Commuter Pilot’s Life Defies Glamorous Stereotype
This article was reported by David M. Halbfinger, Matthew L. Wald and Christopher Drew, and written by Mr. Halbfinger.
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Matthew Holst for The New York Times
Neil A. Weston lives in Dubuque, Iowa, but his base of operations is Indianapolis.
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Pilot Earnings at Regional Airlines
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Low Wages, Long Commutes
Rick Friedman for The New York Times
Alex Lapointe, a co-pilot for a regional carrier, says he often flies on too little sleep.
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Alex Lapointe, a 25-year-old co-pilot for a regional airline, says he routinely lifts off knowing he has gotten less sleep than he needs. And once or twice a week, he says, he sees the captain next to him struggling to stay alert.
Neil A. Weston, also 25, went $100,000 into debt to train for a co-pilot’s job that pays him $25,000 annually. He carries sandwiches in a cooler from his home in Dubuque, Iowa, bought his first uniform for $400, and holds out hope of tripling his salary by moving into the captain’s seat, then up to a major carrier. Assuming, that is, the majors start hiring again.
Capt. Paul Nietz, 58, who recently retired from a regional airline, said his schedule wore him down and cost him three marriages. His workweek typically began with a 2:30 a.m. wake-up in northern Michigan and a 6 a.m. flight to his Chicago home bases. There, he would wait for his first assignment, a noon departure.
By the time he parked his aircraft at the last gate of the night, he was exhausted. But he would be due back at work eight hours and 15 minutes later. “At the very most, if you’re the kind of person that could walk into a hotel room, strip and lay down, you might get four and a half hours of sleep,” he said. “And I was very senior. I was one of the fortunate guys.”
The National Transportation Safety Board’s inquiry into the Feb. 12 crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 outside Buffalo has highlighted the operations of the nation’s regional airlines, a sector of the aviation industry that has grown to account for half the country’s airline flights and a quarter of its passengers.
The details of that world have surprised many Americans — the strikingly low pay for new pilots; the rigors of flying multiple flights, at lower altitudes and thus often in worse weather than pilots on longer routes, while scrambling to get enough sleep; the relative inexperience of pilots at the smaller airlines, whose training standards are the same, but whose skills may not be.
In hearings last week in Washington, witnesses and safety officials raised questions of whether the crew of the plane that crashed, killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground, had been adequately vetted and whether they might have been hampered by, among other factors, fatigue.
But regardless of whether training, fatigue or the cost-cutting that has hit the entire industry are ultimately determined to have contributed to the crash of Flight 3407, interviews with current and former regional pilots make vividly clear the daily challenges they face.
Peek inside a crew lounge at midnight in Chicago, and one could easily find every recliner occupied by an off-duty aviator trying to sleep despite the whine of a janitor’s vacuum cleaner.
In any city with a sizable air hub, a search of Craigslist for the term “crash pad” will turn up listings for rooms for rent, often for $200 a month or less, a short drive from an airport, where a dozen or more pilots, unable to afford hotels, may come and go, barely letting the mattresses cool.
But many regional pilots, paid entry-level wages that are sometimes no better than a job at McDonald’s, can not afford even a crash pad.
“I know a guy who bought a car that barely ran and parked it in the employee lot at his base airport, and slept in his car six or seven times a month,” said Frank R. Graham Jr., a former regional pilot and airline safety director who runs a safety consulting firm in Charlotte, N.C. Pilots for some regional airlines have been known to sleep in the aisles of their planes.
Like the two Flight 3407 pilots, who caught free rides on planes from Florida and Seattle to their flight from Newark to Buffalo, pilots at regional airlines routinely hopscotch across thousands of miles to get to work. Some live with their parents, as the plane’s first officer, Rebecca L. Shaw, did. Others, like Mr. Lapointe, live near former bases of operations that were shut down because an employer went out of business or a route was dropped.
Mr. Lapointe lives in Wakefield, Mass., 15 minutes from his old base in Boston. Since November, he has had to get himself to Kennedy International Airport in New York.
For Captain Nietz, a 27-year veteran, the biggest indignity was flying hungry. Delays were so routine that he seldom left his plane all day long, even “to grab a biscuit.” With food service long discontinued, he said, the only bites to be had were “the occasional peanut — and the airlines charge the crews for bags of peanuts and cheese and crackers.”
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Reporting was contributed by Robbie Brown, Benedict Carey, Ray Rivera, Nate
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Economy Woes Shake Up Campaign for California Governor as Voters Seek Answers
LOS ANGELES — If a campaign consultant were in search of a billable candidate in the inchoate race to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it might seem sensible to seek out a Democrat.
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Vying for California Governor’s Mansion
Democrats hold a whopping advantage in registered voters in California, and President Obama beat Senator John McCain here by 24 percentage points last fall. Republicans seeking statewide office have largely gotten clobbered in recent years, and the party’s standard-bearer — Mr. Schwarzenegger, barred by term limits from running for re-election — has one of the lowest approval ratings for a governor in nearly 25 years.
But the dynamics of the 2010 race, which has come into full swing in recent weeks, are already proving to be topsy-turvy, with Democrats trying to buck a gubernatorial slump against a millionaire-peppered group of moderate Republicans.
Many voters in California, despondent over the state’s dire fiscal straits, high unemployment and stream of businesses flowing to other states, say they value competence and solutions more than party affiliation or celebrity.
“What the voters will be looking for in this election is someone who has some answers,” said Bruce E. Cain, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. “I do not remember the morale of the state being so low.”
That malaise seems to infuse even those running for governor, a job whose innate challenges (including a population of nearly 39 million) are made all the more difficult by a State Constitution that requires a two-thirds vote by lawmakers to pass a budget or a tax increase and by a ballot initiative system that allows voters to set their own rules with just a simple majority.
“It’s not much of career builder; it’s more of a career ender,” said Jerry Brown, 71, the state’s attorney general, who was governor from 1975 to 1983. “But I feel I could bear that better than the other candidates.”
In addition to Mr. Brown — who has yet to declare his candidacy formally but has not been shy about his desire to run — the Democratic field includes Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who is madly trying to Twitter his way beyond the single issue of same-sex marriage, which has so far defined him. His friendly counterpart to the south, meanwhile, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, has been coy about his intentions — he ducked the state party’s convention this month — but has a reputation for jumping into races at the last minute. (State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has been floated as a possible dark horse.)
Mr. Brown, Mr. Newsom and Mr. Villaraigosa all have high-profile jobs but an uphill battle in front of them. Democrats have lost six of the last eight races for governor, including a 2003 recall, despite having a lock on most other statewide offices.
“Any Democrat who thinks that Republicans have no chance in this race should take a look at recent history,” said Garry South, a Democratic consultant who is working on the Newsom campaign.
On the Republican side are two Silicon Valley millionaires — a former eBay chief executive, Meg Whitman, and the state’s insurance commissioner, Steven Poizner, the only Republican to win a statewide office in the last election. They are joined by Tom Campbell, a former congressman who flies below most voters’ radar screens.
The Republicans have been focused on taxes and the state’s regulatory environment, which they suggest combine to drive companies out of the state, as well as on job creation, though they have offered few specific plans. They are also presenting themselves as a check on the power of the Democrats, who control both houses of the State Legislature.
“In the general election our point will be, ‘Do you want just one party in charge?’ ” Mr. Campbell said.
Democrats are hoping to capitalize on Mr. Obama’s popularity here and on his campaign’s inroads in drawing young people to the polls. Mr. Newsom, 41, in particular, has been angling for younger voters, announcing his candidacy via Twitter. (He claims 400,000 followers and says he posts “90 percent” of his own tweets.)
At the same time, Mr. Newsom, who made a tidy fortune as the founder of Plumpjack, a wine, lodging and restaurant group, is also looking to pump up his moderate, pro-business credentials with more conservative voters who might be skeptical of his well-publicized embrace of same-sex marriage and his liberal San Francisco pedigree.
“I’m a pro-job Democrat,” he said. “I’ve been very progressive when it comes to social issues and pragmatic when it comes to business.”
Most of the candidates agree that social issues will probably play only a small role in the election because of the state’s economic plight.
“I don’t think social issues are the core burning problem facing the state,” Mr. Poizner said.
Candidates from both parties also seem to agree that it is a good idea to distance themselves from Mr. Schwarzenegger, whose popularity has slipped as the state has been buffeted by recession, high foreclosure rates and chronic budget battles. That includes Mr. Villaraigosa, even though he continues to make appearances with Mr. Schwarzenegger.
“He is doing as good a job as he can do,” said Mr. Villaraigosa, adding that the only way to get California back on track is “to make fundamental changes to the way we govern.”
That might include seemingly radical solutions like calling a constitutional convention to consider changing some provisions, including the two-thirds rule in the State Legislature.
Republicans are also looking to present themselves as reformers.
Mr. Poizner, for example, who got rich running technology companies, is positioning himself as the only Republican with business credentials who has demonstrated that he can win statewide office. Mr. Poizner is also pushing education reform, favoring a large expansion of charter schools. “I am going to be very specific,” he said. “And it will drive my political consultants nuts.”
Likewise, Ms. Whitman seems to be striking an outsider attitude, saying she wants to bring her experiences at eBay to bear on the state’s budget.
“I want to run Sacramento a bit more like a business,” she said. “We have a government we can’t afford.”
Mr. Campbell, a business professor at the University of California, Berkeley, seems to strike a more placid tone and says he can easily work with a Democratic-controlled Legislature. “Oh gosh, yes I can!” he said.
Such post-partisanship was supposed to be a hallmark of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s second term, which he began in 2007 with a call for “the party of California” to come together to fix the state. Two years later, however, the consensus is that despite all the potential takers, running the State of California is a miserable job.
“Most governors leave discredited and unpopular,” said Mr. Brown, who at this early point in the contest is leading among Democrats in most polls.
Jennifer Steinhauer reported from Los Angeles, and Jesse McKinley from San Francisco.
LOS ANGELES — If a campaign consultant were in search of a billable candidate in the inchoate race to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it might seem sensible to seek out a Democrat.
