Fantasy and reality sometimes blend together in much of today's travel

Ready to quaff like Tyrion Lannister

The past few years, there's been a new sort of travel niche forming.

While "literary travel" has been around for quite some time - the practice of visiting real world places where literary events and stories have occurred - the 21st century has seen the rise of what, for lack of a better word, could be called "fantasy travel."

In past years, there were plenty of tours one could take to visit all the places in London where, for example, Sherlock Holmes used to practise the art and science of detection.

You can take a pre-scheduled, all-arranged tour, or just buy a book and use it as a guide, as there are several books that will offer readers a chance to follow in Holmes' footsteps.

This book helps you create your own Holmes tour.

On a wider scale, you can take similar tours with a King Arthur/Camelot theme. You can set them up with a tour company or even design your own, with stops at places like Glastonbury Tor, Tintagel, or Stonehenge, to name but a few.

I myself have done a "literary tour" of sorts, although it does not follow a fictional storyline, per se. A few years ago, I did my own "Papa Hemingway" tour around South Florida and the Keys, with stops that included The Everglades City Rod and Gun Club, Hemingway House, and Ernest's Cafe (now shut down, I understand) to name but a few. Even did a bit of deep-sea fishing.

I was following in the footsteps of the real-life author, though, not one of his books.

While there are many tours designed around visiting the haunts of historical or fictional figures, and plenty of books written to help guide would-be travellers around from place to place, ever since the start of the 21st century it seems people are interested in visiting not only real world places in imaginary stories, they want to go to the real-world locations of fictional places.

It all started with the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Once that first movie came out, tourism and travel interest in New Zealand exploded, with hordes of would-be elves, hobbits, and other fans of the movie descending upon that country located in the southern reaches of the planet to see the places where their beloved movies had actually been shot.

Lots of quaffing going on in these tours

It goes beyond just being in the locations; there are actually numerous tours set up for travellers to take, tours where they can even visit the old movies sets, even walk through Hobbiton.

Now that's taken an even bigger step forward since Game of Thrones hit the airwaves on HBO.

That series, now in it's sixth season, has spawned an incredible array of tours and activities all built around the fictional kingdom of Westeros. They are far too numerous to list them here; but there are bus tours and beer tours and trips to Ireland and Iceland, Croatia and Dubrovnik. The possibilities are as endless as Tyrion Lannister's taste for wine and wenches.

The closest I've ever come to experiencing anything like that was the Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament. But it's just a one-night activity, and if you're in a place like Toronto, it's right there.

On a bit different scale, there are all kinds of James Bond experiences to be had, as well. You can learn to drive like Bond, drink like Bond, there's even a seven-day world tour ultimate James Bond experience. Given the nature of the films, and their penchant for settings all over the world, this too is ripe with possibilities.

There's even a kayak tour in London where you can paddle into Q's secret workshop, for those who like a bit of outdoor adventure thrown into the mix. That's the kind of tour I'd be prone to enjoy. Go for a paddle, then quaff a few Vesper martinis.

 

Not your Johnny Depp type of pirates

 

Of course, on a lighter level, there are experiences ("rides") based on The Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Seen any pirates around, pal?

I've even been on a "pirate" experience myself, down in Mexico, during a trip to Puerto Vallarta.

(And yes,  I did meet a parrot in Mexico, while waiting at the dock - but it was not part of the pirate ship experience.) 

 That experience was not really related to the movie series at all, but probably benefited from it.

You don't need to go to Disney, though; you can create your own pirate experience in a number of ways and places.

With all these tours, all these options, this all this makes me wonder, is life imitating art...imitating fiction?

Or is fiction imitating life?

I think I'll stop now. I think I hear a Batman-tour calling my name...

Put that fear down and enjoy life's ride

You have to be wary of peacocks lurking around the pool...

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - I'd like to report that all is well and I've felt no threat to my safety in the four days I've been in Mexico. The only real danger threatening me was a wicked hangover from too much beer, wine and rum punch my first full day here. Oh, and maybe those pesky peacocks that hang around the resort pool, shaking their tails.

It was very interesting the various reactions prompted by the news of gang-related issues the night before I left Vancouver to fly to Mexico for the 2015 North American Travel Journalists Association conference.

