Downtime in Salzburg!

One of the advantages of rushing through our challenges in Salzburg is that we had a lot more free time to do other things. The first priority was to eat.
The hotel clerk recommended the oldest restaurant in Europe called Stiftskeller St. Peter. Even though I was hoping for a quick, hearty meal so I could get to bed, Sheila convinced me that we should go. It was worth it.

According to Fodors: "Legends swirl about the famous St. Peter's Beer Cellar. Locals claim that Mephistopheles met Faust here, others say Charlemagne dined here, and some believe Columbus enjoyed a glass of its famous Salzburg Stiegl beer just before he set sail for America in 1492."

We ordered weinerschnitzel and a bottle of wine, enjoying our meal in a 1,200-year-old building. The original part of the restaurant was carved out of the side of the rock cliff on which the Salzburg Fortress sits.

The walls originally had ox blood-stained walls, but that is no longer thet case. The wait staff happily explained the history of the restuarant in between courses.

At the end of the evening, we strolled along the river back to our restaurant taking in the nighttime skyline.

It was a wonderful ending to a hectic day.

Day 5 Munich part 2

Spontaneity is our middle name. That was the theme today. We changed our plan at a moment's notice. Originally we planned to do challenges at the Nymphenburg Castle (where the German Hugh Hefner once lived) and a bike tour of the city.

By morning, everything had changed totally. We opted to join the group heading to the Olympic Stadium to walk along the outside rim of the field's roof (similar to the Sydney Bridge Climb). The way down was a zip line across the stadium.

Sheila conquered her fear of heights instantly as she soared along the tethered wire. I could hear her screaming all the away across. And then the infectious laughter soon followed.

After the fun was over, we had to get our heads back into the game. We decided against going to the castle and opted to visit the BMW Museum that was located adjacent to the Olympic Stadium instead. We didn't think a lot of people were going to do it and we were going to rock our A-Game for sure.

We stopped for a break and began brainstorming some ideas while we grabbed a bite to eat in front of a huge showroom of BMWs. Sheila befriended the man at the front desk and barraged him with thousands of questions and within 20 minutes we had our plan. We filmed our challenges and then headed to the gift shop, where we both bought souvenirs. However, the souvenir Chris wanted me to buy wouldn't have fit in my carry-on luggage.

The last challenge was the mosot interesting to research. It's a bit odd to approach strangers to ask where the famous toilets are! Several people just gave us odd looks, and finally, a clerk at the BMW shop said he knew what we were talking about and off we went.

On the way, we decided to develop lyrics to sing the praises of the fancy toilets, which paid off because we weren't allowed to film inside. Now it's up to the hands of fate to see iif we can maintain our lead.

Detour to Salzburg

From Geneva, we flew to Munich, Germany,but surprise! We were handed train tickets to Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Mozart the famous composer.

Sheila and I plotted our strategy on the train, coming up with new lyrics for the tune "16 going on 17" from the "Sound of Music" for one of the day's challenges. We were going to have that ready when we got to the Hellbrun Palace, where scenes from the musical was filmed.

Rolling into Salzburg, we crossed a river with steep cliffs on one side. At the top of the cliff, the imposing Salzburg Fortress stood guard over the town. As we learned during a tour of the structure that day, it had near been impenetrated or damaged, However, there was one small nick that occurred during a peasant revolt. We had to search the entire fortress to find it. We thought it would take forever, but we finally found someone who knew where it was and she told us the story behind it.

Then we rushed off to Hellbrun Palace to sing our song, as well as do a few other challenges. The highlight was a tour of the Trick Fountains that catch unsuspecting tourists unawares. We knew what to expect, so whenever we saw a lot of water on the ground, we figured that was an area to avoid. But, we still got wet a few times nonetheless.

We rushed through our challenges to save some time, but we both realized that was a mistake. We should have taken more time to enjoy these historic sites, but we were chasing points. And it hurt us in the end. We dropped to second place on the second day with an abysmal score.

Despite the bad scores, one video stood out among the rest and the judges made special note of it. Our "16 going on 17" rendition knocked their socks off: You can tell these two have amazing chemistry. They are having a great time and it shows.

