Category: Travel

A Dentist and his Jungle Haven

He’s known as the “jungle dentist.” Danish oral surgeon Peter Bloch began coming to Bali 43 years ago. During visits he realized the need for his skills among the local population living in rural areas.  He equipped a boat to be a dental clinic on water, then sailed around the island, making stops at remote villages and offering his services to those in need.

“Having a toothache is the worst pain,” says the dedicated dentist.  “You can’t sleep.  You can’t eat. You can only cry.”  Without dental care, decayed teeth can become infected.  Sepsis can set in and can lead to death, he explained.  ”It’s a common way of death here.”

Bloch, who had a practice in Fort Myers, Fla., for 19 years, as well as a part-time practice in Denmark, would spend two to three months a year as a volunteer “jungle dentist,” seeing as many as 60 – 70 patients per day.  “We used an upside down canoe as a dental chair,” he says.

He now lives at his magnificent resort, Tanah Merah (red earth), four kilometers outside of the Bali town of Ubud, but still practices jungle dentistry several months of the year.  He also gets patients from Ubud where he operates under the slogan “No Pain, No Pay.”

But these days most of his energies are directed to Tanah Merah, a secluded paradise in a luxuriant tropical setting.  Our stay there was the highlight of our recent six-week trip which took us on to Australia and New Zealand.

Bloch bought the land on a hillside above the Petanu River and began construction in 2000.  There are now 17 rooms, including some individual cottages and luxurious villas.  The latter have private plunge pools, some even with waterfalls.  We had a deluxe studio with a canopied bed, private terrace and enormous bathroom with a giant, gleaming copper bathtub.  We visited several other rooms and villas.  Bloch, who designed all the rooms himself, did not stint on the bathrooms – all lavish and spacious.  Fascinating art objects and paintings from his private collection add elegance to the guest rooms.

Collecting these treasures is the jovial Dane’s passion.  “I am constantly collecting.  It’s terrible. It’s a disease,” he says. Because of his work on Bali and his hobby of collecting, Bloch is well known on the island.  Owners of palaces who are in need of funds contact him when they have treasures to sell.  Museum directors also know he is interested in art objects.

He recently opened a museum at the resort, nine rooms, each behind heavy, elaborately carved wooden doors, and all underground in a temperature-controlled environment.  The contents —  priceless, amazing and unusual objects — include paintings, weavings, objects of gold, daggers, masks and carved furniture.

One room features a large collection of Chinese porcelain from the Yuan dynasty (1271 – 1368) all recovered from a shipwreck.  The star attraction in another room is gigantic tusks.  According to Bloch, the former president of Indochina, Suharto, wanted a set of tusks from a mammoth. He got them from Russia and sold them to Bloch after he lost his presidency and was in financial need.  The tusks have been tested and are said to be 28,000 years old.

The highlight of the Bali room is a 400-year-old Indonesian structure which he had reassembled.  From Europe, there’s his mother’s dining room recreated from furnishings from the family home in Denmark, complete with a lavish table setting.

“It’s fun.  It’s a beautiful atmosphere.  I like to sit here and read’’ he says of the museum.

He also likes to wander the grounds of his resort.  Steps lead up and down the verdant hillside with its colorful blossoms and lush foliage.  There’s an infinity

pool at the edge of a cliff with fabulous views of the surroundings.  Exotic birds live in cages around the area of the individual cottages.  Noisy frogs thrive in a spring-fed pond adjacent to one of the resort’s three restaurants.

A staff member told me Bloch likes to get up early and make the rounds of the bird cages, talking to his feathered friends. He might be accompanied by his dogs, three very friendly Rottweilers.

The resort complex is large so you rarely see other guests.  On most occasions I had the pool to myself. Even husband Bob, a non-swimmer who normally avoids pools, could not resist a dip in the inviting water. For a jungle experience, you can trek down to the river and swim in a pool under a waterfall.  Unfortunately I saved this for our last day when it rained, making the descent to the river too slippery.

The many stone statues of gods and spirits throughout Tanah Merah add to the almost mystical, enchanting ambience of this romantic resort.  Young Balinese women clad in vibrant sarongs place fresh offerings of flowers at the statues each morning.  I’m not a big fan of massages, but I indulged at Tanah Merah for the best massage of my life.  The breakfasts, the English version with eggs and meat, as well as fresh fruit and croissants, are the perfect way to start the day at the open restaurant Petanu, half way down the hillside amidst the jungle greenery.

