Half a Dozen Things To Do in Saigon

Food in Vietnam is an art, an experience to be remembered.

In Vietnam’s southern region chefs are preoccupied with vegetables. And while vegetables are as likely as not to be pickled in Hanoi, in Saigon they will be fresh. The cuisine of Vietnam’s southern region is also more influenced by the French colonial era. You will awaken in Saigon to the smell of baguettes baking. And the people of the south prefer to serve several small dishes at mealtime instead of two or three large helpings (as is common in Hanoi).

There are a few staples that you should be ready for throughout the country. One is pho — or beef noodle soup. Pho is the fast food of Saigon, Hanoi, Danang, Hue’, and Haiphong. Come lunch time, it’s “let’s hit the noodle house.” Almost anywhere you go you will also find gio lua (pork sausages), nem ran (spring rolls), and cha ca (fish balls).
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And seafood is abundant — crabs, shrimp, squids, mussels, an untold variety of fish and even lobster are drawn from the waters off Vietnam’s coast or from the country’s rivers. You will also find nouc mam (fish sauce) on almost any table, in the spot where the Chinese would place soy sauce. It may be added to almost anything.

Finally, no meal is complete without a tray of herbs and fresh vegetables. Almost anywhere in the country you will find sliced cucumbers, hot peppers, coriander, bean threads, a little basil or mint, and a few other herbs on the table to complement the meal.

The cuisine of Saigon will offer you a huge number of novel experiences. You will be confronted with some of them if you are in the country for any length of time. You don’t have to be afraid of them. The Vietnamese have been eating frog legs for centuries and are no worse off for it. Most of the meats you will be offered will be familiar: beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and fish. But a little snake or dog meat never hurt anyone (or at least it didn’t hurt me). And tasting your host’s turtle soup out of sheer politeness certainly won’t kill you!

At the end of the day, most Western visitors leave Saigon with a new appreciation for the power of the chili pepper, an awe at what Vietnamese cooks can do with vegetables, a love for noodles, and a desire to find out if they can get fruits like lychees or soursop in their home town.

Should you have the rare privilege of dining as a guest in a Vietnamese home, you will enter into an environment where manners and etiquette are far more important (or at least more detailed) than in most western countries.

A few hints…

* Generally, rice will be served at a meal and then the host will give a signal to begin eating. Wait until that happens before tasting anything.
* You will likely be considered the guest of honor. As such, the first and the best will go to you. Sample it. Then share.
* Vietnamese dining is a social occasion. Be prepared for constant interaction. If the meal is particularly formal, you are unlikely to be allowed to serve yourself.
* Don’t take a second helping of anything until you have tried a helping of each dish. In the southern areas of the country, a “helping” is about one tablespoon.
* Compliment the cook on each dish after you have tasted it.
* The meat is the most important (and the most costly) ingredient in any meal. Leave some of it for others.
* It is polite to use both hands when offering something or passing something. The same is true for accepting something. The Vietnamese will nod at each other as the pass a dish.
* Do NOT hunt and peck to find the “good stuff” on a serving plate. Doing so will leave your guests with a low opinion of you.
* Never return a piece of food from your plate to the serving dish.
* Unlike most Western countries, it is NOT okay to turn down a second or third helping. To do so might be considered an insult. Begin early to talk about how FULL you are and then reluctantly agree to the seconds (and thirds) your host offers you.
* If you don’t know what to do, say so.
* Finally, if you have been invited in advance to a meal in a Vietnamese home, bring a present. Sweets are common. So is tea or coffee. Flowers will also do; but be aware that white is the color of death in Vietnam.

A few where the food is worth trying:

* Le Bordeaux in the Binh Thanh District - their salmon is the best dish in Siagon, according to the The Insider’s Guide. Excellent wines. Goose liver pate flown in from Paris…
* Restaurant 13 in District 1 - traditional Vietnamese food. Not too expensive and very flavorful. Try the deep fried squid with plum sauce.
* Ashoka Restaurant in District 1 - Indian Tandoori cooking.
* Song Ngu Seafood Restaurant in District 1 - great seafood in a local setting, including traditional Vietnamese music. Try the abalone steamed with ginger or the fresh seafood hot pot.
* Nam Giao behind Ben Thanh Market in the city center. Excellent Hue-styled central Vietnamese cuisine.

