MyJamBlog

Protected: Nine Additional Fishing Sanctuaries to be Established

Tarrus Riley at Negril Escape Sunset Show

Filesize=68KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=81KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=71KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=79KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=95KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=83KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=73KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=82KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=93KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=84KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=98KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=94KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=74KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=124KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Filesize=85KB
Dimensions=800x600
Date added=Jan 01, 2009"/>

Tarrus Riley and Gumption Band put on a great show at Negril Escape for their weekly Sunset Show which features some of Jamaica’s musical history in a live reggae performance every Tuesday as the sun sets.

The Sunset Show at Negril Escape starts as the sun sets and runs through the reggae history timeline and includes performances by local musicians of classic reggae favorites from everyone from Bob Marley and Peter Tosh to Coco Tea and Jimmy Cliff.

Not only do you get to watch the sunset over the beautiful Negril cliffs but you can enjoy some of the best reggae in town while you dine at the all you can eat buffet loaded down with Jamaican food favorites like brown stew and jerked chicken as well as a selection of the islands fresh fruits a baked goodies and treats or you can sip a drink seaside under the stars with a great mix of resort guests and local patrons all enjoying the live music and great atmosphere.

Tarrus had his sax player Dean Fraser and the Gumption Band backing him up and put on an energetic high energy performance in the early morning hours of the last day of the year. Tarrus and Dean had a short harmony shootout with Riley chanting a sweet tune for Fraser to copy on the sax. The battle was fun and got the crowd excited about a show that ran a bit late due to the ever present technical difficulties.

It was a small setting with a limited crowd and Tarrus took the time to pose for dozens of photographs with many of his foreign fans and guests of the West End’s premier seaside resort. Tarrus is coming off the best year in his career after being awarded Top Reggae Performer for 2008 and his album Parables is a local favorite with everyone from the teenage girls to the grandparents singing along word for word to each and every on of his popular songs.

This was my second chance to see Tarrus Riley after his performance at Reggae Sumfest 2008 and it was a much better show with less tension, no rain and a much better vibe then the massive crowds and muddy fields of the Sumfest arena. This show was much smaller and much more personal and Tarrus seems to appreciate the setting. he made a point of touching hands and meeting everyone in the crowd and made it more like a meet and greet experience than another reggae show.

The Sunset Show at Negril Escape runs every Tuesday evening and features some of Negrils favorite local musicians having fun with the history of reggae in Jamaica. Stop by and check them out on your next Tuesday evening in Negril.

Copyright © 2009 Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact affordableweb@gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana

Party like it?s 2009 - Major events planned to ring in New Year

At the stroke of midnight tonight, Jamaica will herald in 2009, bringing to an end a year that, for many, was marked by tough economic and social challenges. But despite these difficulties, a number of events have been planned to celebrate the start of a new year…

ShareThis

VoxPop

What will you be doing to ring in the New Year?…

ShareThis

Uncertainty over future of sugar divestment deal

A cloud of uncertainty is hovering over the Government’s efforts to privatise the Sugar Company of Jamaica with reports surfacing that the deal, which should have been completed today, has either been delayed or scrapped. Telephone calls to Agriculture…

ShareThis

Notice, Burke support engaging the dons

The gesture being made by members of the National Transformation Programme (NTP) to engage ‘dons’ or area leaders to facilitate peace and a ceasefire across the length and breadth of the island has received support from some influential members of the society…

ShareThis

50 new single-operator buses for JUTC fleet

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) yesterday added 50 brand-new single-operator Volvo buses to its fleet. The state-of-the-art yellow buses, which boast an emblem of the national flag on the front, were supplied by the Belgian firm VDL Jonckheere…

ShareThis

Portland truck driver turns himself in

Port Antonio, Portland: The driver of the ill-fated truck involved in an accident that claimed the lives of 14 people in the Rio Grande Valley of Portland on December 19 is to resume counselling sessions this morning…