"That to me was a huge compliment," says Sheila, "and it reflected how I feel."

Day One Pays Off Despite Lack of Sleep

The cure for jet lag is to have too much to do and not enough time in which to do it. That sums up our first day in Europe, which we spent in Switzerland.

In the span of 12 hours after arriving in Geneva, we were faux waterskiing, kicked off a train, invited to a wine cave, got lost in the rolling countryside amongst the grapes, took a dip in Lac Leman, where we saw nude bathers and got scolded for putting our feet up once we finally got to rest.

This is just a day in the life of a Competitourist. I can't say that if I were planning my own vacation I would do some of the things I've done or see some of the sites I've seen. But that's the beauty of this game; it brings the adventure to you.

The highlight of our day was the wine trail in the hills above the town of Lausanne. Unfortunately, "trail" is an overstatement. We were lucky to find our way along the path, which sometimes consisted of following the paved road or cut through the vineyards on narrow, crumbling stone pathways.

Along the way, we were tasked with finding a tracasset. As we found out, they are three-wheeled vehicles used in the vineyards for transportation. Every two years, there is a tracasset world championship held in the tiny vilalge of Epesses in which participants decorate their tracassets and race down the steep roadways.

The next thing we looked for was the River of Hell. We were supposed to explain how the river got its moniker, but everyone had a different story. When we reached the spot where the river spills into Lake Geneva, we found a group of nude bathers. As I say in my video: "Look there's a bum, and I'm not talking about a homeless person!"

Whether gratuitous nudity had anything to do with it, Team Serendipity took the lead after the first day with 80 points. More than likely, it had to do with the fact that we picked challenges with a higher risk/reward and according to the judges, it paid off.

United Nations

With only a couple days before the Competitours travel competition, my Canadian teammate and I met for a planning session in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. Up until that day, we spoke briefly on the phone and then communicated via e-mail before finally meeting face to face (see the video of the exact moment, here). 

It's clear that we're going to get on very well. We both love adventure, spending time outdoors; and most critical to this trip: we both admit to snoring, so we're bringing our ear plugs. 

We are going to dominate this competition. Sheila is a stickler for the details; since we received the first day's list of challenges, she's been reading clues and carefully plotting our time. I am relishing my role as the one-person "geek squad," looking for technological solutions to problems and visualizing how to document our daily tasks.

Together at Sara's, a diner located near the entrance to Presque Isle State Park, we started to plan our first day in Europe. Instead of pouring over the pages, the sky opened up and poured on us, getting everything completely soaking wet (see video here). We abandoned our post and heading to Romolo's Café where we continued our planning session.

After three hours, we were done and ready to head back home. As I dropped Sheila at her car, our Blackberries buzzed. We had just received notification that the second of our pre-trip challenges had been judged and the standings were posted. We looked at each other hopefully. "Maybe we won this one," we both thought. We anxiously clicked on the link, but nothing happened (bad connection). 

Not to be thwarted, we both hopped in our cars and drove to a spot where we could connect. And there it was. Under our team name, the number 5 jumped out at us (see video here). We had received 5 points for having a video that ranked in the top three for the second of our pre-trip challenges, which was to introduce our team mascot and why we chose it (see video here).

Not bad for a couple of strangers.

The first clue in a race across Europe

After much anticipation, Competitours participants have received a clue revealing the first destination in Europe, delivered in the form of an airline record locater code.

I keyed in the numbers on the airline website and . . . voilá! We're off to the land of ticking watches and fat bank accounts.

Sure, I've been there before. I spent precisely two hours in this lake-side town 18 years ago. First thought: It's clearly not an advantage that I've seen the place before. Second thought: oh gosh, which language should I practice? French, German or Italian?

Can you guess where I'm going?

Europe, the unconventional way

I am leaving for Europe on Tuesday and I have NO idea where I'm going yet, but I know it will be one of those incredible trips of a lifetime. I will be racing across several secret destinations in Europe with Competitours, an Amazing Race-style trip in which two-person teams compete for a grand prize (another trip). As an added bonus, this trip will feature Tyler MacNiven, half of the duo that won the Amazing Race in season 9, who is on the roster with his mother.

