Palau Kayaking

Aww man, our last day in Palau. As always, when I travel, I so don’t want to go home today.

Planet Blue Kayaking

Today we enjoy more aquatic adventures, of the kayaking kind. Thanks to our friends at Sam’s Tours and Planet Blue Kayaking, we enjoyed a 1/2-day kayaking adventure.

Before I continue, I wanted to post a picture of Molly, our wonderful host on this excellent adventure. Today she’s wearing the Little Miss Giggles shirt she borrowed (from her daughter, who protested that the shirt might not be professional enough to wear to “work.” We should all have to work this hard.)

Today we had another excellent insider tour of the island. We learned some of the local lore, kayaked under and through some incredible rock formations, and even around a sunken World War II battleship.

During lunch, we enjoyed some additional, amazing snorkeling. The sea life here was about as varied as I’ve ever seen, but sadly I opted not to rent the underwater camera for a second day.

What amazes me is how much colorful, diverse sea life can thrive just feet away from beaches. It seems like nature would want to protect itself and make its greatest beauties harder for humans to find. But I guess Palau is a stunning example of just how generous Mother Nature can be.

Four Hands Massage

After lunch, we returned to the PPR hotel, where I had a massage scheduled at the property’s Elilai by Mandara Spa.

I had planned to try a massage at both resorts, but as you’ve probably gathered, we’ve been somewhat busy this week. So since this was my first free minute to have a massage, I totally (over) indulged and booked myself a four-hands massage. Many of the massage therapists in Palau are trained in Indonesia, and my two therapists were no exception.

These two ladies were totally in sync, both exerting identical amounts of pressure just where I needed it. Normally I like my massages at a “Rough Me Up” level, but my sunburn was a deterrent, and it was a pleasure to just enjoy a relaxing hour in someone else’s hands.

I absolutely cannot rave enough about how blissful the experience was. I came out of the spa, and one of my travel mates told me I looked stoned. Which is pretty much how I felt.

After a few tropical drinks on the beach, it was time for the group to convene and enjoy our final dinner.

Fruit Bat Soup

All week, our hosts had been great about introducing us to typical Palaun experiences, but I would say that Melson really went out of his way to make sure we had a touch of local flavor. He brought us the Betel nut, clams, fried donuts and a number of other one-of-a-kind experiences.

The one thing he had not yet delivered was the national dish of Palau.

Fruit Bat Soup.

But at dinner, Melson, who hadn’t let us down yet, delivered once again. And voila, here you see the result of fruit bat soup. In terms of flavor, the soup tasted pretty good. The bat itself tasted somewhat like Japanese eel (tastes like chicken!).

But since the soup is cooked with the whole bat, having to peel off the little guy’s hairy skin would probably make this an experience I don’t need to repeat.

At dinner, we finally got to meet Darin Deleon, our very gracious Palau Visitor Authority host, and the person that made it possible for all of us to travel on such a wonderful excursion.

The dinner was hosted by the Palau Pacific Resort, who even arranged to have a traditional performance for us. What a fabulous way to end our stay.

After dinner, we had a short rest before we were escorted to the airport for our 1 am departure.

(I was considering writing a scathing overview of the retarded procedures at the airport in Guam. Think dot matrix passenger manifests and highlighters, but I decided that the journey was just too lovely to ruin with a scathing end. Just know that if you fly through Guam, you may need to arm yourselves with a little extra patience and a fine-tuned sense of humor.)

And also know that any stop in Guam is 100% worth the process if you get to enjoy Palau on the other end.

Palau Snorkeling

Here’s another deep dark confession. I’m just horrible at snorkeling. I’m so inept, I always get my hair caught between my goggles and my head, so the goggles don’t fit right and water gets in my eye. I can’t dive below the surface at all, because I’ll always end up taking a big giant gulp of ocean water through my breathing tube. The salt water makes me tear up and get all boogery.

Despite all that, I absolutely love snorkeling. Even with water trickling in my eyes and having to surface and wipe the snot off my face ever ten minutes or so, I just love it.

So I was very much looking forward to today’s snorkeling itinerary, which was to be hosted by Fish N Fins. I’ve heard so much about the wonderful dive/snorkel sites in Palau and despite the build up, the excursion beat all expectations.

Big Drop Off

We first went to a popular dive location known as Big Drop off. Here snorkelers could float on top of the coral reef, while serious divers could submerge down the coral wall. Having (for once) planned ahead, I rented an underwater camera from the hotel, and boy am I glad I did.

For the education of visitors, our crew had sent a trap into deep waters where the elusive Nautilus lives (generally 600-2,000 feet by day and 300 feet at night. Not to wax eloquent on the Nautilus (because there is so much more to say) but it is one of the oldest sea creatures on the planet, and very rarely seen in its natural habitat, so this was quite a cool experience.

Also interesting is that the cage used to bring up the Nautilus had also caught an errant Moray Eel. The eel was clearly not long for this world, and despite our guides’ gentle attempts to revive the eel and encourage it to swim away, it hung loosely in front of us. While sad that the eel was unwell, it was my first time to ever see a moray completely removed from the rocks they normally hide behind, and see just how long they actually are.