Helping Yourself Relax on Board - Self Massage

Flights can be tiring. Flights can be long. Flights can be stressful. These are just a few of the responses I received when I ask people to fill in the blank for “Flights can be ___”.

In dealing with flights, I have always found it important to have ways to help myself reduce the stresses and anxieties that can come with air travel. From my eyeshades, to my aromatherapy, it is the constant quest to make that economy seat feel much better than being in confined quarters for several hours with hundreds of strangers around.

So, my latest attempt was to develop a quick, self massage routine. In addition to working for an airline, I am a massage therapist, so I thought it was time to share the self massage routine I do on my face for a bit of extra relaxation. And yes, you may get stares from fellow passengers, but you can always close your eyes, turn up the soft music, and bliss out.

Inside San Francisco: Architecture

Considered an “American phoenix,” modern San Francisco rose out of the ashes of the 1906 earthquake. This disaster, the worst in American history, destroyed the majority of the city and left only 303 of its 28,000 buildings standing. One of these lucky few is Mission Dolores; built in 1776, it is the oldest structure in the city and provides a wonderful example of Spanish-colonial architecture with Native-American influences.

Another area with a wealth and span of architectural interest that’s very easy to take is the Presidio dating from “Yerba Buena’s” earliest days (the old Officers’ Club at the top of the parade grounds is the other “oldest” San Francisco edifice) to 1960s “modern”, which preceded the installation’s turnover from the Sixth Army to The City. At its furthest northwest tip, and San Francisco’s, standing guard under the is Fort Point, dating to the early and mid-1800s.

Finally, the turn of the 20th century brought the City Beautifying Movement to improve urban environments and suburbs with classical and renaissance design. The best examples of the beaux arts style are the City Hall (famous backdrop of many Dirty Harry movies) in the Civic Center and the Palace of Fine Arts – originally built for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915 - located in the Marina District. Yet, if modern design is of interest, check out the SoMa (South of Market District), the controversial Public Library in the Civic Center and, of course, the Transamerica Pyramid.

Then, there are those two bridges… Actually, they are three, considering the Bay Bridge’s two spans in distinctively different styles. And now - architectural history in the making - the new east span is the subject of great debate as to whether it will be completed in the grand manner of its companions, or if it will take the more simple utilitarian form of a flat span. This, even as it is being built to replace the current span that “collapsed” (well, a section of it) during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Inside Seattle: Culture

According to a recent census report, Seattle is both the most highly educated and most literate city in the United States. Some might say that Seattle’s dreary weather keeps everyone indoors, a condition conducive to intellectual pursuits! Seattle’s population has expanded dramatically over the past few decades as jobseekers in technology-based fields swarmed into Seattle to take jobs at Microsoft and other corporations. Scientists also flock to Seattle to take advantage of its blooming biotech industry, buoyed by the University of Washington, several excellent hospitals, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. This focus on science and health led Seattle (and the state of Washington) to recently approve an initiative banning smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars. Smoking is disallowed indoors, as well as within 25 feet of doors, windows, or ventilation system intakes. Visitors from states without similar policies will either feel relief at enjoying smokefree establishments, or chagrin at having to seek out places to smoke in the rain.

Coffee

While Seattle is well-known as the home of Starbucks, the streets of Seattle are thick with independent coffeeshops, many of which roast their own coffee. Be on the lookout for Espresso Vivace, Hotwire, Uptown Espresso, Caffe Ladro, Diva Espresso, and many other only-in-Seattle beaneries.

If you like music.

You’re in luck. Seattle has a lively club scene and venues of every scale, from stadium to hole-in-the-wall. Check club listings in the Stranger . Current top clubs include Chop Suey, the Crocodile Cafe, the Showbox, and the Triple Door.

Experience Music Project (EMP) is a one-of-a-kind music museum combining interactive and interpretive exhibits to tell the story of the creative, innovative and rebellious expression that defines American popular music. Featuring a world-class collection of artifacts, unique architecture by Frank O. Gehry, state-of-the-art technology, and exciting interactive presentations, EMP will encourage visitors of many ages and backgrounds to experience the power and joy of music in its many forms.

EMP’s collection includes more than 80,000 artifacts that helped shape music history, including musical instruments (from one of the first electric guitars to those used by artists such as Bob Dylan, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Kurt Cobain), an extensive recorded sound archive, film, photographs, fanzines from around the world, stage costumes, handwritten song lyrics and rare song sheets.