While most of the challenges are not all physical, I will be paired up with a woman who, at age 50, is an Ironman triathlete. Most of the teams that will be participating know their partner, but Sheila and I (a.k.a. Team Serendipity) are complete strangers, teaming up out of necessity because our own teammates backed out of the competition. 

But hey, we don't have the emotional baggage that some teams will bring on the trip with them. We are singularly united by the desire to lead the pack and cross the proverbial finish line before anyone else. I consider it an advantage.

At least that's what I thought — at first.

These last few days, the 11 teams have been introducing themselves and their team names through a series of pre-trip challenges that are geared toward getting the "competitouristas" familiar with the equipment and how to submit challenges for the judging process. Much of the banter has been friendly, but there's definitely an underlying theme from all the teams — they want to win, too!

"We now know that our fellow Competitourists are not to be dismissed," wrote Ally and Bob, a couple from Dallas who have signed on for the competition a second time (the inaugural trip was in March). "It is a mistake to assume anything when one is among the type of people who would sign up for a Competitours trip ... not your average bears, as Smokey would say. So, The Screaming Intrepid Monkeys will be swinging on a different vine to reach greater heights, 'cause the big banana is on a higher tree than we thought."

The game is definitely on! 

FOLLOW US!

You can follow everyone's progress online from July 28 to Aug. 6. We will be uploading our challenge videos to YouTube each night to our own accounts, which follow. Standings will be posted here. 

Team Serendipity (Sheila & Laura): www.youtube.com/ser0728

Absolutely Fabulous (Sherri & Judy): www.youtube.com/abs0728

As Seen on TV (Lanthy & Ranford): www.youtube.com/ass728

Coin Collectors (Pat & Ray): www.youtube.com/coi0728

Dilettantes Ink (Lyndall & Ksenia): www.youtube.com/dil0728

Disco Pussy Cats (Tyler & Margaret): www.youtube.com/disco0728

Parrotheads (Teri & Veronica): www.youtube.com/parrot0728

The Screaming Intrepid Monkeys (Ally & Bob): www.youtube.com/mon0728

Shake & Bake (Daniel & Karen): www.youtube.com/shake0728

Team Swift (DeAnna & Kelly): www.youtube.com/swi0728

Weathehekawi (Jan & Sean): www.youtube.com/wea0728

The birthplace of Superman unveiled

The house where Superman was "born" is located in east Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood at 10622 Kimberly Ave (near the intersection of East 105th and St. Clair). It was in this house 75 years ago that Jerry Siegel and his friend Joe Shuster brought their superhero to life. The nonprofit Siegel and Shuster Society spend $70,000 to renovate the house, which was unveiled on Saturday, July 11, in conjunction with Screaming Tiki Cleveland SuperCon 2009, a comic book convention.

We weren't able to make it to the 10am ceremony, but we did a drive-by that evening as we were going to a party on the east side. We paused outside for this photo, but the owner saw us and invited us in for a tour.

When Jefferson and Hattie Mae Gray bought the house, they had no idea of its significance until two years later, when they received a letter from the city. Jefferson hoped as a kid that he might develop superhuman powers, like his comic book hero, but he's happy being custodian to the legacy of the last son of Krypton. It gives him an excuse to wear his Superman t-shirt regularly.

So far, there are no plans to open the house to visitors on a regular schedule, but if you're lucky, Jefferson or Hattie will beckon you inside.

Check out this video that was made before renovations started:

Hoodoo you think you are?

As water and ice eroded the sandstone cliffs of the Colorado Plateau, hoodoos were formed. Named by the Spaniards and derived from the same source as the word voodoo, these free-standing rock formations were considered sacred by Native Americans. You'll find these unique natural structures all around Bryce Canyon in southern Utah.

