The best countries for food

Food and travel go together like planes and airports. No matter where you go you’ll have little trouble finding at least one culinary experience that will help you understand the local culture. In some countries the food is the highlight, drawing many a foodie to its borders, like a moth to a flame. Here are 11 countries (in no particular order) that your taste buds will thank you for visiting.

1. Thailand

Image by jaaron

Standing at the crossroads of India, China and Oceania, Thai cuisine is like a best-of of all three’s techniques and ingredients. Dishes generally go in hard with garlic and chillies (especially the phrik khii nuu variety, which literally translates as ‘mouseshit peppers’). Other signature ingredients include lime juice, coriander and lemon grass, which give the cuisine its characteristic tang. Legendary fish sauce or shrimp paste looks after the salt.

2. Greece

Image by Klearchos Kapoutsis

From olives to octopus, the true taste of Greece depends on fresh, unadulterated staples. Masking or complicating original flavours is not the done thing, especially when you’re dealing with oven-fresh bread, rosy tomatoes and fish fresh from the Mediterranean. The midday meal is the main event with a procession of goodies brought to the table as they’re ready. With Wednesday and Friday traditionally reserved as fast days (ie no-meat days), vegetarians are also looked after.

3. China

From back-alley dumpling shops to four-star banquet halls, China has one of the world’s finest palates. Cultural precepts of Yin and Yang (balance and harmony) are evident in the bowl: with food for the day including cooling foods such as vegetables and fruit to counter warming spices and meat. The Chinese revere rice but also choose noodles, with either almost always accompanying a meal. A range of regional specialities exist, variously influenced by geography and history.

4. France

Image by Sunfox

From cheese and champagne to snails and baguettes, the French are famous for their foodstuffs. French cuisine has long distinguished itself for dallying with a great variety of foods. Each region’s distinct climate and geography have influenced the array of regional specialities. Many in France consider lunch as the day’s main meal, though the two hour marathon meal is increasingly rare. The crowning meal is a fully fledged home-cooked dinner comprising six distinct plats (courses).

5. Spain

Image by scaredy_kat

Best in Barcelona, Catalan cooking is racking up the accolades from gourmands around the globe. Like other regional Spanish cuisines, Catalan cooking favours spices such as saffron and cumin, as well as honeyed sweets. A mixture of ingredients and traditions adds flair to Barcelona’s fare: using seafood and meats in a rich array of sauces. Dinner is the main event, but never before 9pm.

6. Mexico

Image by chargrillkiller

Would you like some magic-realism with that enchilada? The Mexican sensibility for enchanting influences is also brought to the table in its food, particularly during celebrations. Mexican cuisine has an overriding Spanish influence, with a twist of French and African thanks to its history. Corn and bean-based dishes are prominent – prepared in a multitude of world renowned ways including tacos, enchiladas andquesadillas. And who could forget the worm that waits at the bottom of a bottle ofMezcal?

7. Italy

Image by Allerina and Glen MacLarty

Its food is arguably Italy‘s most famous export, and it’s with good reason that the world wants it. Despite all the variations that exist between regions, some common staples bind the country’s culinary creations. Think thin-crust pizza and al dente pastasand risottos. And to drink? One word: coffee. The Italians do it best – from perfecting a distinguished roast to the gentle extraction of its essence into the cup. Perfecto!

8. India

Image by maintenancepic

India’s protean gastronomy changes shape as you move between neighbourhoods, towns and states. The basis of all meals is rice in the south, and roti in the north. These are generally partnered with dhal, vegetables and chutney. Fish or meat may also be added. Whatever the ingredients: the dish usually contains a heady cast of exotic spices that make the taste buds stand up and take notice.

