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Last Thoughts on Cape Town

I could easily fill this column with content from Africa over the next two weeks, but you’ll have to read my magazine articles to see more. It’s time to move on to other regions of the world, like fall foliage in my native New England. Before I leave the continent, I want to touch on some of the highlights from Cape Town that I have not yet discussed. Loved the small plates at Pot Luck Club atop a former silo in the trendy neighborhood of Woodstock. Tea at Belmond Mount Nelson is a must. It takes you back to the Teddy Roosevelt era. Three locals all suggested the best biltong in the city is at Continental Butchery on Kloof Street and who am I to disagree. I wish I was digging into a bag of this chewy beef right now. The protea in bloom at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden was amazing as were the grounds. Enjoyed visiting the 19th-century synagogue on the Company’s Garden and the gift shop afterwards, which merges African beadwork with Judaica. If you’re fortunate to be in Cape Town during First Thursday Art Walk, take full advantage of this opportunity to see the galleries with a glass of Stellenbosch pinotage in hand.
 
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Botswana’s independence, so if you see a Botswana flag flying from our house, you know what we’re celebrating. 
 
I’m off Monday for Rosh Hashanah. L’shanah tovah! May this year be filled with joy, health, and prosperity! 
 

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Rafting the Chilko River, British Columbia

It was 1997 when I first met Brian McCutcheon, owner of Rivers, Oceans, and Mountains, or simply ROAM. I had been hired by Men’s Journal magazine to write about the first descent of the Klinaklini River in British Columbia. It was a spectacular journey down a rip-roaring river dwarfed by snowcapped peaks and glaciers. I was accompanying Johnny Morris, the owner of Bass Pro Shops, who came to the Northwest with his entourage to hook salmon on the fly. The fish weren’t biting but the scenery and excitement of riding the Klinaklini more than made up for the lack of salmon.

McCutcheon now offers multisport trips around the globe, including his latest and greatest, the lakes district of Argentina. But it’s his native BC that he knows best. For starters, try one of the most exciting whitewater rafting runs in North America, a weeklong jaunt down the Chilko River in southwestern BC. Take an hour seaplane flight from Vancouver to 4,000-foot high Chilko Lake where a new $10 million lodge was recently unveiled.  Then let the rollercoaster ride begin. You’ll cruise 130 miles, dropping 3,000 feet through a tumultuous blur of lava gorges and narrow chutes. Looming overhead are sloping carpets of forest and jagged peaks. And, on those rare moments when you slow down, you might find yourself staring at an eagle or grizzly. BC also stands for serious Bear Country, home to 12,000-plus grizzlies.
 

Big Island Off the Beaten Track, Part Three

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches
 
This is the last post about my May 2018 week in Hawaii. For this one, I’m going to focus on a few unusual and not-to-be missed sites we visited other than the ones already described in Holualoa and Hawi. So much fun!
 
One day, driving along, my daughter and I saw a small sign on the side of the road for the Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary. We both love to be outdoors so we gave the botanical garden a try. We were not disappointed in the hours we spent wandering the paths through unique plant and rock arrangements, orchards, and groves, including the world’s first galaxy garden, a 100-foot diameter outdoor scale model of the Milky Way, mapped in living plants and flowers. Who knew?
 
PuÊ»uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a US National Historic Park on the site where, up until the early 19th century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu (ancient law) could avoid certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge, or puÊ»uhonua. The offender would be absolved by a priest and freed to leave. While it has a slightly reconstructed hokey feel, I was glad to understand more about historic Hawaiian communities from long ago through an archeological site tour including: the authentic 400-year-old "Great Wall," temple platforms, thatched structures, and royal fishponds. 
 
Many people recommended "snorkeling with Manta Rays experience" which was cool but crowded (so be prepared). Due to bright lights shining from hotels on land, plankton and the manta rays which feed on them have concentrated in certain areas on the Big Island. We went out with Fair Wind Charters on their evening Manta Snorkel, leaving from Keauhou Bay, and were surrounded by other boats and lots of excited tourists. Mantas are very gentle – no teeth, stingers or barbs — and, while we were holding onto a floating frame looking down, they swam all around us in a graceful show, taking in large quantities of plankton through open mouths. This outing requires a comfort with wearing a wetsuit, being in the water for a long time, and using a snorkel, but no special "skill". Definitely something you won’t see or do ever again! 
 
