Happy 2009 everyone! That said, be warned that my first – and second – blogs of the year will date back to the last month of ’08.

I’m going to leave aside the why’s, the how’s, the what’s and other such logistical intricacies for now, instead just cut to the chase – after all 36 hours ain’t a lot of time 😉

11:20 AM – Arrival at Ezeiza or EZE in IATA parlance. The terminal I arrive at isn’t the most impressive I’ve seen, but 36 hrs later, I fly out of another, which is, in fact, quite plush.

Clear blue skies, some brilliant sunshine and temperatures in the early to mid 20s (~80F) await me outside the terminal building, and what’s more, being summer in the southern hemisphere, I will have daylight all the way till 9:30 PM!! A warm welcome, if you will, on my first visit to South America.

MTL or ‘Manuel Tienda Leon’ offers frequent shuttle buses from EZE to the city centre for 40 Pesos (3.5 Pesos to the Dollar). Argentina’s highway infrastructure is at par with the best in the world – traffic glides along effortlessly, not everyone sticks to their lanes admittedly, but at least no one honks and there’s certainly no aggression on the roads.

1 PM – I reach MTL’s terminal in downtown Buenos Aires and get my first glimpse of the magnificent Estacion Retiro or Retiro train station – one of Argentina’s busiest rail terminals and a city landmark in itself.

A quick ride on the ‘Subte‘ or subway and we are in Belgrano – one of the northern ‘Barrios’ or neighbourhoods of the city. I drop of my stuff at the hotel, shower and then head to the local cafe for a snack of coffee, cookies (which come gratis with it) and some assorted but very delicious ‘Empanadas’ – the sweet corn one easily scoring over the rest!

Continue reading “36 hrs in Buenos Aires” →

The first thing you notice on arrival at the airport are signs in French – along with English and Spanish of course! Other than that, the airport is all but dead and doesn’t quite live up to the reputation of the man it is named after – the Reverend Satchmo!

Probably your best introduction to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana or NOLA for short, is to hit its most famous Bourbon St as soon as you get there. And once you’ve done so, you’ll probably have little reason to return there, save for the cheap alcohol and a never ending selection of strip clubs – if that’s your kind of thing!

Bourbon St is to New Orleans what Times Sq is to the Big Apple – the same amount of neon and tourists, minus the skyscrapers. What sets Bourbon St apart though is not just the availability of cheap alcohol but also the fact that it is perfectly alright to drink out in the street – a pleasant change when you’re coming from over regulated NYC!

Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon, an old pub with a lively courtyard, is credited with the ‘Hurricane’ – one of two trademark drinks from this city. The other being the ‘Hand Grenade’, which, from experience, I would not recommend to anyone looking for a long night of drinking! End with it, if you must, but don’t make the mistake of starting with one!

Far from the madding crowd and a better place to watch them from are one of many balconies that are typical of this street and the neighbourhood it sits in. A lot of these belong to eating & drinking establishments, situated below in the same building, and others to home owners. Either way, they’re almost all available for rent during Mardi Gras!

Bourbon St is lined with scores of eateries, bars, karaoke rooms and jazz clubs – almost all of them catering to the white American tourist. If you must eat, drink or listen to music (the 3 things one does in NOLA) on Bourbon, then you really have to be selective about where you go. As far as eating goes, we lucked out with some fairly good ‘Jambalaya‘ at Remoulade which was to be our first meal in the city. 

Continue reading “EZ in the Big Easy” →

The brief was fairly simple, “let’s drive out of the city to someplace quiet and peaceful”. But finding that ‘someplace’ wasn’t quite as easy. There were just way to many options! Beach getaways – from the upscale Hamptons to the not-so-upscale Jersey Shore. Casinos – from overcrowded Atlantic City to out-of-the-way Foxwoods; and then there were the mountains – the Poconos in Pennsylvania, the Catskills in New York and the Berkshires in Massachusetts. We decided to go with the mountains eventually and I picked one from the home state 😉

The Catskill Mountains lie to the North-west of New York City and are a part of the much larger Appalachian Plateau. Originally settled in the 17th century by the Dutch, the name comes from the Dutch word ‘Kaatskil’. In the first half of the 20th century, large Jewish communities developed the area as a resort and soon enough the Catskills took on the somewhat politically incorrect nickname “Jewish Alps”! Today, a lot of the ownership has changed hands but it continues to be a popular get away for Jews living in and around NYC.

Continue reading “Time Out NYC” →

I knew I’d be back there someday but never thought it would be this soon. And this trip would be somewhat different to. For starters, I no longer had an over ambitious ‘experience all modes of transit in one day’ agenda and more importantly, I would be in the city for a lot longer than 12 hours! Two nights and two full days in this case. So without further ado, I present to you the second installment!

Staying with the Great Ganesha in ‘The Mission‘, and only a few blocks away from Castro, meant that I would get to see a lot of the Mission-Castro District by night and day. From an ethnic and cultural standpoint, two of the most diverse and exciting neighbourhoods in San Francisco – Castro with its thriving gay community and Mission, steeped in a rich Latin American heritage.

Continue reading “SFO v2.0” →

I was ten years to late, to experience, what many have described as ‘thrilling’ – a landing at Kai Tak Airport. Instead I would have to make do with Chek Lap Kok which, apart from boasting several other engineering landmarks, is also known to have the second largest terminal building in the world. It was enough to stun me for sure and I shudder to think what the largest would be like!

Welcome to Hong Kong! My trip would involve a time difference of 12 hours, the longest non-stop flights I have ever undertaken and the added benefit of a little over 4 days to see it all.

Continue reading “Islands, Escalators and Soaring Lights” →