Impact Fusion

Maui Travel allows vacationers to experience exotic foods that will please the most cultivated of tastes.  The island offers a fusion of cuisine from all over the world, from Asian fare that includes Korean and Chinese influences to European classical dishes that takes cues from favorite French dishes. 

Hawaii boasts some of the best known chefs known to foodies.  They provide a fantastic chance to experience the greatest of the Asian influenced cooking out there.  These chefs typically use produce from locally grown farms, allowing their customers to experience the fresh and flavorful dishes. 

For instance, Pacific Rim cuisine blends European and Asian cooking techniques and flavors with seafood and spices to provide incredible artistic food presentations.  Thai restaurants possess a combination of Chinese and French cuisine.  Among their most popular ingredients Thai restaurants use to concoct delicate sauces are peanuts and coconut milk. 

Other Asian influences on Hawaii include Japanese and Chinese cooking.  The former often serves its food in dishes that are divided, which allow a customer to sample many meals in one.  Chinese restaurants also offer a unique part of the Hawaiin food culture through such dishes as green onion and sweet red pork, pork chops and gravy, noodle soup with green onion, and macaroni salad.

The most experienced palates have a chance to discover new flavors in cuisine through a Maui vacation.  Restaurants popular among locals are Sam Sato’s and Kitada’s Kau Kau Corner in Wailuku Mill yard and Makawao respectively.  These restaurants give tourists the chance to the experience the best food that Maui has to offer. 

There are culinary delights for every taste and every budget on Maui.  It is warm and vibrant place, an atmosphere reflected in the dining options available to tourists.  While you may come for the ocean, the beach, or the surfing, its cuisine will leave in indelible mark upon you.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest festival that takes place each year just outside of Lothian, near the capital city of Scotland.  Most of the participants travel from around the world, and often choose either a Lothian hotel,  or a sub-let rental in the city of Edinburgh.  This festival is more akin to an explosion of cultural.  There are blues and jazz festivals, film festivals,  and culinary festivals all surrounding the massive amounts of theater that goes up each day all day long.

More than twenty thousand companies perform in shows that begin early morning and continue on late into the night, each and every day during the month of August.  While performing at the festival in 1993, the Unlikely Theater company from the United States brought six shows, performing at least four shows a day.  The show times ranged from nine a.m. performances in a Masons Lodge, to an 11 p.m. showing of a rock musical performed in a cathedral on Princes Street.

Many of the local businesses throughout Edinburgh are converted into venues, complete with marley floors, stage lights, sound boards and curtains.  This is an exciting event to take part in, as well as an opportunity to see some of the finest of international performances.  That same year, the screen play for the yet to be made film “Trainspotting” was performed as a staged reading each day.  No one knows what will come out of this festival.

One can see everything from the controversial Jim Rose Freak show, to performances of such great plays as “Edmond” by David Mamet.  This festival began with just eight theatre companies performing in 1947, and is now the largest of festivals of the arts in the entire world.  One of the incredible aspects is that there is such a range of shows, from the avant garde to the traditional, as the main tenet of the festival is that there is no censorship restricting just what shows companies are given permission to do.  One never knows what one may walk into on any showtime, and one will never cease to be amazed, and surprised at the Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies and the main character; Prince Hamlet has become an archetype in Western society. He is commonly known as the melancholy prince, which is an interesting aspect of the character to give further consideration. He has also been called mad, which is another compelling factor of his behavior and corresponding mental state. While tourists staying in one of the beautiful and often historic Stratford hotels may not be interested in completing a character analysis of this tragic prince, they are certainly aware of the play’s existence and the fact that they are staying in the birthplace of its brilliant writer.

The play Hamlet begins after the death of King Hamlet and the spotting of his ghost in the middle of the night. Prince Hamlet learns of this and is goes out to meet the ghost late in the night. He is told by, what he believes is his dead father, that he was actually murdered and the person that took his life is Hamlet’s uncle, who has since become king. This propels Hamlet into a great state of confusion, indecision, frustration, anger and suspicion. These additional psychological and intellectual factors are compounded by the state of grief in which Hamlet already exists.