The town of Ubud with shops, restaurants and a thriving market, is about a 15-minute drive from the resort.  Tanah Merah offers guests free shuttle service to town, but if the resort cars are not available, you can hop on the back of a staff member’s motorcycle for a fun trip.

Bloch likes to mingle with his guests and can communicate in numerous languages: Danish, English, French, German, Swedish, Swahili, Indonesian and Balinese.  He has lived in Singapore, and Africa where he opened a dental clinic in Nairobi.  He is divorced with two children and a grandchild who live in the U. S.   In addition to dentistry and collecting art works, he writes and is especially proud of his recently published book, “Mads Lange, The Bali Trader and Peacemaker,” the story of this Danish expatriate who lived in Bali in the 19th century and was influential in the island’s history.

Before leaving, I decided to ask the jungle dentist about a dental problem and related headaches.  He invited me to his private villa at the resort where I lay on a couch on the porch with lots of pillows behind my head.  His houseboy held a surgical light above my mouth while the dentist took a look at my teeth and gave his advice which I’ve since heeded with good results.

Our deluxe studio at Tanah Merah in October was $100 per night, including breakfast.  For more on the resort, see   www.tanahmerahbali.com

Hungry for Tex Mex?  In the recipe column at far right, see “Enchilada Pie.”

High on Bali

Bali Ha’i *  may call you,
Any night, any day,
In your heart, you’ll hear it call you:
“Come away…Come away.”

Bali Ha’i will whisper
On the wind of the sea:
“Here am I, your special island!
Come to me, come to me!”

Your own special hopes,
Your own special dreams,
Bloom on the hillside
And shine in the streams.
If you try, you’ll find me
Where the sky meets the sea.
“Here am I your special island
Come to me, Come to me.”

My parents loved Broadway musicals.  They often played sound track records.  South Pacific was a favorite. My favorite song: “Bali Ha’i.” (*Bali Ha’i in the above song, according to Wikipedia, was not Bali, but based on the  island of Ambae, part of what was formerly known as New Hebrides, now Vanuatu.  Never mind, for me, it was Bali.)

I was mesmerized, both by the words and the melody of this song .  I knew I had to see this “special island” someday.

It took almost a lifetime, but I made it last October. The Indonesian island  was all I had hoped – and more.  A British friend, Jenny, recommended we stay in Ubud, a town in the hills, rather than at a popular tourist beach resort.  Thank you, Jenny.

In the book and movie, “Eat, Pray and Love,” Ubud was the focus of author Elizabeth Gilbert’s quest for spirituality and healing.  Tourism is the chief industry in Bali, and Ubud, the island’s artistic hub,  has seen a surge in visitors thanks to both the book and movie.

Our home (husband Bob was with me)  for six days was the Tanah Merah resort and gallery about a 20-minute drive outside of the funky town in a verdant, tropical setting.  I found the resort on the Web.  It was reasonable, beautiful, serene, fascinating – a bit of paradise.  The fascinating part was the Danish dentist, Peter Bloch, owner and creator of this magical place which has just 14 rooms, including many individual cottages, and an incredible art and artifact galley with Peter’s extensive collection.  For more about Peter and Tanah Merah, see my next blog post.

Our night arrival at the chaotic airport in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, was a horror story, (also more about that in a future blog on Travel Mishaps).  But all turned out well thanks to a friendly Australian airline steward, Peter, whom we met on our Qantas flight to Singapore.  He recommended a friend and driver in Bali, Wayan Sukada.  He sent Wayan an email and arranged for him to meet us at the airport and take us to Ubud – about an hour and a half drive through a crazy, congested city into the peaceful countryside.

Wayan became our guide and mentor.  He drove us on an excursion to temples and sites.  He recommended restaurants.  He invited us to a ceremony at his temple.  He taught us much about Bali and its religion.

There is a pervasive spirituality in Bali is that is both intriguing and soothing. Most Balinese are Hindu, but they practice a form of the religion somewhat different than Hinduism in India.  It governs their daily life.  Every town, no matter what the size, must have three temples, Wayan told us, each dedicated to one of the three elements: air, water and fire.  All homes have a main temple, and often an additional one in each room. Ceremonies are profuse – not just the usual ones for weddings, births and cremations, but celebrations for the rice harvest, in honor of animals, to bless machinery…During our brief  Ubud visit, Wayan attended three ceremonies.  He said he must give 10 percent of his earnings to the temple.