A friend of mine posted a CBC link detailing the news about violence on his Facebook feed. Another friend later posted the same link as a comment in one of my posts about heading to Mexico.

All I can say is, "Now hold on there, Baba Louie..."

Let's not get carried away here.

Before getting all worked up and cancelling plans for any trip, you have to stop and assess the situation logically and with a bit of perspective.

The following headlines might certainly make you want to cancel plans to go somewhere:

• "Children kept indoors after outbreak of drug-linked shootings"
• "Mounties investigate drive-by shootings"

Pretty scary stuff, eh?

Except those headlines are from recent news stories in Surrey, B.C. CANADA.

No tourists were harmed in the making of this video.

I'm not making those up; they're real headlines. I'm not going to bother posting those links here - but go Google them if you don't believe me.

Does that mean you'll never go to Surrey? Or Vancouver for that matter? What if you live there?

A peck on the cheek is quite continental,
a parrot is this guy's new friend...

As one friend put it, regarding danger in Mexico, "You're more likely to be shot in Surrey these days than in Mexico!"

Granted, we travel writers do live in a bit of a bubble at these kinds of events. But then so do most tourists on vacation.

I've been too busy enjoying myself, eating great food, meeting wonderful people (and even a few new parrot pals!), enjoying sunset cruises and marvelling at swimming with horses on horseback riding trips to worry much. Friday, I'll be sailing off on a pirate ship and (hopeully) doing some kayaking and/or snorkeling.

Now I'm not saying there is no danger in travelling. Common sense has to play a role in any decision. But here's the thing:

LIFE involves danger. Just going to the corner store involves an element of risk.

To dance the dance of life, you have to overcome fear.

So you can sit at home, lock your doors, and "live" a safe life, and someday you'll still die. Maybe a little more comfortably, maybe not.

But you'll die not having really lived.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt stated eloquently, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." So put down your fears, go out and live life.

You're welcome.

Where tired bats hang their hats, unusual beauty awaits you

With the switch back to standard time and the forward march into a gray and drizzly November, it seems like fall is already gone - or close to it - and winter stares us in the face.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that I was enjoying the warm weather of the autumnal equinox weekend? Oops...a check of the calendar tells me it was actually closer to two months ago.

At the time and in the place I spent two days visiting - northeastern Alabama - the leaves had not even started to turn colour, yet. 

To the batcave!

No matter. I spent a good portion of the first day in a place where no leaves could be seen.

I went down into the bowels of the earth, at Cathedral Cavern State Park.

And as we followed our guide into the huge maw of the cave entrance (you can only enter as part of a guided tour), I completely forgot to say, "To the Batcave, Robin!"

That's okay. Adam West and Burt Ward probably would have been intimidated going into this cave. And I don't recall Christian Bale ever repeating that three-word phrase.

The cave is huge.

And it's full of all kinds of chambers, an underground river running far below the walkway, indications of previous use by both Native Americans and white settlers - and a plethora of cool rock formations. Stalactites. Stalagmites. Waterfalls flowing down rock faces. Rocks that look like an evil monkey head - or Marlon Brando's head in the movie Apocalypse, Now!

Wandering along the parks-built (very safe) pathway through the cavern reminded me of images I'd seen in the original album jacket of Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. 

The variety was endless. And every time you'd look back at a formation you'd seen a minute ago, it seemed to change...one minute it would remind you of the inside of some horrible demonic monster's maw - the next, some alien planet's landscape. But as grotesque and odd as they may look, there are also incredibly, uniquely beautiful.

Your call: evil monkey skull -
or Marlon Brando head?

I certainly understood why the park's haunted cave tours are so popular in late October.

While walking the mile or so back into the cave, we could see where a former owner of the cave, Jay Gurley had built paths along ledges to access the cave. He owned it and ran it as a tourist attraction from 1959 until 1974. The state eventually bought it in 1987 and turned into a safer natural wonder for visitors to enjoy by redoing the man-made infrastructure.

We also spotted a cave salamander, although he was so tiny, it was difficult to get a good shot of him in less-than-ideal light conditions.

Shortly after that, my ears picked up a squeaking sound up toward the ceiling high above us - and sure enough, there was a bat. (No robin, though).

I could have wandered around looking at the formations all day, looking for more bats (we spotted a few more on our way back to the entrance), but other attractions beckoned. 