Soon, however, I became quite distracted by the Black Tip Shark swimming just below us. Generally he seemed pretty uninterested in the humans (there were a lot of people swimming about) These bad boys of the sea were hungry though, and if you look closely, you can see this one chomping on a small, yellow fish. (Right about now, my sister the marine biologist is shaking her head at my hugely scientific definition of sharky’s lunch.)

At any rate, the shark was so hungry, that while we were all watching his maneuvers, he swam directly in front of us, grabbed a hold of the Moray eel and took off like the proverbial bat out of hell. Wow, it was like the discovery channel unfolding in front of us.

Lunch on the Beach

Our next stop involved enjoying a leisurely lunch on the beach. I pretty much scarfed through my snack box, and couldn’t wait to jump back in the water. I swam some 100 feet out, where a boat from another tour company was dumping snacks in the ocean in an attempt to bring the fish close to their boat.

The fish were ecstatic and thousands of them began to swim about me. What started out as really cool took on a sort of EEK! feeling when five or six huge (okay at least five feet) sharks figured out that where there are thousands of fish, there’s a fine sashimi lunch to be had.

As a few of the sharks swam around and took a second pass, two of them swam by me, almost nose to nose. Umm, not sure on exactly how much human sashimi these sharks feel a need to consume, I felt my heart slam into my throat. Melson was close by, so I did the typical tourist thing, handed him my camera, and swam back to the safer waters of our own boat. What you are looking at here, is some of Melson’s fine photography work, as I was far too chicken to be THAT close to the action.

Jellyfish Lake

Now if you’re thinking, wow, “swimming with the sharks, what could be better than that?” I’d say, “I know, right? How could the day get any better?”

Unbelievably it did.

We’d been told of a mythical lake, one that was once part of the ocean, but as the sea waters began to recede (gillions of years ago, after the ice age), the waters became trapped inland. Now the lake, a brackish mix of salt and fresh waters, still houses jellyfish that have made their home there for millennia. The jellyfish, with no natural predators, have evolved to be almost completely stingless. (I kid you not.)

So, we did have to take a somewhat steep hike to get up to and then back down to the lake. Me: hot, sweaty, klutzy, not looking forward to the hike. However, I sure am glad that I went.

This place was AMAZING. There literally is no other way to describe it.
Imagine swimming in a bowl of pea soup with the peas floating around you. That’s sort of the experience we had. The jelly fish were everywhere. In the picture you see Courtney (who took one of the earlier shark pics), and you get a great idea of just how many jelly’s are floating about. What you can't see in the picture, however, is Courtney's nefarious plotting to take home a jelly fish to keep.

We stayed here about an hour, and I think it’s safe to say that none of us wanted to leave.

A Giant Clam

Now, we went to so many places today that I don’t remember what all of them were called. I’m pretty sure the next location we hit was “Clam City.” Yup, the clams below were giant as promised.

And seriously, who can say the words “Giant Clam” without thinking of the B-52s?

“--He was in a jam
--s’in a Giant Clam”

Everyone now!

Too bad most of my group was too old (or too young) to know the song.

What was particularly cool about this dive is that it was what’s called a drift dive. You jump in the water, watch the world below you, and let the current swoosh you along. (By the way, a special kudos to travel mate Jacqui who was somewhat afraid of the water, yet still donned life vest to take a look along. Even when she realized how far away the boat was, she continued as if she were a seasoned pro.)

Even those who aren’t strong swimmers, or not swimmers at all, could navigate this site with ease. Pop on a life vest, let the water do the work, and the boat will swing around to meet you at the end.

Milky Way

Even though the day was drawing to a close, I don’t think any of us were ready to go home yet. Fortunately, Tim, our captain, had one last place to show us. We ended up at a fabulous place known as the Milky Way.

Here, the boat crew hauled up buckets of the milky white sand from the waters of a protected inlet. We were told to slather the sand over ourselves and let it dry. Basically, a free spa treatment. We were enjoying the afternoon too much, though, so we pretty much posed long enough for this picture before jumping en masse back into the water.

This adventure was probably slightly cooler before we learned that the fine, milky white sand in the water is scientifically known as Chiton poop. Whatever, my skin never felt so good.

Barracuda Bar & Grill

As the day came to a close, Fish N Fins hosted our delightful dinner at their on-site restaurant, Barracuda Bar & Grill. Despite a raging sunburn (in places I’ve never burned before), I managed to scarf down a stunning amount of delectable cuisine, before returning to the hotel to fall into a near comatose sleep.

The Battle of Peleliu

Here’s my deep, dark, secret confession.

Part of our group would be going diving today while the rest of us would be doing an “alternate” activity. So of course I was thinking that a separate (but equal) activity would be snorkeling.

Nope. We non-diving girls would be visiting Peleliu Island for an in-depth overview of island’s importance during the War in the Pacific.

Hmm, can’t say I was as excited as I should have been.

Turns out, the program was quite fascinating.

We were transported by a 40-minute boat ride to Peleliu Island by Sam’s Tours . Once on Peleliu, we were escorted by Des Matsutaro, an expert on the island’s history, and a World War II historian.

War in the Pacific

Peleliu, which is currently inhabited by some 200 residents, had no less than 10,000 residents before the (in)famous battle. Many of these residents were Japanese, as the Japanese had several military sites on the island, in particular an airstrip that proveg to be central in the fight to control the Pacific.

