Dili, East Timor

Thanks to Geo-Pick, one of my favorite sites, We have our City of the Day for May 11, 2012.

Dili is the capital of East Timor. The country is on an island approximately halfway between Australia and Indonesia.

The island has apparently been inhabited for over 4000 years based on things found such as cave paintings and things like that. The Chinese started trading with the natives in the 13th century because there was a very large supply of sandalwood forests.

A very good vacation spot from what I have been able to determine based on Research.  From Dili you can take a drive to the coffee growing region of the country. There is also Deep Sea Fishing. The Teak and Sandalwood forests to see and there is an old Government house that has been made into a hotel.

Food options here are not as varied as in some places but still good. You have Filipino, Japanese, Indonesian, Some other varied Asian cuisines and Portuguese since Portugal was here for quite a while for the lumber.

Accommodations range from fairly high end to backpackers hangouts for as little as 5 USD a night.

Nightlife appears to be decent as well. There are a number of bars and at least one disco that I was able to find listed.

I believe that should I ever come into money this is one of the places I would like to see.

Technorati Tags: asian cuisines,capital of east timor,cave paintings,food options,hotel food,government house,dili,sandalwood,vacation spot,east timor,13th century,favorite sites,deep sea,natives,backpackers,teak,lumber,forests,nightlife,portuguese

Bridgetown, Barbados

For todays random city of the day we have Bridgetown, Barbados.

A fascinating city is Bridgetown. It has been around since 1628 and in 2011 part of Bridgetown was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Bridgetown is the capital and largest city of Barbados. It is a very short distance from the International Airport and is a very popular tourist destination as well as a business destination in many cases as a financial and convention center in the Caribbean.

I would consider it a very temperate place to visit as far as climate. It ranges from the low 60s to the mid 90s Fahrenheit. It is in the tropics which of course means that there is a rainy season and while I have not yet been to Barbados I have been in the rainy season of some tropical areas and I say rainy I mean RAINY. Not unpleasant but something you need to be prepared for. The country averages 50 inches or so of rain a year which may not seem like much but when the bulk of it happens over a few months things do tend to be a bit damp.

There is a nice shopping area and the parliament buildings are pretty cool to see.

One of the prime things that I will look for when I get the chance to visit will be food. The food in the Bahamas was wonderful and the Caribbean is home to one of my favorite types of seafood. Conch! I love Conch in many forms. Chowder, fritters and stir-fry just to name a few.

It is not far away so not hideously expensive to get to (depends on your idea of expensive I guess. Air fare is not really cheap anywhere with a few occasional exceptions) so hopefully those of you who follow this blog will be able to make the trip and see something new. Please feel free to share this blog with your friends.

Until next time enjoy this trip or any trip you may be making.

 

Technorati Tags: bridgetown barbados,food in the bahamas,world heritage site,occasional exceptions,parliament buildings,business destination,tropical areas,rainy season,shopping area,fritters,tourist destination,mid 90s,air fare,unesco,tropics,damp,fahrenheit,60s,nbsp,parliament

Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala

Todays random city from geo-pick.com is Ciudad de Guatemala. Guatemala City for those that are Spanish language challenged.

A very intriguing city with much of interest. For instance, within the city limits of the modern city lies an ancient city of the Maya called Kaminaljuyu. Kaminaljuyu was first inhabited well over 3000 years ago. Unfortunately during the growth of the last century a lot of the ruins were built over before the government starting protecting what is left. There are still a number of ruins including a ceremonial area of the ancient city. Guatemala City is also the location from which Central America declared it's independence from Spain.

The city sports an enormous number of sites and cultural activities as well as a film festival featuring Central American films.

Planning a trip should take into consideration the weather. Guatemala has a rainy season similar to other tropical and subtropical countries which runs from May through October. While it does not rain continuously for that entire time it rains a lot and believe me if you have never been in a country with this type of weather there are times when it not only rains but it RAINS!

Do not let that keep you away. If you can afford to travel hen by all means this is a country and city that I would say should be seen. Should I have the financial ability to do so I will absolutely be travelling here some day.