At least, that's our story...it has nothing to with the symbol featuring a certain flying quadruped of the order Chiroptera that blazed across the sky as we emerged from the cave...

A brief view of the cavern and its formations.

For more cave photos, visit my Facebook album, "Caverns, Cascades and Canyons"

All aboard! Leaving Huntsville for Memphis and the Mississippi!

One of the cool things about Huntsville, Alabama is its contrasts.

Take for example, transportation - or at least, transportation from a tourist perspective.

During a recent visit there, I had a chance to spend some time at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, featuring displays and history about as modern a form of transportation as you can get (although they still don't have that transporter beam technology perfected, yet...)

Chugging back into the past...

I toured that facility my first day there.

A few days later, I stepped back into the past about 150 years: I spent part of an afternoon enjoying the displays at the Huntsville Railway Depot and Museum.

The depot was built in 1860, and that building - the entire town, for that matter - played a key role during the American Civil War (1861-65).

At the time, the Southern Railway was the only railway line in America that ran all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. So you can easily see why the side that controlled that line had a decided transportation and logistical edge. The other main form of transportation back then would have involved using rivers - and traveling from the Atlantic to the Mississippi by boat could be quite a paddle.

The Union army captured the depot in 1862, without really much of a battle. They immediately converted part of the depot into a prison to hold the Confederate (CSA) army P.O.W.'s there until the end of the war. It was also used as a base for gathering supplies for the western theatre of military operations by the Union.

View of an old train from a new "train" 

while riding around the museum grounds.

While there was little bloodshed at the depot itself, many battles were fought up and down the line in the region for control of the line, which the Union managed to hang on to for the war's duration.

These days, visitors can view some old steam trains from the era, explore the depot - and even see some of the original graffiti written on the walls inside the third floor rooms of the depot by the captive CSA soldiers (authenticated by historians).

While I rode a "train" there,
I didn't get a chance to ride a handcar.

You'll also find a mock-up of an old ticket booth and passenger waiting room, complete with mannequins wearing period outfits.

There are also several exhibits depicting life as it was lived back in the latter half of the 19th century.

Outside sits a caboose, that, in addition to being part of the exhibit, is used these days for children's birthday parties.

Visitors can also hop on board a small train and "ride the rails" around the park grounds past old buildings and trains. (A real lover of train travel, this was my favourite part of the visit!)

Although the facility is a museum now, it was not that long ago - not quite 50 years - that it was still used as an active passenger station, finally winding down that function in 1968. The line, which continued to transport people and goods after the War Between the States ended, saw a sharp rise in passenger traffic during World War II. However, by the early 1960s, as the plane started to become the favoured mode of travel, use of the line by passengers declined steadily and significantly, leading eventually to its closure.

However, these days, when you board the museum train and hear the "engineer" parrot the conductors' call of "All aboard!" from bygone days, you can close your eyes and, maybe, for a moment or two, pretend you're back in the 1860s, riding the rails to another Alabama adventure...

Want to see more photos from the museum? Visit All Aboard! at Facebook. 

Murderous press trip full of tourism twists and turns

No, this is not a review of a recent press trip that turned out badly (I can hear some travel industry people going, “Whew!”). 

Mind you, I could write about those, as I have been on a few - but maybe after I retire...

Rather, this is about a book titled Murder Packs a Suitcase – the first book in a mystery series featuring a travel writer as a protagonist.

Author Cynthia Baxter stepped into a new genre with this book, after publishing several mystery novels about veterinarian-turned-sleuth Jessica Popper, a.k.a., the “Reigning Cats and Dogs” series.

Recently widowed Mallory Marlowe is looking to get back into living her life following the death of her husband, and while applying for a part-time job as a typesetter at the New York-based Good Life magazine, she ends up getting a gig as their regular travel writer, responsible for taking one all-expenses paid trip a month to produce a 2,000-word piece for the high-end glossy – and getting paid well, to boot. (You know this really is fiction - how many gigs like that really exist, and how many of us wouldn’t want something like that to fall in our lap? Drool-drool!)

Her first assignment takes her to Orlando, Florida where she’s part of a press trip consisting of several travel writers, each covering a different beat or publication genre. 