They come in many shapes and sizes. One night, we camped at Kodachrome Basin State Park, where "Big Stony" — a phallus-shaped "sand pipe" — overlooks the campground. Others look like humans; take the Queen's Garden Trail from Sunrise Point in Bryce Canyon down through what is known as the amphitheater (although I think of it more like a giant sculpture garden) and you'll come across a portly Queen Victoria overlooking the landscape.

During our first attempt to take the aforementioned trail, a lightning storm rolled in and we stayed safely in our car, due to a lightning risk. Afternoon storms are common in the summer months, and the risk of being struck by lightning is highest at Bryce--three people have lost their lives and 18 have been injured in the last 15 or so years.

The weather was much better the next day, when we hiked from Sunrise Point down to the bottom of the canyon. At each turn the sculptured sandstone cliffs and hoodoos elicited excitement from the many tourists along the path. At the bottom, the trail ended and another took its place. The Navajo loop trail went through a pine forest and then ended with an 800-foot climb out of the amphitheater along a switchback trail that left me out of breath, but the breathtaking views were worth it.

Going over the edge

"Just sit back over the ledge," says my guide Greg Istock. 

I've put my trust in this man, who refers to himself as Mr. Greg, to lead me into a narrow slot canyon in Dixie National Forest near Zion National Park, but the urge to go over the edge of a steep cliff goes against the natural laws that aid human survival. My brain is screaming at me to stop, but my fearless, adventurous side signals green.

"This is your last chance to back out," says Mr. Greg, who guides for Zion Rock and Mountain Guides based in Springdale, Utah. "There's no going back once we're in the canyon."

I gingerly step backwards, held by the rope that would be my lifeline as I lower myself into a shallow entrance to Yankee Doodle Canyon. After a few steps in, the rock wall disappears and I'm free hanging above the ground, which is only 15 feet below. I lower myself down. The next rappel, a drop of nearly 200 feet, came next.

For the next four hours, Istock and I navigate what he calls a technical slot canyon, which means it has several obstacles that require rope for rappels and down climbs, in addition to some knowledge of bouldering maneuvers. In some spots, I must wedge myself between the two walls of the canyon shimmying down until I reach the ground.

In one spot, as my legs dangle freely, I reach under a rock to find something to hold onto. I think of that guy who had to cut off his hand when a rock shifted and rolled onto it. He survived, but only after he sawed his own arm off with a dull pocket knife (I brought a sharp one with me just in case!). Greg had already pointed out a few small loose boulders loosely wedged under an even bigger rock that could easily cause a similar incident. Lucky for me, the only injuries were scrapes and bruises caused by friction burn as bare flesh rubbed against the sandstone.

The last obstacle to get through was a keeper hole. "It's usually full of water and rounded like a bowl," Mr Greg explains. "Worst-case scenario is that we would get into that water and realize we couldn't climb out because it's too slippery on the sides. We'd risk hypothermia because the water is pretty cold and we'd be stuck in there."

Once in the thigh-deep water, I tried in vain many times to flop myself onto the rounded mound separating me from my freedom. I can get out of a swimming pool with no problem, but I kept slipping off the tiny toe hold. Threatening to give me a shove from behind, I made a last-ditch effort to hoist myself over the wall and made it, although Greg assisted by pressing my foot on the toe hold.

I walked confidently out of the canyon into the sunlight, proud of my achievement. It wasn't that hard, I thought. Then I looked up and saw the greatest challenge of all — the steep climb out of the canyon to get back to the car. Huffing and puffing, I dragged myself up the canyon walls, using footholds (called moqui steps) carved out of the sandstone by ancient puebloan people, who called this canyon home more than 500 years ago.

I may not have been the first person to navigate this beautiful canyon, but I felt like an explorer, discovering Utah's underworld for myself.


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Getting a bit campy

It was the March issue of National Geographic Adventure that inspired this current camping trip with my dad and stepmom. When I pulled the magazine out of the mailbox, the cover photo showing a red rock slot canyon piqued my interest. The more I read, the more I wanted to be in the southwest again, exploring the landscape with camera and tripod in tow.

I posed the idea of a camping trip to my dad, who had just begun the process of buying a new camper. The old 1982 VW Westfalia always had something wrong with it, got 20 miles to the gallon on a good day with a tailwind going downhill and could only inch along at a snail's pace.