ShareThis

Jamaican-Palestinian calls for end to Israeli hostilities in Gaza

As Israel continued to pound the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with bombs yesterday, a Jamaican of Palestinian descent called on the world to force the Israeli government to end hostilities in the region.By the end of yesterday, that call by Robert…

ShareThis

?God saved her? - Two-year-old survived four days without food, water

Residents of Denham Town and surrounding communities are describing as a major miracle the revelation that an abandoned two-year-old child survived for four days without food and water. Medical authorities say it is not unusual for an abandoned child to survive for this period…

ShareThis

Police get flak for abandoned child

Residents of Goffe Way in Denham Town, west Kingston, are angry with the police over what they say was a failure to protect a two-year-old girl they claim was left by her mother to die. Nineteen-year-old Nicolette Ledford was yesterday detained under the Child Care …

ShareThis

Children?s advocate seeks answers from mother

Children’s Advocate Mary Clarke says she wants to meet with the mother who left her child in an abandoned building to determine what was going through her mind. The infant was reportedly tied up and left in the building on Spanish Town Road in Kingston …

ShareThis

Geothermal New Zealand - Rotarua and Taupo - Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Having left the Coromandel Peninsula behind us we drove south, passing through forest areas, pastureland and our first of many vineyards.
 
En route we came to the small town of Katikati, which, according to the Rough Guide, had been dealt a devastating economic blow when the price of kiwi fruit collapsed in the 1980s.  In an attempt to refashion itself and attract passing tourist trade it's become known as "Mural Town", with any available blank wall becoming an artist's canvas.  We paused awhile to admire the results.
 
Shortly after we recommenced our journey the warm sunshine gave way to heavy showers - our first rain for several weeks and so we shouldn't have complained - but we did!!!
 
Around mid-afternoon we arrived in Rotorua, one of the world's most concentrated and easily accessible geothermal areas, intending to visit Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve.  However with the rain still coming down in stair rods we reviewed our plans and headed instead for the town's museum.  Here we saw more Maori artefacts and were able to look around the former bath house - a remnant of Rotorua's days as a thriving spa town in the 1880s.
 
Afterwards, driving through Rotorua's very obviously tourist orientated streets, with the rain still drizzling and an all pervasive sulphurous smell of rotten eggs, we didn't feel encouraged to search for accommodation and decided, instead, to continue southwards to Taupo, set alongside a lake of the same name.  Lake Taupo was formed around 1800 years ago from one of the world's largest volcanic eruptions.  Apparently there's nothing to say this couldn't happen again.  Thankfully it didn't do so whilst we were there!!
 
As we drove along the main road to Lake Taupo, passing fields and woodland, it was extremely strange to periodically see plumes of steam rising out of the ground on either side of us!!
 
Over the next 2 days we visited a number of geothermal sites and oohed and aahhed almost continuously as yet another visual treat or unusual sight appeared before us.  On occasions we felt as if we were visitors on an alien planet as hot mud pools plopped and gurgled around us, water shot into the air in front of us and clouds of steam enveloped us.
 
We were also extremely fortunate in that whilst all the places we visited were popular tourist destinations we always seemed to manage to pick a time when there were few, or in some cases, no, people around and this enabled us to really appreciate the beauty and wonder of everything around us.
 
Our accommodation during our stay at Lake Taupo was at the Youth Hostel and after 3 nights we decided that perhaps we should stop pretending to be quite so youthful!!  The irony was that once we started looking at alternative accommodation we discovered we could stay in some really excellent places for the same price and some cases for even less!!!!
 
From Lake Taupo we travelled east to the town of Napier, described in promotional leaflets as the Art Deco capital of the world.

Day 4 Christmas Day - Mullaloo Beach - Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Christmas morning we were all woken up by gary galloping around the house in his blow up donkey cowboy suit..we opened our presents and ate chocolates. We recieved loads of fantastic presents- then we packed the beach bags and esky and hopped into the car to head down to mullalloo beach.

The sun was blazing hot and we met up with mum and dad's friend tony and his wife for champagne on the beach, mmmmmmmmmm! we all roasted!