Many of the travel writer stereotypes are covered: Mallory, of course, covers the more expensive beat. There is also the budget travel magazine writer, the seniors’ travel writer, and the online website travel writer. 

Each writer has his or her own characteristics: the budget writer is always looking to cut corners, get everything as cheap as possible; the senior just “wants to have fun;” and the online writer is actually one of those types that sometimes appear on real press trips – he’s obnoxious, condescending, rude – and (unlike any press trips I’ve been on) he ends up getting killed four chapters into the book.

That last point is an important one for me: my rule is, there better be a murder in the first four chapters of any mystery, or it will most likely be a dud!

In this story, there is also a perky tourism board rep and a harried hotel manager.

Of course, Mallory ends up becoming one of the chief murder suspects, so in addition to trying to get to all the tourist attractions so she can meet her assignment requirements, she’s trying to solve the case.

There are the usual suspects (everybody!) and the twists, turns and red herrings that make the “cozy” mystery sub-genre so enjoyable.

The author does a pretty good job of capturing what it’s like to be on a press trip. However, one thing that struck me as a bit odd is the fact even though all these writers are on the same “trip” with the same flight schedules, hotel, etc., they all have completely individual itineraries that they plan themselves, with absolutely no input from the tourism board, other than to supply some free passes to local attractions. The tourism board is credited with organizing it, however. (Not much to organize, really – the writers even book their own flights.)

I’ve been on individual press trips as well as group trips, and while I have no doubt there may be some group trips organized where every writer is completely on their own 100 per cent of the time, it did seem a bit odd, since it’s outside my realm of experience. Usually with a group press trip, there are some group activities, but other than an opening and closing dinner, there are none organized on this one. Certainly, it did provide a different perspective.

One of the unique aspects of this book I liked is the actual “travel story” at the end. Apart from the actual narrative, the author has written a 2,000-word magazine piece, complete with contact info and website links to all the places the fictional writer Mallory visits in the novel. Yes, they are all real destinations, and that lends a nice “realistic” feel to the fiction. It reminded me of the recipes included at the back of so many of the “gourmet/cooking-sleuth” mysteries that are so popular these days.

I really enjoyed it, although admittedly, I am a big mystery buff; by combining two of my favourite topics - murder-mystery fiction, with travel non-fiction - there is a better than average chance I’ll like the end result (provided it’s written well.) In a future post, look for a review of the second book in this series, Too Rich and Too Dead, a story which sees Mallory head to a Colorado ski resort.

Murder Packs a Suitcase, paperback, 304 pp. ISBN: 978-0-553-59036-4 (0-553-59036-7). Cost: $8.99 (in Canada)

Visiting Florida? This video might help with the planning.

The day I joined 'the Club'

If that title doesn't make you curious enough to read further, almost nothing will...

You'd have to be a pretty incurious sort to not at least want to find out which club it is I joined - the Playboy Club? The Hair Club for Men (and now Women, I see)? The Press Club? The Rod and Gun Club? The Explorers Club?

While I wouldn't mind joining some of those above-mentioned clubs (and would like avoid a few, if possible), if you guessed any of those, you guessed wrong.

I'm talking about joining ... (drum roll, please!) ...

The Sour Toe Cocktail Club!

Of course, what else, would it be?

I am actually celebrating my second anniversary of having joined that illustrious club, so I figured I should shout it to the world (or at least the Internet!)

For those not familiar with the Sour Toe Cocktail (or without the inclination to click on the link above, because you just can't tear yourself away from my riveting prose!), essentially, it involves taking a shot of your favorite liquor libation which also shares a glass with a (get ready for this) a sour toe - that is, an actual human toe that has been dehydrated and preserved in salt.

And - get this - in order to actually qualify, you have to drink the drink and let the toe touch your lips at some point while drinking.

Like the club motto says, "You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow - but the lips have gotta touch the toe."

Only in Canada, you say ...

The tradition began in Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory. Originally, the toe (the original one thought to have been "donated" by some "sourdough" from the Klondike Gold Rush days, probably one lost through frostbite while mushing down the trail) had to be placed in a beer glass full of champagne in order to be an official, genuine Sour Toe Cocktail.

These days, it's a bit more relaxed, it can be any drink - even non-alcoholic, apparently - but where's the fun in that?

