Washington, DC to Dakar, India, Phuket and Marrakesh. They call Marrakesh, which I've visited a dozen times since 1969, "the culinary destination of the year." I like Moroccan food-- ate at Chameau on Fairfax last night and rejoiced when I stumbled upon La Rose des Sables, Bamako's only Moroccan restaurant, a few weeks ago. And in 2006 I had even posted a story here called Eating in Marrakesh. But I never thought I'd see this:

As the fascination with Moroccan cuisine has taken off-- both in the United States and around the globe-- epicures and chowhounds are flocking to the ancient ochre-hued city of Marrakech. Foreign-led food tours are sprouting. Homegrown cooking classes are multiplying. And high-end restaurants run by European hotshots are opening alongside the city's nonpareil street food and old, homestyle establishments.

Wow! Quite a leap from the communal tables of the Djemaa el Fna! But if you think that's odd, the Time's top destination for "culture" is Doha, Qatar. They contrast it with Dubai, the Las Vegas of the Middle East, and point to the just opened Museum of Islamic Art, I.M. Pei's "ziggurat-like structure of white stone... far off the art-world grid, in a corner of a globe known more for its religious fundamentalism than its embrace of cutting-edge art." Doha also has a "raft" of new contemporary art galleries in the historic souk, a cobbled together national symphony orchestra, and-- coming soon-- their own Tribeca Film Festival. All brought to you by the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and his 26-year-old daughter, Sheikha al Mayassa (the lucky purchaser of $160 million worth of Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst at a recent Sotheby's auction; we have the same taste!) Still... the #1 cultural destination in the world? Is Qatar a big Times advertiser?

Party central is Florianópolis, Brazil, and it sounds like the kind of place to avoid at all costs. Other party towns include Berlin (well... duh!), the Aegean Sea, Cuba and... Kazakhstan.

On most Friday nights in Almaty, the Uzbek-themed night spot known as the Car Wash-- an ornately decorated rooftop restaurant with enviable mountain views-- is packed with well-heeled Kazakhs smoking water pipes, drinking, dancing and eating extravagantly. Sandwiched between a residential district scheduled for rapid development and Almaty’s business district, the Car Wash is not the only center of hyperactive nocturnal activity.

Infused with newly flowing oil money, Kazakhstan’s largest city is flush with nightclubs and exotic restaurants. The city’s main boulevards are lined with English-language signs; boutiques sell everything from Armani to gem-encrusted Vertu cellphones, and cafes serve the latest in overpriced coffee concoctions.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic Borat character may have imprinted in the minds of many people a sense of ridiculousness about Kazakhstan, but there is little that is ridiculous about this sprawling business hub. Half a dozen luxury hotels are planned or under construction, including an ambitious JW Marriott Hotel opening next summer. The country’s flagship carrier, Air Astana, has added international flights to cities like Hanover, Germany; Dubai; and Bangkok. Wide-bodied Airbus and Boeing jets have joined its fleet.

In short, Almaty is no longer a hardship outpost for the diplomats and the oil industry executives who still dominate the city’s visitor logs.

Still... sounds like quite a stretch to call this a party destination-- even more than calling Doha a world cultural capital. Could be I'm so jaded about Kazakhstan because I just finished reading Ken Silverstein's brilliant new book, Turkmeniscam about the evils of Inside-the-Beltway lobbying, to which that monstrous and grotesque country is no stranger.

And although Kazakhstan ranks up there in this category too, the Times' top destination for luxury is Phuket, an island off the west coast of Thailand. I haven't been there since the 2004 tsunami wiped out the villa I used to rent on the beach, but the Times says Phuket is back-- and better than ever. And the top destination for the frugal traveler? Vegas, the Times apparently mixing up the concepts "frugal" and "cheap."

Since I've just returned from a brief stay in Dakar, I decided to see how my experience jibed with the Times' write-up. I liked Dakar primarily because it was an easy way to acclimate myself to Africa and get ready for the real thing: Mali. I had a great time because of the people I met there and the music scene. Dakar I found pretty nice but not amazing; Roland said it was a waste of time. The Times touts Gorée Island, which is pleasant enough but... nothing to write home about. They also point to the music scene, which I also loved, although I found it in second place behind Mali's.