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Vying for California Governor’s Mansion
Democrats hold a whopping advantage in registered voters in California, and President Obama beat Senator John McCain here by 24 percentage points last fall. Republicans seeking statewide office have largely gotten clobbered in recent years, and the party’s standard-bearer — Mr. Schwarzenegger, barred by term limits from running for re-election — has one of the lowest approval ratings for a governor in nearly 25 years.
But the dynamics of the 2010 race, which has come into full swing in recent weeks, are already proving to be topsy-turvy, with Democrats trying to buck a gubernatorial slump against a millionaire-peppered group of moderate Republicans.
Many voters in California, despondent over the state’s dire fiscal straits, high unemployment and stream of businesses flowing to other states, say they value competence and solutions more than party affiliation or celebrity.
“What the voters will be looking for in this election is someone who has some answers,” said Bruce E. Cain, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. “I do not remember the morale of the state being so low.”
That malaise seems to infuse even those running for governor, a job whose innate challenges (including a population of nearly 39 million) are made all the more difficult by a State Constitution that requires a two-thirds vote by lawmakers to pass a budget or a tax increase and by a ballot initiative system that allows voters to set their own rules with just a simple majority.
“It’s not much of career builder; it’s more of a career ender,” said Jerry Brown, 71, the state’s attorney general, who was governor from 1975 to 1983. “But I feel I could bear that better than the other candidates.”
In addition to Mr. Brown — who has yet to declare his candidacy formally but has not been shy about his desire to run — the Democratic field includes Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who is madly trying to Twitter his way beyond the single issue of same-sex marriage, which has so far defined him. His friendly counterpart to the south, meanwhile, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, has been coy about his intentions — he ducked the state party’s convention this month — but has a reputation for jumping into races at the last minute. (State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has been floated as a possible dark horse.)
Mr. Brown, Mr. Newsom and Mr. Villaraigosa all have high-profile jobs but an uphill battle in front of them. Democrats have lost six of the last eight races for governor, including a 2003 recall, despite having a lock on most other statewide offices.
“Any Democrat who thinks that Republicans have no chance in this race should take a look at recent history,” said Garry South, a Democratic consultant who is working on the Newsom campaign.
On the Republican side are two Silicon Valley millionaires — a former eBay chief executive, Meg Whitman, and the state’s insurance commissioner, Steven Poizner, the only Republican to win a statewide office in the last election. They are joined by Tom Campbell, a former congressman who flies below most voters’ radar screens.
The Republicans have been focused on taxes and the state’s regulatory environment, which they suggest combine to drive companies out of the state, as well as on job creation, though they have offered few specific plans. They are also presenting themselves as a check on the power of the Democrats, who control both houses of the State Legislature.
“In the general election our point will be, ‘Do you want just one party in charge?’ ” Mr. Campbell said.
Democrats are hoping to capitalize on Mr. Obama’s popularity here and on his campaign’s inroads in drawing young people to the polls. Mr. Newsom, 41, in particular, has been angling for younger voters, announcing his candidacy via Twitter. (He claims 400,000 followers and says he posts “90 percent” of his own tweets.)
At the same time, Mr. Newsom, who made a tidy fortune as the founder of Plumpjack, a wine, lodging and restaurant group, is also looking to pump up his moderate, pro-business credentials with more conservative voters who might be skeptical of his well-publicized embrace of same-sex marriage and his liberal San Francisco pedigree.
“I’m a pro-job Democrat,” he said. “I’ve been very progressive when it comes to social issues and pragmatic when it comes to business.”
Most of the candidates agree that social issues will probably play only a small role in the election because of the state’s economic plight.
“I don’t think social issues are the core burning problem facing the state,” Mr. Poizner said.
Candidates from both parties also seem to agree that it is a good idea to distance themselves from Mr. Schwarzenegger, whose popularity has slipped as the state has been buffeted by recession, high foreclosure rates and chronic budget battles. That includes Mr. Villaraigosa, even though he continues to make appearances with Mr. Schwarzenegger.
“He is doing as good a job as he can do,” said Mr. Villaraigosa, adding that the only way to get California back on track is “to make fundamental changes to the way we govern.”
That might include seemingly radical solutions like calling a constitutional convention to consider changing some provisions, including the two-thirds rule in the State Legislature.
Republicans are also looking to present themselves as reformers.
Mr. Poizner, for example, who got rich running technology companies, is positioning himself as the only Republican with business credentials who has demonstrated that he can win statewide office. Mr. Poizner is also pushing education reform, favoring a large expansion of charter schools. “I am going to be very specific,” he said. “And it will drive my political consultants nuts.”
Likewise, Ms. Whitman seems to be striking an outsider attitude, saying she wants to bring her experiences at eBay to bear on the state’s budget.
“I want to run Sacramento a bit more like a business,” she said. “We have a government we can’t afford.”
Mr. Campbell, a business professor at the University of California, Berkeley, seems to strike a more placid tone and says he can easily work with a Democratic-controlled Legislature. “Oh gosh, yes I can!” he said.
Such post-partisanship was supposed to be a hallmark of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s second term, which he began in 2007 with a call for “the party of California” to come together to fix the state. Two years later, however, the consensus is that despite all the potential takers, running the State of California is a miserable job.
“Most governors leave discredited and unpopular,” said Mr. Brown, who at this early point in the contest is leading among Democrats in most polls.
Jennifer Steinhauer reported from Los Angeles, and Jesse McKinley from San Francisco.
Even to Save Cash, Don’t Try This Stuff at Home
CHICAGO — Saving money never cost quite so much.
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Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times
Don Tommasone, a mechanic, says customers have been doing their own repairs. One even tried making his own part, right.
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The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
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Ben Garvin for The New York Times
Carol Taddei ended up having to repair a downstairs bathroom ceiling damaged when she tried to replace a toilet above it.
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When the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.
Initially, things looked good with the flushing and the swishing. That is, until the ceiling collapsed in the room below the new (leaky) toilet. Rushing to get supplies for a repair, Ms. Taddei clipped a pole in her garage. It ripped the bumper off her car, and later, several shelves holding flower pots and garden tools collapsed over her head.
“It just kept getting worse,” Ms. Taddei said, ruefully describing what came out to be a $3,000, three-day renovation at her suburban Minneapolis home, finished by a professional from Mr. Handyman, a home repair service that takes emergency calls.
With the sour economy has come a class of ambitious do-it-yourselfers who are tackling things that, before the days of rampant penny-pinching, might have been left to paid professionals. An unlucky few like Ms. Taddei have learned that being thrifty sometimes comes at a high price and can bring along with it a new scourge of the times: saver’s remorse.
“Oh, tell me about it,” Ms. Taddei said. “Sometimes it’s better just to bite the bullet.”
Certain things are almost always true when times are tough, experts say, and they are not all bad. People drive less to save on gas, so there are fewer car crashes. People smoke less because cigarettes are expensive. Diets simplify and, sometimes as a result, become more healthful. Stress levels, on the other hand, tend to increase.
And while there is no national database that tracks do-it-yourself home injuries in recessions, experts say that there does seem to be an increase in the kind of accidents and mishaps that come with spending more time at home, based mostly on anecdotal evidence.
“We are seeing an increase in minor injuries, sprains and contusions,” said Dr. Peter Lamelas, who operates four urgent care centers around Palm Beach County, Fla.
The centers are seeing an increase in patients in general, perhaps because urgent care centers are a less expensive alternative to hospital emergency rooms. Based on figures for this year so far, Dr. Lamelas is expecting to have 20,000 more visits from patients than last year.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of musculoskeletal problems from people lifting heavy things, maybe moving or doing things they’re not accustomed to,” Dr. Lamelas said. “A lot of back injuries, shoulder injuries. Lacerations all the time.”
Ramon Estrada has saver’s remorse, foodie style. Hoping to save on groceries and avoid costly restaurant meals about three months ago, he accepted almost two dozen steak and fish filets from someone who offered his family their uncooked party leftovers. Being a culinary student, Mr. Estrada jumped at the chance to spend an evening chopping and seasoning and grilling, then cooling and repackaging the bounty of free food for dinners and lunches during the week.
The family ate some of the surf-and-turf on the spot. It tasted delicious, but about four hours later, “I’m completely feeling horrible,” said Mr. Estrada, 27. “Cramping stomach, the most horrible thing ever.”
Mr. Estrada’s brother had to be rushed to the emergency room. Mr. Estrada became so dehydrated that he also had to see a doctor a few days later, at the cost of at least $400 for drugs and treatment and four days of missed work.
“We learned something,” he said. “Saving money wasn’t worth all of that.”
Hair stylists and auto mechanics are often among those called to the rescue when things go wrong for money-savers.
“One of my clients decided to bleach her hair all over instead of coming in to get a full head of highlights,” said Sunny Brewer, a stylist in St. Clair, Mich. “She put bleach on her scalp and pulled it through to the ends and left it on for an hour. She had hair down past the middle of her back and now she’s sporting a chin-length bob because her hair broke off.”
The client, somewhat mortified, did not want to be mentioned by name in this article. But she did allow Ms. Brewer to tell her story as a cautionary measure.
1
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Malia Wollan contributed reporting from San Francisco.
CHICAGO — Saving money never cost quite so much.
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Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times
Don Tommasone, a mechanic, says customers have been doing their own repairs. One even tried making his own part, right.
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#embedlwl{visibility:visible !important;}
The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Enlarge This Image
Ben Garvin for The New York Times
Carol Taddei ended up having to repair a downstairs bathroom ceiling damaged when she tried to replace a toilet above it.
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (79) »
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When the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.
Initially, things looked good with the flushing and the swishing. That is, until the ceiling collapsed in the room below the new (leaky) toilet. Rushing to get supplies for a repair, Ms. Taddei clipped a pole in her garage. It ripped the bumper off her car, and later, several shelves holding flower pots and garden tools collapsed over her head.
“It just kept getting worse,” Ms. Taddei said, ruefully describing what came out to be a $3,000, three-day renovation at her suburban Minneapolis home, finished by a professional from Mr. Handyman, a home repair service that takes emergency calls.
With the sour economy has come a class of ambitious do-it-yourselfers who are tackling things that, before the days of rampant penny-pinching, might have been left to paid professionals. An unlucky few like Ms. Taddei have learned that being thrifty sometimes comes at a high price and can bring along with it a new scourge of the times: saver’s remorse.