Captain Dick welcomes me to the fraternity.

Now ideally, you would become a member of the club by drinking the cocktail in the Yukon. However, Yours Truly became a member in Vancouver, during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Like many other tourism boards, Tourism Yukon hosted an event during the Games.

It was at that event I had the opportunity to sit down with Captain Dick, the official head of the club, and became a member of this illustrious group. So in a sense, I was sort of on "Yukon soil," kind of like when you're at a Russian embassy in a foreign country, you're considered to be on Russian soil.


Anyway, I sat beside the captain, and I had a choice of rye whiskey, rum, vodka or tequila to mix with my toe. Sadly, there was no Yukon Jack available, that would have been my ideal choice. But, my second choice was whiskey.



A friend of mine, fellow travel writer Lenora Hayman, stood by to snap a picture of the momentous occasion. However, her camera was not as fast as my quaffing ability - I picked up the drink, belted it back - and she still hadn't got the pic.

So I did the only thing I could - I froze in stop-action mode, holding the glass up to my mouth, the toe resting against my lips, all the liquor drained.

 

For half a second, I toyed with the idea of putting the tip of my tongue on it to really see what the toe tasted like, but common sense quickly overruled that, and the picture was taken. Whew!

It didn't really taste that bad, the whiskey was good, went down quick - and I became a card-carrying club member for life.

By the way, although you get a membership card and certificate, you don't get to keep the toe - you have to give it back.

Now, if you want an opportunity to join this elite group, this would be a perfect year - in fact, this month would be the perfect month to do so. The Yukon is hosting its 2012 Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Feb. 23-26, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway).

 Snowshoeing, one winter activity you can enjoy in the Yukon.

Even if you can't make that date, a trip to the Yukon at any of the year will give you the opportunity to become a member of the Sour Toe Cocktail Club, as well as providing plenty of other excellent travel adventures, including paddling trips and bird-watching in the summer, or dog-sledding and snowshoeing if you prefer to visit during the winter.

Can't make it? Well, you can always buy Sour Toe memorabilia online - even a chocolate sour toe or two.

But, of course, that won't make you a member of the club ...



Rainy days shouldn't stop you from having fun

Rainy days are a fact of life on the Wet Coast, so it surprised me one morning last week when I read how U.S. day visits to B.C. are down this year, and our rainy, cool summer is being fingered as one of the reasons, especially when we're talking about people who live in this same region, with essentially the same climate.

Personally, I prefer cooler weather for my outdoor activities; it's nicer to hike or paddle in 20 degrees C than say, 28 or 30 C. And there are lots of things for visitors to do in Vancouver and area even when it's raining.

I think the weaker U.S. dollar has more to do with it than anything; it takes more American greenbacks to buy the same products and services than it did a year ago.

That being said, I thought, "What kinds of activities and are available for day-trip visitors to the Lower Mainland who want to stay out of the rain? Or for those who don't mind a bit of a sprinkle?" Bear in mind, I'm an outdoor type who is usually unfazed by any kind of weather, so to me, unless it's a monsoon, I don't usually let it stop me. But I'll try to restrict this "top five" list to stuff you can do inside - or outside with very little exposure to the elements. At a later date, I'll probably write a list of cool "outdoor" stuff to do - and there's plenty of that in B.C.

So it's raining; life still goes on ...

I won't include details about obvious things like shopping, theatres or movies; this is a list of other activities, some fairly typical, others not so much.

And armed with this list - there should be no reason not to come visit here. No excuses - at least not the rain, please...

1. Visit Bloedel Conservatory. This is probably as close as you'll come to experiencing the outdoors - while staying dry and warm indoors. Set atop Queen Elizabeth Park in central Vancouver, this geodesic dome is home to hundreds of tropical and sub-tropical plants, as well as dozens of free-flying birds. One of the main draws is its small collection of parrots - macaws, a cockatoo, some Amazons and an African grey. They are not free flighted, but very easy to see and photograph. It's a great way to spend a few rainy hours. Just minutes away by foot from the conservatory is Seasons Restaurant, where you can eat lunch or supper, before or after, your excursion. And if it stops raining, check out the surrounding gardens in the park - and the view of the north shore mountains; you can see across to North and West Vancouver from just outside the dome, if it's not raining or cloudy.