Scattered throughout the island are numerous World War II artifacts, all of which are protected under historical preservation rules. We visited a memorial site (seen in the photo) dedicated to the 81st infantry division (the Wildcats) as well as many other historical sites, including the famed “Orange Beach” where one of the initial battles took place.

Des did a fabulous job of bringing the history of this area to life. The battle for Peleliu was considered controversial, by many, in particular because of its high casualty count and because of the fact that the airstrip never ended up serving its intended purpose as a strategic site in the battle to recapture the Philippines.

Des excelled at conveying the feeling of that time. The young men of the US (and Japanese) armies fought in 115 degree, humid weather marching over sandy beaches and tropical vegetation. The horror of what these brave men went through, in the defense of liberty, is really beyond my comprehension. I've attached this photo (which I "borrowed" from the Department of Defense, public domain) which illustrates very well, the overwhelming forces fighting for Peleliu.

We took a break from military history to enjoy lunch at Yellow Wall restaurant, which is owned and operated by our hosts for the day, Maml Divers. We were served stuffed mud crab, a local specialty, as well as a totally decadent deep friend cheese log. Bad, bad, bad (but so good.)

After lunch, our history lesson continued, as we visited Peleliu World War II Memorial Museum. The museum is largely made up of donated artifacts and items, as well as many personal histories of the soldiers that fought on the island. One of the many donations here was a copy of John McCain’s biography.

We visited some of the island’s caves, which played a huge role in the Japanese defense of the island. These caves were largely the reason that the battle of Peleliu didn’t take the four days the Americans anticipated, and rather lasted some four months.

Palau Diving

Des told us that diving operations also have base locations on Peleliu Island. Because the island is much closer to some of the famed reef spots, visitors embarking from Peleliu will reach the prime diving spots an hour before the visitors from Koror, making for at least an hour of prime, unshared diving time.

If staying on the island, one of the best resorts to check out is Dolphin Bay Resort. This cute little resort is an ideal jumping off point for eagers divers wanting to get an early start.

Palau Pacific Resort

During the day our belongings had been transferred to the lovely Palau Pacific Resort (known by locals as PPR), our second accommodation in the islands. After finishing our Peleliu tour, we enjoyed a relaxing 40-minute boat ride back to Koror, where we were dropped off directly at the PPR’s boat dock.

This gorgeous, west-facing facility would be our home for the next three nights, and what a home it is.

Sams Tours

After a brief rest we were escorted back to the Sam’s Tours headquarters. The tour company is operated out of an open-style area, which loans itself well to group events, meetings and functions. We were served a splendid dinner, prepared by the wives of the Sam’s Tours senior staff.

A particular favorite was the crab in coconut milk (gosh I can still taste it) and lobster with garlic butter. Our hosts were incredibly generous with their time and they pulled out all the stops.

We enjoyed an in-depth presentation on the ecological history of Palau by Ron Leidich, the staff biologist for Sam’s Tours.

We were also lucky enough to watch some of the stunning underwater, movie footage shot by staff videographer Dr. Nick Martorano, Ph.D. If you want to watch some of his awesome footage (or even download it to your iPod), you can visit his site at: www.oceanwonders.org/LAUPS_2007/. A sample picture from a dive to a "mystery wreck" is included here.

With our heads and our bellies filled to the max, we returned to the PPR to enjoy some well-earned rest.

Babeldaob Island Tour

Early Morning Massage

Now here's a great way to start the day. The Palau Royal Resort sets up a massage therapist in the lobby, who gives away five to ten-minute massages in order to encourage traffic to the property's Mandara Spa.

Ahh bliss. I don't think I'm going to have time to enjoy a complete massage here, but it sure felt good getting a 10-minute preview before we set off for our hard day of sightseeing.

Palau International Coral Reef Center

Palau is so reliant upon its coral reef system, both for the tourism it brings, as well as for the marine environment that sustains much of the country’s economy, that it’s great to see an Aquarium dedicated specifically to the reefs.

The Palau Coral Reef Center is a small but mighty attraction with lots of great information about the reef and its native denizens. The Outer Reef exhibit is one of the largest exhibits of its kind in the world and houses angelfish, butterflyfish and wrasses along with many coral types. We had a huge itinerary today, and definitely did not have enough time to explore this amazing place.

Having said that, however, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss anything else on the day’s agenda, so wouldn’t have really changed a thing. Our next stop would be Ngchesar to enjoy a new Palau attraction.

If you’re feeling confused by Palau's names and locations, don’t worry, so was I. I’ve attached another map of Palau, to help you get your bearings. Again, my apologies to the PVA for stealing their content.

Ngchesar Jungle River Boat Cruise

Next we visited the Jungle River Boat Cruise

Being the uber Disney fan that I am, needless to say, I had a few jokes about the “Jungle River Boat Cruise” ride. But turns out the joke was on me, because owner Billy Takamine lived in Anaheim for a time, and designed the concept somewhat around its namesake.

It is definitely much, much cooler on a real jungle river, that’s for sure.

The aluminum boat holds forty people and sails up a 2.5-mile river, until it hits the ocean. Along the way, the river is lined by mangroves and we had our very own guest appearance by two crocodiles, who apparently are quite the local celebrities.