“Oh, tell me about it,” Ms. Taddei said. “Sometimes it’s better just to bite the bullet.”
Certain things are almost always true when times are tough, experts say, and they are not all bad. People drive less to save on gas, so there are fewer car crashes. People smoke less because cigarettes are expensive. Diets simplify and, sometimes as a result, become more healthful. Stress levels, on the other hand, tend to increase.
And while there is no national database that tracks do-it-yourself home injuries in recessions, experts say that there does seem to be an increase in the kind of accidents and mishaps that come with spending more time at home, based mostly on anecdotal evidence.
“We are seeing an increase in minor injuries, sprains and contusions,” said Dr. Peter Lamelas, who operates four urgent care centers around Palm Beach County, Fla.
The centers are seeing an increase in patients in general, perhaps because urgent care centers are a less expensive alternative to hospital emergency rooms. Based on figures for this year so far, Dr. Lamelas is expecting to have 20,000 more visits from patients than last year.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of musculoskeletal problems from people lifting heavy things, maybe moving or doing things they’re not accustomed to,” Dr. Lamelas said. “A lot of back injuries, shoulder injuries. Lacerations all the time.”
Ramon Estrada has saver’s remorse, foodie style. Hoping to save on groceries and avoid costly restaurant meals about three months ago, he accepted almost two dozen steak and fish filets from someone who offered his family their uncooked party leftovers. Being a culinary student, Mr. Estrada jumped at the chance to spend an evening chopping and seasoning and grilling, then cooling and repackaging the bounty of free food for dinners and lunches during the week.
The family ate some of the surf-and-turf on the spot. It tasted delicious, but about four hours later, “I’m completely feeling horrible,” said Mr. Estrada, 27. “Cramping stomach, the most horrible thing ever.”
Mr. Estrada’s brother had to be rushed to the emergency room. Mr. Estrada became so dehydrated that he also had to see a doctor a few days later, at the cost of at least $400 for drugs and treatment and four days of missed work.
“We learned something,” he said. “Saving money wasn’t worth all of that.”
Hair stylists and auto mechanics are often among those called to the rescue when things go wrong for money-savers.
“One of my clients decided to bleach her hair all over instead of coming in to get a full head of highlights,” said Sunny Brewer, a stylist in St. Clair, Mich. “She put bleach on her scalp and pulled it through to the ends and left it on for an hour. She had hair down past the middle of her back and now she’s sporting a chin-length bob because her hair broke off.”
The client, somewhat mortified, did not want to be mentioned by name in this article. But she did allow Ms. Brewer to tell her story as a cautionary measure.
1
2 Next Page »
Malia Wollan contributed reporting from San Francisco.
Journeys
Eclipse Chasing, in Pursuit of Total Awe
ON July 22, the 21st century’s longest total solar eclipse will darken the sky along a narrow corridor of the Asian landmass and the Pacific Ocean. An otherworldly black disk will replace the sun for about six and a half minutes, and from India through China to the sea off the southern coast of Japan, spellbound adventurers will be out in force to see it. I wouldn’t miss being one of them.
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From top: Ali Jarekji/Reuters; Ilnar Salakhiev/Associated Press; Schalk van Zuydam/Associated Press; David Grey/Reuters
FROM TOP Solar and lunar eclipses worked their power to fascinate in Jordan in 2005, Siberia in 2008, Cape Town last January and Australia in 2002. This July, an eclipse chaser’s holy grail, a total solar eclipse, will blot out the sun over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
I saw my first total solar eclipse in Hungary in 1999, at just past noon on a clear summer day. My friend Tamás and I were visiting his parents in Zánka, a village on the shore of Lake Balaton, and as the time drew near we stood chattering in the backyard, expectant but, as seems clear now, unprepared.
As the moon obscured more and more of the sun, the sky darkened to a shimmering violet. Cicadas, confused by the noontime dusk, began calling out their evening song. The temperature dropped. A breeze kicked up. When the eclipse was total, I removed my special eclipse glasses — essential for viewing the eclipse phases safely — casually looked up at the sun, and staggered back a little, my brain reeling.
The transformation of reality in a total solar eclipse is indescribable. I was mesmerized, disoriented, shocked, as if I had slipped through a wormhole to an alternate universe. I was the unwitting star of a “Twilight Zone” episode.
Mere minutes later, the sun peeked back out from behind the moon and all was familiar again. As suddenly as it had begun, my first total solar eclipse was over. But, like thousands of others around the world, I was hooked.
A growing number of eclipse-chasers, or umbraphiles, as they are also called, travel to the corners of the earth specifically to see total solar eclipses, and tour operators have sprung up to get them there. Beyond providing the thrill of standing on the moon’s shadow, or umbra, an eclipse is often the centerpiece of a travel adventure in exotic climes.
Umbraphiles have chased eclipses to Kazakh lakes, Zambian safari country and Algerian deserts. They have chartered ships to take them to the North Atlantic, the Caribbean and the middle of the Pacific. They’ve taken flights over the North Pole, faces pressed against tiny, frost-trimmed windows to view an eclipse from 35,000 feet.
The myths about eclipses are colorful: the sun and moon fighting or making love, hungry wolves or snakes devouring the light. But the ancient Chinese tale, that an eclipse is caused by a dragon swallowing the sun, seems especially apt. Eclipse fanatics are willing to spend any amount of time and money chasing that dragon.
The best eclipse tours are generally run by operators who understand local conditions, which may be chaotic for travelers, and have secured reliable transportation and the best accommodations and viewing spots. Since clouds can obscure the view of an eclipse, tour operators schedule observations in spots that are most likely to provide clear weather. Most tours feature lectures on both the science of eclipses and the art of observing them, including the all-important mantra for first-timers: Don’t bother with cameras and other distractions; just sit back and enjoy.
The experience evokes language laden with the mystical and the narcotic. “An eclipse is a glimpse of the world from a little outside our usual perspective,” said Liz O’Mara, an interactive marketing manager from New York and a veteran of three eclipses. “From that vantage point I can most easily see our position in the universe.”
Glenn Schneider, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona who has seen more total solar eclipses (27) than the Yankees have won World Series (26), puts it in more scientific terms: “Totality is stronger than opioids or pheromones.”
The perfect alignment of the earth and the moon that obscures the sun in total eclipse occurs only every 16 months or so, lasts no more than seven and a half minutes (typically only three or four), and is visible from less than 1 percent of the earth’s surface. The last one visible from within New York City was in 1925 and lasted no more than a minute; the next happens in 2079. If you’re very young and healthy, you can wait for an eclipse to come to you. Otherwise, you must chase one down.
And chase we did. In March 2006, Tamás and I met in Ghana for our second eclipse. We flew in to Accra, the capital, and hopped on a bus to Cape Coast, about 90 miles southwest. Rather than join the apparently raucous party of eclipse-chasers on the beach outside town, we shared the moment with a local group — the four-person staff of the Mighty Victory Hotel. As the moon crept along the sun’s surface, I suddenly grew anxious. Would it be as awe-inspiring as I had remembered?
I needn’t have worried. As the last diamond of the sun slipped behind the moon, I was once again transported to the Twilight Zone, this time for three minutes and 20 seconds.
This year’s eclipse will be my first in the company of fellow chasers — 86 umbraphiles led by Rick Brown, a commodities trader from Long Island. We’ll gather in a private viewing spot outside Wuhan, China, just after sunrise. Together we’ll perform rituals to ward off the clouds, don our eclipse glasses and wait. At the moment of total eclipse, even the seasoned veterans are likely to cry out with religious fervor.
It all seems a bit much — until you’ve seen one.
Bill Kramer, a computer consultant from Ohio who runs an eclipse-chasing Web site, describes himself as a cynic about most of things purported to be marvelous, but not this experience. “An eclipse,” he said, “is the one thing that actually lives up to the hype.”
IF YOU GO
A comprehensive Web site for eclipse chasers is www.eclipse-chasers.com. For dates and Google maps of past and future eclipses, consult www.eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse. Eclipse glasses are essential for when the eclipse is not at totality; one source is www.rainbowsymphonystore.com.
After July 22, the next three total eclipses will be on July 11, 2010, over the South Pacific; on Nov. 13, 2012, over northern Australia; and on Nov. 3, 2013, over mid-Africa.
Here is a sampling of tours with viewings in China. Prices are per person, double occupancy:
MWT Associates (877-707-7827; www.melitatrips.com), is owned by Melita Thorpe, who has been organizing eclipse tours for over 20 years. Its July 13 to 26 trip ($5,785, including airfare) will include a viewing near the Three Gorges Dam, a seven-day Yangtze River cruise and lectures by editors from Astronomy magazine.
Rick Brown’s Eclipse Safari (www.eclipse-chasers.com/esafari), the 10th eclipse trip organized by Mr. Brown, runs July 14 to 27 ($3,495, not including airfare) and includes viewing at a university outside of Wuhan, a three-day Yangtze cruise, stops at the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and lectures by Glenn Schneider of the Steward Observatory and Sheridan Williams, author of “Total Solar Eclipse 2008 & 2009.”
A Classic Tours Collection (888-605-8687; www.aclassictour.com) has operated eclipse tours for over 25 years. Its tour from July 19 to Aug. 2 ($2,695, not including airfare) includes eclipse viewing near Hangzhou and a lecture by Jay Pasachoff, an astronomy professor at Williams College.
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Eclipse Chasing, in Pursuit of Total Awe
ON July 22, the 21st century’s longest total solar eclipse will darken the sky along a narrow corridor of the Asian landmass and the Pacific Ocean. An otherworldly black disk will replace the sun for about six and a half minutes, and from India through China to the sea off the southern coast of Japan, spellbound adventurers will be out in force to see it. I wouldn’t miss being one of them.
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From top: Ali Jarekji/Reuters; Ilnar Salakhiev/Associated Press; Schalk van Zuydam/Associated Press; David Grey/Reuters
FROM TOP Solar and lunar eclipses worked their power to fascinate in Jordan in 2005, Siberia in 2008, Cape Town last January and Australia in 2002. This July, an eclipse chaser’s holy grail, a total solar eclipse, will blot out the sun over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
I saw my first total solar eclipse in Hungary in 1999, at just past noon on a clear summer day. My friend Tamás and I were visiting his parents in Zánka, a village on the shore of Lake Balaton, and as the time drew near we stood chattering in the backyard, expectant but, as seems clear now, unprepared.