Locals

Seattleites themselves are casual, tech-savvy, politically-minded, and practical. They love variety and new things, and will eagerly line up for a new X-box or an unknown band. You won’t see a lot of luxury vehicles on the road, even though Microsoft millionaires abound. Instead, Seattleites favor public transportation and AWD vehicles suited to the rainy climate and excursions to the mountains. It’s not uncommon to see a local Nobel Prize winner commuting on the bus, because that’s just what Seattleites do.

Outdoor Activities

Spending the winter inside makes Seattleites practically burst from their homes when spring arrives. As summer approaches and the days get longer, you’ll see them taking maximum advantage of the outdoors, either by jogging on the Burke-Gilman trail, walking around Greenlake, or picking blueberries in Mercer Slough. Farmers Markets pop up in every neighborhood, offering the ephemeral delights of summer. Summer festivals offer a range of activities, from Seafair’s hydroplane races to Bumbershoot’s alternative music and film festival in September. Because Seattle is so far north, summer nights stay light until 9 pm, so it’s possible to pack a lot of activities into a single day. They pay for it in the winter, when the sun sets at 4 pm!

Nearby

Down the road a few miles is Tacoma, once a second city, but recently a destination of its own. Tacoma can boast about the International Museum of Glass (highlighting the craft of Tacoma native and glass artist, Dale Chihuly), the Tacoma Art Museum, the University of Washington at Tacoma, and the Point Defiance Park (take the 5-mile drive through the park). The north end of Tacoma has many lovely old Craftsman-style homes with views of Puget Sound and a thriving neighborhood, but it is not visible from the Interstate-5 freeway.

Inside New York City: Neighborhoods

New York City is a wonderfully diverse city comprised of five separate boroughs – Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island – each possessing unique characteristics. While visitors can enrich themselves in all of them, most choose to confine their stay mainly to Manhattan. Twelve miles long, three miles wide and a world unto itself, Manhattan Island is famous for its “uptown” and “downtown” neighborhoods that cater to people of arguably any background and persuasion. Check out available online maps of the city. The following are synopses of these Manhattan neighborhoods in brief.

Harlem

A historical center of urban African-American culture, Harlem is roughly located above Central Park from 110th to 145th Street on the East Side and above 125th Street (above the Columbia University campus) on the West Side. Of particular note here are the famous Apollo Theatre and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library system. Harlem is presently undergoing a building boom and a multicultural influx of new residents. “Strivers’ Row” boasts some of the finest examples of historic brownstones in Manhattan; Sunday church services draw busloads of tourists eager to hear some of the best gospel in the country; historic restaurants and clubs (from Sylvia’s to the Lenox Lounge) showcase the African-American cultural heritage that first made the area famous during the Harlem Renaissance.

Inwood

This neighborhood boasts one of the city’s best–and least-visited–treasures: The Cloisters, in Fort Tryon Park. The park itself is beautiful–a serene place ranging over many acres, overlooking the Hudson–and the Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is something really special. This section of the museum–a recreation of a French medieval cloister–is dedicated solely to medieval art, and boasts famous tapestries, medieval gardens and sculpture. The neighborhood itself is a mixed bag: historically quite poor and once a casualty of the crack wars, it is also home to many students, artists, musicians and Broadway performers who value affordable space and generous river light as well as the direct subway ride to midtown. Despite the area’s mellowing in recent years, it can still be a bit sketchy at night, so visitors should use caution.

Morningside Heights

Bordered by Harlem and the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights runs from 106th Street to 125th Street between Morningside Park and Riverside Drive. A number of major educational institutions are located here: Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music, and, most famously, Barnard College and Columbia University. The neighborhood boasts a park promenade along the river (Grant’s Tomb is located here) and some spectacular architecture, including the flying buttresses of the Riverside Church and the perpetually unfinished but breathtaking Cathedral of St. John the Divine, arguably the world’s largest Gothic cathedral. Less exalted but perhaps still more interesting to couch potatoes: Tom’s Diner, the local hangout from Seinfeld, is also here.