Statues of gods, goddesses and demons are everywhere, and often draped from the head down in sarongs. The latter is to protect the spirit inside the statue. The sarongs are in various colors, but each color has significance. White, for example, is for prosperity. Trees, which also have spirits, are also sometimes covered with sarongs. Offerings to the statues are made twice each day – tiny baskets made with coconut leaves and filled with blossoms.  Every morning we watched employees at Tanah Merah put fresh offerings of flowers at the base of the numerous statues on the property.

Besakih is the Mother Temple in Bali.  We passed hills of rice paddies and drove through poor villages, past numerous temples,  en route to the holy site, a huge complex of structures on seven levels.  Before visiting the site, we both had to “rent” sarongs to wear in respect at the temple.  A government guide led us through the complex, first up the steps on the left side, the negative side, then down on the right side, the positive side. At each level there are terraces, altars, statues, and ceremonies were underway at some.

Our excursion that day also included a stop at Klungkung Palace which was erected at the end of the 17th century, but largely destroyed during the Dutch colonial conquest in 1908. Among the remaining portions is a lovely floating pavilion which was added in the 1940s.  While visiting the palace, we heard the beat of drums and commotion in the adjacent street.  It was a funeral procession, with groups of mourners following the wrapped body.  Wayan explained that the body would be interred first, then unearthed at a future date for a cremation ceremony during which the remains of many would be burned.

As we (especially Bicycle Bob) love cycling, we signed up for an all-day bike excursion.  Unfortunately the supposedly spectacular view of Mount Batur, near where the trip originated, was hidden by clouds; it rained most of the day, and Bob had a crash in the mud on a skinny route through a rice paddy.  But, it was an enlightening trip nonetheless. Our group stopped in a village where we toured a home — several rooms, virtually no furnishings, a temple in the yard, — all very basic and poor. Bali may be the home of numerous luxurious resorts, but life for the average citizen is at the other end of the spectrum.

While he (Bob) is passionate about bicycles, food and cooking are among my hobbies.  So, we also signed up for a Balinese cooking class at the Bambu Bali restaurant. It started out with a visit to the colorful market where our teacher explained some of the indigenous produce.   The dishes we prepared, seven different ones,  were all delicious, many on the hot and spicy side. We also received a souvenir cook booklet with recipes.  Unfortunately all seem to require ingredients which I’ll never find here.

Bicycles, food – and animals.  We love them, too, and  our visit to the Monkey Forest in Ubud was enchanting.  Thousands of monkeys: mothers with babies, teenagers wrestling with one another, couples diligently picking bugs off each other’s backs… All roaming freely in a vast tropical forest complete with temples, statues and a picturesque stream strewn with rocks.

The visit to an elephant sanctuary was somewhat disappointing.  Just to view the elephants, we had to pay $15; an elephant safari ride cost an extra $45. We passed on the costly ride, but one of the guides, who agreed the charge was ridiculous, offered us a brief ride as his boss was not around.  It was fun, and his commentary on the elephants was informative.

On our last night, Wayan took us to a ceremony to inaugurate a new temple in his village.  He was a member of the all male band: drums, bamboo flutes, hammers, cymbals, and a xylophone.  The sounds, lots of clinging and clanging, all sounded much the same.  The men in the band all wear white with a bandana around their heads.  The latter, Wayan explained, is to keep them focused on god and prayer.

Villagers arrived with enormous creations of fruit, flowers and food, all placed on an altar as offerings.  The women,  wearing their finest, sat together, while the men were off in another section – some gathered in an adjacent room smoking and gambling, according to Wayan.  Children, dogs and chickens wandered freely around the festive scene.

Even if it’s not Bali Ha’i, for me Bali is indeed a “special island.”