As the moon obscured more and more of the sun, the sky darkened to a shimmering violet. Cicadas, confused by the noontime dusk, began calling out their evening song. The temperature dropped. A breeze kicked up. When the eclipse was total, I removed my special eclipse glasses — essential for viewing the eclipse phases safely — casually looked up at the sun, and staggered back a little, my brain reeling.
The transformation of reality in a total solar eclipse is indescribable. I was mesmerized, disoriented, shocked, as if I had slipped through a wormhole to an alternate universe. I was the unwitting star of a “Twilight Zone” episode.
Mere minutes later, the sun peeked back out from behind the moon and all was familiar again. As suddenly as it had begun, my first total solar eclipse was over. But, like thousands of others around the world, I was hooked.
A growing number of eclipse-chasers, or umbraphiles, as they are also called, travel to the corners of the earth specifically to see total solar eclipses, and tour operators have sprung up to get them there. Beyond providing the thrill of standing on the moon’s shadow, or umbra, an eclipse is often the centerpiece of a travel adventure in exotic climes.
Umbraphiles have chased eclipses to Kazakh lakes, Zambian safari country and Algerian deserts. They have chartered ships to take them to the North Atlantic, the Caribbean and the middle of the Pacific. They’ve taken flights over the North Pole, faces pressed against tiny, frost-trimmed windows to view an eclipse from 35,000 feet.
The myths about eclipses are colorful: the sun and moon fighting or making love, hungry wolves or snakes devouring the light. But the ancient Chinese tale, that an eclipse is caused by a dragon swallowing the sun, seems especially apt. Eclipse fanatics are willing to spend any amount of time and money chasing that dragon.
The best eclipse tours are generally run by operators who understand local conditions, which may be chaotic for travelers, and have secured reliable transportation and the best accommodations and viewing spots. Since clouds can obscure the view of an eclipse, tour operators schedule observations in spots that are most likely to provide clear weather. Most tours feature lectures on both the science of eclipses and the art of observing them, including the all-important mantra for first-timers: Don’t bother with cameras and other distractions; just sit back and enjoy.
The experience evokes language laden with the mystical and the narcotic. “An eclipse is a glimpse of the world from a little outside our usual perspective,” said Liz O’Mara, an interactive marketing manager from New York and a veteran of three eclipses. “From that vantage point I can most easily see our position in the universe.”
Glenn Schneider, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona who has seen more total solar eclipses (27) than the Yankees have won World Series (26), puts it in more scientific terms: “Totality is stronger than opioids or pheromones.”
The perfect alignment of the earth and the moon that obscures the sun in total eclipse occurs only every 16 months or so, lasts no more than seven and a half minutes (typically only three or four), and is visible from less than 1 percent of the earth’s surface. The last one visible from within New York City was in 1925 and lasted no more than a minute; the next happens in 2079. If you’re very young and healthy, you can wait for an eclipse to come to you. Otherwise, you must chase one down.
And chase we did. In March 2006, Tamás and I met in Ghana for our second eclipse. We flew in to Accra, the capital, and hopped on a bus to Cape Coast, about 90 miles southwest. Rather than join the apparently raucous party of eclipse-chasers on the beach outside town, we shared the moment with a local group — the four-person staff of the Mighty Victory Hotel. As the moon crept along the sun’s surface, I suddenly grew anxious. Would it be as awe-inspiring as I had remembered?
I needn’t have worried. As the last diamond of the sun slipped behind the moon, I was once again transported to the Twilight Zone, this time for three minutes and 20 seconds.
This year’s eclipse will be my first in the company of fellow chasers — 86 umbraphiles led by Rick Brown, a commodities trader from Long Island. We’ll gather in a private viewing spot outside Wuhan, China, just after sunrise. Together we’ll perform rituals to ward off the clouds, don our eclipse glasses and wait. At the moment of total eclipse, even the seasoned veterans are likely to cry out with religious fervor.
It all seems a bit much — until you’ve seen one.
Bill Kramer, a computer consultant from Ohio who runs an eclipse-chasing Web site, describes himself as a cynic about most of things purported to be marvelous, but not this experience. “An eclipse,” he said, “is the one thing that actually lives up to the hype.”
IF YOU GO
A comprehensive Web site for eclipse chasers is www.eclipse-chasers.com. For dates and Google maps of past and future eclipses, consult www.eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse. Eclipse glasses are essential for when the eclipse is not at totality; one source is www.rainbowsymphonystore.com.
After July 22, the next three total eclipses will be on July 11, 2010, over the South Pacific; on Nov. 13, 2012, over northern Australia; and on Nov. 3, 2013, over mid-Africa.
Here is a sampling of tours with viewings in China. Prices are per person, double occupancy:
MWT Associates (877-707-7827; www.melitatrips.com), is owned by Melita Thorpe, who has been organizing eclipse tours for over 20 years. Its July 13 to 26 trip ($5,785, including airfare) will include a viewing near the Three Gorges Dam, a seven-day Yangtze River cruise and lectures by editors from Astronomy magazine.
Rick Brown’s Eclipse Safari (www.eclipse-chasers.com/esafari), the 10th eclipse trip organized by Mr. Brown, runs July 14 to 27 ($3,495, not including airfare) and includes viewing at a university outside of Wuhan, a three-day Yangtze cruise, stops at the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and lectures by Glenn Schneider of the Steward Observatory and Sheridan Williams, author of “Total Solar Eclipse 2008 & 2009.”
A Classic Tours Collection (888-605-8687; www.aclassictour.com) has operated eclipse tours for over 25 years. Its tour from July 19 to Aug. 2 ($2,695, not including airfare) includes eclipse viewing near Hangzhou and a lecture by Jay Pasachoff, an astronomy professor at Williams College.
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Practical Traveler
Blink and You’ll Miss These Deals
HALF-PRICE safaris. Flights between New York and San Francisco for $14. One-dollar hotel rooms. Desperate for business, travel companies have been throwing out offers guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone with a yen for travel. The catch: blink and you’ll miss them. It takes fast action to reap the benefits.
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Ron Barrett
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if (acm.rc) acm.rc.write();
Flash sales, the briefest of these almost-too-good-to-be-true limited offers, often last no more than a day, and availability is limited. Some of the bargains sell out in just minutes. Other fast sales are in auction format, requiring travelers to bid on their vacations. But travelers are quickly learning to play the game, and some are saving big.
The simplest offers don’t require bidding — just speed. Last month, JetBlue ran a one-day airfare sale, offering 140 seats from San Francisco to New York for $14. In March, it ran a similar one-day sale with rates as low as $29 between New York and Boston or Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif. Lastminutetravel.com has offered hotels for $1 in 15-minute intervals on its site. Travelers didn’t know when the flash sales would take place but could sign up for clues.
Individual hotels are offering sales in short promotional bursts too. Last month the Orchard Hotel in San Francisco and its sister property the Orchard Garden offered one deluxe guest room for each night of the month for $1. The Alexander Inn, a 48-room hotel in downtown Philadelphia, had been selling five rooms for $1 a night, Sundays to Thursdays through June 11, but rooms, which opened up for reservations at 8 in the morning 30 days before arrival, sold out fast. “We’re receiving about 75 to 100 calls per hour,” the innkeeper, John Cochie, said in March when the promotion began.
Landing such fleeting deals requires a certain diligence and a fair amount of luck. Web sites like Travelzoo.com and Farecompare.com, which aggregate bargains and post them on their sites, are a good place to look. You can also sign up for their deal alerts. Travelzoo.com sends out a weekly Top 20 e-mail message, listing some of the best airfare, hotel, cruise and rental car deals. A few companies are offering flash sales more regularly. For example, Hotels.com has started running a 24-hour sale every Tuesday, with major discounts like up to 50 percent off upscale hotels in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York for travel up to a month later.
Another form of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sale that has been gaining popularity is online auctions in which travelers bid on vacations at sites like Luxurylink.com and FloridaVacationAuction.com, which companies use to dispose of unsold inventory quickly. The number of auction listings at Luxurylink.com, which offers cut rates on high-end hotels and villas, has more than doubled to 14,532 from the start of the year through mid-March, compared with the same period last year.
A Luxurylink.com auction of a seven-night stay at the Grand Velas, an all-suites luxury resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, had a winning bid of $5,249 — more than 50 percent off the estimated $10,804 retail value, including all meals, airport transfers, resort taxes and a number of spa treatments in March. Similarly, a week at BodyHoliday, a luxury resort on St. Lucia, went for $3,781 — half off the retail value of $7,462.
Mainstream tour operators have been getting into the act with auctions of their own. In February Abercrombie & Kent, which occupies a rung at the high end of the tour market, held a six-hour online auction of five “once-in-a-lifetime” trips to places like Egypt, Spain and Africa. Every half hour, starting bids were lowered an additional 5 percent until the discount reached 60 percent or the trip sold out. The company said the auctions attracted new business with 58 percent of bookings made by first-time customers. The sale was so successful that the tour operator conducted a second auction last week, offering $6,965 Galápagos cruises for starting bids ranging from $2,786 to $6,617, and $7,040 East African safaris for $2,816 to $6,688.
Alvin Silverman, a certified public accountant from Long Island., estimates he has won at least 15 auctions at Luxurylink.com, including multiple trips to the high-end CuisinArt Resort in Anguilla, where starting rates are $400 a night in the summer, or $2,000 for a five-night stay. Mr. Silverman paid $1,150 to $1,200 apiece for five-night stays through his Luxurylink.com winnings, and the rates included add-ons like a dinner, lunch and massages.
In December, he won four nights in an over-the-top villa at Sheriva on Anguilla for $2,200. During the high season the same villa goes for $10,000 a night. “That was a super steal,” Mr. Silverman said. “This place is the best of the best. I had my own private chef, about a 10,000-square-foot villa, a staff of about five people, and you were able to use Cap Juluca facilities with signing privileges,” he said (Cap Juluca is a nearby luxury resort much favored by celebrities). “Donald Trump couldn’t do better.”