They may not be Billboard chart-toppers, but Senegalese acts like the rollicking Orchestra Baobab, the soulful pop vocalist Baaba Maal and the poetic lyricist and harmonica virtuoso Ismael Lo-- to say nothing of the international star Youssou N'Dour-- have helped turn the colorful French-speaking city of Dakar into a world-music hotbed.

Their overall #1 destination for 2009? Beirut. OK. And the place on their list I'm thinking of visiting this year? Madagascar, "nature's laboratory," (at #38).

Upper class Brits in the 18th and 19th century used to round out their education with The Grand Tour, a way of learning about the culture of the rest of the world that usually lasted for at least a year and sometimes far longer. People who couldn't quite afford that, used to run away to sea. When I was 15 I hitchhiked from NYC to L.A. and tried stowing away on a ship to get to Tonga. It didn't quite work out for me but at least I discovered drugs and was soon taking LSD trips which were an acceptable substitute for international travel-- for a time. Travel allowed me to break free of all the definitions that bound me up to the dull conformity that endeavored to tell me who I was and what I could and couldn't do. I mean a 2 year trip through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal can't help but change one's outlook pretty fundamentally; it was far more edifying than the public education system which has little choice but to cater to the lowest common denominators and try to make junior citizens into good law-abiding stepfordites. None of that for me, gracias. Fortunately teachers of mine like Isabel Golinsky and Chet Fulmer encouraged a love of literature that banished any semblance of a craving for conformity that may ever have existed in me. Acid trips-- before I could figure out how to travel around the world and immerse myself in other cultures-- pushed me along even further-- and faster.

My last acid trip was on New Year's Eve, 1969. I never drank a beer in my life and I haven't used drugs for three and a half decades. But I still revel in travel, the geographic kind. Last year I was letting my cup runneth over with the joy of all these amazing new restaurants in Bangkok. (I was only there for a week, on the way back to America from a more extended-- and relaxing-- visit to Bali, and there wasn't enough time for my culinary tour of one of my all-time favorite cities.) I said to myself, "Self, why don't you write a guide book to Bangkok restaurants?" I used to be the restaurant critic for a weekly business newspaper in San Francisco (when I was poor and in need of free meals) and I was one of the original correspondents for the now very popular Zagat's Guide. But a restaurant guide to Bangkok never quite got off the drawing board-- nor even onto it. Instead I started blogging about the criminality of George W. Bush, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Tom DeLay, etc at Down With Tyranny. Oh I love that and occasionally I throw in something about a film or music or a restaurant.

A few months ago, when I was just figuring out how to blog, an old friend from my days in San Francisco (hers too), Jane Hamshire of FireDogLake invited me to a leftie bloggers get together in Mullet, California. One of the people I met there was Pat Saperstein who does a not-leftie-at-all blog called Eating L.A.. I think restaurant reviews go over better there than on Down With Tyranny (alas). This year I spent a month in Spain and Morocco-- having returned last night-- and a month in Bali and Thailand. Whenever I try writing about stuff like this-- or about music or food or health... topics that interest me as much as Bush-bashing-- I get a load of letters complaining and demanding I go back to Bush-bashing. Fine, fine. This will be the only time I write something for both Down With Tyranny and for my brand new child, Around the World Blog. Welcome. (How long do you think it will take before I get letters from people complaining about the travel blog being too political?)

That may sound and look a bit weird, but it was the lunch special at Shinjuku today. It was literally as you see it in the photo: a bowl of plain white rice topped with two eggs sunny side up, a slice of ham, and a touch of soy sauce. I'm not sure if this is very Japanese (sounds rather Hawaiian to me instead), but it was surprisingly good, maybe just because it was so darned simple. And the best part about it was that it was still the usual S$10 (US$8) tax inclusive price. I swear, if our office were closer to here, I'd be here nearly every day for a healthy and affordable meal.

Photo © Deepak Sharma/AP-All Rights Reserved
The WSJ's Photo Journal has featured the above photograph by Deepak Sharma (AP) of Pakistani pilgrims carrying an offering of embroidered cloth (which I believe is called kiswa) to cover the tomb of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti on the anniversary of his birth in Ajmer, India.

I should have been there!!! My kind of event!

Shaikh Khawaja Syed Muhammad Moinuddin Chisti was the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia, and was succeeded by various notable saints such as Nizzam Uddin Auliya.