After we had all had enough we headed back for our showers and our xmas day bbq.....

For our bbq we had chicken, steaks, lamb steaks, lamb chops, huge satay prawns and sausages Mmmmmmmmmmm, after we were stuffed we then went out to the local park to see if we could spot any kangaroos, we didn't see any they must have been having xma day off chilling in the bush with a cold beer.

Visas for China in 2009 - Hong Kong, China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hong Kong, China

Word is that it will be easier to get a visa for China from HK or your home country - already they have relaxed the requirement for air tickets and hotel bookings.

And currently most people can get via an agency or direct from the consulate a one month tourist visa, or a double entry visa, which can be extended twice. With the double entry you go out of China - to HK, Vietnam, Laos, etc - and can head in again for another month, which is then able to be renewed twice. Giving up to six months in total.

Let you not lose your breath - Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India

Greetings my friends.  We have escaped the ashram for the afternoon to get some caffeine sugar and internet!!!  We did kirtan (chanting) last night, got ourselves to yoga class from 6 - 8:30 am and then joined in a fire puja (ceremony) this morning, so we've earned it.  :)  Chai, glorious chai, I cannot get enough.  Here's a shot of our favoite (or at least first ) chai wallah, whose sugary connoction got us through 2 mornings of the most strenuous and amazing ashtanga yoga class.

smog - fog

food - fruit - monkey

 yoga class

meditation cave

 

 

30 December, the Wedding - Ted's First Update - Baroda, Gujarat, India

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Baroda, Gujarat, India

We are on Day 3 of the wedding.  Every event has been a brilliant mish-mash of colours and food.  On the evening of the first day, Tanek's aunt (the groom) put on a fabulous party at her house in Baroda.  The setting was stunning with 200 people in the garden of the beautiful home.  Tanvi wanted her guests to experience real Indian street food as it is meant to be the best example of Indian food.  However, it is rarely available in restaurants as it is considered inferior to other examples of Inidan food.  As the food on the streets can be a little dangerous to westerners, Tanvi had the caterers prepare their own version of it.  All I can say is that I had third helpings.  It was wonderful.  I cannot tell you the name of a single dish but I enjoyed every one! 

The second day included the Mehendi ceremony and lunch at the Mahi Valley Resort.  We all piled onto a bus for a fascinating drive through Baroda and out into the country-side.  It is mind-boggling to see a shiny new glass-covered Siemen's building next door to the typical "slum".  Many people simply live in tents on the side of the road and together these tents form the slums of each city.  Zero hygiene, no comforts but they exist.  We were all shocked that we didn't run someone over as the bus barreled through crowds of locals on bikes, carts and scooters.  The only thing that slowed our head-long journey was the obligatory cow wandering across the street!  The lunch featured all the ladies getting henna'd hands and the gentlemen standing around self-consciously in our "funky tunics", as Martin designated the long tunics that we all wore.  Tanvi had organized athletic and colourful traditional dancers to put on a show for the crowd.  With a fantastic view across the river delta, it was a truly satisfying lunch. 

The evening was a highlight that I will not forget.  We were taken to the Lakshmi Palace for dinner and dancing.  The Lakshmi Palace is the Maharaj of Gujarat's private palace, and is not open to tourists.  It was only through the personal friendship of the bride and groom's parents with the Maharaj himself that were we able to have a guided tour and then party on the grounds with the Maharaj in attendance.  The palace is a mix of Hindu, Muslim and Christian architecture built in the late 19th century.  Every little while, I would pause with my drink halfway to my lips and gaze back at the building lit with hundreds of lights making it glow in the night sky.  It's not every day that we are able to party like that! 

Into the Heart of Vietnam - Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ninh Binh, Vietnam

...