A green-winged macaw,
one of the many colourful birds you'll see at Bloedel.

 2. Visit a day spa. There are numerous wonderful day spas in and around Vancouver. Raintree Spa is just 10 minutes south of the Vancouver International Airport, down Highway 99 and into the village of Steveston. There are several Eccotique Day Spas located around the city, including two in Metrotown Mall and one in the Richmond Centre, allowing you to do some shopping before relaxing at the spa.

If you don't mind going a bit further afield,
head north of the city toward Whistler, and you can enjoy another type of spa experience: the kind you'd find in Europe at Spa Scandinave. Alternate immersions in cold pools and hot pools/steam rooms/dry saunas, throw in a Swedish or Thai yoga massage, grab a bite to eat in their dining area and you're guaranteed a good night's sleep that night.


Of course, those above-mentioned spas all offer full spa services including different types of massage (many have RMT's on their staff), waxing, pedicures, manicures and other esthetic services. But if you want a really different, once-in-a-lifetime experience at a spa in Vancouver, the place to go is the Miraj Hamma Spa on Sixth Avenue and Granville Street. There you get a full Moroccan-style day of pampering that includes a steam bath, exfoliation massage, and full body deep tissue massage all topped off with Moroccan tea and cake in private salon afterward.

Spa Scandinave: winter or summer, a great experience



3. Do a Canada Line Rail Tour. This does involve getting off and stopping, and yes, you will be outdoors at some point, so bring an umbrella. This is not a packaged program; it's simply a way of getting to know different parts of the city. Start at the SW Marine Drive station at the foot of Cambie Street. Then head north. You can be right downtown at Waterfront Station in less than 20 minutes. But that's not the point; there are plenty of interesting places to get off along the way and explore the neighborhood. You can get off at Cambie and 41st to shop in the Oakridge Centre. Further along, there's a stop at King Edward Street. Granted, if you get off here, you will need an umbrella if it's raining. But there are some really cool stores, shops and restaurants between King Edward and the next stop, Broadway-City Hall. While the King Edward stop would involve a north-south exploration of Cambie Street, the City Hall stop gives you the opportunity to go north-south along Cambie, or east-west along Broadway. Vancouver City Centre is pretty self-explanatory as is the Waterfront Station (which gives you the option of taking a water ferry across to North Vancouver - there are plenty of cool places to explore within a 15-minute walk of the ferry terminal.)

4. Visit Granville Island Public Market. Located on Granville Island, this will allow you to stay dry if you decide walking in the rain with an umbrella is not your cup of tea. There are plenty of food vendors, food kiosks where you can buy lunch, coffee shops, vendors selling crafts and other non-food items. Of course, if you do venture outside, there are lots of other attractions, including Granville Island Brewery, which gives tours (and samples!) daily.

5. Visit a museum. Any museum. There are plenty to choose from in Vancouver. One of the more unique ones is the Vancouver Maritime Museum, which features an ongoing, ever-changing line-up of exhibits, permanent collections, a heritage harbour (featuring a Viking ship) and some interactive events and activities. Other interesting museums include the Vancouver Police Museum, the Museum of Anthropology, and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. These are just a few examples of some of the museums you can visit in Vancouver, I've barely scratched the surface. Tourism Vancouver can supply you with additional ideas.

So really, the rain is no excuse. You can do these things during a day trip to Vancouver and the surrounding area, rain or shine, but for the most part, you can do them on a rainy day, and stay reasonably dry.

Like Mark Twain said, "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it."

 Well, this is one way of doing something about it: go out and have fun no matter what the weather.

Brr--rr--rr ... Sabering, chilling and nitro-ing at the Bearfoot Bistro

Are you a fan of those epic swashbuckler movies of the 1930's, '40's and 50's - you know, the ones that featured great sword fights with heroes like Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and even, on occasion, Gene Kelly?

Even if you're not, you really should get to see someone "saber" a bottle of champagne, at least once in your life. Better still if you can do it yourself, but if not, at least watch someone else do it "live."

I had the chance to do that a few months ago during a visit to the Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, B.C. During a tour of their wine cellar, one of our group was allowed to actually saber open a bottle of pretty good champagne. I actually tried to volunteer, but one other member of our group got her hand up more quickly.