Another Luxurylink.com enthusiast, Horst Brautigam, who says he regularly saves 50 percent on luxury hotels through the site, offers some bidding advice. Check the past auction results: “If only one or two bids were made for a particular auction, you should be successful at the minimum price.” Be patient: “Most auctions are repeated within a three- to four-day period.” Check hotel availability before placing a bid if you’re not flexible on travel dates: “They will not make a firm reservation before you actually secure your package, but at least they can give you an idea.”
But if you’re flexible, the sites can pay off. George Davis, 51, a fairgrounds manager from Marietta, Ga., has used FloridaVacationAuction.com many times for quick family getaways. For a four-night trip in February to Destin, Fla., with his 11-year-old son, Jordan, Mr. Davis won a bid for two nights at the Comfort Inn and two nights at the Wingate Inn for about $35 a night. “It was probably 50 percent off,” he said. “They gave us an upgrade to a suite, too.”
Michele Ash, a graphic designer from Sun City Center, Fla., who routinely uses FloridaVacationAuction.com, said, “I never pay more than 50 percent of retail.” For a four-night getaway to Fort Myers in July, for example, she is paying just $120 for two nights, including taxes and breakfast each day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, normally $159 a night with breakfast. “I shouldn’t brag too much,” Ms. Ash said, “or I’ll have too much competition when it come to bidding.”
Blink and You’ll Miss These Deals
HALF-PRICE safaris. Flights between New York and San Francisco for $14. One-dollar hotel rooms. Desperate for business, travel companies have been throwing out offers guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone with a yen for travel. The catch: blink and you’ll miss them. It takes fast action to reap the benefits.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Ron Barrett
Readers' Comments
Where do you find great travel deals? Share your tips.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (4) »
if (acm.rc) acm.rc.write();
Flash sales, the briefest of these almost-too-good-to-be-true limited offers, often last no more than a day, and availability is limited. Some of the bargains sell out in just minutes. Other fast sales are in auction format, requiring travelers to bid on their vacations. But travelers are quickly learning to play the game, and some are saving big.
The simplest offers don’t require bidding — just speed. Last month, JetBlue ran a one-day airfare sale, offering 140 seats from San Francisco to New York for $14. In March, it ran a similar one-day sale with rates as low as $29 between New York and Boston or Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif. Lastminutetravel.com has offered hotels for $1 in 15-minute intervals on its site. Travelers didn’t know when the flash sales would take place but could sign up for clues.
Individual hotels are offering sales in short promotional bursts too. Last month the Orchard Hotel in San Francisco and its sister property the Orchard Garden offered one deluxe guest room for each night of the month for $1. The Alexander Inn, a 48-room hotel in downtown Philadelphia, had been selling five rooms for $1 a night, Sundays to Thursdays through June 11, but rooms, which opened up for reservations at 8 in the morning 30 days before arrival, sold out fast. “We’re receiving about 75 to 100 calls per hour,” the innkeeper, John Cochie, said in March when the promotion began.
Landing such fleeting deals requires a certain diligence and a fair amount of luck. Web sites like Travelzoo.com and Farecompare.com, which aggregate bargains and post them on their sites, are a good place to look. You can also sign up for their deal alerts. Travelzoo.com sends out a weekly Top 20 e-mail message, listing some of the best airfare, hotel, cruise and rental car deals. A few companies are offering flash sales more regularly. For example, Hotels.com has started running a 24-hour sale every Tuesday, with major discounts like up to 50 percent off upscale hotels in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York for travel up to a month later.
Another form of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sale that has been gaining popularity is online auctions in which travelers bid on vacations at sites like Luxurylink.com and FloridaVacationAuction.com, which companies use to dispose of unsold inventory quickly. The number of auction listings at Luxurylink.com, which offers cut rates on high-end hotels and villas, has more than doubled to 14,532 from the start of the year through mid-March, compared with the same period last year.
A Luxurylink.com auction of a seven-night stay at the Grand Velas, an all-suites luxury resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, had a winning bid of $5,249 — more than 50 percent off the estimated $10,804 retail value, including all meals, airport transfers, resort taxes and a number of spa treatments in March. Similarly, a week at BodyHoliday, a luxury resort on St. Lucia, went for $3,781 — half off the retail value of $7,462.
Mainstream tour operators have been getting into the act with auctions of their own. In February Abercrombie & Kent, which occupies a rung at the high end of the tour market, held a six-hour online auction of five “once-in-a-lifetime” trips to places like Egypt, Spain and Africa. Every half hour, starting bids were lowered an additional 5 percent until the discount reached 60 percent or the trip sold out. The company said the auctions attracted new business with 58 percent of bookings made by first-time customers. The sale was so successful that the tour operator conducted a second auction last week, offering $6,965 Galápagos cruises for starting bids ranging from $2,786 to $6,617, and $7,040 East African safaris for $2,816 to $6,688.
Alvin Silverman, a certified public accountant from Long Island., estimates he has won at least 15 auctions at Luxurylink.com, including multiple trips to the high-end CuisinArt Resort in Anguilla, where starting rates are $400 a night in the summer, or $2,000 for a five-night stay. Mr. Silverman paid $1,150 to $1,200 apiece for five-night stays through his Luxurylink.com winnings, and the rates included add-ons like a dinner, lunch and massages.
In December, he won four nights in an over-the-top villa at Sheriva on Anguilla for $2,200. During the high season the same villa goes for $10,000 a night. “That was a super steal,” Mr. Silverman said. “This place is the best of the best. I had my own private chef, about a 10,000-square-foot villa, a staff of about five people, and you were able to use Cap Juluca facilities with signing privileges,” he said (Cap Juluca is a nearby luxury resort much favored by celebrities). “Donald Trump couldn’t do better.”
Another Luxurylink.com enthusiast, Horst Brautigam, who says he regularly saves 50 percent on luxury hotels through the site, offers some bidding advice. Check the past auction results: “If only one or two bids were made for a particular auction, you should be successful at the minimum price.” Be patient: “Most auctions are repeated within a three- to four-day period.” Check hotel availability before placing a bid if you’re not flexible on travel dates: “They will not make a firm reservation before you actually secure your package, but at least they can give you an idea.”
But if you’re flexible, the sites can pay off. George Davis, 51, a fairgrounds manager from Marietta, Ga., has used FloridaVacationAuction.com many times for quick family getaways. For a four-night trip in February to Destin, Fla., with his 11-year-old son, Jordan, Mr. Davis won a bid for two nights at the Comfort Inn and two nights at the Wingate Inn for about $35 a night. “It was probably 50 percent off,” he said. “They gave us an upgrade to a suite, too.”
Michele Ash, a graphic designer from Sun City Center, Fla., who routinely uses FloridaVacationAuction.com, said, “I never pay more than 50 percent of retail.” For a four-night getaway to Fort Myers in July, for example, she is paying just $120 for two nights, including taxes and breakfast each day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, normally $159 a night with breakfast. “I shouldn’t brag too much,” Ms. Ash said, “or I’ll have too much competition when it come to bidding.”
Taking the Kids
In Israel, History With a Whiff of Adventure
“JUMP! Just jump!” I could hear Sarah, my 12-year-old daughter, pleading. My feet were dangling in the air and my body was squeezed into a manhole-sized opening in a dirt floor, with only a flickering candle illuminating the darkness. I grappled around and held my breath before dropping to the ground.
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Interest Guide
Family
Multimedia
Slide Show
Taking the Kids to Israel
Map
Israel
Up ahead, Sarah’s two older brothers were scrambling through a cloud of dust into a hollowed-out chamber dug 2,300 years ago. We were in the remains of Maresha, about 50 miles south of Tel Aviv. Its residents excavated caves to produce limestone for construction, and then created an intricate network of tunnels to connect the caves so they could be used as workshops, storage chambers and reservoirs.
Covered with chalky sediment, we climbed up a rickety wooden staircase and emerged into daylight. Our tour guide had warned that caving wasn’t for the claustrophobic, so the children’s grandmother had remained above ground. “How was it down there?” she asked.
“Like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ” responded 14-year-old Charlie.
“No, more like ‘The Temple of Doom,’ ” argued 16-year-old David.
My husband and I shook off the dust and smiled. This was what we hoped for when we booked the trip. Our goal was to learn as much as possible about Israel’s history in 10 days without spending too many precious vacation hours inside museums, temples or churches. We wanted our children’s holiday to have a whiff of adventure. If the caves of Maresha reminded them of Indiana Jones, we were on the right track.
Teenagers thrive on action and intrigue, and Israel fits the bill. The entire country is kid-friendly — lively and colorful, laid back and casual. Outside of some ultra-Orthodox areas, no rigid rules or dress codes apply; you can wear jeans and T-shirts just about anywhere. You can go caving and then show up at a nice cafe for lunch without changing clothes, and nobody cares.
Israel is a young country that has been dogged by regional conflict from its very beginnings. Whether you’re touring ancient archaeological sites or modern military monuments, some discussion of Middle Eastern strife inevitably crops up. Every Israeli — from gun-toting soldiers we met on top of the Golan Heights to tent-dwelling nomads we met in the Judean Desert — has an opinion on the contention, and few refrain from expressing their thoughts.
This continuing dialogue, heightened by endlessly televised news about the conflict, served as a dramatic backdrop for our three-generation trip. We crisscrossed the country, which is about the size of New Jersey. Few destinations offer such a vast array of experiences in such a small space — or so many educational opportunities that feel like plain fun.
We started with an open-air jeep ride up the Golan Heights, which rise steeply from the Sea of Galilee. As we bumped along the rocky terrain, our guide described Israel’s capture of the area during the Six-Day War in 1967. He broke off to jump out and grab a gigantic pomelo off a tree; flicking open a switchblade knife, he served us pieces of the surprisingly sweet, juicy fruit. Nearing the crest, we could see Jordan, Syria and Lebanon spread out below, a grid of roads and fences marking the borders between green and brown patches of land.
We disembarked at Mount Bental and toured the Israeli Defense Forces bunkers used in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. “Look!” Sarah whispered as we entered the situation room. I stumbled, and found myself face to face with an Uzi submachine gun, on the shoulder of a pony-tailed girl barely older than my boys. A group of female soldiers was gathered around a map, conversing in Hebrew. Three pairs of eyes took in every detail: the olive-green fatigues, the polished black boots, the backpacks, the cellphones, the sunglasses . . . and the guns, nonchalantly draped across backs, looped through cargo belts around waists. My children stood riveted, casting sly glances at the soldiers until one broke the ice with a broad grin. They welcomed Sarah into their fold and posed for photos, hands on triggers.