After our fabulous cruise, we were treated to a tremendous luncheon barbecue, starring some of the best short ribs I’ve ever eaten. (And since I worked with the Korean government, I’ve eaten a LOT of short ribs.)

What I think impressed me the most is that this entire operation, which is run on land owned by Billy Takamine, is all run without any electricity. The land, which was nearly inaccessible until roads into the area were recently developed. Because the area is somewhat remote, electricity is a fairly new development, and Billy isn’t in any hurry to get it. (Don’t worry, the restrooms, which are lit by candle, do feature running water.)

That’s kind of how the Palauns are. Eco friendly, not because they have to be, but just because it’s a way of life.

Babeldaob Tour

A light rain, and the fact that we left the Jungle River Boat Cruise considerably later than our itinerary had planned, meant we had some last minute modifications on our afternoon schedule. Out was the waterfall hike (too slippery) but the rest of the Babeldaob (Island) tour was intact.

First we did some creative four-wheeling to see Palau’s national capital, Melekeok. The town, which has less than 200 residents, boasts a gorgeous capital building literally situated in the middle of nowhere.

I think our group was perplexed by the fact that all the nation’s officials had to drive 40 minutes each way, every day, to come to work, but apparently Palau is hoping to develop the area in the near future.

In the area, we also visited the Melekeok Bai, a traditional ceremonial house and stepped far back in time at the Ngarchelong Stone monoliths. The origin of these mysterious stone heads is unknown, but the Palauans consider this space sacred. While walking through the area, I definitely got the sense that this location is being guarded by ancient spirits.

Today our hosts were Kadoi, Yumie and Melson of the PVA. Melson was great about introducing us to some of the native aspects of Palaun life. Here you see him enjoying some very fabulous raw clams at a local market. If we’d had more time, I probably would have eaten 20 of these babies, but since we were on a schedule, we had to roll along.

Poor Melson also took quite a hit later when he elected to introduce us to an old stone sarcophagus further along Babeldaob. The sarcophagus, origins unknown, is located up a steep, muddy slope. You know what happens when rain, hills, mud and klutzy Monica mix together, right? Yep, I took a header up and down that hill.

Melson was great about trying to get us all up and down safely but to no avail as one of our group (not me, thank god) quite literally crashed into him, taking him out. He’s survived in one piece, but likely won’t ever forget our group.

Elilai Restaurant

After spending the day toiling in the mud and visiting some of Palau’s remote areas, it was a total shock to the system to have dinner at Elilai, www.elilaipalau.com
a trendy “Asian” grill.


This place looks like it comes straight from the pages of New York or Las Vegas magazine. The owner, Takuya Tetsuzo is a designer as well as a restaurateur, and he wanted to open a restaurant with a modern flair in Palau. Mission accomplished. The meal consisted of countless courses of Asian specialties (like Pad Thai, pork ribs, pineapple fried rice, seared ahi with a Korean hot sauce) and the restaurant sported a beautiful view of the neighboring Rock Islands. (Again the view was implied, as that dreaded night darkness prevented us from seeing much.)

Even without the view, the lounge-feel of the restaurant balcony made an enjoyable setting. After dinner we enjoyed drinks in the restaurant lounge. Quasi day-beds, video screens, what more could a girl want. Here you see Yumie, Kadoi and Heather enjoying a rare quiet moment.

Palau Overview

Palau Royal Resort

This morning we got our first "real" look (by daylight) at our hotel, the Palau Royal Resort, a lovely resort in Koror. This is one of Palau’s high-end properties and definitely worth checking out if you’re planning a visit. This is a member of the Nikko Hotels family and because of the huge volume of Japanese travelers to Palau, it felt a little bit like traveling in Asia.

Yay for me, because that meant the delicious breakfast had lots and lots of Asian specialties. I never eat breakfast at home, so why oh why does a buffet seem to lure me with its message of “go crazy and try to eat everything?”

I enjoyed my favorite international breakfast, congee rice porridge with a side of bacon. Gross, I know. But don’t worry, I added other specialties from the buffet, including made-to-order waffles in order to round out my palate.

Koror Museum Tour

Not really knowing much about Palau, I was pleased to see our morning consisted of a museum tour of Koror. We visited the Belau National Museum, Tebang Woodcarvers and Etpison Museum, all of which helped color in some details of the Palauan history (as well as a greater understanding of the islands that make up Micronesia.)

At the Belau National Museum we had a great overview of the effects of international communities on Palau. From the German control of Palau to the Japanese occupation to modern-day influences such as Taiwan, which uses its friendship with Palau to further its own global positioning independent of China, the tiny nation has played a role in much of international politics.

At the Tebang Woodcarvers, we saw artisans crafting the “storyboard” wood carvings that are a popular Palauan handicraft. The storyboards generally follow one of just a handful of fables, which give a greater insight into the nation’s history. For example, the Palauan past has a rather grim history in that the women never had a natural childbirth. The woman’s womb was sliced open with a bamboo knife and needless to say, the woman rarely survived this process. Along came the spider god Mengidabrutkoel and showed the people how to deliver babies naturally. Now many storyboards bear the image of this spider god and display this legend.