Update on bombing and bomber - Kunming, Yunnan, China

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Kunming, Yunnan, China

Salvador's owner Colin Flahive was just outside of the restaurant
when the bomb detonated on Christmas Eve. Flahive has summarized what
he and co-owner Kris Ariel (Salvador's other two owners were out of
the country when the explosion occurred) experienced on December 24.
GoKunming has been given permission to publish their account,
reprinted below:

At about 10:30 in the morning on December 24th, I was sitting
downstairs at our internet port. A friend came in, and she was
looking for Christmas gifts, so I suggested that she go with him to
see all of the stuff Kris and I had bought in Thailand to sell in our
new shop. We had just begun walking down the street when we heard a
large explosion. Looking back to the restaurant, we could see people
running out of Salvador's.

I ran in as quickly as I could and went straight to the gas line to
turn it off. I had assumed that our gas line had exploded. It was
then that I saw the body of the individual on the ground near the
table closest to the bathroom.

The scene was more gruesome than I wish to detail. My initial feeling
was that it was one of our workers. That is what continues to haunt
me the most - the feeling that we had caused the death of one of our
workers who are all so close to us. Luckily, such was not the case. A
couple of seconds later, all of our girls came running out of the
kitchen. The explosion had not been very intense there.

Three Korean customers and one Chinese customer were seated very
close to the explosion. All of them, all of our staff, and all of the
other customers upstairs were miraculously uninjured. From there I
made my way to the electric box to cut off the electricity which is
when I noticed many 100 RMB bills scattered all over the place. The
money did not belong to any of our staff or customers.

Everyone made it outside safe other than the one who was the victim
of his own malicious attempt. Kris made it from home to the
restaurant within minutes. Outside we all comforted each other while
the ambulance staff went inside. They dragged out what they could of
the body and loaded it into the ambulance. They then made Kris
accompany the ambulance to the hospital because they were under the
impression that the man was one of our staff.

Somehow, the man was still alive when they got to the hospital, and
he was interrogated before eventually expiring. Kris unfortunately
had to bear witness to all of this. In fact, they even confiscated
his phone to use as an audio recorder for the interrogation.

At a press conference on Saturday, the police tied the bomber of
Salvador's to the bomber of the public buses back in July. There was
DNA evidence that links both crimes, and bomb materials were found at
the home of the suspect that are the same as the bombs used on the
busses and our cafe. The suspect had served several years in prison
for an assault-related crime.

For most expats who have lived in China for some time, it's very easy
to be skeptical of the media, and this report seems so convenient to
solve two crimes in one shot. But from our experiences with this
investigation we both feel very confident in Saturday's report. In
addition, we thought you'd all like to know that the police have
treated us quite well and have been extremely professional with the
handling of the investigation.

It was also revealed that the bomb was placed in the bathroom and
appears to have exploded prematurely. The night of the 24th is
perhaps the busiest night of the year for cafes in the neighborhood,
and I can only assume that the bomber had higher aspirations than the
outcome. We are lucky in so many ways, it's really quite difficult to
talk about.

For now, our greatest concern is the mental and physical health of
our workers. We have been spending time together discussing the event
and making sure that everything gets talked through. Everyone is in
much better spirits now, and we hope to move on. The future of our
business is at present uncertain, but you have not heard the last of
Salvador's.

Thank you for all of your kind words and support.

Love and Peace,
Colin and Kris

Hair Locks on the Pavement - Hanoi, Vietnam

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hanoi, Vietnam

Moved to the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. A dorm bed cost $7.5, but my main reason for moving there was to be closer to the backpacker community.

Walked from the Old Quarters to the Temple of Literature (11th Century). This was the first national university in Vietnam. It consisted of classrooms, courtyards and Confucian temples enshrining Vietnamese kings, scholars and of course Confucius. The names of the degree owners were placed on tablets, which were standing on tortoise sculptures. Tortoise is a revered animal in Vietnam, because it's believed that it brought a powerful sword to the Vietnamese king with which he drew out the Chinese in the 15th Century.