We decided on a camping adventure that would take us through Diné (Navajo) tribal lands, then into the major national parks of Utah. And now here we are, in the newer 2002 VW Eurovan on its inaugural trip over a rainy Memorial Day weekend.

The setting sun broke out briefly as we made our way along the south rim of Canyon de Chelly on our way to the Spider Rock campground. The glowing rocks stood out against the bluish-gray sky filled with clouds in the distance. Standing at the rim, the smell of juniper wafted in the air and the sound of our voices echoed on the canyon walls.

When it began to sprinkle, we hopped back into the car to complete our day's journey. The campground was muddy, the fine water-logged red sand caked our shoes and made a mess inside our shelter. With no possibility for an evening hike, the bottle of red wine was passed around and we toasted our journey together by the light of my headlamp.

Fast forward 11 hours later, and what sounds like a a decent trip so far had turned quite ugly. Bobbie, my stepmom, had only gotten two hours of sleep because the rear-seat fold-down bed left much to be desired, and the overflowing porta-potties and lack of any running water put her over the edge.

Running for the nearest grocery store at first light, the Seattle's Best coffee cheered her up. However, the out-of-order women's restroom and the "disgusting" men's room soured her yet again. It was only after breakfast overlooking Canyon de Chelly's Mummy Cave that things started to look up again.

Amazing Race champion signs on with Competitours

Amazing Race Season 14 may have ended, but Competitours will keep the excitement going this summer with its European travel competition that anyone can do. No lengthy application process is required; just the willingness to go head to head with a bonafide Amazing Race champion — Tyler MacNiven from the show's ninth season. 

Along with other teams of two, he and a partner will be competing for the grand prize during the July 27 to August 5 trip, one of five offered this summer. All teams will travel to secret destinations in Western and Central Europe and perform a series of fun and quirky challenges that they will document with their own portable video cameras. Those videos will be evaluated by a panel of judges that will award a special grand-prize, consisting airfare, hotel and prize money.

The best part about Competitours, though, is that the challenges are not about speed or physical strength. Instead, teams that employ creativity, resourcefulness and originality will be rewarded. Furthermore, the game emphasizes "sight-doing," not merely sightseeing, so participants can enjoy their time abroad. 

“I’m a big fan of the 'sight-doing' motto,” says MacNiven. “I'm looking forward to being a part of this great competitourition. There is deep resonance on my end.” 

Long before he crossed the Amazing Race finish line, MacNiven and his then partner, B.J. Averell, had become that season's fan favorites and were dubbed “the hippies.” Their laid-back style rose above drama that has plagued many of the more infamous teams in the past. And they always stopped to enjoy the moment.

Check out a few videos from a previous competition on the Competitours YouTube page. or check out a few sample challenges on the Competitours sample Google Map.

View Competitours Sample Day in a larger map

Travel and tourism is a $1.7 trillion industry in the United States

This week marks the 26th annual National Travel and Tourism week. So what better way to celebrate than to announce an upcoming domestic trip to the Southwest!

I will be heading to New Mexico for a week-long camping adventure with my dad and stepmother in Arizona and Utah that will kick off on Friday, May 23. It will be the inaugural trip for dad's new (older) VW Eurovan that he bought back in March to replace his 28-year-old VW vanagon. Coincidentally, it's been about 28 years since I've camped with dad, so it should be interesting!

Stay tuned for more updates from various locations along our route, which includes the Navajo Nation, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and hopefully many more scenic destinations I've marked on my Google map.


View Utah in a larger map

More about National Travel and Tourism Week:
The week was established in 1983 when the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution designating the week to be celebrated in May 1984. In a White House ceremony, President Ronald Reagan signed a Presidential Proclamation urging citizens to observe the week with "the appropriate ceremonies and activities." Industry leaders and public relations professionals from the major travel and tourism trade associations were the first volunteers to manage the annual event. By January 1986, industry leaders had formed a permanent full-time office at the U.S. Travel Association to sponsor the event and expand tourism awareness into year-round programs.