In the Hawaiian language, lomi means "to knead, to rub, or soothe," and lomilomi massage practitioners use their palms, forearms, fingers, knuckles, elbows, knees, feet, and even sticks and stones. Historically, future practitioners were selected in childhood, around age 5, based on birth signs such as weather events, birthmarks (especially on the head), and kind behavior, and they required a decade or more of study. Lomilomi today, like so many ancient art forms, has been corrupted. Beware if you are trying to get a lomilomi massage; seek someone specially trained, like Teresa at Ka Lima Hana Kukui. Her massage is still a modernized version of lomilomi, but she grew up watching her grandparents performing lomilomi massage using Kukui nut oil, and her massage was wonderful. 
 
Please contact ActiveTravels if you are interested in any aspect of Hawaii and ask Amy for Big Island recommendations. We’d be glad to help. Don’t worry too much about heading to the Big Island with the unpredictability of the Kilauea volcano; it is 100+ miles away from the Kona airport!
 
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New in New York

I had lunch with Alyssa Schmid and Rachel Peace from NYC and Company last Thursday, and, not surprisingly, there’s a lot happening in New York City this summer. WorldPride will make its debut in the City June 26-30 to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Numerous cultural organizations have arranged exhibitions highlighting the Year of Pride, like the Mapplethorpe show now at the Guggenheim. I’ve already discussed the debut of The Vessel and The Shed at Hudson Yards on this page. The first-ever Equinox Hotel (to open in July) and the tallest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, the Edge (2020), will soon be joining them. MoMA will close in late June and reopen October 21st after its latest expansion. The TWA Hotel, residing in the former TWA Hotel Center from the 1960s, debuts on May 15th, bringing glamour back to JFK Airport. Ian Schrager’s Times Square EDITION just opened above Times Square to rave reviews. Aman and Six Senses properties will soon be unveiled. They’ll need all these hotel rooms for the record number of visitors arriving each year, a whopping 65 million visitors in 2018. 

 
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Hotel Explora, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile is a twisted mass of monoliths and hoodoos that rise sharply from the dry Patagonian steppe, a stunning glacial landscape where guanacos (orange and white-colored members of the llama family), rheas (ostriches), and flamingos congregate near watering holes. This is where Town & Country Magazine sent me to check out the luxurious, yet intimate Hotel Explora. Its superior location is apparent upon entering the lobby. The resort has vistas of the park’s most dramatic formation, The Horns, a block of sweeping granite that pierces the clouds.  Almost all of the hotel’s thirty rooms, even the whirlpool-adorned bathrooms, afford the same mind-blowing view.
 

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Successful Hotel Design: What’s the Winning Formula?

You could toss a Faberge egg from the new Four Seasons Hotel Moscow to Red Square, that’s how close the property is to the legendary landmark. Starwood Hotels just unveiled W Verbier in Switzerland and will debut W Bogota and a new St. Regis in Kuala Lumpur in the upcoming year. The ultra-modern Hilton Santa Fe Mexico City recently opened in the financial core of the city. New Langham Place properties will dot the Chinese map, from Guangzhou to Xiamen to Haining. And the late, great actor Marlon Brando’s dream of housing a sustainable property on his private French Polynesian isle of Tetiaroa will finally come to fruition this summer. 

With hundreds of hotels making their debut in 2014, the result of new construction and rebranding, one would think that all you need to do is put your sign on the building and turn on the electricity. Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. A decision to build a new property is years in the making. Hoping that the striking new property balances form and functionality, hotel design is an organic process that continually evolves, before, during, and after the ribbon cutting. 
 
To read my entire story on successful hotel design in this month’s issue of Global Traveler, click here. 
 
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Riu Palace Peninsula Week—The Dining

Each morning at the Riu Palace Peninsula, I strolled over to the large breakfast buffet at Las Olas restaurant, which included an omelet station, French toast, bacon, sausage, yogurt, cereals, and fresh fruit including small sweet bananas and papayas. Food in hand, I walked over to one of the outdoor tables to enjoy breakfast with a sea breeze and a pot of strong Mexican coffee. For lunch, I would head to the Italian restaurant, Venecia, just off the lobby. They offer a salad bar, pizza, grilled fish, and pasta choices. No reservations are necessary. I also enjoyed my mid-afternoon latte at the stylish coffee bar, Capuchino. 
 
Reserve in advance to dine at one of the four specialty restaurants. My favorite dishes included the tender Chilean sea bass at the fusion restaurant, Krystal; the large cut of rib eye at the steakhouse, Isla Mujeres; the wok pan-fried grouper with shitake mushrooms at Kabuki Japanese restaurant; and the tequila-flambéed prawns at Tamales, the Mexican restaurant. 
 
It’s been a fun week in Cancun, but it’s back to the frigid temperatures for me, with stops in Chicago, New York, and Presque Isle, Maine. I’ll return on January 7th with my Top 5 Travel Experiences of 2012. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
 

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