Upper East Side

A historically elite bastion of old money, the Upper East Side (59th Street to 96th Street between 5th and York Avenues) remains conservative and upscale. Quiet cross-streets are lined with beautiful apartment buildings (as is the “Gold Coast” of 5th Avenue facing the park, home to some of the most coveted addresses in the city); the avenues (particularly Madison Avenue) are dotted with posh hotels, upscale restaurants and high-end designer boutiques. Visitors find easy access to Central Park as well as the fabled “Museum Mile” section of 5th Avenue, home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design. This is a great neighborhood for dream-shopping and people-watching, if the luxe life is your thing; cruise the avenues, pop in and out of shops, cruise through Barney’s, have a cappuccino and a salad in a cafe with tables facing the street. (If you want to do some actual shopping but can’t afford the stratospheric prices, you might check out Bloomingdale’s). At night, much of the neighborhood goes dark (safe but very, very quiet) with the exception of restaurants; but from Third Avenue over, far from the convenience of the subway and the elite status granted by Central Park proximity, the Upper East Side turns into one big frat party, rife with bars packed with preppie post-collegiate types.

Upper West Side

Historically the heart of liberal, intellectual, political New York (the home of Bella Abzug and John Lennon), the Upper West Side has undergone considerable gentrification in recent years, with the influx of chain stores and the advent of the Time-Warner Center (the grandly named Shops at Lincoln Center is just another upscale chain mall, though it has some fabulous restaurants hidden away in its upper reaches). Still, the neighborhood remains funky, cranky, and relatively diverse–not to mention family-friendly (it is, perhaps, the stroller capital of Manhattan). Bounded by Riverside Park (overlooking the Hudson) to the west and Central Park to the east, the neighborhood is exceptionally culturally rich, even for Manhattan. Watch Shakespeare in the Park, or hang out at the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon, in Central Park opposite the Dakota, where the Beatle lived and died; while away an afternoon drinking a glass of wine, listening to music and watching the yachts, the roller-bladers, the walkers and runners and dog-walkers in the Riverside Park Boat Basin; check out the Children’s Museum and the Museum of Natural History (with its fabulous dinosaur exhibits and the gorgeous Rose Planetarium); watch ballet or opera at Lincoln Center (in summer, you can dance outside on the plaza and watch performances by artists from around the world). Juilliard is located here; so is a campus of Fordham University. Foodies will want to check out Zabar’s and Fairway, two of the city’s most renowned culinary outlets. While the architecture is often gorgeous (check out the Ansonia, on Broadway north of 72nd Street), it’s the people-watching that’s really great here–but be prepared to keep moving or get out of the way, as the crowd moves quickly and this is still the domain of sharp elbows and sharper retorts.

Midtown

Midtown, from 42nd Street to 59th Street east of 5th Avenue, is one of the most visited areas of New York–it’s fast, crowded and fabulous, though not many New Yorkers live here (there is a sprinkling of exclusive residential enclaves on its eastern edge). Half the city’s train commuters enter at Grand Central Terminal, the famed architectural landmark located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Grand Central underwent a major renovation some years back: now you can have a drink at one of the restaurants on the upper levels of the grand central hall while you watch the frenetic scene below or gaze at the intricate restored ceiling. Some of the city’s great old grand dames of shopping–Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany’s, Saks Fifth Avenue–share avenue space with a younger, less tony crowd (the Nike Store, Coach, and other ubiquitous upscale brands); for the serious clothing design maven, there is, of course, Barney’s (for kids, check out the revamped FAO Schwartz, no longer the indie wonderland it once was but still pretty amazing). St. Patrick’s Cathedral is on Fifth Avenue just north of Saks; Rockefeller Center, with its skating rink, its yearly Christmas tree, and its Today Show windows, is across the street; Radio City Music Hall is down the way, fronting on the Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue), not far from the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art.

Gramercy Park

This neighborhood (17th to 22nd Street, from east of Park Avenue South to Third Avenue) was built around a private park by the same name by Samuel Ruggles, one of the city’s first great developers, in the nineteenth century. The houses and apartment buildings around the park are some seriously coveted real estate, since ownership is still the only way to make it through the gates of the park; Rockefellers and their ilk live here. The area north and east of the park (Murray Hill) is residential and not particularly interesting to tourists, though the Morgan Library, with its spectacular new renovation, is to the northwest. Food pilgrims should check out Ess-a-Bagel, on 1st Avenue south of 23rd Street, home to what are arguably the city’s best bagels (but be prepared to brave serious lines and bantering clerks).