Next year's events will take place May 8-16, 2010.

Departures from the Ordinary

Have you thought about where you're going on vacation this summer?

Yeah, I know . . . the economy.

Some travel companies are trying to sweeten the deal to be more enticing to travelers, but the best offer I've found is with Competitours, a travel competition that offers the chance to win a worldwide travel spree! Most tour companies are too busy tacking on extra fees to offer a deal like this. And with Competitours, the chances of winning are greater than 1 in 24.

Competitours, which is offering several trips this summer, has been called “the Amazing Race for regular people by National Geographic Traveler. Two-person teams visit secret destinations across Europe to vie for the grand prize.

“This is not a cookie-cutter package trip,” says Steve Belkin, Competitours’ president. “This is a chance for you to get off your duff, get into the game and create a lot of unique memories.”

In each location, participants select from a series of challenges, documenting them with a portable digital video camera in an effort to earn points. Judges then score each day’s videos based on the amount of effort, creativity, resourcefulness and daring used to create them. 

The following clip is from a team's recent trip to the beer stein capital of the world:



“Instead of sightseeing,” Belkin says, “participants are ‘sight-doing.’ Anyone can get off a bus, go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and say, ‘I’ve been there.’ How many people can say they’ve gone to the top of the Eiffel Tower and recruited 15 total strangers to do the can-can?”

After all the points are tallied at the end of the trip, one team will win a worldwide travel spree, including airfare, up to 40 nights in any Starwood hotel and up to $6,500 in prize money.

You can read my story about Competitours in the latest issue of CBC magazine and visit www.competitours.com for more information. 

I'm currently looking for a partner to do this with me . . . let me know if you're interested! 

Amazing Amazon Journey

In April 2008, Ed Stafford begain a 4,000-mile journey on foot from the source of the Amazon River in southern Peru to the mouth in Brazil.

"The aim," his website states, "is to use the expedition as a educational tool to raise empathy for local attitudes by collecting and broadcasting the different 'Voices from the Amazon.'"

The journey, which is expected to take 26 months, has been slower than he first hoped. At present, he is 1,500 miles into the journey with another 2,500 miles to go, reports the Iquitos Times.

In his most recent blog post, Stafford says: "Two kms a day was getting us down a bit and we wanted to arrive at the Atlantic Ocean this side of 2020."

Find more information about his adventure at www.walkingtheamazon.com, where you can also follow along with his travels on an interactive map that is charting his progress.

Yes, you can afford to travel abroad

Here's something I've been saying all along, and today it made the headlines in the Travel Daily News: "International travel need not be costly, says travel agents."

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), which recently surveyed its members about the best budget friendly international destinations, found that the following places are the cheapest:

1. Cancun, Mexico. Its close proximity to the U.S., a multitude of all-inclusive offerings, a favorable exchange rate and affordable airfare all contributed to its top ranking.

2. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Inexpensive package deals make Punta Cana a low-cost destination.

3. London, England. Reasonable airfare and plenty of hotel rooms that fit any budget helped London make the cut.

4. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Although Puerto Vallarta was cited as being “cheaper than other Mexican cities,” the destination came in at number four.

5. Bangkok, Thailand. This destination may be on the other side of the world, but it has an exchange rate, strong value for the dollar and shopping.

Taiwan Redux

In the following video, I've boiled down a 10-day Taiwan vacation into a three-minute video. I was inspired by Eric Testroete, a Canadian guy who posted a quick-cut slideshow video of his trip to Japan set to the music of the LCD Soundsystem. While this video doesn't even come close to the brilliance of "This is Japan!", it is quite a bit shorter. Enjoy! Oh, and if anyone has any tips on how to improve video quality, please let me know!

Travel is the tonic for turbulent times

"When the going gets tough, the tough get traveling."

No, that's not my new motto now that I've been laid off. It's the latest marketing effort from Australia-based outfitter Intrepid Travel, which is offering anyone who's lost a job since last September a 15 percent discount on its tour packages.

"Take advantage of a bad situation if you can," the website states, "and take off to Africa, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Latin America or North America."