The Etipson Museum also proved to be hugely informative with exhibits focused on the endemic culture of Palau. With displays of a Bai (traditional men’s meeting house), canoes and other boats, the museum helped wrap up all the information we’d learned this morning during our advanced-learning Palau course.

Dolphin Pacific

In the afternoon, we got up close and personal with some of Palau’s natives, the dolphins. Dolphins Pacific is an educational facility that studies the dolphin habits. Since I am a child of the “Flipper Generation,” I’ve had a deep seated “awww” for dolphins since my early childhood. I’ve been up close and personal before, but these smart animals never fail to make me smile.

The dolphins have been taught not to eat the many leaves that fall in their enclosures, but rather to bring the leaves to a trainer. As a reward, the dolphins get a tasty seafood treat. Now the crafty critters swim around the pool finding leaves and trade them for seafood in an almost incessant manner. Makes you wonder whose training whom, right?

Although we had some scheduled “free time” in the afternoon, Heather, one of our hosts, had told us that one of the best places to buy story boards was at the men’s prison. Cool, right? So naturally a group of us made our way over to check out the inventory. They must have had thousands of storyboards there. Overwhelming.

The paper sign over the door mandating “no prisoners beyond this point” was our first clue that this might not be a high-security prison. Although I was tempted to buy the storyboard of the legend of “Melechotech-a-chau” about a giant with a long, long, long male member that sort of resembles the Loch Ness monster, the cliché of a sex carving by a male prisoner was just too much for me to bear. So I bought a nice legend about boats, and turtles and greed set in Ngerchemai, a the home village of our other host, Kadoi.

Palasia Hotel Palau

Dinner tonight was at the Taiwanese-owned Palasia Hotel Palau. Our all-Chinese buffet of delicacies was followed by drinks overlooking the Rock Islands. (Of course since it was pitch black outside, this was more of a figurative overlooking than an actual view.) If I’d had more time, I definitely wanted to indulge in the hotel’s Chinese-style massages, wow, priced at just $20 an hour.

I just love inexpensive hedonism.

On My Way to Palau

One Country Closer to the "Century Club"

There are some (usually older) travel geeks who keep track of how many countries they’ve visited, and for them the “century” mark of 100 countries is a high water mark. I’m nowhere near visiting 100 countries, but have noticed lately that I’ve only been traveling to countries I’ve already visited. I’m not complaining, of course, but when I got the offer to visit Micronesia’s Palau, I jumped at the chance.

When I told people I was visiting Palau, I usually received one of two responses. The main one being “where’s Palau” and the second-most popular being “oh yes, there was a very famous World War II battle fought there.” For those of you in the first category, I’m including a map of the area, which I borrowed from the website of our hosts, the Palau Visitors Authority Palau Visitors Authority For those of you in the second category, keep reading.

Getting To Micronesia Via Continental Airlines

To get to Palau we flew Continental Airlines and Continental Air Micronesia with routing from LAX to Honolulu, then Honolulu to Guam and finally Guam to Koror (Palau).

Suprisingly, the flights were not awful. I can’t stand flying truth be told. Being tall, big and above average in the chest region mean that airline seats are at best uncomfortable and usually pretty intolerable. Continental however had a decent enough pitch (room between me and the person whose reclined seat usually rests on my chest) to allow me to even get in and out of my seat, and to eat my meal without performing my usual contortionist dance.

Further the food service was plentiful and fairly pleasant. On the long leg (HNL to GUM) we were even served ice cream sundaes for our mid-flight snack. Oh yum.

And anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a video game addict. So the in-seat video games (on a domestic carrier no less) were a welcome distraction. The movies were on demand so you could start, stop, pause and fast forward through the movies at your own whim. Don’t you just hate having to start watching a movie half way through the film?

Fortunately (sorry Continental, please don’t reduce your flights after reading this) none of the flights were 100% full, so I mostly had an empty seat next to me, which was awesome. Just enough to let me spread out a little bit.

The flight schedule was great, getting us into Palau in the evening. We didn’t get to see much on our first night, but it was great being able to get a full night’s sleep right away, rather than having full day’s schedule on only airplane rest.

It's Not a Mirage

The Mirage Hotel

Our culinary tour of Las Vegas commenced today at Cravings, an all-you-can-eat buffet at The Mirage Hotel. Phew, all you can eat, and I don't just mean that in an "eat-till-you're-full" sense. I mean they had so much food on this buffet it was almost impossible to decide where to start.

Once we'd been well fed, we went to our final stop on the whirlwind Las Vegas tour, to Siegried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.

The dolphins were so cute. (Don't come expecting a Sea World-esque array of tricks and jumps, though. The trainers work with the dolphins, but there are no "shows" per se.) After communing with the dophins we headed into the Secret Garden.

The giant lions and tigers inside totally reminded me of my own kitty cats waiting for me back at home. They were just as lazy, just as playful and just as cute. Although we had uncommonly breezy weather (for Las Vegas), the Secret Garden should be a great place to visit year-round. It's perfectly shaded and the kind of rereat where you can just sit back, relax and and enjoy the peace and quiet.

And suddenly we were done with our trip. I soon found myself on the road back to Los Angeles with a ton of great new memories, and a bag full of press kits I would need to spend some quality time reviewing.