Bali is reasonable. Wayan charged us about $28 for the transportation from the airport to Ubud; about $36 for an all-day excursion. Our spacious room with full English breakfast at Tanah Merah was $100 per night. Cycling tour with bike rental, breakfast, lunch and van transportation to and from the start of the ride, about $36 per person.  Cooking class, about $22 per person, including eating the food you prepare.

www.tanahmerahbali.com

Email: wayan_sukada70@yahoo.com  (underscore between wayan and sukada)

For a fantastic soup, see recipe in column at right for Baked Garlic and Onion Cream Soup.  Watch the slideshow below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dazzling Singapore

I was blown away by the airport.  All so sleek, modern, clean, beautiful.  Greenery in the middle of the baggage belt.  Vast carpeted halls. Classy shops.  No lines at customs.  Pristine washrooms.   The drive into the city was even more impressive with lush bougainvillea in bloom along the highway and stunning skyscrapers looming in every direction.

Welcome to Singapore. For futuristic architectural magnificence, it’s tops.  Of course, there’s more.  Fascinating ethnic neighborhoods.  Beautiful botanic gardens.  Mega shopping.  Fun and interesting entertainment venues.  And, of course those pricey Singapore Slings at the legendary Raffles hotel bar.

 Husband Bob and I began a six-week odyssey which would take us to Bali, New Zealand and Australia in this awesome metropolis.

Dinner after arrival at the Maxwell Road Food Center near our hotel on the edge of Chinatown was a fun and tasty introduction to the city. This “hawker center” — there are many in Singapore — is  a big building packed with vendor stands, all selling different Asian specialties, and bustling with diners, all using chopsticks, seated at tables opposite the stands. Pigs’ organ soup.  Braised pigs’ trotters. Soup dumplings. Onion pancakes. Plus, desserts and strange drinks such as chestnut wheat grass and dragon fruit.  I chose a stand with Seafood Crispy Noodles for  3.20 Singapore dollars ($2.50) — a bargain.

Friends had raved about the Botanic Gardens, first stop on our city visit.  We mastered the subway, another marvel of modernity, to get close, then trekked, and trekked yet more once we arrived.  It’s enormous (150 acres).  Meandering paths lead up hills, around lakes and waterfalls, all lined with abundant  vegetation and colorful blossoms. The Rain Forest and Orchid sections were  my favorites.

These days Singapore’s star attraction is the new Marina Bay Sands, a gargantuan three-towered, five-star hotel complex with more than 2,500 rooms. On the rooftop there are viewing platforms and a glamorous, monstrous infinity pool, said to be the world’s largest. 

“This was all sea three years ago.  This is all reclaimed land and these buildings weren’t here three years ago,” explained the taxi driver on our ride to the sensational structure.

The $15.50 admission to the Sky Park viewing platform no longer includes a walk around the pool. Guests who obviously pay big bucks to lounge in these elegant surroundings on top of the city were probably complaining about groups of tourists parading around.  Now only one pool tour is scheduled each day at 2 p.m.  But the views of the sprawling city, its dramatic skyline, numerous construction sites and harbor, are worth the price.

Sentosa Island, a tram ride from the city center, has been developed as “Asia’s Favorite Playground” with all manner of attractions: Universal Studios (a Hollywood theme park), rides, interactive movies, a water show, a sandy beach and more.  We rode the elevated tram to the last stop, Underwater World Singapore, an oceanarium with an 83-meter long tunnel surrounded by water and all matter of sea life.  We watched divers feed sharks and rays, admired fish large and small, sea dragons, jelly fish and more. The show at the outdoor Dolphin Lagoon is a treat with adorable seals clapping, dancing, shaking hands, and  dolphins swimming in synchronization, then leaping out of the water, even gliding over to the edge of the pool so selected visitors could touch them.

After our sea adventure, we walked to the beach where we had lunch and watched as a young couple tried to master the Flying Trapeze. Harnessed and attached to a cable, they jumped off a platform and soared, bounced, and flew high above a mat.

My Singapore research recommended the  Night Safari,  an excursion through a jungle park on the edge of the city.  Instead of riding the tourist train into the darkness, we walked along paths in the tropical forest, spooky at times, but full of surprises.  Crazy, noisy birds; bats you could pet hanging from branches; otters frolicking in streams; lions; civets; even a beauty of a leopard who stared at us from behind a glass enclosure.  A fun finale is the Night Creation Show at an outdoor auditorium where handlers come on stage and entertain with various creatures – otters trained to recycle, raccoons, wolves etc.  For drama, a boa constrictor was said to have escaped. Staff ran up and down, rousing the audience.  The missing critter was discovered under the seat of someone in the audience where it had obviously been planted.   