 Sabering a bottle of bubbly

For those not familiar with the term, "sabering" a bottle of champagne is exactly what it sounds like: it involves using a sabre, or sword, to open the bottle by lopping off the cork and surrounding glass neck cleanly enough to pour the champagne without fear of getting glass in the glasses.

Technically, the art is called "sabrage" (not to be confused with "road rage" or "roid rage!). Its history dates back Napoleonic times.

It may sound daunting, but Jennifer Patterson, our selected saberer, did a fine job under the tutelage of J.S. Dupuis of the Bearfoot. Personally, I would loved to have had a chance to do it myself, partly for the experience, but mainly because the champagne went down way to easily with the oysters we enjoyed. Would have liked a few more flutes of the bubbly, myself ...

Na zdrowie!

But we were not done, yet. From the wine cellar, we migrated upstairs to the Belvedere Ice Room, which holds in excess of 50 different kinds of vodka from around the world.

It literally is an ice room, the walls are solid ice, the vodkas are kept on shelves chipped out of the ice.

It is cold - you have to bundle up in warm coats and hats - supplied by the Bearfoot - to spend any time inside the room.

We tried two or three premium vodkas, including one from Poland and one from B.C., actually made from organic potatoes.

Note to spirit afficianados: It's a myth that vodka is always made from potatoes. While it can be, it's usually made from grain, like most spirits. In Russia, potatoes were substituted for grain during World War I, as all the grain was being used to feed the troops at the front - at least until the Russian Revolution took place - then everyone could drink as much vodka as they wanted, from grain or potatoes!

Personally, I preferred the Polish vodka. Nice clean, crisp taste. The B.C. vodka had to heavy an after-taste for my liking. But, to each his own.

After champagne, after vodka and after a wonderful meal, there was one more "chilling" experience we had at the Bearfoot that night. 

Nitro ice cream, anyone?



Following dinner, we were treated to the creation of "Nitro Ice Cream." It's made by taking a bowl of slightly sweetened cream with a bit of vanilla in it, then adding liquid nitrogen (really!) to the cream so it freezes instantly while your server mixes it.

So what does Nitro ice cream taste like? Is it really as good as its hype?

Well, I'll tell you ... it was the creamiest, smoothest ice cream I've ever had.

Eating it was like letting vanilla velvet melt on your tongue.

Batman's old foe Mr. Freeze would have been very jealous indeed, of the icy trifecta of champagne, vodka and nitro ice cream we enjoyed that night.

A different kind of spa experience at Scandinave

There are spas where you can get massages and other body work, and there are massages where you can get facials, pedicures, manicures and other kinds of esthetics done. That's the modern concept of most day spas.

However, spas originally started in Europe and they didn't involve those kinds of treatments, at least not in the beginning. Look it up on an online dictionary or encyclopedia, and you may find the term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy.



Everybody into the spa!

 At Scandinave Spa in Whistler, B.C., you can enjoy the best of both spa worlds: you can enjoy a very relaxing massage or other form of bodywork; and, you can also immerse yourself into the world of balneotherapy, or hydrotherapy. While those two processes are slightly different, they do overlap.

There is an added benefit to enjoying the spa there: you're surrounded by the beauty of the Coastal Mountains.

I had the opportunity to visit there recently, in February 2011.

Those unfamiliar with B.C. weather may not realize that at that time of year, it's often very mild here. So the fact that many of the various hydrotherapy "stations" are located outdoors should not deter you from visiting there at any time of the year. In fact, I found it more invigorating in late winter than I might have during the heat of summer. But, to each his own.

I started off with a Eucalyptus steam bath for 15 minutes, then went outside, plunged into a cold pool for 15 seconds, then hopped out and made a beeline to one of the Adirondack chairs placed around an open outdoor fire.


After some time outdoors, you might want
to have a snack or drink inside the spa by the fireplace.


Again, even though it was February, and I was dressed only in a bathing suit, flip-flops and a towel, I was not uncomfortable.

I repeated that hot-cold-warm process several times, using different parts of the facility: jacuzzi-cold shower-solarium; Finnish sauna-cold pool-solarium; steam room-cold pool-solarium.