Moved on to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. For those who aren't familiar with the subject, Ho Chi Minh is equivalent to Lenin in Russia. He freed the country of French colonialism and orchestrated a good portion of the Vietnam War against the United States. His corpse was kept in a Soviet-style monument that was very similar to Lenin's in the Red Square. Although their sizes are quite comparable, Ho Chi Minh's might be slightly taller. Unfortunately, you could only visit it in the morning. I was too late to get in. I learned that the corpse is sent to Moscow every year to be chemically processed.

Next to the Mausoleum were 2 houses where he engineered the Vietnam War. The houses were very modest, most probably because they didn't want them to be targeted by US fighters.

On the other side of the Mausoleum was the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the One Pillar Pagoda. The museum was "surreal" as LP has put it. This was the most bizarre museum I have ever seen. It was a hodge podge of modern sculpture work, collages alluding to Vietnamese history and government documents. The exhibition was disorganized and there was limited English labeling. As a result, I couldn't learn much from it. The One Pillar Pagoda was a Buddhist structure originally built in the 11th Century. The version I saw today was reconstructed after the French had burnt the original as they were exiting Indochina for good.

If one more person asks me whether I want a motorcycle ride, I'll punch him in the face.

From the Mausoleum I walked to the Citadel, which is still being used by the Vietnamese military. Passed the Citadel into the Northern part of the Old Quarter. What you see is pretty much the same throughout the Old Quarter: garbage, mud, people sitting on the pavement,  fruit sellers asking you if you want to take a picture with their carrying sticks and shops of all kinds, but mostly selling counter-fits. However, there was a slight change in the Northern part in that I saw quite a few barbers cutting people's hair on the pavement. Hence, locks of hair covered the pavements there like carpets. One of these barbers was quite aggressive. He went as far as tightly holding my wrist and pulling my to the barber's chair. He wasn't joking; he wanted to get money from me. This incident reminded me of the sellers who had ganged up on me in Palmyra, Syria. I pretended that I found his actions amusing and walked away. In these kinds of situations, the trick is to not make the aggressor notice that you are loosing your cool. I think I have learned how to do this pretty well.

The quality of the buildings, roads and pavements got a lot worse as I approached the Old Quarter. The Mausoleum area had to be more impressive, since it is the center of national pride. Also, the government had to show off to the numerous embassies located in this neighborhood. By the way, the embassies are inside the most luxurious estates you can find in Hanoi.

I was exhausted. As I was sitting by the Hoan Kiem Lake, a young Vietnamese guy in sweat-pants approached me. Initially, I thought that he was a gigolo, but that didn't turn out to be the case at all. He was a civil engineering major at a local university and he just wanted to practice his English. I was surprised that a university student like himself had never heard of Turkey before. His family lives in a city 2 hours north of Hanoi. Has 2 siblings. He is staying at a hostel far away from the city center. I couldn't believe my ears when he mentioned the high rents of the shitty buildings in the Old Quarter. I tried my best to teach him a bit of English for half an hour. After that, he got up and left for the English Club where the Vietnamese youth gets together to improve their conversation skills. His resolve to master English impressed me a great deal.

Had dinner at a restaurant called "Pho" that was close to my hostel. Ordered something at random. Turned out to be a delicious mix of beef and vegetables. Had a Fanta along with that. The Fanta tasted really bad, which made me think that it was a health-threatening counterfeit. Am I getting paranoid? $3 for all.

Went back to the hostel to eat the exotic fruits that I had bought right in front of the One Pillar Pagoda. Well, one of them was clementines, which doesn't really count as exotic. But the other one was a passion fruit. Although I had eaten one before, I had never seen one unpeeled. The segmented yellow and pink peel was intoxicating. Poor choice of adjective for a piece of fruit; I know.

The hostel was of golden value. Even though it was the cheapest Western style hostel that I have stayed at so far, the room was clean, the bed was comfortable, there was free internet and breakfast etc. They are also great with travel info. Highly recommended.

Vietnam beat Thailand in the final of the Suzuki Cup. The Vietnamese filled up the streets of Hanoi to celebrate soon after.