Singapore’s Chinatown and Little India are packed with ethnic shops and eateries.  Chinatown features a lively night market with colorful lanterns decorating the streets.  Our best meal of the trip was at Da Nang in Chinatown where I went for the special, Chili Crab, a whole crab smothered in a gooey, red, spicy sauce.  It was very messy to eat, but delicious.  Bob ordered a scallop, shrimp and broccoli dish with fried rice.  Tab with two beers:  $105.   

Other highlights of our visit included a river cruise with interesting commentary on the city, and the obligatory Singapore Slings, the city’s legendary cocktail served at the Long Bar, a woodsy place with ceiling fans, in the Raffles Hotel. The colonial style hotel was built in 1887, its white façade and old world architecture standing out amidst the contemporary surroundings.  It is considered one of the world’s finest hotels.

The Long Bar was the favorite watering hole  of  Somerset Maugham and Ernest Hemingway. Today it’s a must for tourists who want to relive the colonial era,  soak in the ambience, and are willing to pay $60 for the privilege of sipping two of the sweet  pink drinks. You do get some peanuts at no extra cost. 

We loved our Singapore hotel, the Berjaya Singapore Hotel, with a friendly and helpful staff, convenient location.  www.berjayahotel.com  

For a taste of Malaysia, click on “Malaysian-Style Chicken Curry” under Recipes in right column. Photos follow. Click on photo to see full size.

 

 

 

Savoring Switzerland

Thank God for digital photography.  I can’t imagine a trip to Switzerland with an old fashioned film camera.  The film costs would break the budget as a gorgeous photo opp beckons wherever you look.

Switzerland may just be my favorite country.  I’ve hiked its demanding mountain trails, skied its endless slopes, and pedaled six of its nine challenging national bike routes across the country.  This time I was on an “agroturismo” press trip. 

Hiking, wine tasting, visiting farms, joining festivals, savoring local cuisine  – we (a group of eight journalists plus a Swiss guide) did it all. 

It got off to a delicious start in Ticino, southern Switzerland where Italian is spoken and the ambience seems more la dolce vita than Swiss efficiency.  We stayed at a small hotel in the vineyards, Fattoria L’Amorosa (www.amorosa.ch)  Ticino is known for excellent wines, especially Merlot.  One of the courses of the welcome dinner featured risotto, a Ticinese favorite replacing pasta.  (See recipe at right for Spinach Risott0)

We toured a winery which, in addition to grapes, grows rice – the world’s northernmost rice plantation. It’s called Loto rice and is used for risotto.  After purchasing  packages of Loto at the shop, where  the farm’s wines are also for sale, we tasted some excellent vintages.  www.terreniallamaggia.ch

 A bus took us up a narrow, windy mountain road in the Verzasca Valley high above a surging mountain river where tiny villages perched on nearby mountain sides: the stereotype image of beautiful Switzerland.  Our destination was the village of  Sognogno where more photo musts awaited.  Here wool shorn from local sheep is spun and dyed (using only natural products for color), then made into wooly articles such as sweaters and scarves. 

Hiking in the Alps is what draws many to Switzerland.   We did not do any all-day treks to the high peaks, but we did enjoy several scenic shorter hikes. The Chestnut Trail from the village of Vezio in Ticino led us through groves of these magnificent trees.   We learned that chestnuts have been a food staple in the area for centuries. We shared the trail in places with numerous entertaining goats — a pair of bucks even staged a battle for us. 

In central Switzerland (where German is spoken) we hiked up in the hills from the village of Flühli.  The trail took us to several  Kneipp stations.  Kneipp is a type of “kur” therapy based on water, mainly very cold water.  We walked like storks, prancing up and down around a water walkway in a freezing mountain pond.  Then, we moved on to a station with a hose for spraying your face with the ice bath.  Finally a place for submerging arms.  A guide provided explanations and instructions of proper technique, but you could easily give it a go on your own.  It’s chilly, but refreshing and said to do wonders for your health.  www.fluehli-wasser.ch 

Our final hike was an educational experience in the Moorlands, the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch near Luzern.  Barefoot, we followed a guide  off the trail back into the swampy landscape. We sank in the squishy mud as he provided fascinating info on the terrain, its insects and plant life. We saw carnivorous plants, an ant hill whose ants don’t bite (actually they do bite, but the bite is not supposed to penetrate human skin,  however one with a mighty chopper got me), a tiny frog and more.  www.biosphaere.ch 