Madison Park/Flatiron/Park Avenue South

Stretching from 5th Avenue to Park Avenue South, from 27th Street to the top of Union Square, this cluster of neighborhoods has undergone substantial change in recent years. Madison Park has been substantially cleaned up and revitalized (check out the Shake Shack (a burger joint in the park) or just hang out on the benches and people-watch on a summer day), and the area around it is now home to a number of great restaurants, including Tabla, Eleven Madison Park, and the three-star A Voce. Gentrification has made its mark here, too: the Metropolitan Life Insurance building (instantly recognizable by its golden top) has just been sold to a developer, who will turn it into condos. But the area has history–this was, of course, the site of the original Madison Square Gardens, way way back in the 19th century–and the new conversions preserve the beautiful architecture around the park: it’s one of the loveliest squares in all of downtown. Park Avenue South is an after-work bar-hopping mecca, and 5th Avenue from the iron-shaped Flatiron building on down is home to yet more shopping. Many of the shops are fairly generic, but ABC Carpet & Home is not: on Broadway a couple of blocks north of Union Square, it’s styled after the New York shopping emporia of the nineteenth century, and can be quite dazzling in its esoteric plenitude.

Midtown West/Theater District/Clinton (Hell’s Kitchen)

Arguably the most popular destination for tourists, this (40th to 59th Streets from 6th Avenue over) is the land of skyscrapers and theater, tenements and honky-tonk fabulousness. Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Center sit on its eastern edge; to the west, the tenement neighborhood once known as Hell’s Kitchen is now the mostly mellowed “Clinton,” a low scale nabe of well-priced ethnic restaurants, trendy bars, and independent shops inhabited by blue-collar workers, Broadway working stiffs, Fordham students and, in recent years, a sizeable gay community priced out of Chelsea to the south. In the middle, of course, is Times Square, that most gaudy of New York City spectacles, replete with over-the-top signs (the neon, now mostly gone the way of the dodo, was once afforded special legal protections–now it’s all about pixels), screaming crowds below the MTV studios, scam artists and card sharks running sidewalk games (do NOT be tempted: you really, really, really can’t win), over-the-top commerce, insane crowds, and, of course, lots and lots of theater. While this area has lost much of its former evocative seediness, this is still New York City–so watch your wallet, especially in crowds. Otherwise, Times Square is quite safe most of the time, though it can feel a bit menacing after midnight. Also here is the home of some of the most prestigious private clubs such as the Harvard Club, Yacht Club and fabulous hotels on 44th street between 5th and 6th avenue. The area is not just for tourists is a place where locals hangout for lunch or after work visiting some great restaurants like DB Bistro, Kellari Taverna, Triumph and many more.

Chelsea

Historically a residential area known for its writer and artist population, Chelsea (15th to 39th Streets between the Hudson River and Sixth Avenue) was the epicenter of the city’s gay life for quite some time; but as the neighborhood has become increasingly upscale, it’s changed considerably. New York’s hottest gallery scene inhabits the area’s western edge, with haute restaurants to match; the Chelsea Market attracts foodie types from all over, despite its dark, dated design; a clutch of trendy clubs have taken up residence on and around 27th street and on the western edges of the neighborhood; and then, of course, there’s Whole Foods (nothing like a fabu grocery store to get New Yorkers going). Once dangerous, then quietly residential, Chelsea has become very very downtown.

Flatiron/Union Square

Union Square is located at 5th avenue from 14th to 17th Street. Broadway also intersects here as it makes its way on a diagonal path toward the tip of the island. The square is a popular spot for various performers and protests, as well as the location of the Union Square Greenmarket, where over 70 vendors sell high-quality produce, meats, baked goods, and other wares to discerning consumers. Several well-known restaurants are also located in this area, which contains the landmark triangular Flatiron Building.

East Village

The East Village once was part of The Lower East Side has undergone gentrification and has lost its former edge. However, it is still a culturally diverse area with large Polish and Ukrainian populations and the restaurant row dubbed “Little India.” If you walk its narrow side streets, including St. Mark’s Place, you will discover numerous funky shops, and people-watching is especially fun in this colorful neighborhood. The East Village stretches from Houston Street to 14th Street on the east side and now includes the sub-division “Alphabet City” with popular Tompkins Square Park. For you movie buffs Sixth Street between Avenues A and B became the set for The Godfather Part II.

