Tivoli is almost open all year round. This fall they are open for Halloween. The park is great and I enjoy it in all its moods and costumes. The park fills a whole city park and is smack in the center of the city. Lots of things to do, eat, and buy. Enchanted tourism!
Photos are still the best souvenirs. The one I got here of our boat driver was my favorite from the hundreds I took on a touristy trip to a village where they make pottery. While the trip was geared for tourists and the villagers are used to being photographed, they were still kind and friendly to us. I didn’t feel so milked as I have in many other “villages” around the world. On top of which, at this village, the forced shopping component was at a pit stop along the road back to Dhaka. It was a fun day out.
The bowls we got to try our hands are mainly used for yogurt.
“Where do you hear about the restaurants?” is a often asked of me when I find new restaurants to try in Dhaka. Delightfully, often I hear about a “new” place from one of my friends, jute sandals slap-slapping down the hallway. Otherwise, I let it be known that new (for me) restaurants are “my thing” and that I am a collector. Plus, whenever I am out and about, I am always on the lookout for new restaurants or advertising (yes, it does work!) about new eateries.
However, I also search online. Until Yelp arrives in Dhaka, I must make do with the following social media sites:
Dhaka Snob: Local to Dhaka and quite static. Needs to be updated. Lots of dead links.
HottDhaka: Also needs to be updated.
Trip Advisor: They are the leading international site BUT it is hard to add new places and hard to communicate with headquarters. To their credit, they wish to verify a location… but that makes it hard to for me to check back and see when I will be allowed to post a review. Boo. Yelp allows easy posting and THEN verifies. Does Trip Advisor have someone go to each location? How does one get that job?
Lonely Planet: THE BOOK for many travelers and bucket lists.
Google: Start there.
Facebook: Many restaurants don’t bother with a formal website and go for a Facebook page.
FourSquare: Never underestimate the desire to “check in” and conquer a location!
Read about the 50 restaurants I’ve already been to in my previous posts: Restaurants in Dhaka – Part Three, Restaurants in Dhaka – Part Two, and Restaurants in Dhaka – Part One.
Still have 47 restaurants to go!
Quite by accident, we made it to the world famous Hashim’s. All that it’s cracked up to be. Cheap, atmospheric (in an alley between buildings and mysterious characters), and delicious! The total meal of falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, fries, fresh pita, and labneh (yogurt dip) for four people cost $10… so we made one person treat us all. She insisted! Thanks!
The food in Jordan made me weak at the knees. Never has lemon juice with mint been so seductive or ground chick peas (garbanzo) been so smooth. El-Sufra on Al-Rainbow Street combines a sunken roman outdoor dining area replete with fountain and palm trees with indoor cafe and upper level with views of the lights of Amman. The nights in August were cool and perfect for sitting outside, chatting with friends, smoking a hubbly-bubbly or playing cards. Something for everyone.
My African American friend and I were headed in to the souk when I heard, “wassup, ni*&^%,” flung from a car with booming music. Almost immediately, three young guys standing near us starting apologizing for the comment with a “we are so sorry. They hear this in the rap music. They are stupid.” My friend graciously said that it was nothing. She’d heard it before. The rest of the Jordanians we met were not so uncouth. The souk was filled with pretty people and friendly vendors. Not aggressive but helpful. In general, my black friends got rather a lot of attention, most flirtatious, in Jordan.
Small but fun, the Friday “Souk Jara” is a fun way to spend a few hours and grab dinner on a Friday night. Much like a flea market, you can buy olive soap, scarves, sesame seeds, puffed wheat snack, and many other things.
At the food court, I enjoyed dinner. The various fruit stands were giving samples with the watermelon juice winning out. I had a fabulous grilled hotdog with all the trimmings except the french fries. Then I had part of a “saj” a fresh dough wrap filled with your choice and then fried like a quesadilla. After that, how could I resist the Volk’s Burger when almost nothing beats the smell of grilled beef?
For dessert, I had grilled bananas served with ice cream and honey. Mostly, I enjoyed the music, the mix of people, including musicians and eye candy.In the early morning light of the cavern called “the Siq” in Petra, we three friends were alone in our walk round the twists and turns of the 30 minute walk to that classic view of Petra — the view of the Treasury through the slim gap of the Siq.
We did actually have company in the form of three other tourists who outpaced us and a local dog. Plus a few of the local Bedouin guides trying to sell us donkey rides. But mostly, we were alone, skipping along the well kept path between the rose pink sandstone. The evening before, we had traipsed in the dark to the same spot with 300 other tourists for “Petra by Night” and I’d recommend it. The night walk costs 12 Dinars ($17) and the day pass costs 50 Dinar ($71) but it was worth it. I avoided the donkey and camel rides but the 20 Dinar ($28) horse cart gallop up the walk is also worth it. The two hour up the 800 steps to the “high place” did not seem worth it to me but you can take a donkey up and then, for those who enjoy vertiginous thrills, it might be worth it. But then you could also walk up in stilettos.
Although Petra is touristy, it is much less so than many places on anyone’s list of places to see. I recommend getting up and going at 6 a.m. when the park opens. And bring friends.
Ride an elephant through a rubber plantation, sea kayak past protected swallows’ nest harvesting caves (used for birds’ nest soup), get foot massages for 250 baht ($6), get Thai massaged into a pretzel shape, get tailor made clothes, eat delicious fresh food, and pet tigers. Okay, I did not do that but many others have it on their bucket list.
To paraphrase food and travel god Tony Bourdain: where the French have been, there is good food. In Luang Prabang, Laos, there is a French bakery that delivers.
Enjoy.
Every back street in Luang Prabang, Laos, is filled with something new to see. We heard a bell pealing and then saw a quiet flow of people, locals and tourists, making their way, not to one of the many temples, but to a little building squeezed between a shop and cafe. It was so low key that I’m sure we could have taken off our shoes and joined in.
Bangladesh is a crowded country so getting away from the madding crowd for a quiet “date” with someone you are courting or being courted by… is somewhat a matter of real estate. Famous Lalbagh Fort, considered a mini Taj Mahal, looks quite different from what is shown on the Amazing Race TV show, but it is worth visiting. There is a mausoleum built by a grieving father, a harem with baths, sweet smelling flowers, and a 300-year-old pool. Interestingly, what makes the fort so attractive is not the tomb, pool, or harem. In a crowded country, the walkways and niches provide a private place in a public space for young Bangladeshi couples to court. This a romantic place and there must be something in the air.
Love rocks!
Mumbai, city of slumdogs and French bistros. This cafe was so French that I half expected Edith Piaf to appear wearing a sari…