We had fun at two local festivals during our week-long journey. In Mendrisiotto near the Italian border we joined  locals at a jovial wine fest:  music, singing, all kinds of tempting food, and plenty of wine.  Revelers crowded the narrow streets and courtyards where vintners had their stands. We tasted the wine along with roast suckling pig that had been turning on a spit above an open fire. www.mendrisiottoturismo.ch

Cows were the  focus of the festival, the Alpabfahrt, in Schuepfheim in central Switzerland.  Crowds congregate along the village streets to watch the parade of beasts as they come back to the valley after spending the summer in high mountain pastures.  It’s a jolly event with the cows all decked out in flower wreaths, their massive bells clanging as they tread by,  spectators cheering and jostling for the best photo opps — and lots of cheese and wurst stands for the hungry. 

One night during our travels we stayed on a farm , a large one with many rooms for guests. Toilet and shower facilities are shared.  For extra economy, you can opt to “sleep in the straw” – a room with a plank of straw and pillows. During our visit, a father with two young boys spent the night in the hay.  They loved it. You need a sleeping bag.  The farm dinner that night included a buffet with 23 different kinds of local cheese.  www.berggasthaus-salwideli.ch

A wake-up call at 5:30 a.m. got us off to an early start on our next to last day. We took a short walk to the cheese dairy farm Gerschnialp where cows were being milked.  Milking is all done by machine, but we had the opportunity to try the hand method – very easy to get squirted with a stream of milk as I found out.  We watched and helped with the numerous steps in the cheese-making process.  And, we tasted the final products that had been aging on shelves in temperature-controlled rooms.

Yet another walk as the sun was edging over the peaks and basking the mountains in a rosy glow –past fields of cows now back in their pastures with their bells clanging  as they munched on grass, then through the woods to a cable car station for the scenic ride up to Mount Titlis (3,020 meters elevation) above the town of Engleberg.  The viewing terrace at the top is camera heaven.  A popular attraction is a spooky walk through a dark glacier grotto.  A ride on the Ice Flyer, a chair lift that takes you down over glacier crevasses, then back up, is spectacular.

My very favorite part of the Titlis visit was on the way down.  Instead of riding the cable car to the bottom, we got off at the Gerschnialp station and hopped on Trotti bikes (like scooters),  You stand on the bike platform, then head down a mountain lane at top speed, soaring around curves, faster and faster.  It’s thrilling. I wanted to go again.  www.titlis.ch; www.engleberg.ch

Our trip ended in Lucerne, that Swiss gem that is a must for visitors to this land of mountains, lakes, cheese, chocolate — and endless photos. www.luzern.com;  www.MySwitzerland.com

See below for more photos.  Click on photo to see full size.  And, try some delicious risotto.  Click on Spinach Risotto under recipes at right.  Comments — and subscribers — welcome

            

 

The City of New Orleans

Crabmeat cheesecake with meuniere sauce.   Lamb sliders with tomato chutney and herbed goat cheese. Fried alligator with chili garlic aioli. Rabbit livers with pepper jelly toast. Pan roasted oysters with rosemary cream sauce.   Banana mascarpone strudel with banana caramel and Mexican chocolate ice cream….

Bob and I indulged in all – and more — during our May visit to New Orleans.
The city is a died-and-gone-to-heaven kind of place for foodies.  There’s Cajun food, Creole food, gourmet French cuisine, soul food, even African and Vietnamese food. There are famous chefs and restaurants and simple neighborhood eateries.  And, cocktails for which the city is legendary.

Eating is just one of the many pleasures this wonderful city has to offer. Food, drink and music are the city’s three muses, we learned, and we experienced them all.

After checking into our hotel, we walked through the French Quarter, past charming buildings with ivy spilling over cast iron balustrades,  bejeweled fortune tellers looking for customers, and street musicians.  We stopped for an outdoor lunch: a hefty Po Boor sandwich (overloaded with shrimp) and a cold beer, and were serenaded by more live jazz.  I was smitten.  My kind of place, New Orleans.

It’s fun, funky, fabulous.  The devastation of hurricane Katrina in August 2005 has left serious scars. But, the vibes in the French Quarter are heady.