9. Japan

Image by jetalone

If you can wrap your tongue around pronouncing the menu, Japan’s cuisine is a most rewarding mouthful. Most Japanese restaurants concentrate on a specialty cuisine, such as yakitori (skewers of grilled chicken or veg), sushi and sashimi (raw fish),tempura (lightly battered and fried ingredients) and ramen noodle bars. The pinnacle of Japanese cooking, kaiseki (derived as an adjunct to the tea ceremony), combines ingredients, preparation, setting and ceremony over several small courses to distinguish the gentle art of eating.

10. Indonesia & Malaysia

Image by paularps

Indonesian and Malaysian cuisines are one big food swap: Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, colonists and traders have all influenced their ingredients and culinary concepts. They are nations well represented by their food. The abundance of rice is characteristic of the region’s fertile terraced landscape, the spices are reminiscent of a time of trade and invasion (the Spice Islands), and fiery chilli echoes the people’s passion. Indonesian and Malaysian cooking is not complex, and tastes here stay separate, simple and substantial.

Read More

40 free attractions in New York City

Seeing the bulk of New York City’s biggest attractions can mean spending a hefty chunk of a trip’s budget on tickets. Empire State Building? $20. The Met? $20. The Guggenheim and Whitney go for $18 each. Even the Frick is $15. But there’s a lifetime of fun to be had without ever handing over a cent, and not just by taking on park trails, bike paths or window browsing. (Plus some ticket-admission spots have free times too – see the end of the post.)

Free New York travelers, get busy!

1. African Burial Ground

One of Lower Manhattan’s most fascinating, and controversial, stories of recent years circulates around the new African Burial Ground National Monument site. It began when a construction project in 1991 uncovered a burial ground of slaves – more than 400 caskets were found – from an age when New York had more slaves than any American city outside Charleston, South Carolina. Outside you can see part of the site now enveloped by buildings, and the compact visitors center does a masterful job at retelling African-American history in the city. See our 76-Second Travel Show episodeon the museum’s opening. 290 Broadway between Duane & Elk Sts, Lower Manhattan.

2. Brooklyn Brewery tours

Free Saturday tours of Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Brewery run half an hour from 1-4pm.79 N 11th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

3. Central Park

It doesn’t take brilliant travel minds to tell you that a park is free to visit – most parks are. But most parks aren’t Central Park, Manhattan’s famed claim to thinking ahead (even if it was designed in the 1860s to boost real-estate value uptown). It’s filled with free events, statues, people-watching and sites like Strawberry Fields, an ‘Imagine’ mosaic near the Dakota, where John Lennon was killed in 1980. Another site is ‘the Pond,’ at the southeastern corner, where Holden Caulfield kept turning to in ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ wondering where those ducks go when it’s cold. (For the answer,watch this video.) Uptown.

4. Chelsea galleries

New York’s most concentrated area for a gallery crawl is in Chelsea, mostly in the 20s Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues. Check Gallery Guide orwestchelseaarts.com for listings. All are free, no pressure to buy. And try timing for wine-and-cheese openings on Thursday evenings.

5. City Hall

Home to New York City’s government since 1812, City Hall tours take in its cupola-topped marble hall, the governor’s room as well as the spot where Abraham Lincoln’s coffin lay in state briefly in 1865. Tours must be reserved in advance. City Hall Park, facing the Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan.

6. Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Museum

It’s always Fashion Week in the FIT Museum, which features rotating exhibits by students and a surprisingly interesting and detailed collection of the country’s first gallery of fashion, picked from a collection of 50,000 garments dating from the 18th century to present. Seventh Ave & 27th St, Garment District, Midtown West.

7. Federal Hall

Two presidents were inaugurated in New York City, beginning with the first ‘Dubya’, George Washington, who took the oath in Federal Hall in 1789, back when New York was the first capital. (Chester A Arthur was the second.) There’s a nice statue outside, overlooking the New York Stock Exchange across Wall Street, and a small, recently renovated museum on post-colonial New York inside. 26 Wall St, Lower Manhattan.

8. Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Reserve at least a week ahead (sometimes a month!) to visit the Federal Reserve Bank, most rewarding just to ogle the facility’s high-security vault – useful considering more than 10,000 tons of gold reserves reside here, 80ft below ground. There’s also exhibits on counterfeit currency as well as a serious coin collection of the American Numismatic Society. A tour’s the only way to get in. 33 Liberty St, Lower Manhattan.

9. Forbes Collection

The lobby galleries of Forbes magazine have some various curios from the lateMalcolm Forbes’ collection, most notably early versions of Monopoly boards. (Or watch our tour of Monopoly sites around the properties’ namesakes at Atlantic City, New Jersey.) 62 Fifth Ave at 12th St, Greenwich Village.

10. General Ulysses S Grant National Memorial (aka ‘Grant’s Tomb’)

Also called ‘Grant’s Tomb’, the $600,000 granite structure that holds the remains of the Civil War hero and 18th president (and his wife Julia) is the largest mausoleum in the US, and is patterned after Mausolus’ tomb at Halicarnassus, making it a plagiarized version of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Riverside Dr at 122nd St, Morningside Heights.

11. Governor’s Island

The ferry to Governor’s Island is free, as is access to the 172-acre island which opened to the public only in 2003. There’s a 2.2-mile bike path, mini golf, a picnic area, plus military sites such as Admiral’s House and a ‘ghost town’ of sorts at Nolan Park. Ferries leave from Battery Maritime Bldg, Slip 7, Lower Manhattan.

12. Grand Central Partnership Walking Tours

Two historians lead free 90-minute walking tours at 12:30pm every Friday, hitting places like Grand Central Terminal’s ‘whispering gallery’ and the Chrysler Building.120 Park Ave, at 42nd St, Midtown East.

13. Green-Wood Cemetery

Once the nation’s most visited tourist attraction outside Niagara Falls, the gorgeousGreen-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 and is the eternal home to some 600,000 people (or about 530 miles of bodies, head to toe). It’s leafy and lovely, features Brooklyn’s highest point at Battle Hill, a site from the Revolutionary War, now marked with a seven-foot statue of the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva. Watch for the squawking green parakeets at the cemetery’s Gothic entry — these are runaways from a JFK mishap in 1980 and have lived here since. 500 25th St, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

14. Hamilton Grange

You know you’re important when you get a grange. This one, Hamilton Grange, to reopen in 2011 after renovation, is the Federal-style country retreat where Alexander Hamilton spent quieter, pre-death-by-duel New York days. St Nicholas Park at 141st St, Hamilton Heights.

15. High Line

It’s a park, so it should be free, but the expanding High Line project has the impact and feel of an real-live attraction, complete with its own opening hours. Created from an abandoned stretch of elevated railroad track, the native-inspired landscaping of this park 30 feet in the air connects the Meatpacking District with Chelsea’s galleries (another great free institution). There’s wonderful Hudson River views, or of pedestrians on the sidewalks below. Watch for public-art installations and events.Gansevoort Street to 20th St (currently), between 9th & 11th Aves, Chelsea.

16. Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library

The largest collection of Spanish art outside Spain fills the ornate Beaux Arts space of the Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library on the serene Audobon Terrace in far north Manhattan. Broadway & 155th St, Washington Heights.

17. Japan Society

The films and lectures usually involve a ticket, but the gallery exhibits at the Japan Society (focusing on Japanese art) are always free. 333 E 47 St, between First & Second Aves, Midtown East.

18. National Museum of the American Indian

This Smithsonian ex-pat, just off the historic Bowling Green and Battery Park, is neighbors to frenetic commuters and tourists heading to the Statue of Liberty but often gets missed. Situation in the spectacular former US Customs House (1907), theNational Museum of the American Indian is actually one of the country’s finest collections of Native American art. The focus is on culture, not history, and does so with many of its million-plus items. There’s also many programs. 1 Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan.