Our Golan Heights excursion unleashed a torrent of questions about the war for independence and Israel’s 1948 declaration of statehood. We found answers at the Ayalon Institute, formerly a clandestine munitions factory built by the Haganah (the pre-independence armed forces) under a kibbutz near Tel Aviv. Restored and opened to the public, the institute is not mentioned in many guidebooks and gets little press. Yet Charlie — who devours detective novels and has twice toured the International Spy Museum in Washington — declared it his favorite site.
The place conveys a real sense of danger; had the Haganah members been discovered, they would have been hanged. The factory operations were concealed by a bakery and laundry; a 10-ton oven and a large washing machine hid entrances to the shop floor, which housed as many as 50 workers who, at the peak, produced 40,000 bullets a day. The noise of the washing machines camouflaged the din of the manufacturing process below ground.
David was especially fascinated by the sunlamps that munitions workers used to get an artificial tan. “It’s like an alibi,” our guide explained. “They pretended to leave the kibbutz each morning to work on a neighboring farm and then they sneaked back into the factory to make bullets. People would be suspicious if they looked too pale.”
Next we traveled to Akko, site of a medieval Crusaders’ fortress and later an Ottoman citadel. When the Turks were defeated by the British in 1918, the fortress became a high-security prison that held Jewish freedom fighters. Today the Underground Prisoners Memorial Museum pays tribute to them. A gloomy, ominous air hangs over the prison cells, with their thick stone walls, iron bars and narrow windows. Our group was mesmerized by the gallows room, with a noose centered over a trapdoor in the floor.
The Akko complex was impressive, but nothing could have prepared us for the majesty of Masada, the sprawling mountaintop fortress built more than 2,000 years ago by King Herod (and later the site of a mass suicide of Jewish defenders besieged by Roman troops). Nimble as a goat, Charlie raced straight up the “snake path” — a trail with sharp switchbacks — in half an hour. It took me another 20 minutes, including water breaks. Our group met at the summit, stunned by the vastness of King Herod’s vision. There were dozens of ruins, many decorated with detailed mosaics and frescoes.
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In Israel, History With a Whiff of Adventure
“JUMP! Just jump!” I could hear Sarah, my 12-year-old daughter, pleading. My feet were dangling in the air and my body was squeezed into a manhole-sized opening in a dirt floor, with only a flickering candle illuminating the darkness. I grappled around and held my breath before dropping to the ground.
Skip to next paragraph
Interest Guide
Family
Multimedia
Slide Show
Taking the Kids to Israel
Map
Israel
Up ahead, Sarah’s two older brothers were scrambling through a cloud of dust into a hollowed-out chamber dug 2,300 years ago. We were in the remains of Maresha, about 50 miles south of Tel Aviv. Its residents excavated caves to produce limestone for construction, and then created an intricate network of tunnels to connect the caves so they could be used as workshops, storage chambers and reservoirs.
Covered with chalky sediment, we climbed up a rickety wooden staircase and emerged into daylight. Our tour guide had warned that caving wasn’t for the claustrophobic, so the children’s grandmother had remained above ground. “How was it down there?” she asked.
“Like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ” responded 14-year-old Charlie.
“No, more like ‘The Temple of Doom,’ ” argued 16-year-old David.
My husband and I shook off the dust and smiled. This was what we hoped for when we booked the trip. Our goal was to learn as much as possible about Israel’s history in 10 days without spending too many precious vacation hours inside museums, temples or churches. We wanted our children’s holiday to have a whiff of adventure. If the caves of Maresha reminded them of Indiana Jones, we were on the right track.
Teenagers thrive on action and intrigue, and Israel fits the bill. The entire country is kid-friendly — lively and colorful, laid back and casual. Outside of some ultra-Orthodox areas, no rigid rules or dress codes apply; you can wear jeans and T-shirts just about anywhere. You can go caving and then show up at a nice cafe for lunch without changing clothes, and nobody cares.
Israel is a young country that has been dogged by regional conflict from its very beginnings. Whether you’re touring ancient archaeological sites or modern military monuments, some discussion of Middle Eastern strife inevitably crops up. Every Israeli — from gun-toting soldiers we met on top of the Golan Heights to tent-dwelling nomads we met in the Judean Desert — has an opinion on the contention, and few refrain from expressing their thoughts.
This continuing dialogue, heightened by endlessly televised news about the conflict, served as a dramatic backdrop for our three-generation trip. We crisscrossed the country, which is about the size of New Jersey. Few destinations offer such a vast array of experiences in such a small space — or so many educational opportunities that feel like plain fun.
We started with an open-air jeep ride up the Golan Heights, which rise steeply from the Sea of Galilee. As we bumped along the rocky terrain, our guide described Israel’s capture of the area during the Six-Day War in 1967. He broke off to jump out and grab a gigantic pomelo off a tree; flicking open a switchblade knife, he served us pieces of the surprisingly sweet, juicy fruit. Nearing the crest, we could see Jordan, Syria and Lebanon spread out below, a grid of roads and fences marking the borders between green and brown patches of land.
We disembarked at Mount Bental and toured the Israeli Defense Forces bunkers used in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. “Look!” Sarah whispered as we entered the situation room. I stumbled, and found myself face to face with an Uzi submachine gun, on the shoulder of a pony-tailed girl barely older than my boys. A group of female soldiers was gathered around a map, conversing in Hebrew. Three pairs of eyes took in every detail: the olive-green fatigues, the polished black boots, the backpacks, the cellphones, the sunglasses . . . and the guns, nonchalantly draped across backs, looped through cargo belts around waists. My children stood riveted, casting sly glances at the soldiers until one broke the ice with a broad grin. They welcomed Sarah into their fold and posed for photos, hands on triggers.
Our Golan Heights excursion unleashed a torrent of questions about the war for independence and Israel’s 1948 declaration of statehood. We found answers at the Ayalon Institute, formerly a clandestine munitions factory built by the Haganah (the pre-independence armed forces) under a kibbutz near Tel Aviv. Restored and opened to the public, the institute is not mentioned in many guidebooks and gets little press. Yet Charlie — who devours detective novels and has twice toured the International Spy Museum in Washington — declared it his favorite site.
The place conveys a real sense of danger; had the Haganah members been discovered, they would have been hanged. The factory operations were concealed by a bakery and laundry; a 10-ton oven and a large washing machine hid entrances to the shop floor, which housed as many as 50 workers who, at the peak, produced 40,000 bullets a day. The noise of the washing machines camouflaged the din of the manufacturing process below ground.
David was especially fascinated by the sunlamps that munitions workers used to get an artificial tan. “It’s like an alibi,” our guide explained. “They pretended to leave the kibbutz each morning to work on a neighboring farm and then they sneaked back into the factory to make bullets. People would be suspicious if they looked too pale.”
Next we traveled to Akko, site of a medieval Crusaders’ fortress and later an Ottoman citadel. When the Turks were defeated by the British in 1918, the fortress became a high-security prison that held Jewish freedom fighters. Today the Underground Prisoners Memorial Museum pays tribute to them. A gloomy, ominous air hangs over the prison cells, with their thick stone walls, iron bars and narrow windows. Our group was mesmerized by the gallows room, with a noose centered over a trapdoor in the floor.
The Akko complex was impressive, but nothing could have prepared us for the majesty of Masada, the sprawling mountaintop fortress built more than 2,000 years ago by King Herod (and later the site of a mass suicide of Jewish defenders besieged by Roman troops). Nimble as a goat, Charlie raced straight up the “snake path” — a trail with sharp switchbacks — in half an hour. It took me another 20 minutes, including water breaks. Our group met at the summit, stunned by the vastness of King Herod’s vision. There were dozens of ruins, many decorated with detailed mosaics and frescoes.
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36 Hours in Toronto
AS one of the planet’s most diverse cities, Toronto is oddly clean and orderly. Sidewalks are spotless, trolleys run like clockwork, and the locals are polite almost to a fault. That’s not to say that Torontonians are dull. Far from it. With a population that is now half foreign-born — fueled by growing numbers of East Indians, Chinese and Sri Lankans — the lakeside city offers a kaleidoscope of world cultures. Sing karaoke in a Vietnamese bar, sip espresso in Little Italy and catch a new Bollywood release, all in one night. The art and design scenes are thriving, too, and not just on the bedazzled red carpets of the Toronto International Film Festival, held every September. Industrial zones have been reborn into gallery districts, and dark alleys now lead to designer studios, giving Canada’s financial capital an almost disheveled mien.
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What to Do
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Toronto, Ontario
Friday
4 p.m.1) WEST ENDERS
Toronto’s cool scene seems to migrate west along Queen Street West every few years. It started out at Yonge Street, with punk rockers and art students pouring into sweaty clubs. Then, when mainstream stores like the Gap moved in, the scenesters fled west, past Bathurst Street, to a district now called West Queen West (www.westqueenwest.ca), where old appliance stores are still being carved into rough-hewn galleries and hunter-chic boutiques. Start your stroll along Toronto’s art mile at Bathurst Street and go west. Raw spaces that showcase young Canadian artists include Paul Petro Contemporary Art (980 Queen Street West; 416-979-7874; www.paulpetro.com).
8 p.m.2) DESIGNER MEAT
For a taste of hipsterdom, put on a T-shirt and squeeze into OddFellows (936 Queen Street West, 416-534-5244, www.oddfellows.ca), a boutique-like bistro where the area’s beard-and-flannel posse gathers nightly. The corner restaurant, which opened last fall, is run by Brian Richer and Kei Ng, partners in a maverick design firm, Castor Design (www.castordesign.ca), known for elevating mundane materials into clever objects. The menu follows similar sleights of hand. Manly cuts are skillfully turned into Canadian comfort dishes like bison meatloaf and venison burgers (both 18 Canadian dollars, or about $15 at 1.21 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar). The long communal table, made of polished limestone and random legs, encourages chitchat.
