The country of India is an incredibly diverse and beautiful in its geographical elements. Some of the beaches that line its shores are the most spectacular in the world and the mountain ranges are absolutely awesome. The culture of most of its cities is extremely rooted in historical beliefs and customs and while there is an element of social progress in many of the cities, the ancient rituals can still be found in certain performance genres. This is one of the intriguing aspects of the country to many of the tourists who stay in India five star hotels.

Another thing that most tourists absolutely enjoy is the great food of India. Much of the country’s cuisine is characterized by the variety of subtly used spices that is used in most dishes. Another strongly associated aspect of Indian food is the amount of meatless dishes that are popular and commonly served. This makes Indian food one of the more popular choices for vegetarians who are always guaranteed to find plenty of terrific items. In addition many of the dishes are rice based and this is incredibly attractive for most people who are not on carbohydrate restrictive diets.

Curry is a popular sauce base for many of the dishes and it originate in India. It has become extremely popular throughout Asia and is common in many of their own recipes. Curries are usually considered to be spicy and frequently come in either a yellow or red color. Potatoes are frequently a stable vegetable of curries though there are many dishes that are curry based. Various regions of India prepare curry differently, though some of the common dishes served in the gravy remain consistent. In addition, the spices used to make curry are frequently consistent and include ginger, turmeric, chilly, cumin, coriander and garlic, among a great many others.

Thanksgiving is always a huge event at our house. Way too huge if you ask me. Dozens of family and friends, kids and co workers. It is so much work for everyone cleaning the house, preparing for the guests, cooking food for weeks in preparation. This year we are going to do something different! This Thanksgiving we are off to Colonial Williamsburg!

What fun it will be to celebrate Thanksgiving in the colonial museum village of Williamsburg, VA and not have to prepare for all those guests invading our house. We are looking forward to experiencing the colonial way of life and connecting to our past history. The wife and the kids are really looking forward to this, the kids are so excited to have Thanksgiving like the pilgrims did. We have our rooms booked in hotels Williamsburg now to arrange for the plane tickets and rental car and we should be all set to go.

Everyone that usually comes here for Thanksgiving has been notified that we are not hosting this year. They do no sound too happy, but they have plenty of time to make other arrangements for themselves.

Visiting Colonial Williamburg will bring back a lot of old memories of my grandparents. They use to visit Colonial Williamsburg frequently when I was growing up in New York state. They would stop there nearly every November on their way south to have Thanksgiving with the family in Georgia. I also remember them being there for the Forth of July one year and another time I remember them showing us pictures of Williamsburg with blooming flowers all over, they must have been visiting in the spring that year. I have always wanted to visit Williamsburg since I was a small boy and saw my grandparents photographs and heard their stories.

Thanksgiving will be different this year not being at home, but I am sure we will enjoy it greatly and be more relaxed when it is over.

India is such an amazingly vast and beautiful country, it can be a difficult decision deciding which region, city or area to visit if choosing it as a vacation destination. For that reason alone I am lucky that I was sent to Goa, India for a business trip. And I say that is the only lucky aspect because I was busy in meetings and presentations for the majority of the time I was there and really didn’t get to spend a great deal of time exploring the area. However, one thing I know for certain based on what I was able to see and do, is that I definitely have to return there again just to experience and enjoy everything I can.

When I arrived in one of the business oriented Goa hotels I was focused on the presentation I had to deliver the following morning and was not expecting or even ready to be so completely captivated by the architecture I found myself surrounded by. This alone made me carve out an afternoon to go visit as many of the buildings and religious temples as I could. One of the things Goa is known for is its remarkable cultural heritage and the amount of great temples and magnificent places of worship it houses.

Oh, I was also to spend part of an afternoon on the beach. This was an absolutely amazing time. I had talked a project partner into discussing our meeting agenda at the beach. This was actually a difficult sale because most of the people I work with are extremely serious and business minded. However, even Phillip admitted that he thought Goa was beautiful and he was appreciative that I suggested we take the discussion out to the beach. There was a local barbeque seller out that day and we had some kind of a barbeque sandwich. This was very tasty and the perfect compliment to watching the volleyball game taking place a short distance from us. By the way, our meeting went very well and the trip ended up being as much of a business success as it was a personal one.