Shine On Las Vegas

I’m dragging a bit today, but clearly not enough to pass up the Belgium Waffles at Payard, a Patisserie and Bistro at Caesar's Palace. Um yeah, and the chocolate truffles afterwards. Hopped up on caffeine and sugar, we started our tour of the Flamingo Hotel.



Flamingo Hotel

Now if you haven’t been to this property lately, as they say, you haven’t been here at all. The designers have taken a few pages of what looks like a Barbie design book to design the new Flamingo Go Room. These rooms are designed in an electronic pink, mixed with some old-school browns and whites. The rooms are peppered with photos of the original Flamingo and the overall effect is sort of a fun, quirky “what’s old is new again” feel.

If your Las Vegas budget doesn't allow for some of the higher-end properties on the strip, this is absolutely the place you should check out. If you want more bang for your buck, you might consider the GO Metropolitan Suite, which has an amazing view of Las Vegas.

After our tour, we were served a light (thank god) luncheon, in one of the pool-side cabanas. I pretty much sprawled out on a lounger and watched the world go by, but did manage to interact some with the Sopranos look alikes from the the Soprano's Last Supper show that came to pay us a visit.

The Wynn Hotel

In the evening we had the opportunity to tour the delightful Wynn Hotel. For some reason, this property really captured my attention. From the whimsical parasols marking the lobby bar to the fine service to the Lake of Dreams show, I really enjoyed our visit here.

We were slated for another dine around tonight, but fortunately we only had two restaurants on tap. We over consumed a giant platterful of appetizers at the Wing Lei, the only Chinese restaurant in North America to be awarded a Michelin star. Next, we were served an unlimited arrray of meat and side dishes at SW Steakhouse. Here in the photo you see Carole, one of our group, making friends with Travis, the restaurant manager. (I did mention how hospitable the staff is here, right?)

High-Flying Las Vegas

Tonight’s evening festivities, once again took top billing, as we were treated to an amazing helicopter ride over the Las Vegas strip by Maverick Helicopters. My camera was not up to the challenge of taking any shots worthy of looking at, but this one will give you at least a general idea of what we saw.

We had a few helicopter virgins on our ride, but despite a few lingering fears, once we were airborne, they were totally into the ride. It wasn't as scary they thought it would be. If you've ever considered taking this trip, you absolutely must do it.

After all that flying, what else could we do but enjoy a few late-night drinks? We made our way to The Luxor.

We started our imbibing with a few beverages with such names as "Liquid Lust," "The Vixen," and "Love Potion" in Liquidity, a bar located in the center of the Luxor casino. Next we moved on to LAX, a two-story hangout for the young and beautiful. We enjoyed SKYY Vodka drinks in our private, ultra-VIP loft, while overlooking the activity.

Finally, we made our way to Noir Bar, entering through their private entrance. Reservations are required at this bar, and there's a rumor that you can't get in unless you (or your concierge) know the right people to call. Lucky for us, we were hanging out with the right crowd.

Our late-night schedule got us back to the hotel by around 1 a.m., pretty late, but still enough time to take a quick soak in the Jacuzzi.

Oh What a Night

Town Square Las Vegas

This morning we enjoyed a shopping tour of Las Vegas’ newest mall, Town Square Las Vegas. This outdoor plaza is located near (across the strip) from McCarran Airport. Fortunately for us it was a cool, breezy day, perfect for outdoor shopping. The center is anchored by Borders (yay) and Fry’s is at the far end (another yay), which should give you your bearings if you’re at all familiar with the Las Vegas landscape.

The place has really been designed to be a relaxing experience (such a novelty in high-octane Las Vegas) and is well suited for families. Even Fido is totally welcome, and the center has doggy bars set up throughout. After an hour of shopping it was time to eat. Today we would participate in what is known as a dine-around, where we would sample food from several different restaurants to get an overall feel of the center.

Oh lordy, did I say sample?

I can honestly say that I’ve NEVER eaten as much food as I did today in my whole life. We started out with a snack platter at Tommy Bahama’s (coconut shrimp, goat cheese, tuna poke, key lime pie), and then made our way to the Yard House. I’ve eaten at the Yard House in Long Beach and Pasadena so I’m already a fan of their cuisine. However Yard House went ALL out and served seven sampler dishes to each person. We had Chinese chicken salad, pasta with garlic lobster sauce, a half hamburger, orange chicken, and so on. Urp.

Next we made a brief stop at Louis’, a fine seafood restaurant only open for dinner. A couple of appetizers later, we were escorted to Louis' Fish Camp, a casual seafood facility across the way. I promised myself that no matter what, I wasn’t going to eat what they served here. Sadly deep-fried, softshell crab is one of my favorite favorites and so I was forced (forced I tell you) to eat half of it. Finally we ended up at Brio, a Tuscan style restaurant where we enjoyed desserts and coffee around an open fire pit.

The good news is that visitors to Town Square won't ever feel like there aren't enough food options to make them happy!

City Center

After our extended lunch, we waddled our way back to our bus, and were then brought on to tour the pre-opening offices of the new City Center project.

This project will, in essence, change the entire landscape of Las Vegas. It is so overwhelming, I'm not sure I can find the words to do it justice, so I'm stealing verbiage from their press release.

A joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, CityCenter is a (more than) $8 billion mixed-use development, built on 76 acres along the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. The groundbreaking design introduces a dazzling vertical city in the heart of Las Vegas’ sprawling horizontal grid, and will include a 57-story condo-hotel called Vdara, two residential high-rises known as Veer Towers, the city's first Mandarin Oriental, The Harmon Hotel and a 4,000-room resort casino. CityCenter represents the most significant privately financed project in the United States.

Phew, even the sales center was overwhelming. We got to wander through life-size model rooms of every part of the project and watch a multimedia display of the ongoing progress of this community.

We were given a three-hour break this afternoon, which some people spent using their free Las Vegas Monorail passes to tour other parts of the city. I’m embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t nearly that ambitious and I spent most of my free time napping and working in my room.

The Palazzo Hotel

In the late afternoon, we were given a tour of the posh new Palazzo Hotel. Inside we toured Jay-Z's sports bar 40/40, which should have felt very "boys only" but was quite accessible and comfortable inside. If I could do my 40th birthday all over again, I'd probably have it here.

We also toured the Palazzo Pool Deck, which had amazing views overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, and was particularly brilliant at sunset.

All too soon it was time to eat, again. Hard to believe but there I was munching my way through Tortilla chips at Dos Caminos, an upscale Mexican restaurant located in the Palazzo. I’m embarrassed to admit that I did end up eating most of my grilled steak. Someone, please, help me find my stop button.

The Jersey Boys

The great thing about Las Vegas is that no matter how much fun you’re having, things can always get better. After dinner this was certainly true, as we were hosted to a preview performance of The Jersey Boys, the musical based upon the life story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. A warning to the big girl, the seats in the theatre are tiny, so try to get yourself a place on the aisle, but other than that, this is a definitely must-see show. The singers were so incredibly talented and by the time the performers transitioned into the Act 1 Finale of “Oh What a Night,” even the Korean grandma and grandpa sitting next to me were up and rocking out.



The late show got us back to our hotel about 1 am, and I was so tired that I barely had the strength to take a dip in my Jacuzzi tub. I didn’t even notice the hotel had given us a bottle of red wine until the next morning.

60,000 Pounds of Shrimp

I'm off to Las Vegas today, and facing the age-old question, do I drive or fly? It usually takes me about four hours to drive (lead foot, I know) but on the other hand by the time I drive to the airport, park, take the shuttle, check in, etc., it seems like the whole process takes me just as long. So even with gas prices being what they are, it’s the open road for me.

The Signature Tower

I’m staying at the Signature at MGM Grand, a series of high-rise condominiums behind the MGM Grand Hotel. Once I got over the weirdness of staying at a property that doesn’t have a casino, I really got into the Signature, especially with its no-smoking policy. It was really unique being not hearing the ching ching of slot payouts as I made my way to my room. Also, my 17th floor room, complete with mini-kitchen and living area, had an excellent view of the strip.

Mandalay Bay

Our welcome function was hosted at a conference room at the Shark Reef attraction at Mandalay Bay, where we served yummy seafood snacks (oysters, sushi) while watching Shark Reef visitors looking in at us from the other side of the wall-size aquarium.

The cuisine was hosted by Chef Rick Moonen, a fabulous chef who runs Rick Moonen's RM Seafood here in Las Vegas, and before ran a few Michelin-rated restaurants in New York City. Among Chef Rick’s many claims to fame, he is well known is Las Vegas for his commitment to sustainable seafood. He gave us an energetic talk about the importance of not overharvesting (and overeating) endangered seafood. In Las Vegas alone, for example, more than 60,000 pounds of shrimp are eaten every day, which is more than the rest of the country put together.

Now Chef Rick is working with up-and-coming chefs in Las Vegas to create citywide programs that prevent stressing out our endangered delicacies. What was really great about his talk is that Chef Rick does say we have to give up on certain fish forever, just that we should give the endangered species a break in order to let them rejuvenate themselves. If you are interested in the this topic, Chef Rick just released a book called Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook's Essential Companion.

After the reception we were hosted to a tour of the fabulous Shark Reef. I can’t recommend this attraction highly enough. If you find yourself in Las Vegas, it is well worth taking a break from your other pursuits to get over here and see the fish collections, which include sharks, moray eels, and jelly fish, among others.

Koi at Planet Hollywood

In keeping with our seafood theme, we were then escorted over to Planet Hollywood, where we enjoyed a deluxe dinner at Koi. Although I’ve been to the sister restaurant in LA, which I love, nothing can beat the Las Vegas view from the restaurant. We had a zillion food courses (spicy tuna on crispy sushi rice, Kobe beef carpaccio, miso baked cod) followed by an obscenely huge dessert platter.

We capped off our lovely evening with a stop at Prive, Planet Hollywood's newest night club. Although the club just opened a few months ago, there are already waiting-room only lines, winding their way through the Planet Hollywood casino, to get in. What I especially liked about the club was the open feel to it. There were no roped off areas, and none of that "even though you made it through the doors, you better watch your step inside" feel that plague a lot of the clubs here in Hollywood.

I guess I’m not as hip as I once was (geez, I really am getting old) but I was totally thrilled by the young woman who brought us our champagne bottle, complete with a sparkler attached. I’ve admitted before that I truly am a gay man trapped in a woman’s body because I love all things sparkly, so the sparkler champagne bottle seemed like the coolest thing EVER to me.