Greenwich/West Village

Greenwich Village has historically retained a bohemian air and has historically been the center of New York gay culture. This town-within-a-city is seductive with its quaint, curvy streets, beautifully restored townhouses and cozy restaurants. Gentrification has led many monied families to settle in this area. Bleecker Street is a burgeoning shopping area with many newly-opened designer boutiques. Jazz aficionados will want to catch a performance at the legendary Blue Note. The West Village is generally considered the area of Greenwich Village west of Seventh Avenue. Washington Square Park is lively during the warm weekend days and a great place to see street performers, historic brownstones and locals mixing with tourists and NYU students.

Meatpacking District

Officially known as Gansevoort Market, the Meatpacking District is bordered by West 15th Street, Gansevoort Street and 11th Avenue. Not long ago, this industrial warehouse area was populated almost exclusively by wholesale meat companies, but it not long ago transformed into the city’s latest it-destination with numerous trendy and outrageously expensive boutiques, a white-hot club scene, and chi-chi dining establishments. Hipster- and model-watching is particularly good in this uber-chic neighborhood!

NoHo/Nolita

NoHo (“north of Houston Street”) is an oddly-shaped parcel of land enclosed by 3rd Avenue, the Bowery, 8th Street and Broadway; Nolita (“north of Little Italy”) is located below this area between Houston Street, Lafayette Street, Broome Street and the Bowery. Both areas have experienced a retail upturn as independent shop owners and designers were forced out of SoHo due to skyrocketing rent and real estate prices. Shoppers in search of the unique and one-of-a-kind will enjoy perusing the stores lining Mott, Elizabeth and Mulberry Streets.

SoHo & Tribeca

Once a manufacturing center, Soho (”South of Houston Street,” north of Canal, from Lafayette to West Broadway) and Tribeca (the Triangle Below Canal Street, bordered by Broome and Barclay Streets west of Broadway) fell on hard times as light industry moved out of the city. The area was menacing in the 1970s when artists began moving in and “homesteading” the huge open spaces in abandoned cast-iron factories and warehouses; soon galleries were thriving in Soho, and while Tribeca took longer to turn around, it became a haven for ground-breaking restaurants. These days, things are…different. Although a handful of the artists who originally transformed SoHo’s factories and warehouses into studios, galleries and lofts still call this area home (the “pioneers” were allowed to claim the buildings they had “homesteaded” under a special loft law aimed at creating safe neighborhoods and affordable housing for artists at one shot), it has metamorphosed into a downtown haven for well-to-do shoppers. Most art galleries have now moved out of the area (and into west Chelsea), while a thousand upscale retail chain outlets have bloomed on these cobblestone streets. TriBeCa has a lot less shopping and a lot more pricey residential real estate: this is Manhattan loft living at its finest. The retail here is expensive and exclusive; furniture mavens in particular may want to do some browsing. Robert De Niro’s TriBeCa Film Festival is headquartered here.

Chinatown & Little Italy

Ever-expanding Chinatown is a vibrant and colorful neighborhood that has grown to encompass parts of Little Italy and the Lower East Side. Ethnic shops, street vendors and reasonably priced restaurants dot its bustling streets, which span roughly from Grand Street to Chatham Square and from Broadway to beyond the Bowery towards East Broadway. Little Italy does still retain a unique ethnic charm, particularly along Mulberry Street between Canal and Spring Streets, with cozy restaurants, tempting pastry shops, and Italian food stores. Towards the end of May until October Mulberry Street which is the main thoroughfare of Little Italy becomes a pedestrian mall on the weekends. The restaurants place tables and chairs outside for patrons to dine. Chinatown dining is still done indoors. One thing to note is that there are expert watch repairmen working right on the street. They fix all types from Timex to Movado. You can identify them by a large umbrella and small stand that they work out of. So, if you need a battery replaced or a watch fixed bring it to Chinatown for a fraction of the price at other places. If you need a cop, lawyer or civil servant go to 17 Mott St. This is where a little underground restaurant is located. Wo Hop has been a working man’s place for good cheap food for many years. Beware, the lines on the weekends go up the stairs and the wait can be long, but worth it.