Budget Travel's blog, "This Just In," reports that some folks have "optimistically referred to their layoffs as extra vacation time." After losing her job as en electrician in December, one woman seized the opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Thailand. The tour will last four weeks--something that would not have been possible with the limited amount of vacation time Americans get each year.

Need more ideas to do with unplanned free time? Jaunted (the Pop Culture Travel Guide) has launched a new series on "where to go when you don't have somewhere to go from 9 to 5." Their first suggestion: "If you work in an unstable industry, try flying Flybe, where if you get canned, you can cancel your flight free free."

There are other deals and discounts available for the unemployed, too. SkyRoll is offering a 50 percent discount off the price of its luggage for people who plan to be traveling to a job interview.

"We know the economy is rough and want to do our small part to help."

Eat Your Art Out

On a recent trip to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, I discovered its most famous objet d'art is a head of cabbage made of jade.

It's true.

The "Jadeite Cabbage with Insects" belonged to a consort of the Emperor Kuang-hsu during the Ch'ing Dynasty (late 19th century) and was kept at Yung-ho Palace in Beijing's Forbidden City. By that time, the cabbage and insect motif had become an auspicious symbol and was a recurring theme in a variety of different art forms.

And now you can add culinary arts to the list.

The new Silks Palace restaurant at the National Palace Museum features an Imperial Treasures Feast that includes dishes that resemble some of the treasures in the museum's holdings, including the Jadeite Cabbage.

The artwork is re-created with baby bok choy (the larger version takes too long to cook) boiled in a a broth of chicken and ham. The kitchen staff trims the leaves of the selected cabbages to make them appear similar to the the original art. And the insects are recreated using dried shrimp.

The Imperial Treasures Feast consists of eight courses and costs $100USD, plus a 10 percent service fee.

Other featured dishes include:
• The Meat-shaped Stone is made with pork knuckle, which is marinated for several hours in a mixture of sugar, soy sauce and scallions, then carved perfectly to mimic the artwork it represents.

• Chicken Wing Stuffed with Glutinous Rice. The wings are drizzled with vinegar and maple syrup, dried, then deep-fried to a golden crispy brown.

• Classic Desserts in Chinese Curio Box include snacks such as Red Bean Pastries, Bird’s Nest Egg Tart, Donkey Rolling (red bean and glutinous rice snack), Wan Do Huang (yellow soybean snack) and more.

• Fruity Mao-kung Ting. Ice sculpture is used to recreate the “ting” cauldron, which has a wide, flared mouth, a linked ring motif decorating the rim, upright handles and three hoofed feet.

Taipei 101: The other way down

In a recent post, I talked about my visit to Taipei 101, which currently holds the record for the tallest building in the world, not to mention the fastest elevator in the world. Well, I found out there is a faster way to get down from the top.

In December 2007, base jumper Felix Baumgartner leaped from the observation deck of the building. Five seconds was all it took for his free fall. Those five seconds took months of preparation. The 38-year-old Austrian scoped out the tower on several visits while dressed in various disguises, all the while taking note of the surveillance cameras, security systems and inaccessible areas.

On the day before the jump, Baumgartner hid his parachute in a toilet with the help of a local. The next day, he commenced the secret mission with all the flair you might see in a James Bond film. On the look-out platform, helpers distracted the security team, giving Baumgartner the opportunity to climb the security wall, drop down to another ledge and jump off the building.

Baumgartner made a safe landing on a parking lot. "F*&#ing A! I did it," he exclaimed after completing the first-ever base jump from the tallest building in the world. He hurried to the airport and flew to Hong Kong couple of hours later to avoid arrest.

The jump did, however, have consequences.

Taipei 101 terminated its contract with the security firm in charge of protecting the observation deck. "It has failed in its task to prevent such risky acts from happening," Taipei 101 Spokesman Michael Liu said.

Since then, security has been beefed up and tourists are not permitted to carry large bags onto the observation deck, such as the backpack Chris was carrying with him the day we visited. Lockers are available in the lobby to hold belongings.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8U-z-SnbJU