It is well known that while the play moves slowly and Hamlet is beset by great indecision and hesitation, the suspense remains intense and the circumstance slowly unravel into great chaos and almost everyone in the play eventually ends up dead. Horatio, Hamlet’s good friend who originally informed him of the sighting of his father’s ghost remains alive and is instructed by Hamlet to live on and tell the gruesome story to which he has born witness. Some of the central characters in the play include Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, his uncle Claudius who has assumed the crown, Ophelia, Hamlet’s pseudo girlfriend, her father Polonius and her brother Laertes and of course Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The banks along the Singapore River have provided the country with the economic means and support that has been successful for hundreds of years.  Even back in the days as a humble village making a living in the fishing industry, the waters have always provided for the citizens.  The fishing industry gave way to the import and export trade industry and the seaport began the transformation that has led it to its current state.  Now, hawkers sell their food, merchants sell their textiles and artists sell their works.

Clarke Quay is an area along the river that has become quite a hot spot, whether it be for the weekend flea markets and open air wet markets, to the Singapore restaurant and club scene.  This small section of the city has it all.  Evidence along the river and in Clarke Quay, of the vast diversity of culture and the long and rich history is found on every corner.  This was an area of commerce and trade by the end of the nineteenth century and today the buzz of live and the many activities have made this district a major tourist attraction as well.

Vendors and business owners from many other Asian countries, as well as those from Europe, have set up shop on the Quay.  For a night out the Quay offers everything from the shopping malls, to the wine bars and trendy clubs, to traditional hawker stands and river boat rides.  The market places offer a bit of the old with the new, as pushcarts and boutique shops sit along side the many Italian, Chinese and Mediterranean restaurants.  One is able to find art studios offering classes in everything from painting to pewter sculpture.  Or, if one is so inclined one may take a go at the only reverse bungee jumping center in Singapore.  For those desiring a not so daring adventure, a simple tri-shaw ride through the area is a pleasant way to experience the scenery and the history that surrounds the Clarke Quay.

Surrey is a county in England that borders the greater London area as well as Kent, Berkshire, Hampshire and the East and West Sussexes. It has many historic landmarks, social aspects and arts and entertainment venues that keep its citizens content and happy while also enticing numerous tourists every year. However, with all it has to offer, guests staying in one of the Surrey Hotels are very likely to make at least one trip to the city’s near by neighbor of London.

And while Surrey is typically overshadowed by London in the international eye, it has actually been the setting of many books and films and has been featured in all genres of literature and entertainment fields. One of the more popular references in contemporary literature occurs in the Harry Potter books. In the series, the Dursleys, which are Harry’s only living relatives, live in a fictional town called Little Whinging, which is located in Surrey. The Potter series was created and written by British author J. K. Rowling and is a fictional fantasy collection that deals with the struggle between good and evil and incorporates magic and wizardry.

One of the major references to Surrey in literature occurs in H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. This novella was written in 1898 and identifies many towns and villages located in Surrey and uses them as a primary setting. The book is one of the early iconic depictions of an alien invasion of Earth. It is set in Victorian Surrey, which coincides with when it was written, and entails the landing and consequential invasion of Martians. The story is told by an anonymous journalist who relates the sequence of events as they occur while he is attempting to locate his family. This work has had a major impact on alien invasion related literature and film since its creation.

It’s early in the summer and my music lover friend and I planned out the whole summer around music festivals. One of the early summer events and probably the most famous is Aldeburgh, in the serene countryside of Suffolk. It’s now in its 54th year. The festival is now world renowned. This year’s extravaganza which starts in the beginning of June and last almost to the end of June will have performing The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Borodin String Quartet.  But , what we really want to see is the full-scale production of Britten’s Rape of Lucrece. The BBC will be there to film it in it’s entirety for television.

We got our tickets early, because we tried to make it to Aldeburgh last year but it was sold out, we couldn’t even get returns, the waiting list had over a thousand names on it. We also booked rooms in Suffolk the same time we got our tickets. After Suffolk, we made reservations at one of the Buxton Hotels during July so we can participate in the Buxton International Music Festival. This festival is tauted as a more intimate event. There will be four different operas newly restored Opera House. We will be treated to a more literary component with the likes of Melvyn Bragg, Fay Weldon and Margeret Drabble. We also added on to our ticket price to attend to the discussion held after the operas.

The third leg of our music extravaganza will be at the Lake District Summer Music International Festival in Cumbria and running all through August. Sorrel String Quartet, and Alexander Melnikov are featured, but we’re really looking forward to the winner of the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year, Guy Johnson.  My friend and I know we are fortunate to be able to spend our whole summer going from one music festival to another, and we are fully aware that this will probably be our only time to do this type of tour, because starting in September we will each go our separate ways, she will be off to the States starting a new position and I will be heading down to South Africa to volunteer as an aid worker. So, music!  Take us away!