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Festival Travel: Island Hopping in Sydney in 2009

October 15, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

Sydney strikes another blow in the ongoing battle of Melbourne vs. Sydney, with the pending announcement of the Island Hopping Festival for October 2009.

In a rare move, five of the tiny national park islands around Sydney Harbour will be opened up to the public with various activities based on each. For example, Fort Denison will probably have a French-themed mobile restaurant; on Clark Island, there'll be an Aboriginal-related celebration.

This Island Hopping will be held at the same time as the events like Sculpture by the Sea and the International Food Fair so it will be a great time to be in Sydney. Pity the Ferris wheel will be long gone, or we could've enjoyed a great view at the same time.

Related Stories:
· Festival Goes Island Hopping on the Harbour [SMH]
· Ferris Wheel Travel: Now Sydney Wants One Too [Jaunted]
· Melbourne IS Better Than Sydney [Jaunted]

[Photo: meaden]

Boardgame Travel: Pawns, Kings and Queens Gather in Italy

September 8, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

This week in the town of Marostica in Italy, a chess game will take place that is so much more civilized than the sport of chess boxing that we recently discovered.

Marostica, northwest of Venice, is home to the biannual Living Chess Game, when live people and animals adorned in medieval costumes play a game of chess on a giant board in front of the local castle. It's based on a tale of a love triangle from the 1400s when two men had to play chess to decide who would win the fair damsel.

These days there are no women at stake and it's more a matter of pure entertainment for the four thousand-plus spectators who crowd around the board. If you've seen it before, that doesn't matter--the script (and game play) changes every year. First pawn moves on September 12 with replays on September 13 and 14. If they don't get to checkmate too fast then it's bound to be a good night's entertainment.

Related Stories:
· Marostica Living Chess Game [WEG]
· Berlin Crowns the Chess Boxing Champ [Jaunted]

[Photo: liznorderg]

Labor Day Travel: West Indian American Day Carnival

August 27, 2008 at 10:03 AM | 0 Comments

If you're visiting New York this Labor Day Weekend--or if, as we're told many of you are, staycationing in NYC--the weekend's biggest party is in a place you might not guess first: Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Nearly three million people are expected to turn out for the West Indian American Day Carnival, a four-day celebration of some of the world's most celebratory cultures. If you're at all interested in spicy food, colorful costumes and calypso (and yes, the four billion other genres of Caribbean music), this is not a festival to miss.

The music-and-food extravaganza takes places behind the Brooklyn Museum, August 28-31, culminating in the main event, the showy carnival parade along Eastern Parkway.

Related Stories:
· West Indian American Day Carnival Association [Official Site]
· Labor Day Non-Travel: Americans Bailing on Late-Summer Trips [Jaunted]
· Labor Day Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: West Indian American Day Carnival Association]

Hudson Valley Escape: Rhinebeck

August 26, 2008 at 2:00 PM | 3 Comments

Two hours north of New York City, Rhinebeck is best-known as a retreat for holistic healing types, but it's also a chilled-out getaway with a variety of options, whether or not you're up on your yoga chants.

Rhinebeck is home to the Omega Institute, a hippie wellness center where you can take yoga and reiki classes, or, if that's way too mainstream for you, sign up for "ecstatic chant" or "touching divinity."

On the way-less-relaxed side of the spectrum, there's the Old Rhinebeck Aerodome, a museum of antique aviation that offers rides on a 1929 open-cockpit biplane.

No matter how you're getting your kicks in Rhinebeck, here's our guide to the rest of town:

more ›

Afterlife Travel: Send Those Hungry Ghosts Away

August 21, 2008 at 2:45 PM | 0 Comments

Feed Casper now: The traditional Chinese celebration of the Hungry Ghosts is being honored in cities around southeast Asia through the end of August with public performances and bonfires.

Folk tradition holds that deceased ancestors return during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar (August), where they can hear prayers said by their living relatives, consume elaborate meals and get directions to heaven. The devout will even build papier-maché houses and burn them, along with "hell money" bills representing wealth, thereby "sending" them to the afterlife.

You can experience Hungry Ghost Festival celebrations all over China, but also in Hong Kong, Thailand (where it is known as Por Tor) and Penang, Malaysia. Don't be surprised if you don't see a lot of people out at night for the next week or two: Those hungry ghosts are considered a menace to the living when they aren't fed.

Related Stories:
· The Ghost Festival [Chinavoc.com]
· Buddhist Ant Crisis in Malaysia [Jaunted]
· Festival coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: e-chan]

Food Festival Travel: Gwangju Kimchi Festival

August 19, 2008 at 9:33 AM | 0 Comments

Personally we always find that Korean pickled cabbage they call kimchi a bit too spicy, but since it's been named in a few lists of "top ten anti-cancer foods" we're trying to be open-minded. Presumably we'd be able to cure our aversion to it by visiting the Gwangju Kimchi Festival which takes place this year from October 15 to 19.

Gwanju, about three hours away from Seoul, is quite famous for kimchi and the festival does pretty much what you'd expect: Celebrates the dish in all its many forms. You can watch it being made, you can make it yourself, and you can eat a million varieties of it (give or take a few).

After four days of solid kimchi eating, you're either going to love it or hate it. But just be aware you're going to be around thousands of people who are also eating an overdose of cabbage.

Related Stories:
· Film, Arts and Cultural Festivals Draw Visitors to Korea [eTravel]
· South Korea Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: buck82]

Locavore Travel: A Fall Fest, Millionaire-Style

August 11, 2008 at 2:00 PM | 0 Comments

There may be a few more weeks of summer, but we're already longing for the cooler breezes of sweater weather. The Field to Table Festival at the grand Biltmore mansion hits a couple of our fall-plan hot buttons: The setting is impeccable and the potential menus, delicious.

Sustainable agriculture experts will be on hand September 19 through 28 to discuss the estate's River Bend Farm and its efforts to work with area farmers. Pairings from the estate winery will also be available when you sit down to a delicious local meal. Whether you combine the trip with a tour of the mansion and farm or just come by for the food, it's a trip that's perfectly in season.

Related Stories:
· Biltmore's Servant Quarters Hidden No More [Jaunted]
· Historic Trips coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: gleet69]

Peru's Guinea Pig Festival Doesn't End Well

July 23, 2008 at 3:20 PM | 1 Comment

The seaside town of Huacho, Peru just hosted what could be the world's cutest contest--if it weren't for how it ended. It was the Huacho Guinea Pig Festival.

Things got started when some of the small rodents got dressed up for the animal fashion show, where this year's big looks were miner and king. But the winning guinea pig was done up as a traditional folk singer; it won thanks not just to a great outfit but its name: Yasmina del Amor.

But those rodents not on the proverbial runway suffered a more brutal fate: They were fried, roasted and baked and enjoyed by festival goers as part of a cook-off. Who won? The pachamanca masters out of the nearby village of Curay.

Related Stories:
· Huacho Guinea Pig Festival [Huacho.info, in Spanish]
· Guinea Pigs Dress up for Dinner [Sky News]
· Festivals coverage [Jaunted]

[Original photo: Telegraph]

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