Lower East Side

Historically an area famous for its immigrant populations, the Lower East Side (from Houston to Delancey Street, east of the Bowery) has long been a gritty working-class neighborhood (the first public housing development, the First Houses, is located at Avenue A and 2nd Street), and in recent decades its grit was been sharpened by the menace of the drug trade. But in the eighties, artists discovered the neighborhood; the hipsters followed; then came the Broadway show Rent (and, briefly, the movie). These days, there are hot restaurants, pricey independent designer shops, Moby’s vegetarian cafe, a chic hotel, and an unbelievable number of bars here–cheek by jowl with old-school Jewish clothiers and food shops, housing projects, and small immigrant businesses. On weekend nights, the neighborhood is overrun by barhopping hip young things.The marriage is not always made in heaven, and there have been tensions between “old” and “new,” between longtime residents, artist-”pioneers” and new arrivals, and between rich and poor. Several Jewish landmarks remain, including Katz’s Delicatessen, the oldest deli in New York, and Yona Schimmel’s Knishes (both are on Houston St). A bialy factory still chugs along on Grand Street off of Essex (a bialy is kind of like a bagel, but it’s flat and doesn’t have holes); on Orchard Street, vendors and buyers still haggle over tables piled high with clothes, shoes, bags and hats (Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, is still not the best day to visit this strip). If you’re seeking a sense of the neighborhood as it was in Crossing Delancey, reserve a tour at the Tenement Museum–housed in a number of extant tenement houses, the museum offers tours that give visitors an excellent sense of what life must have been like for residents here long before the would-be rock stars moved in.

Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan comprises the Financial District (including Wall Street), City Hall, the much-filmed courthouse, and many, many government offices, as well as and Battery Park City, a residential development on the Hudson River constructed on a landfill created by the original excavation of the World Trade Center complex. If you’re tired of pavement, take a stroll through the parkland along the riverfront, from Battery Park (the jump-off point for boat tours to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, as well as for the Staten Island Ferry) north to Chelsea; you’ll have excellent views of the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty, and there are playgrounds, rolling lawns, cafes, and other diversions along the way. There’s world-famous shopping here, too: Century 21, the legendary bargain designer clothing outlet (bring sharp elbows and sharp eyes) and J&R, an electronics, music, computer and home goods emporium stretching across most of a full city block. Much of this area was devastated after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and it is still slowly recovering; tourists flock here to view the site. You will really love Lower Manhattan, for those that love electronics you cant beat J&R.
Queens and Brooklyn
Jackson Heights

The previous neighborhoods are all in Manhattan, but this borough has become increasingly less like “the real New York,” that is you can spend all your time there and not once hear a real New York accent. New York has always been built by immigrants living their version of the American dream and to see where this energy is currently thriving, it is necessary to go to the “outer boroughs.” Jackson Heights is only one of many of a patchwork of immigrant neighborhoods in Queens, the most diverse county in the country. So take the E, F, R, or V to Roosevelt Avenue or the 7 to 74th Street and explore. Walk north on 74th Street to an amazing variety of South Indian shops, jewelry stores, sari “palaces” (check out the ties and scarfs), supermarkets, and of course restaurants. The Jackson Diner (because it was an actual diner back in the day) and Delhi Palace are two of the most famous. Not far away on 37th Avenue and 73rd Street is Dosa Diner, a south Indian vegetarian restaurant featuring traditional potato and onion filled crepes. If you walk under the tracks on Roosevelt Avenue to the East, the predominant language and food becomes Latin American, Colombian, Mexican, and Ecuadorian with a wide variety of street vendors and shops to look in. Walk west on Roosevelt, and there is a small Filipino neighborhood. Walk northeast on Broadway, by contrast you can find a combination Chinese-Korean place.

Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO At the other end of the Brooklyn Bridge are two of Brooklyn’s oldest and one of its newest neighborhoods; and one of the oldest is also one of the newest.

Brooklyn Heights, reached by turning right after you walk down the stairs at the Brooklyn end of the bridge, is the old old neighborhood. It was, by some accounts, America’s first suburb, a place where good people moved to escape the unwashed hordes in New York when Robert Fulton started his ferry service. There are some of New York’s oldest houses, paticularly on and between Willow and Hicks Streets, dating to the 1840s. Walk the streets here and you forget you are in New York, it is so peaceful. There are lots of old churches too because the good people were also religious. On Orange Street between Henry and Hicks is Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims where Henry Ward Beecher preached and Lincoln listened to him during his presidential campaign. On Henry near Montegue is the Maronite Cathedral, usually shut but open on Sundays to reveal a spectacularly brightly painted interior. The doors, always visible, contain bas reliefs of French Cathedrals because they are from The Normandy, a French Ocean Liner sunk in New York Harbor during WWII. Also on Montegue are numerous cafes and restaurants as well as the typical stores. At the end is the highlight though, the Promenade a space for walking that overlooks the East River and NY Harbor, a spectacular spot for photos.