19. New York Earth Room

Now for something completely different: the Earth Room, Walter De Maria’s 1977 art installation, a single room filled with 280,000 pounds of dirt, combines the framework of an ordinary office with the scent of a wet forest. 141 Wooster St, SoHo

20. New York Public Library

Remember the Dewey Decimal System? The New York Public Library, New York’s most famous library (aka the Stephen A Schwarzman Building), which turns 100 in 2011, is situated in a grand Beaux Arts icon east of Times Square. It’s fronted by marble lions named ‘Patience’ and ‘Fortitude,’ and is just a jaw-dropper to walk through, particularly the reading room fit for 500 patrons reading with the aid of the library’s original Carre-and-Hastings lamps. There’s exhibits too, including a copy of the original Declaration of Independence, a Gutenburg Bible, plus 431,000 old maps. There are free tours at 11am and 2pm Monday to Saturday, 2pm Sunday. Fifth Ave at 42nd St, Midtown East.

21. Old Stone House

A Breuckelen legacy from Brooklyn’s Dutch origins, and a survivor from the ill-fated Battle of Brooklyn, this Old Stone House features a small exhibit on the battle. Its upstairs is sometimes rented out for the likes of sample sales. Fifth Ave, btwn 3th & 4th Sts, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

22. Public boathouse kayaking

Kayak for free from public boathouses such as the Downtown Boathouse and Long Island Community Boathouse in Queens.

23. Rockefeller Center Public Art

Built in the 1930s Great Depression, the 22-acre Rockefeller Center is more than the setting for NBC’s Today Shows (lines appear by 6am often) and a giant Christmas tree in December (not to mention to $19 NBC tours or $21 trips to the observatory deck!). But do pop by to see the slew of art commissioned under the theme of ‘Man at the Crossroads Looks Uncertainly But Hopefully at the Future.’ A bit wordy, but the pieces pack a big punch, such as the statue of Promethus overlooking the skating rink, or Atlas holding the world at 630 Fifth Ave. Jose Maria Sert’s murals in the (main) GE Building used the likes of Abe Lincoln to replace the original ‘communist imagery’ (eg Vladimir Lenin) by a snubbed, outraged Diego Rivera. Between Fifth & Sixth Aves, around 49th & 50th Sts, Midtown.

24. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Part of the city’s library system, the country’s largest collection of documents, books, recordings and photographs related to the African-American experience, theSchomburg Center also hosts free exhibits. 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135th St, Harlem.

25. Socrates Sculpture Park

On the East River, overlooking Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side, theSocrates Sculpture Park, a former dump site, now has interesting art installations, light shows and movies on Wednesdays in summer. Broadway at Vernon Blvd, Astoria, Queens.

26. Staten Island Ferry

Everyone wants to see the Statue of Liberty. Ferry tours there start at $12. But theStaten Island Ferry for commuters, cutting across the New York Harbor, is absolutely free and has long held the distinction as the single greatest free attraction on the Eastern Seaboard. Around since 1905, the ferry carries 19 million across the harbor each year. Technically for transport in between Staten Island and Manhattan, most visitors simply hop back on to get back to New York. It never gets old. East end of Battery Park, Lower Manhattan.

FREE ATTRACTIONS AT SCHEDULED TIMES:

27. American Museum of Natural History
Free its last hour (4:45-5:45pm). Central Park West & 79th St, Upper West Side.

28. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Free Tuesday, and 10am to noon Saturday. Eastern Parkway at Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

29. Brooklyn Museum
Free first Saturday of the month, when there’s big wine-sipping, DJ parties that draw half the neighborhood. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

30. Bronx Zoo
Pay what you wish on Wednesday. 2300 Southern Blvd, The Bronx.

31. El Museo del Barrio
Free the third Saturday of the month. 1230 Fifth Ave between 104th & 105th Sts, Spanish Harlem.

32. Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum
Pay what you wish, first Friday of the month. 9-01 33rd Rd, Astoria, Queens.