In addition to trying different restaurants (famous and not-so-famous), we listened to jazz (on the streets and in clubs), took two bicycle tours, a Katrina tour, an airboat swamp tour, and rode the St. Charles streetcar.

I asked Cassady Cooper , one of our bike tour leaders, what he felt makes New Orleans so special.  “The things you hate about New Orleans are also the things you love,” he said.  “Time doesn’t work here as it does in the outside world.  There’s always something going on here, anytime day or night.  The city is made of artists.  There are more writers here than in any other part of the country.  I love the culture.”

Part of that culture involves alcohol. Where else can you find drive-in Daiquiri stands?  Jeff Shyman, our other bike tour leader, enlightened us.  “Drinking is a big part of this city,” he said.  “We are a drinking culture.  We drink all day, but we don’t drink to stupidity.  We don’t overdo it.  New Orleanians don’t drink to get drunk like the tourists on Bourbon Street.”

We’d heard about Bourbon Street, the place we assumed  was famous for jazz clubs.  No more.  It’s crowded, loud and trashy.  Those seriously interested in music now flock to Frenchman Street where, within a two-block radius, there are eight different venues for 1930s swing jazz.  We liked the Spotted Cat and d.b.a.

For one of our two wheel adventures, we chose the Culinary Bike Tour. We did more eating than cycling, with stops at four eateries to try different delicacies.  Our tour leader explained the difference between Creole and Cajun food.  The latter, he said, is associated with country folk from the swamp lands.  “Table cloths were replaced with newspaper…it’s big dish food, from the field to the table.” Animal parts, such as liver and tail, are savored.  The restaurant best known for Cajun food is Cochon.  Bob and I went there on our own.  It’s both entertaining and delicious.  You can sample numerous bizarre concoctions, all served in small portions.

Creole food embodies the influences of New Orleans’ early Spanish and French settlers.  It’s more refined, and sauces are foremost.

Gumbo is a New Orleans staple.  On our last tour stop we tried this hearty stew of sausage, seafood, chicken, all heavily spiced, (“everyone uses cayenne for seasoning here,” noted Cassady) at Liuzza’s By the Track, a simple but inviting place.  As I am a passionate cook, I asked our tour leader how to make gumbo. I envisioned serving it at a future dinner party. I’ve reread my notes – page after page.  This is not a 1-2-3 step dish.  I must have had too many beers.   Preparing the roux (the base and essence of gumbo) is a daunting challenge.  And, you need the secret ingredient, file, the powdered leaves of the sassafras tree.  On my last afternoon, I went from store to store in the French Quarter, not known for grocery stores, searching for the treasured file.  I tracked it  down…..  Maybe on a cold winter’s day, I’ll attempt a genuine New Orleans gumbo.

Our swamp tour was a major disappointment.  I had envisioned seeing monstrous killer alligators lurking in the bayous.  The few alligators we saw were pathetically puny.

Another story was the Katrina Tour: mind boggling.  Instead of taking an organized bus tour, we hired taxi driver Sidney Farrell to dive us through the parts of the city that had been annihilated.  “Imagine, this was under eight to twelve feet of water,” he said as we drove past a used car lot, Discount Donuts and a motel.  “It’s all coming back, little by little.”

We drove by houses that have been rebuilt, often next door to houses still in ruin.  Block after block.  The Lakeview area of exclusive homes was “all under water,” he said as he pointed out empty lots where half-million dollar homes once stood.  He took us to St. Bernard Parish, a devastated area where Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation Rebuilding New Orleans has financed the construction of ultra modern homes with innovative designs to replace those that were destroyed.

“Ten thousand homes were demolished in three years, but there are still another 45,000 that need to be torn down. The recovery will take another 15 years,” he said. “The city population before Katrina was 500,000.  Now it’s 350,000. Many have never come back.  There’s nothing to come back to.”

The saga is tragic, not just the frightening forces of  nature unleashed and the obliteration left behind, but the foiled bureaucracy and rampant crime that followed.

However, those who have come back, and those who stayed, infuse New Orleans with a gusto that is contagious.

Take a bike tour in New Orleans:  http://confederacyofcruisers.com 

See below for more photos.  Click on the photo to see full size.  Check out the recipe column on the right for a tasty vegetarian dish,  Southeast Asian Squash Curry.