10:30 p.m.3) TREND NORTH
Let the frat boys have College Street. And West Queen West has been overrun lately with 905ers, slang for out-of-towners with suburban area codes. The cool kids, it seems, are now migrating north along Ossington Avenue, which some Toronto bloggers are already calling “Next West Queen West.” Bookending the district are Sweaty Betty’s (13 Ossington Avenue; 416-535-6861), a hole-in-the-wall with a brash jukebox, and Communist’s Daughter (1149 Dundas Street West; 647-435-0103), an understated lounge that attracts the skinny corduroy and high-top-wearing set. A trendy bar crawl is emerging in between, tucked among old Portuguese bakeries and kitchen supply stores.
Saturday
10:30 a.m.4) EGGS AND EGG CHAIRS
Brunch is serious business in this town, and discerning eaters are making their way these days to Leslieville, a once grimy neighborhood in East Toronto now packed with smart-looking cafes and midcentury-modern stores. Still buzzing is Table 17 (782 Queen Street East; 416-519-1851; www.table17.ca), a country-style French bistro that serves lovely Neapolitan eggs (11 dollars). Afterward, peruse the neighborhood’s amazingly well-priced and well-curated antiques shops like Machine Age Modern (1000 Queen Street East; 416-461-3588; www.machineagemodern.com), which carries teak dining tables, Georg Jensen clocks and other vintage modern treasures.
2 p.m.5) O CALCUTTA
This is a city of minority neighborhoods, from the souvlaki joints in Greektown to the rainbow-hued windows of Gay Village. There are even two Chinatowns. But for color and spice, hop a taxi to Little India. The hilltop district spans just six blocks along Gerrard Street East, but it’s jammed with more than a hundred stores and restaurants. Sparkly silks are piled high at Chandan Fashion (No. 1439; 416-462-0277; www.chandanfashion.ca). Dubai Jewellers (No. 1407; 416-465-1200) has a dazzling assortment of Indian-designed gold pieces. And for a midday snack, Udupi Palace (No. 1460; 416-405-8189; www.udupipalace.ca) is a bright restaurant that makes delicious dosas, chaats and other South Indian treats.
4 p.m.6) MADE IN CANADA
Local fashion is disappointing, even in West Queen West. A handsome exception is Klaxon Howl (recently relocated to the rear entrance of 694 Queen Street West; 647-436-6628; www.klaxonhowl.com), a homegrown men’s label that blends vintage military gear with its own rugged work shirts, selvage denim jeans and waxed cotton jackets. The design scene, on the other hand, is flourishing. Commute Home (819 Queen Street West; 416-861-0521; www.commutehome.com) is a cavernous showroom that mixes industrial objects with neomodern furniture crafted from solid woods. For clever housewares, take a slight detour to Made (867 Dundas Street West; 416-607-6384; www.madedesign.ca), a gallery store that represents young product designers with a fresh and playful eye.
8 p.m.7) NOMADIC TASTES
A new culinary confidence has taken hold of Toronto. Not only are kitchens updating traditional Canadian fare like charcuterie and wild boar, but young chefs are tapping Toronto’s global roots in ways that transcend standard fusion. Asian-fusion chefs like Susar Lee have gotten much of the attention; his latest restaurant Madeline’s (601 King Street West; 416-603-2205; www.susur.com) is packed. But also making a mark are hot spots like Nyood (1096 Queen Street West; 416-466-1888; www.nyood.ca), a pan-Mediterranean restaurant with big chandeliers and frilly molding. Dishes like the Malta braised short ribs (14 dollars) are a hit, while tasty cocktails like the berry mojito (14 dollars) keep the party going.
11 p.m.8) GET WIGGY
O.K., College Street is not all bad, especially if you’re single and in your mid-20s to 30s. A chill place to start is the unimaginatively named College Street Bar (No. 574; 416-533-2417; www.collegestreetbar.com). The dim space has brick walls, a woodsy patio and a refreshing microbrew that draws a good-looking crowd of Web designers and writer types. Afterward, catch the 1 a.m. drag show at El Convento Rico (No. 750; 416-588-7800; www.elconventorico.com). The low-rent, high-octane club still attracts an exuberant mix of bachelorettes in plastic tiaras and muscular men with high voices.
Sunday
11 a.m.9) DIM SUM LUXE
For inventive dim sum you won’t find anywhere else, make a beeline for Lai Wah Heen (118 Chestnut Street; 416-977-9899; www.laiwahheen.com), a white tablecloth restaurant on the second floor of the Metropolitan Hotel. The Hong Kong chef Terence Chan serves fanciful creations like crab dumplings that resemble purple crabs and tofu paired with truffles and mushroom. About 40 dollars a person.
1 p.m.10) TROPHY MUSEUM
The CN Tower notwithstanding, Toronto has impressive architecture by giants like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Santiago Calatrava and Thom Mayne. But work by its favorite son, Frank Gehry, was missing until November when the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West; 416-979-6648; www.ago.net) reopened with a bold renovation by Mr. Gehry, who grew up just blocks from the 109-year-old museum. He wrapped the original Beaux-Arts structure in sheets of billowing glass and swaths of Douglas fir, and added a spiraling wood staircase that pierces the glass roof to a new contemporary-art wing. It’s a stunning homecoming for an architect credited with helping other cities flourish, not that Toronto needs a hand.
THE BASICS
Porter Airlines flies nonstop from Newark to Toronto City Center Airport for as low as $50 one way, excluding taxes and fees. Large carriers, including Air Canada, American and Continental, fly nonstop between New York City and Toronto’s main airport, starting at about $220 for travel in May, according to a recent Web search. Taxis are plentiful, and the city has an efficient network of streetcars, subways and buses.
The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West; 416-531-5042; www.thedrakehotel.ca) helped put West Queen West on the hipster map. Weekends can be a zoo, but the 19 guest rooms, which evoke a midcentury modern yacht with their wooden ladders and flip-down nightstands, are cozy and quiet. Service is warm and attentive, even when the main entrance is mobbed. The cafe and restaurant are also worth a visit. Rooms start at 189 Canadian dollars, about $156 at 1.21 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Housed in a Victorian landmark, the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West; 416-531-4635; www. gladstonehotel.com) reopened in 2005 as a modern boutique hotel at the edge of West Queen West. The wood-paneled bar and galleries are also a popular hangout for the local arts and gay scene. It has 37 artist-designed rooms starting at 185 Canadian dollars.
AS one of the planet’s most diverse cities, Toronto is oddly clean and orderly. Sidewalks are spotless, trolleys run like clockwork, and the locals are polite almost to a fault. That’s not to say that Torontonians are dull. Far from it. With a population that is now half foreign-born — fueled by growing numbers of East Indians, Chinese and Sri Lankans — the lakeside city offers a kaleidoscope of world cultures. Sing karaoke in a Vietnamese bar, sip espresso in Little Italy and catch a new Bollywood release, all in one night. The art and design scenes are thriving, too, and not just on the bedazzled red carpets of the Toronto International Film Festival, held every September. Industrial zones have been reborn into gallery districts, and dark alleys now lead to designer studios, giving Canada’s financial capital an almost disheveled mien.
Skip to next paragraph
Toronto Travel Guide
Where to Stay
Where to Eat
What to Do
Go to the Toronto Travel Guide »
Multimedia
Slide Show
A Weekend in Toronto
Map
Toronto, Ontario
Friday
4 p.m.1) WEST ENDERS
Toronto’s cool scene seems to migrate west along Queen Street West every few years. It started out at Yonge Street, with punk rockers and art students pouring into sweaty clubs. Then, when mainstream stores like the Gap moved in, the scenesters fled west, past Bathurst Street, to a district now called West Queen West (www.westqueenwest.ca), where old appliance stores are still being carved into rough-hewn galleries and hunter-chic boutiques. Start your stroll along Toronto’s art mile at Bathurst Street and go west. Raw spaces that showcase young Canadian artists include Paul Petro Contemporary Art (980 Queen Street West; 416-979-7874; www.paulpetro.com).
8 p.m.2) DESIGNER MEAT
For a taste of hipsterdom, put on a T-shirt and squeeze into OddFellows (936 Queen Street West, 416-534-5244, www.oddfellows.ca), a boutique-like bistro where the area’s beard-and-flannel posse gathers nightly. The corner restaurant, which opened last fall, is run by Brian Richer and Kei Ng, partners in a maverick design firm, Castor Design (www.castordesign.ca), known for elevating mundane materials into clever objects. The menu follows similar sleights of hand. Manly cuts are skillfully turned into Canadian comfort dishes like bison meatloaf and venison burgers (both 18 Canadian dollars, or about $15 at 1.21 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar). The long communal table, made of polished limestone and random legs, encourages chitchat.
10:30 p.m.3) TREND NORTH
Let the frat boys have College Street. And West Queen West has been overrun lately with 905ers, slang for out-of-towners with suburban area codes. The cool kids, it seems, are now migrating north along Ossington Avenue, which some Toronto bloggers are already calling “Next West Queen West.” Bookending the district are Sweaty Betty’s (13 Ossington Avenue; 416-535-6861), a hole-in-the-wall with a brash jukebox, and Communist’s Daughter (1149 Dundas Street West; 647-435-0103), an understated lounge that attracts the skinny corduroy and high-top-wearing set. A trendy bar crawl is emerging in between, tucked among old Portuguese bakeries and kitchen supply stores.
Saturday
10:30 a.m.4) EGGS AND EGG CHAIRS
Brunch is serious business in this town, and discerning eaters are making their way these days to Leslieville, a once grimy neighborhood in East Toronto now packed with smart-looking cafes and midcentury-modern stores. Still buzzing is Table 17 (782 Queen Street East; 416-519-1851; www.table17.ca), a country-style French bistro that serves lovely Neapolitan eggs (11 dollars). Afterward, peruse the neighborhood’s amazingly well-priced and well-curated antiques shops like Machine Age Modern (1000 Queen Street East; 416-461-3588; www.machineagemodern.com), which carries teak dining tables, Georg Jensen clocks and other vintage modern treasures.