33. Museum of Modern Art
Entry is free 4-8pm on Friday. Gets busy. 11 W 53rd St, between Fifth & Sixth Aves, Midtown West.

34. Museum of the Moving Image
Free 4-8pm Friday. 35th Ave, at 36th St, Astoria, Queens.

35. Neue Galerie
Free 6-8pm the first Friday of the month. 1048 Fifth Ave at 86th St, Upper East Side.

36. New York Botanical Garden
Free Wednesday, 10am to noon Saturday. Bronx River Pkwy & Fordham Rd, The Bronx.

37. New York Historical Society
Pay what you wish, 6-8pm Friday. 2 W 77th St at Central Park West, Upper West Side.

38. South Street Seaport Museum
Free the third Friday of every month. 207 Front St, Lower Manhattan.

39. Studio Museum in Harlem
Free on Sunday. 144 W 125th St at Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, Harlem.

40. Wave Hill
Free 9am to noon Tuesday and Saturday. W 249th St at Independence Ave, Riverdale, The Bronx.

Read More

Travel Troubleshooter: Can This Cruise Be Salvaged?

Denise Frantz's Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival isn't meant to be. First her plane is delayed, and then she's denied boarding because of a paperwork problem. But wait! Didn't Carnival make her airline reservations? Shouldn't it help her now?

Q: We need your help with a Carnival cruise that went nowhere. Earlier this year, we booked a Western Caribbean cruise directly through Carnival, including airfare and shore excursions.

On the day we were supposed to travel, our nightmare began. Our plane was delayed because of mechanical problems. So was the next flight. We missed the boat in Miami.

We wanted to reschedule the cruise, but Carnival suggested that we catch up with the ship in the Cayman Islands. We had to pay for new tickets to the Caymans. But when we arrived in Miami, a Carnival representative asked us for passports -- and we only had passport cards.

We had to turn back to Cleveland. There were more mechanical delays. We made a claim with our travel insurance, but were only reimbursed $500 per person. Carnival says they should be able to give us something for the missed cruise but said we first had to fill out the insurance claim.

We booked the cruise, shore excursions, balcony upgrade and the missed flight all through Carnival. We want a vacation and we don't have the money because Carnival is holding us hostage. Could you help us? -- Denise Frantz, Cleveland

A: This cruise just wasn't meant to be. But it might have been -- if you'd gotten a passport instead of a passport card.

Carnival doesn't mince words when it comes to your paperwork requirements.

"Carnival highly recommends all guests travel with a passport (valid for at least six months beyond completion of travel)," it says on its website. "Passports make it easier for you to fly from the U.S. to a foreign port should you miss your scheduled port of embarkation, or need to fly back to the U.S. for emergency reasons."

Your passport cards would have been fine if you'd boarded the ship in Miami. But you need a passport to fly to the Cayman Islands.

You would think that by booking your cruise directly through Carnival, as well as buying its recommended insurance, you'd be fully covered. Not so. Check out the fine print on the cruise line's website:

"We assume no liability for any acts or omissions of any airline, including, without limitation, those involving cancellation of flights, schedule changes, re-routings, damage to or delay or loss of baggage, flight delays, equipment failures, accidents, pilot or other staff shortages, overbooking or computer errors," it says.

So why book your plane tickets through Carnival? I have no idea.

You might have considered buying your cruise through a travel agent. An agent wouldn't have let you board a plane for Miami without proper paperwork, and might have been able to get you on a flight that ensured you didn't miss the ship in Miami. Also, a competent travel professional would have helped choose travel insurance that would have fully covered you.

I contacted Carnival on your behalf. It initially offered you two $1,000 vouchers, but then also agreed to cover the $489 in shore excursions and $444 for your extra flights to Grand Cayman. Looks as if your cruise has been salvaged.