The first time I saw the Grand Canyon was on a road trip with my Grandma and Grandpa.  That trip was the reason, the only reason, I found the Chevy Chase movie “Vacation” funny years later.  We did that.  We drove up, parked and walked to the edge.  My Grandpa said something like “big”, “beautiful”.  We agreed, got back into the motor-home and continued on.  It was not until many years later that I went back and fully appreciated this natural wonder of the state of Arizona.

Statistics state that this how most people see the Canyon, more than five million a year, from their cars or just looking over the ledge of the South Rim.  First time I ventured down was in the middle of a snow storm.  We had rooms not at one of the best hotels in Phoenix, but in some cabins not far from the edge.  We spent most of the day throwing snowballs at the fir trees, trying to knock off the snow from the branches.

I was restless, it had been a couple of hours of this, and it had been many years since that first sight with Grandpa, and I wanted to go in.  As night was setting in, we decided to have a good meal at the lodge, sleep and head to Canyon in the morning.  I bought a wool hat when I woke up.  Not the best idea as I’m allergic to wool, but it was cold and I did not know what else to do.  We started down the very small path.

What was extremely terrifying was that the fog was thick, and it was difficult to see.  Anything.  I remember my tennis shoes crunching the snow, I didn’t have boots, I was from Phoenix, and I remember literally hugging the side of South Rim as we tried to make our way down.  Needless to say, we didn’t get very far, but we had gotten in.  The following summer we went back and made it to the campgrounds on the bottom of the Canyon, and it was worth waiting for.

Planning for a vacation on an island in a tropical and exotic location is one the best ways to spend time.  Another good way, of course, is being here, and the planning is worth the experience that lies just ahead.  We’ve made it easier to make your hotel reservations, as our Phuket beach resorts are carefully selected to offer the best in hospitality and luxury.  Island life is a coveted thing, and Phuket is one of the most splendid places to run away to, and enjoy being somewhere where the pace is slowed to a certain loveliness.  Our resorts emphasize the best of Phuket, to bring the gracious feeling you can get from the beaches right to you, so you’re always surrounded with a sumptuous beauty.

Our resorts offer a host of amenities, to allow you to maintain your lifestyle, or to abandon it entirely and enjoy something new and rejuvenating.  With a brilliant combination of convenience and style, you’ll be stunned by the fantastic treatment here.  You’ll also be refreshed enough to enjoy all the other wonderful things Phuket has to offer, and when you’re out on the town, you might be surprised at the nightlife.  There are many local events that are fascinating and unique, and these happen throughout the year.  Most of the local shows are directed towards tourists, and the selection speaks to an interesting history of complicated relationships between the local and international interests in Phuket.  One place that’s an interesting study in entertainment, and worthy of several doctoral dissertations, is Simon Cabaret.

It’s not really suitable for younger audiences, as is the case with a lot of entertainment here, and it’s always a good idea to investigate ahead of time to see what’s showing at different venues.  This, however, is a feature of Phuket’s and has been a source of evening entertainments for almost two decades now.  The show is a cabaret with Lady-Boy performers enacting different types of Thai exotic, playing into the desires of the spectators to see versions of the mythical idea of Phuket.  It’s utterly fascinating to spend time watching the extremely high-tech entertainment, which is very polished and performed with a splendid sharpness and playfulness.  There is a strict rule against photography or any kinds of recording devices during the performance.

The smells of summer are inextricably connected to the smell of food on the grill.  It has an uncanny effect on everyone, and it wafts all over the block until even the dogs are wondering why they don’t live with you at your house.  You can enjoy the feeling of summer all year round, even in winter.  With our selection of drop in gas grills, you can find exactly what you’re looking for, to suit your needs, your taste, and your budget.

We offer these pieces of summer with an excellent record of customer service and satisfaction.  We like to see people changing their lifestyles from indoors to outdoors, and it’s always a pleasure to watch you when you start to consider your next cooking adventure.  The drop in has grill offers an enormous precision and convenience, so that you’ll be able to cook new things with great skill, right from the beginning. As you start to work with your grill, you’ll no doubt move to more complex cooking styles, and you might also discover that there’s no end to all that you can learn.  Meats have amazing potential on the grill, of course, and there’s so much to learn with every type, and even every size of the cutlet or fillet.  Vegetables also have enormous possibilities, and grilled eggplant is perhaps one of the most obvious.