I've never checked on this, but Khawaja in Egyptian Arabic means "foreigner", and was used as a title for all Greek and Italian residents (as an example) in Egypt, so I'm not sure if there's a connection or not. Wikipedia defines Khawaja as a title used by South Asians, which is possibly related to Khoja as well.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Our "almost-a-week-long" Oaxaca Mini Photo-Expedition™ was replete with daily serendipitous photo opportunities. Lynn Padwe, Carl Meisel, Li Lu-Porter, Maria Dikeos and I roamed the streets of this wonderful town in search of photographic scenes, and we weren't disappointed.

Naturally, it was the Zocalo...the throbbing heart of Oaxaca, that offered the most in terms of photo ops, and we made the most of it. It's always a wonderment that Oaxaca (and certainly other similar towns in Mexico) always has something going on in its main square. During our 5 days there, every evening saw some sort of cultural event; a classical performance by the Oaxaca orchestra, a performance by a wide-throated Mariachi singer, a Guelaguetza festival for young children (above) and the weekly dance event.

After photographing the events, we would invariably make a beeline towards the various cafes and restaurants that line the square for drinks and/or dinner.

Note: I've recently noticed that a number of travel photographers have now started to appropriate the Photo-Expedition moniker that I've used for years. I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

A couple of months ago my old friend Kristin and her husband Nick were thinking about going to Turkey and Kristin checked out what I has to say about Cappadocia after I got back last year. After a quickly arranged lunch she went home and booked her flights and reserved a suite at the Esbelli. This morning I got an e-mail from her and Nick-- from the cave.

Turkey is amazing.  This will have to rank as the best trip we have ever taken....Rein Daddy and Howie you were dead on and we are grateful for your education and advice...We had no idea how beautiful this country was, as well as how fantastic the people are.

We are in Cappadocia right now in the interior of the country. It is snowing outside, but we are toasty warm in a cave where we are sending this email (high speed DSL I might add) resting from a long hike into some deserted caves, valleys, villages, etc...

We have not encountered a single tourist here, let alone an American. We are truly living among the Turkish people, and they seem so fascinated with the site of an American.  On countless occasions, we will be walking into a tiny shop (like 40 sq') to buy a water or something when the owner rushes to grab some old chairs from the back for us to sit in while he serves us apple tea and then just sort of stands there smiling and looking at us.  It may sound strange, but their warmth and hospitality transcends all language barriers. Today, we were in a shop and this older woman (covered as most of them are here) comes up to Kristin like she just found her long lost daughter with a smile beaming ear to ear and just starts touching her face smiling and laughing and saying "Guzel...guzel" which we have learned means beautiful. The fact that this is a 98% Muslim country should not dissuade anybody from coming here. We have felt safe everywhere we've been, except for a crazy taxi ride in Istanbul a week ago.

So far, we have spent around 4 days in Istanbul, 3 days in Selcuk (Ephesus), and now we are in a small town called Urgup in Cappadocia. We have traveled region to region by airplane due to the size of this country and cheap tickets. Istanbul was a great introduction to Turkey, and the different customs and such. It's pretty crazy as you are walking down the street when you hear the Muslim Call to Prayer echoing from loud speakers throughout the city. This goes on about 5 times a day.  It's pretty cool, except at 5 am when you are trying to sleep. So, we went to the massive and impressive Blue Mosque, the Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace, as well as shopped at the Grand Bazaar.  Of course, we did a lot of eating too. The food here is pretty damn good. Sort of a East meets West...The spices remind me of sort of a mix between Moroccan, Greek, and Indian, and Kapabs are the big thing here. I must have had a couple dozen by now. Turkish pancakes (like quesadillas) and Pide (like pizza) are also favorites of ours.

In Selcuk, we felt like personal guests of the hotel owner -- Erdal. We just couldn't believe he had other hotel guests, because he was our personal guide throughout the region. He drove us to all of the major sights, restaurants, and even to run our errands.  Anything we wanted, Erdal was there to provide.

Ephesus was, bar none, the best ruins that we've ever experienced. You are in an ancient city with tons of history-- Alexander the Great was here, Jesus's disciples Paul and John were here, the Virgin Mary was here, multiple Emperors were here. It's so easy to imagine what life was like 2000 years ago and what a bright and vibrant time the 200,000 citizens must have experienced. The frescoes, mosaic floors, fountains with multiple statues, and terrace houses were amazing and well preserved. The houses even had hot and cold water running in them!