Read More

Next Week On The Travel Photographer

For the week starting Monday November 29,  the following posts are in the blog's pipeline:

1. The work of a photographer with a ton of images of India, including one of the wrestlers of Benares. I had planned to post it last week.
2. The work of another photographer with a lot of images of Buddhism. All black & white square format with a Hassleblad. Very impressive.
3. The work of an editorial photographer with a gallery of images from the Khumbu (Northern Nepal).
4. Interesting portraits of "witches" from West Africa.
5. The updated website of one of the best travel photographers will be featured.

Plus other whimsical posts as the week goes on.

Read More

Akhtar Soomro: Pakistan

Photo © Akhtar Soomro/Reuters-All Rights Reserved

Full Focus, Reuters photo blog, seems to be regaining its footing amongst the remaining other large image photo blogs, and has recently featured the work of Pakistani photojournalist Akhtar Soomro.

Born in the Lyari neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Akhtar graduated from the Government College of Science and Technology with a degree in engineering but photography beckoned, and he started working for a studio covering fashion, industrial and interior design, and subsequently for an advertising agency.

He has since shot assignments for local and international newspapers, magazines and stock agencies around the world. In 2009, he was part of a New York Times' team that won a Pulitzer for its reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Most of Akhtar's impressive photographs in the Reuters feature are of refugees of the floods, and of displaced people from the Swat Valley...but it's the one above that caught my eye. Its caption informs us that a flood victim baby sleeps in a hammock as a man reads the Koran during Eid-al-Fitr celebrations while taking refuge in a relief camp for flood victims in Sukkur in Pakistan's Sindh province on September 11, 2010.

Read More

Fred Canonge: Pehlwan of Benares

Photo © Fred Canonge-All Rights Reserved

Pehlwani (also known as Kushti) is a traditional style of wrestling popular in the sub-continent of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The wrestler is known as pahlawan which, interestingly for those who are etymologists, is the colloquial Arabic word meaning "clown". I wouldn't tell this to these wrestlers, as they would be offended and I'd be on the mat in less than a second.

Based in Paris, Fred Canonge is a French freelance photographer who has extensively travelled in India for the last ten years, and is constantly exploring all the nuances and the diversity of Indian society. His website is replete with galleries of India, including some of images made in Kathputli and Varanasi, but the gallery which I liked the most has his work on the pehlawan.

Varanasi has a number of traditional wrestling training gyms (known as akhara), and one can spot them working with rudimentary weights near Tulsi ghat. The wrestlers' diets consist of milk, almonds, ghee, eggs and chapattis, but have a difficult time making ends meet. Some of them find work as bodyguards to those who need protection or as "enforcers" during political elections.

Read More

Mitchell Kanashkevich: Vanuatu (And More)

Photo © Mitchell Kanashkevich - All Rights Reserved

As promised, here's the updated website of Mitchell Kanashkevich, replete with new inspirational imagery of his recent travels. One of the best travel, documentary and cultural photographers I know, Mitchell describes himself as a tireless wanderer and documentarian. He's also an author, and published several popular ebooks. You'll also agree with me that Mitchell's photographs are gorgeous, and the new website is equally lovely. It's for a good reason that his website is on my blogroll.


On his website, he introduces us to various galleries of his travels in Vanuatu. The first gallery is of South West Bay, a remote enclave on the island of Malekula. It is separated from the rest of the island by mountains and dense forest, and the only way to get there is by sea or air. Until 50 years ago, its tribal inhabitants practiced cannibalism and warfare. Although the introduction of Christianity resulted in the disappearance of these practices, it also caused the erosion of traditional rituals and customs.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the south Pacific ocean, and includes more than 80 islands, out of which 65 are inhabited. Its population is less than 220,000 and are of Melanesian descent. I came across Vanuatu while involved in the banking industry, as it's an offshore financial center and a tax haven...but I never imagined that it would have such visual beauty.

Read More