Most of my fellow travelers and Las Vegas hosts were like “um, sparkler, alcohol, been there done that” but I’ll never forget my first time. I’m thinking about instituting that at a future dinner party at my house.

Finally, we staggered back to our hotel at about 11 pm. I'm not sure if I was happier jumping into my Jacuzzi-brand bath tub, or the bottle of champagne waiting for me. (no sparkler though). Actually the hotel had laid out a huge snack spread in all of our rooms, including a giant tray of nuts (like 18 inches by 9 inches, people, this thing was enormous) as well as a tray of dried fruits, cookies, and other goodies. If that wasn’t enough we were also served a huge platter of chocolate covered strawberries.

Heading Back Home

The weather this morning was slightly less foggy than yesterday, which is why this is the first that Naoko and I noticed that our hotel actually had a distant view of the Golden Gate bridge. (It was still a bit overcast so not many of our photos translate well, but at least we can point and say, that’s where it is.)

The plan for today was to enjoy an early breakfast in China town (Naoko’s craving for rice porridge ended up as rice porridge with a few dim sum sides), followed by a morning of shopping in Union Square.

Before we arrived Jemma had purchased a Coach purse at Macy’s and she didn’t know that Macy’s always offers out of town shoppers and 11% discount. (If you travel more than 200 miles to anywhere and shop at Macy’s be sure to pick up a visitor coupon card.) Macy’s even retroactively honored the coupon, resulting in a hefty return for Jemma.

Although I’d set a semi-strict departure schedule for the day (I didn’t want Naoko and I to get home too late), we spent a bit too much time and money in Union Square with Virgin Records taking the bulk of both.

Eventually we headed out, with Jemma hitching a ride as far as Palo Alto, where she’d be interviewing people at Stanford the following day. As we passed through Daly City (at just around 2 pm) we started to consider the idea of lunch. Learning that neither my Japanese nor my semi-Japanese friend had ever eaten at Todai, the agenda was set.

The challenge was that Todai was closing in 30 minutes, and they are very strict about their closing rule. The will let you in, will let you take as much as you want in advance, but once 2:30 rolls around, you better not need anything else. We, however, were up for the challenge. Covering two full tables with our culinary delights, we worked our way through the delicacies of several cultures, with a huge focus on Todai’s sushi.

Eventually we got Jemma to Palo Alto at around 4 pm, and after a quick peek at the Stanford campus, got her checked into her hotel. We’d had so much fun enjoying each other’s company that we were having a hard time saying goodbye. So we decided to enjoy a final Starbucks for the road, before Naoko and I headed home.

Naoko was a great traveling companion. She didn’t even complain when I started playing the CDs I’d purchased earlier at the Virgin Megastore. Unfortunately she wasn’t familiar with most of the music, but we did find one CD where she recognized five whole songs.

Eventually, I got Naoko back to her home at just past 11pm. Not that bad in the scheme of things, and I think we were both pretty sad to end our lovely adventure together.

Working the Wine Country

After a quick breakfast we were heading across the Golden Gate bridge in the convertible, with the top down, of course. Poor Jemma in the back was shivering under her six layers of clothing, but Naoko and I pumped up the heat in the front and were feeling just fine.

By the time we arrived at Muir Woods, the place was PACKED. There was no parking within a mile of the park entrance, and since we still had wine country to conquer, we decided to tour Muir Woods another time. A word to the wise, if your travels bring you here, come early or come prepared to hike a bit to the entrance.

We did make a quick stop at Muir Beach, which is an off-the-leash dog beach, so we had great fun watching people play with their dogs, and occasionally tossing a ball ourselves. It was too breezy to do any swimming, but the weather was clear and fabulous, and we lamented not having a picnic with us to enjoy on the beach.

Wine Country

Our next stop was to be Sonoma. There are many wine choices in Northern California, and while Napa is the most famous, it doesn’t have the Sonoma Jack cheese factory. Luckily the giris humored my need for cheese, and soon enough we were enjoying a picnic in the plaza outside the cheese shop.

On this beautiful President’s Day Sunday afternoon, people were out in full force. Kids were playing, adults were sipping wine and there was a general "gee, it’s good to be alive" feeling in the air.

My two traveling companions had never been on an American picnic before, so they were enjoying soaking up the local culture as much as I was. After lunch we did get to stop at two wineries to do a little tasting, but time was once again getting away from us.

Sausalito


With no real plans for the evening, we made a stop in Sausalito and wandered along the waterfront, overlooking the sparkly view of San Francisco in the distance. We weren’t actually hungry enough to eat yet, although Naoko was hoping to be able to enjoy some native Clam Chowder soup somewhere.

Back in the city we were feeling strangely mellow and couldn’t quite decide what it was we wanted to do (and/or eat.) We wandered from Union Square to Chinatown and back (a fairly adventurous walk) and maybe it was because it was late, or maybe because it was Sunday night, there were surprisingly few restaurants open at that time.

We finally settled on Lefty O’Douls (a little bit by default, because there weren’t a lot of options open to us) and were totally thrilled by the VERY affordable prices here, as well as the live music. We spent some time listening to the singer and just enjoying the cameraderie before returning to Hilton.