If you come to Turkey, you are nearly required to purchase a carpet, and we've met our quota. We are thrilled with the 9x6 and 4x6 carpets that are on their way to California as we speak. Any carpet salesman is delighted to give you an education of Turkish carpet making (only women make the carpets), but we decided to buy from Erdal and his partner, Nazmi and we think we got a pretty good deal. 

We're on our first day in Cappadocia and we are in one of the greatest hotels that ever existed. We feel like we've landed in a parallel universe that is featuring "Cave Hotels of the Rich and Famous."  It's called Esbelli Evi (look it up online) and much like our experience in Selcuk, our host Ramazan has taken us under his wing and is directing our tour of the region. For the next three days we are hiring a driver to take us to see sights throughout the region. This costs nearly the same as renting a car and doing it by ourselves. We just can't wait!

Cappadocia's terrain is frequently compared to being on the moon with incredible rock formations, mountains, and valleys that are one of a kind. We were prepared for it to be a bit cooler in this region, but didn't expect snow. Don't worry too much about us too much though, 
today we bought 2 pairs of wool socks, 2 pairs of wool gloves, and 2 hats for about $15.00 and lunch consisting of 2 pizzas and 2 drinks set us back a cool $4.80 with tip.

Well, just as we were sending this a couple from Toronto just checked in to the "cave" and agreed to explore and hike Cappadocia with us and our driver making this even more affordable. I think $15 a head for an entire day with a private car and driver. As they say in Turkey, Hoshchacal for now.  We know about 7 words including two numbers (Bir, Ichi) but we're always learning more.

It appears that the general strike that hit Kathmandu a few days back has been lifted. According to this article (via The Advenurist) the businesses in Nepal decided to lift the strike after the eight ruling parties in the Nepalese government vowed to work towards meeting some of the demands of businesses in the city. This comes as a major relief for all the climbers currently in the city who feared being able to actually fly out to the various regions they'll be climbing in this Spring.

Meanwhile, MountEverest.net has published a new update from the region as well, and indicate that teams acclimatizing in the Khumbu Valley are begging to get their first look at Everest as they trek closer to the mountain. Other teams are arriving for Spring climbs on Cho Oyu and Dhaulagiri as well.

Activity in the Himalaya is picking up with more teams arriving this weekend as well. It wont be long until "Tent City" is alive with activity and the Sherpa guides will go to work on fixing ropes and setting up camps. That's whent he fun begins. Stay tuned!

We still needed a bit more food after that doujiang, so we walked further up the street and just happened to come across the Geylang outlet of No Signboard (412 Geylang Road, 6842-3415). We were actually just looking for some simple noodles, but then when we saw them doing some kind of crab bee hoon, we figured that we'd get that since it included some noodles as well.

I can only assume that this was partially inspired by Sin Huat Eating House, although it's been so long since I was last there that I can't really remember enough about it to make a proper comparison. Nonetheless, this was pretty good, thanks not only to the richness of the shellfish, but also the depth provided by what I believe was some kind of Chinese rice wine.

If I heard the lady correctly, she gave us the lighter and more modern rendition of this dish rather than the darker and more traditional option that was available. Note to self: if you come here again with only two people, make sure you upsize the noodles to a medium portion even if you keep the crab size to a small 1 kg (2.2 lbs). That pot alone was plenty to fill our bellies for the night.

I've added another outlet to the sites that I am contributing for and for the past few weeks, I've been posting to the Let's Roll Blog over at FlightNetwork.com. My postings to the site are more travel related with a slant towards adventure travel and a mix of a few gear reviews as well. The site is still relatively new but it is ramping up quickly and the editors have big plans for where they would like to go.

Here is a sampling of some of the posts that I, and others, have written to the blog recently:

• Kilimanjaro Guide Prepares for 50th Summit
• 7 Reasons Iceland is Quirky and Awesome
• Antarctic Travel Season Begins
• Polar Bear Attacks In Popular Canadian Tourist Town
• Airlines Being Allowing Passengers To Use Electronics Gate To Gate

Just a few articles to give readers an idea of what the blog is all about. If you're a traveler, you'll probably find a lot to like over there. Add it to your list of favorites and give it a go every once in awhile.