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Oberholzer, South Africa

This is my first post based on geo-pick.com’s random town of the day. From what I can tell Oberholzer is actually a neighborhood of Carletonville, South Africa. According to my research there are few businesses there but very few and no information at all about what the town is like and why someone would want to travel there if at all.

Anyone that has perhaps been there please send me an email with any info you can provide and I will update this post which is rather sparse in information and probably does not do justice to the area at all.

Technorati Tags: random town,carletonville,target,email,south africa,neighborhood

A gift of the Best Perfume!

For those who like to wear or give gifts of the best perfume you can buy, there is a site that can provide a wondrous selection of non toxic, cruelty free perfumes made 100% in the United States from natural & essential oils.

The scents are brilliant creations and there is absolutely no animal testing involved. These are creations that are fabulously decadent scents without being hideously expensive and can quite easily claim to be some of the best perfume around.

Imagine headed out on the town with a perfume that brings images of the ancient Kasbah with the scents of Sandalwood and Myrrh. Perhaps something that makes you long for the tropics with a hint of Meyer Lemon and Satsuma Mandarin or a walk in the country with Summer Forsythia and Pink Plumeria.

You can get samples of a number of the scents and the site boasts “Real Perfume for Real Women” and with this selection I would have to agree with them. You can also sign up for an email list to be informed of the newest best perfume out there.

Give it a try. I suspect that you will be quite happy with the results of their best perfume list.

Technorati Tags: satsuma mandarin,target,forsythia,kasbah,plumeria,animal testing,real women,myrrh,sandalwood,scents,essential oils,perfume,tropics,email list,images

New Format

I am changing up the format a bit. Still researching and giving thoughts on what to see on theoretical vacations but using a web site I just found. Geo-Pick.com is a pretty cool site in that it brings up a random town from about 4000 in it’s database when you go to the site so I will be researching those towns as they come up.

If nothing else I should have a pretty good amount of knowledge of cities around the world should I ever have enough money to actually do any serious travel.

Technorati Tags: random town,cities around the world,cool site,enough money,vacations

Vacations This Summer.

I wonder just how many people will not be able to take a vacations this year. Gas prices are at an all time high for this early in the year and they will inevitably go up over the summer. When the cost of the fuel to get you there is equal to or even close to the price the rest of the trip will cost then I am certainly not going there.

This will be a good year to practice the staycation by learning what you have available near you. I will touch on a few areas that I am familiar with that are reasonably close to where I live. By reasonable close I mean you can get there and back on just a couple tanks of gas.

Home for me is the South Central Pennsylvania area in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Gettysburg area. There are loads of things to see and do very close by and quite a lot to see and do within about a 4-5 hour drive.

First, easiest and certainly least expensive would be the very local. Harrisburg itself has a number of very interesting things. The John Harris/Simon Cameron Museum. This is a mansion used first by John Harris Sr. who worked as Ambassador to the Native Americans for William Penn from whom Pennsylvania gets it’s name.

Just a very few miles north of Harrisburg you will find the Rockville Bridge which to this day remains the longest Stone Arch railroad bridge in the world.

About 20 minutes east of the city is a town with a name known by almost everyone in the world. Hershey is a very recognized word and where the first manufacturing facility for Hershey’s chocolate was built. Of course you also have Hershey Park and adjacent to the park is Chocolate World which will take you on a ride through the acquisition of the cacao beans and the process used to create the wonderful; masterpiece known as chocolate.

If you continue on a bit further east you come to Lancaster County which is home to a large number of Amish and has a number of sites and attractions to allow you to learn of them.

From Lancaster we move Southwest and arrive in York, PA which has the distinction of having been the capital of the United States for a short period of time near the beginning of this nation.

From York we move to the west and we come across the site of perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg and the National Military Park in and around it can give you days of exploration for those who enjoy history. The battlefield has over 30 miles of roads you can drive while following the signs for a self guided tour or you can get a tape or CD that will narrate your trip. You can also go on a bus tour of the battlefield and for those who like a bit more personal attention there are licensed guides you can hire.