One of the tricks to grilling eggplant has to do with controlling the amount of water in the flesh itself.  This is actually true for all foods, since the moisture affects the cooking to an enormous degree.  With grilling eggplant, you can slice the flesh into cutlets, place on a tray, then place a paper towel over this, and cover with a heavy pan.  This will actually squeeze out some of the moisture, and give your grilling a lot more evenness and control.  It also gives the cutlets a nice even shape.  In this way, you can use the eggplant in a variety of ways, as a grilled addition to a salad, or the standard eggplant parmesan, and you’ll be absolutely thrilled by what the outdoor kitchen does to this vegetable.

The more than one hundred and fifty year old Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, New York is one of the oldest neighborhood squares on the island.  Many of the best of New York restaurants have sprung up around the park, which has for decades been the central meeting place for the residents of this borough.  Children have grown up in the park, and generations of church goers have come to the park for their religious ceremonies.  Birthdays have been celebrated and weddings have been performed.

Music lovers from around the world travel to Harlem to attend any number of the legendary annual festivals that that take place in the band shell, including the ever popular Charlie Parker Jazz Festival each August.  For the first hundred years the park was called by a different name, the Mount Morris Park.  History has led to the belief that at that time the park was named for Robert H. Morris, whose family was into the horse racing track that was located nearby at the time, and who in 1841 was also elected the mayor.

The park was conceived and designed in 1811, by the Manhattan Commissioners’ Plan, which was originally intended for a different location.  However the Mount Morris location was set on a large expanse of bedrock, and instead the location was moved to where it is currently.  The Park officially opened to the public in 1840, on December First.  Not much was done in the way of design for more than thirty years, however Ignatz A. Pilat was the Chief Landscaper for the city, and created a garden in 1867 which remained throughout the 1930′s.

Then at this point in the Park’s history, Robert Moses the Parks Commissioner further enhanced the design with architecture, sculpture and playgrounds, all of which remain a part of the landscaping to this day.  During the 1960′s the band stand was built and a public pool was installed.  A recreation room was also constructed, and during 1973, the name was changed to the Marcus Garvey Park to honor the legendary leader of the Black Nationalists.  As with so many areas, parks, buildings and structures, the park is rich with history.  This location is also filled with the love of all those who have been shaped by their years growing up and living in the borough of Harlem.

Only a week left to tour Australia. So, it’s now time to get serious with the speed of getting to the major cities and all the famous points of interests. Since being here for almost a month, I’ve heard the most about Melbourne. So, I thought I’d better make a short stay there.

I wasn’t sure about Melbourne, but decided to book myself an OZ experience, because I wanted the freedom of travel. Also, because there were no other trips that would get me there in enough time to see all of Melbourne and then time to travel to Adelaide, which is where I’ll catch my flight back to Sydney. Before I caught the ‘party’ bus, I managed to get reservations with a boutique hotel Melbourne has, I wanted to chill from the bus ride. But, taking the OZ bus was the best decision I ever made. I know wish I would’ve used that through out my whole trip! It was great being around people my own age and being given information about the places we passed along the way, and stopping at all the viewpoints and points of interest. This would’ve been totally impossible on a regular bus.

Too bad I only booked the travel to Melbourne on the OZ tour, it would’ve been a total blast staying with all the great people I met on the bus. But, I really like to be off on my own when traveling. It was a tough decision though. So, the next day was my first day in Melbourne and I really loved my hotel! What a calming change from the ‘party’ bus. I had to rush around to see all the sights since my time was limited. I got up early and headed off to my self named tour ‘the whistle-stop’ tour. I started out with what the Lonely Planet guidebook recommended, a walking tour. I first walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The stained glass windows were astoundingly beautiful. I then walked through some alleys and streets of the Central Business District. The architecture here in Melbourne was an interesting mix. There were tree-lined Parisian type avenues and some pretty old Victorian structures, which contrasted weirdly with the modern angular glass and steel buildings. I really liked my walking tour. This gave me a real feel for the place, especially walking through a real live Victorian arcade, which was linked by two streets and some very tall skyscrapers. I really wish I had more time to spend here. It was really quite lovely.