The old new neighborhood is now called DUMBO, for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. You get there by walking to the north end of the Promenade and walking down Columbia Heights, past two hulking buildings belonging to the Watchtower Society (aka Jehovah’s Witnesses). At the bottom is Fulton Ferry Landing, where Robert Fulton’s boats used to dock and now the New York Water Taxi does. Here is one of the few spots in the city which makes full use of the water. There is the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, where you can gain back those calories you lost walking or the River Cafe, where you can eat lunch or dinner while looking at the Manhattan skyline. Past this is the new area, a series of old factories and wearhouses reconverted first to artists’ studios and now high end condos. This is what SoHo used to be, with a number of galleries, stores, and cobble stone streets. At the water’s edge is a park with a quasi rock beach, with no swmmers and the constant buzz from the bridge that gives it its new name.

The Health Risks of Flight - Airplane Ear

Window Seat - Arlene FlemingWith a ferocious pop, sound becomes muffled, and air travel is to blame.

Most air travelers have probably felt the pop before - ears clogged up and popping, causing discomfort or pain. My worst experience was flying back from Hong Kong at the beginning of a cold. The sniffles worsened, the ears clogged up, and I remember the excruciating sense of pain as we made our descent, as if pins were being jabbed into my ear canal.

Airplane Ear, as the Mayo Clinic calls it, may be nearly as common as jet lag, but can last longer. In its feature about Airplane Ear, the Mayo Clinic delves into detail, covering the how and why it occurs, and includes both prevention and self care strategies.

Insider It Gear: Warm Up, Surf the World and Stay Safe on the Road

Getting Fleeced
ActiVHeat jacket
Oh the cold winds are starting to blow, but that doesn’t mean we have to suffer the chilly temperatures in silence. Brookstone’s new ActiVHeat Jacket features a rechargeable internal heating system to keep you warm for up to five hours per charge. With its clean, simple design and non-bulky fit, the jacket means you can leave that extra sweater or layer you’re always carrying at home. A control panel fits into the pocket and starts warming action with the touch of a button. Three zones of ultra-thin, carbon fiber webbing concentrate heat on the chest and upper back, while a laminated layer of microfleece blocks wind from the outside. And because you can turn the jacket on or off at will, you’re free to add heat when you need it and do away with it when you don’t. The jacket is available in black for $179.95. The vest version costs $149.95. Sizes are unisex.

Slippers on the Go
lands’ end travel slippers
When it comes to packing light, bulky slippers aren’t likely to make the cut. But when you’re away from home, it can be even more desirable to wrap your feet in warmth and protect your precious peds from whatever may be lurking in the fibers of your hotel room’s carpet. Luckily for those of us with slipper separation anxiety, Land’s End has just come out with a solution: Fleece Travel Slippers in their own little fleece bag. The streamlined, ballet-style (Sorry boys! These are clearly for the ladies) shape means they take up little space in your bag, while the suede sole give you traction on hardwood floors. Another perk? They’re machine washable. Cost: $25.

Crash Course
car collision kit
While we hope they never happen to any TravelPost.com Insider readers, we know that the vast majority of drivers have fender-benders sometime during their driving careers. The Collision.kit from Wishing Fish won’t prevent an accident or repair vehicular ailments that ensue, but it can help you remember to collect the right information when you’re totally stressed out and in crisis mode. The zippered kit includes pre-formatted pages for recording key information from drivers involved in the accident and the police responding to it, as well as a pen, clipboard and disposable flash camera to snap pics of damage on the scene. Stow it in the glove box, and all you have to do is remember to pull it out when road mishaps strike. If you can stand the oh brother eye-rolling, this would make a nice little gift for those cross-country road-tripping college kids in your life. Cost: $14.95

Surfin’ Safari

For the diehard surfers in your life, the Surf the World Board Game makes a fun gift that just might keep ‘em busy through cold, rainy weather. Think of it like Trivial Pursuit for surf bums or wannabes seeking a little solace until the weather turns. The game ushers players through eight of the world’s best surf spots and through trial and tribulations like couch crashing, lost boards, groin stitches (ouch!) and infected foot cuts. But play well and you might just get to hang ten, dude.