This is a good start to the staycation and I will post more on this shortly.

 

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My Dream Trip to Europe end for now

I believe I will stop with Belgium in my last post on this subject and will revisit Europe another time. My dream trip would actually be best done in several stages. I have already been through what would likely be a good month or perhaps more to make a trip through those countries worthwhile.

I will get back to Europe at another time and will be posting thoughts on other possible trips shortly.

Betheny Ever After new season

Guest post of the week by Moises Henderson

I am so excited because I just saw a commercial for a new season of Betheny Ever After. After last season I haven’t heard a peep about this show and so I assumed that they would not film anymore. Evidently I was not the only person on Earth watching Betheny and her craziness, there are other people out there who actually like her too! Hooray! If you have not seen the show then let me break it down for you. First we have Betheny Frenkel who got her start on the Housewives of New York. She is no longer on that show because she has become a star on her own and has now earned her own show. She lives with her husband Jason and her baby named Brynn. She created a line of margaritas called Skinny Girl margaritas that took off and she ended up selling her brand to a liquor distributor on the last season. The show is about Betheny and Jason and how they live their daily life. Sounds boring but it isn’t! All of my fellow home state people check out DIRECTV atlanta to find out when Betheny Ever After comes on.

A bit of a delay

I apologize for the delay in my posts. I will endeavor to make my posts more regularly. I was a bit pressed for time or a while but I believe I have things under control again and will start posting again.

Huge Renovation

Guest post written by my buddy Aldo Mays

My husband and I have been renovating our home, and living in an apartment nearby. The house hadn’t been changed at all since the 1970’s and it was time for a huge overhaul. We’re excited about what the results will be, but there are so many worries that go along with such a huge undertaking. We are really scared that our home will become a target for thieves since it is obvious the house is unoccupied and under construction. We wanted to know what the best Atlanta home security was, so we started doing research. We knew we needed a home alarm system since we had all of these expensive appliances in the house that hadn’t been installed yet. Those appliances cost us a lot of money, and we weren’t willing to risk it. We knew that if anything happened to them we wouldn’t be able to afford to buy them again. We feel much better now that we have an alarm system set up. We should be able to get back in the house in a few months, and can’t wait to see the final results.

My Dream Trip to Europe part 6

From Luxembourg we had to Belgium. I would go pretty much straight to Brussels. There are some websites that say that some of the cities are not as safe as they were in years past so it is probably best to just see the capital since of course security is always best in a capitol city.

My ideas of what to do in Belgium revolves primarily around chocolate and beer. Not necessarily in that order. Belgium lays claim to the invention of the praline in 1912. Probably the best place for various choices of chocolates is Maison des Maitres Chocolatiers on the Grand Place. There 10 separate Chocolatiers in this location and this part of the trip is probably not going to one of moderation.

The beer of course is to die for and what I look forward to are the beers made in monasteries and abbeys by monks using techniques and recipes that are centuries old and reportedly as good as anything you can get anywhere. Some of them are exported but due to the stupid laws we have in this country about beer I would not want to bet that anything I can find here in Pennsylvania will be anything even vaguely close to what it tastes like in Belgium.

Chocolate and beer are the 2 biggies for me in Belgium but there are some other things. Strangely enough for a country with a relatively small coastline the national dish is mussels which makes me very happy. Apparently they do mussels and chips just as the English do fish and chips and I am certainly looking forward to that.

Then there is the Belgian waffle. Not just a ploy made up by US marketers. Waffles are also a very important food in Belgium and can be gotten very conveniently because they are done not only in restaurants but also by street vendors and from my experiences in New York and also in Manila, I am a big fan of street vendors.

Technorati Tags: Dream,Europe,Luxembourg,Belgium,Brussels,beer,Chocolatiers,beers,monasteries,abbeys,monks,techniques,recipes,Some,Pennsylvania,Chocolate,English,Belgian,marketers,Waffles,food,restaurants,vendors,Manila,mussels