After a few hours of that, I was certainly very relaxed. While I didn't have time for a massage that day, the next time I go there, I will make sure I take advantage of that option as well. And there will be a next time...

Playing with Panthera at Tiger Temple

The tiger sniffed my hands, decided he liked the smell, then started to chew.

That is, he decided to chew the chicken I was holding out for him. (Betcha wondered where this was going, didncha?)

Although this sounds like I'm tempting fate, it's really not, at least not in my mind.

However, there is something very special about offering food to a large carnivore that you know could eat you if it decided to, but instead it takes the food from your hands, even taking time to lick your hands to make sure it gets all the juices and every last little bit of chicken there is to be had. The tongue, surprising, was really no rougher than the tongues of house cats I've kept as pets, albeit, it's much bigger.

Hand feeding a teen tiger.

The tiger was a large, but not fully-grown adolescent who lives with 87 other tigers at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Feeding him was part of an incredible experience that capped off my visit to Thailand the first two weeks of April 2011.

Visitors to the centre may choose to participate in one of the extended programs that includes feeding an unweaned tiger cub with a bottle of formula, walking (or rather, being "walked by"!) a tiger cub, giving them a bath with soap and water, feeding them cooked chicken from your hands, playing with some of the adolescents in a pool, and finally, walking with/watching adult tigers engaged in play in a larger pool where only the facility's staff are allowed to be while the tigers are loose.

These tigers are not exactly wild, but not exactly tame, either. What has now become the Tiger Temple, started with the saving of two young Indo-Chinese tiger cubs from starving to death after their mother had been shot. Someone brought the cubs to this monastery and the monks began to care for them.

Before long, more cubs were brought to the temple, which eventually became a sanctuary.


A hungry cub


As with any approach that is outside the standard practice used in animal conservation or welfare, there are critics of the temple's approach to keeping these endangered animals in what is essentially a zoo. Some cite evidence of less-than-adequate conditions for some of the creatures. I cannot dispute that, nor can I confirm it; with any touring group, even as a media member, we are shown what the management chooses to show us, so I really cannot speak one way or another about the conditions behind the scenes. Quite honestly, I wouldn't really know what to look for. I can tell you if a companion parrot or dog or cat is being cared for properly; I don't know anything about caring for large carnivores.

The animals I saw during my visit seemed healthy and happy. Again, I didn't see all 88 tigers, so I cannot say one way or another how the overall conditions there match up with something like, say, the Bronx Zoo, which is probably the best zoo in the world.

During a lengthy conversation I had with Dr. Somchai, the head veterinarian at the Tiger Temple, he admitted the situation at the Tiger Temple is not a perfect solution; far from it. Would he not rather see these tigers in the wild? Yes, he would. But he does raise the pertinent question, "Where would they live?"

That's a question that is only partially hypothetical in nature - it is very practical, as well. There are very few extensive tracts of forest cover large enough to provide food and habitat for the 88 tigers that live at the temple, certainly not in Thailand. Dr. Somchai stated, quite accurately, that if those tigers could somehow be rehabilitated and be released into the wild, they would very soon be shot.

Kind of puts us all between a rock and a hard place, really. That question about dwindling habitat is one we all need to ponder as we continue to see more forests cut down in what used to be prime tiger habitat.

Sadly, the doctor expressed the thought to me that unless humans change our ways, he felt that eventually there will be no more wild tigers, anywhere. In fact, even now, there are more tigers in captivity than there are living in the wild. And that latter number seems to be decreasing further each year.

 

Tigers at play, Tiger Temple, Thailand

I hope to someday see a wild tiger in its natural habitat, before they all disappear. I may or may not experience that. I do know the experience I had at the Tiger Temple was awe-inspiring. It makes me want to do even more to save the remaining wild tigers.

There are many organizations working toward saving the last few remaining wild tigers. Among that group are:

The World Wildlife Fund Tiger Conservation Program
The Save the Tiger Fund
The Sumatran Tiger Trust
The Wildlife Conservation Society Tigers in Peril

I'll finish this post by leaving this quote for you to ponder (bearing in mind, that given humankind's current path, we may very well be eliminating the other possibility):

"It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious."
  Henry David Thoreau 

(If you would like to see more images of my experience at Tiger Temple, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1886343991254.106330.1021036665&l=4d0d6a1e2b )