I was hoping to go to the museum, I was told that it was very impressive and that it even had a special Neighbors exhibition. But, unfortunately, the Lonely Planet had the times wrong; I arrived 10 minutes before they closed. I guess I’ll have to come back to Melbourne another time. I think I’ll plan for that now, even though my only time free again will be next year.

I didn’t get to see much of Singapore, it was raining very heavy, so my trip to the Singapore Zoo was cancelled. I was really disappointed, I wanted to see the free ranging Orangutans and I wanted to go on the Night Safari. At least I has a nice room at one of the Singapore luxury hotels. I had to budget really well in order to make reservations here. But, it was worth it. It’s my second day here and I’ve done virtually nothing. I hope the rain stops.

I did go down to the hotels restaurant and have some wonderful meals. Incredible really, in taste and variety. It seems that what they say about Singapore’s past-time is true, they love to eat and shop. To date, my most favorite meal, I know it’s only been two days, was the minced meat soup. It sounds simple, but the soup has fish balls, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, vegetables, pork dumplings in addition to the minced meat. So wonderful and tasty.

So, the minute it stopped raining, I made my way to Clarke Quay. I hooked up with a group of backpackers who I met on the plane here. Clarke Quay seems to be the playground for the trendy people of Singapore. The whole area is undercover and illuminated with Christmas lights. This lighting gave me the impression of a big shopping mall back in the States, except there were clubs and bars where the shops should be. I saw all kinds of beautiful, stunning people immaculately dressed coming here. I felt really out of place, so did the backpackers. My flip-flops really don’t cut it here. I wish I would’ve known, jeez! All the backpackers were wearing grubby shorts and tank-tops and none of us had our hair done up nice.

We decided to duck into the first bar and found out that everyone was dressed up due to a celebration of some sort and the bar itself was really a hoot. All the seat were wheelchairs, which led to many a wheelie competition between all the backpackers. A big contrast to the chic elegance of all the other patrons.  I had tons of fun despite being under-dressed. All the Singaporeans we met that day we extremely friendly and they told us they were envious of how we were dressed!

A typical picture people have of Hawaii is of its lush landscapes, whispering oceans, and soft breezes.  However, when Halloween comes around, the island puts on some spookiness, and gets into the spooky season.  If you ever do go to lanai hotels, or any other kind of hotels, you must go to the Haunted Lagoon.  Though Hawaii has a short history, insofar as recorded history goes, it does maintain many legends and stories.   In 1962, the story of the haunted lagoon begins.  In an effort to construct a Polynesian Cultural Center, part of the burgeoning pride associated with some of the movements of the sixties, a missionary was at the construction site, digging, when he saw a woman who was walking towards him.   He looked back down again, but when he looked up, the woman was gone.

He was not the last person to see the Lady in White or the Lā’ie Lady .   She is supposed to be the ghost of a young girl who made residence on Honolulu.  Even if you are in Hawaii only through Kauai vacation packages, you must make a special trip to Honolulu for this great experience.   In the same vein of Romeo and Juliet, this girl, Nalani, loved and married a boy her parents disapproved in a clandestine ceremony.   It was not so clandestine, however, as the family found out about the eloped couple.  Furious, the family of Nalani thrashed the body of the boy.

The couple fled, Nalani with child, but husband, his bones so broken from the trashing he received, died.   To remember his memory, she planted a coconut tree near a river.  It was a spot she soon occupied much of the time, crying.  When her child was born, this sadness passed, but she became a bit of a recluse, only spending moment after moment with her young boy.   Yet even more sadness was to visit the young woman when her son was lost to her, forever, despite desperate attempts to locate him.  Her last days were with the coconut tree, caring for it in lieu of the family she had lost until she soon was lost too, vanishing.

The coconut tree still exists, and it has mutated into a warped being just as Nalani became warped and strange from the sadness in life.  There are canoes rides to see the lady and the coconut ride all through October each year for fairly decent prices.  Big island travel are perfect for every time of the year, for the summery months you expect it for surfing and cool drinks by the ocean to even the spooky month of October.