2 p.m.5) O CALCUTTA
This is a city of minority neighborhoods, from the souvlaki joints in Greektown to the rainbow-hued windows of Gay Village. There are even two Chinatowns. But for color and spice, hop a taxi to Little India. The hilltop district spans just six blocks along Gerrard Street East, but it’s jammed with more than a hundred stores and restaurants. Sparkly silks are piled high at Chandan Fashion (No. 1439; 416-462-0277; www.chandanfashion.ca). Dubai Jewellers (No. 1407; 416-465-1200) has a dazzling assortment of Indian-designed gold pieces. And for a midday snack, Udupi Palace (No. 1460; 416-405-8189; www.udupipalace.ca) is a bright restaurant that makes delicious dosas, chaats and other South Indian treats.
4 p.m.6) MADE IN CANADA
Local fashion is disappointing, even in West Queen West. A handsome exception is Klaxon Howl (recently relocated to the rear entrance of 694 Queen Street West; 647-436-6628; www.klaxonhowl.com), a homegrown men’s label that blends vintage military gear with its own rugged work shirts, selvage denim jeans and waxed cotton jackets. The design scene, on the other hand, is flourishing. Commute Home (819 Queen Street West; 416-861-0521; www.commutehome.com) is a cavernous showroom that mixes industrial objects with neomodern furniture crafted from solid woods. For clever housewares, take a slight detour to Made (867 Dundas Street West; 416-607-6384; www.madedesign.ca), a gallery store that represents young product designers with a fresh and playful eye.
8 p.m.7) NOMADIC TASTES
A new culinary confidence has taken hold of Toronto. Not only are kitchens updating traditional Canadian fare like charcuterie and wild boar, but young chefs are tapping Toronto’s global roots in ways that transcend standard fusion. Asian-fusion chefs like Susar Lee have gotten much of the attention; his latest restaurant Madeline’s (601 King Street West; 416-603-2205; www.susur.com) is packed. But also making a mark are hot spots like Nyood (1096 Queen Street West; 416-466-1888; www.nyood.ca), a pan-Mediterranean restaurant with big chandeliers and frilly molding. Dishes like the Malta braised short ribs (14 dollars) are a hit, while tasty cocktails like the berry mojito (14 dollars) keep the party going.
11 p.m.8) GET WIGGY
O.K., College Street is not all bad, especially if you’re single and in your mid-20s to 30s. A chill place to start is the unimaginatively named College Street Bar (No. 574; 416-533-2417; www.collegestreetbar.com). The dim space has brick walls, a woodsy patio and a refreshing microbrew that draws a good-looking crowd of Web designers and writer types. Afterward, catch the 1 a.m. drag show at El Convento Rico (No. 750; 416-588-7800; www.elconventorico.com). The low-rent, high-octane club still attracts an exuberant mix of bachelorettes in plastic tiaras and muscular men with high voices.
Sunday
11 a.m.9) DIM SUM LUXE
For inventive dim sum you won’t find anywhere else, make a beeline for Lai Wah Heen (118 Chestnut Street; 416-977-9899; www.laiwahheen.com), a white tablecloth restaurant on the second floor of the Metropolitan Hotel. The Hong Kong chef Terence Chan serves fanciful creations like crab dumplings that resemble purple crabs and tofu paired with truffles and mushroom. About 40 dollars a person.
1 p.m.10) TROPHY MUSEUM
The CN Tower notwithstanding, Toronto has impressive architecture by giants like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Santiago Calatrava and Thom Mayne. But work by its favorite son, Frank Gehry, was missing until November when the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West; 416-979-6648; www.ago.net) reopened with a bold renovation by Mr. Gehry, who grew up just blocks from the 109-year-old museum. He wrapped the original Beaux-Arts structure in sheets of billowing glass and swaths of Douglas fir, and added a spiraling wood staircase that pierces the glass roof to a new contemporary-art wing. It’s a stunning homecoming for an architect credited with helping other cities flourish, not that Toronto needs a hand.
THE BASICS
Porter Airlines flies nonstop from Newark to Toronto City Center Airport for as low as $50 one way, excluding taxes and fees. Large carriers, including Air Canada, American and Continental, fly nonstop between New York City and Toronto’s main airport, starting at about $220 for travel in May, according to a recent Web search. Taxis are plentiful, and the city has an efficient network of streetcars, subways and buses.
The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West; 416-531-5042; www.thedrakehotel.ca) helped put West Queen West on the hipster map. Weekends can be a zoo, but the 19 guest rooms, which evoke a midcentury modern yacht with their wooden ladders and flip-down nightstands, are cozy and quiet. Service is warm and attentive, even when the main entrance is mobbed. The cafe and restaurant are also worth a visit. Rooms start at 189 Canadian dollars, about $156 at 1.21 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Housed in a Victorian landmark, the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West; 416-531-4635; www. gladstonehotel.com) reopened in 2005 as a modern boutique hotel at the edge of West Queen West. The wood-paneled bar and galleries are also a popular hangout for the local arts and gay scene. It has 37 artist-designed rooms starting at 185 Canadian dollars.
\Roman France
THE summer evening was autumnally cold and damp, the backless stone seats in the outdoor theater unforgiving. Many of the 8,000 spectators were irritable; most of us had shown for a rained-out performance the night before.
And frankly, I’ve seen better productions of “Carmen.” But as the performers began to move, their shadows rose 100 feet and danced across the imposing backdrop of a yellow limestone wall. A marble statue of Caesar Augustus stood ghostly white upon his perch in the wall, his right arm raised as if he had just commanded the singers to begin their performance. When Carmen sang for the last time, a bird somewhere in the black sky sang back as her shadow fell.
I had been transported into the past, watching a performance in a semicircular Roman theater in the southern French city of Orange much as spectators had done 2,000 years ago. In front of me was one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering to have survived the cruelty of the centuries: a theatrical wall. Despite its scarred and stained stones, the wall stands defiantly. It is still deserving of the description: “The finest wall in my kingdom,” bestowed by Louis XIV.
The performance ended, and the crowd spilled out into the streets below, just as it did in Roman times. Augustus, embraced by the shadows coursing across the theatrical wall, seemed to move as well.
Visitors to France do not usually seek out evidence of Rome’s conquest of what was then called Gaul (now essentially modern-day France and Belgium). Indeed, the French do not dwell on their colonization by ancient Roman imperialists. Instead, they celebrate the “Gallic” part: the stories of proud, strong natives who thrived in that era. (The most popular contemporary portrayals of Roman rule in France are the comic book and film adventures of Astérix and Obélix, the Gallic village heroes who use stealth and cunning against the Roman invaders.)
Over the years, I have discovered traces of Roman civilization throughout the country, from Arras in the north to Dijon in the center and Fréjus in the south. My hunt for Roman Gaul has turned up treasures in the oddest places, including the middle of wheat fields, the foundations of churches and the basements of dusty provincial museums.
Then I asked Patrick Périn, the director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales just west of Paris, which houses the country’s finest Gallo-Roman collection, the best way to explore Roman France. He said he had two words for me: “Go south.”
Set aside for a moment images of Provence’s lavender fields, the Riviera’s beaches and Marseille’s bouillabaisse. The southeastern swath of the country seems as crammed with ancient Rome as Rome itself: temples, theaters, amphitheaters, aqueducts, roads, arches, monuments, mosaics and every sort of object from daily life.
The South of France was the first region annexed by the Romans, in about 125 B.C., decades before Julius Caesar brought the rest of Gaul under his control. The area was ancient Rome with a French twist, a synergistic blend of two cultures and lifestyles that left a permanent imprint on both of them.
The Romans relied on the native aristocracy to administer local governments. Many Gauls became citizens of Rome. Gallic silver, glass, pottery, food and wine were exported to Italy. At a factory near Millau in the Massif Central, for example, slaves mass-produced pottery for the western half of the Roman Empire, including the entire Roman army.
To appreciate the best of Gallo-Roman France today requires only a vivid imagination and surprisingly little driving. I visited the area in several trips from Paris, but it can be covered in three or four days.
If French history books tend to underplay ancient Roman rule, local politicians and entrepreneurs in the south do not. In the summer, area restaurants offer “Roman” menus with 2,000-year-old recipes: dishes prepared with cumin, coriander, mint and honey.
In Orange, the Théâtre Antique d’Orange hosts “Roman” festivals twice a year, featuring fake gladiators, processions and demonstrations of ancient Olympic games.
The Mas des Tourelles vineyard in Beaucaire organizes “wine harvests” in which Roman methods for making wine are re-enacted: grapes are crushed under the feet of “slaves” (staff members who work at the winery). On hand is a replica of a Roman wine press and amphorae for storing the wine; of course there are also wine tastings.
Residents co-exist with their antiquities with a blend of pride and nonchalance. A seller of old books in Nîmes displays his collection of Roman artifacts in a glass case; the Hôtel d’Arlatan in Arles has a glass floor on which guests can walk and peer down at the remains of ancient baths more than 20 feet below.
For me, the epicenter of Roman Gaul is Nîmes, once one of the largest cities of the empire, called by locals “the Rome of France,” and like Rome, built on seven hills. Its amphitheater, although heavily restored, is well preserved. Unlike at Rome’s Colosseum, where passing cars and motorbikes pierce the tranquillity of the site with their noise and fumes, traffic is restricted around the Nîmes amphitheater.
Le Petit Bofinger is more than the brasserie across the street. A well-positioned sidewalk table becomes the perfect perch to absorb the grandeur of the site. I felt that the visual exploration deserved a café gourmand — an espresso served in a gold-trimmed claret-colored cup and saucer along with miniature servings of crème brûlée, chocolate cake and fromage blanc with raspberry sauce.
My guide to the area was Sophie Bouzat-Wildbolz, a Swiss-American who has been giving tours throughout this part of France for 20 years. (She works through the Nîmes Tourism Board and offers both tours of the city and custom tours of the region.) She led me up stairs and through stone corridors to the highest point of the unusually shaped elliptical amphitheater. Gladiators once did battle here; now crowds come to watch modern-day re-enactments, as well as bullfights, which have been held in the amphitheater since the mid-19th century.
“The only way you can understand an amphitheater is to feel like a spectator,” Ms. Bouzat-Wildbolz said. “Imagine all the seats filled, the cries of the crowd, the gladiators in battle below.” She told me that although Nîmes’s amphitheater is smaller than the Colosseum, it suffered much less degradation.
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THE summer evening was autumnally cold and damp, the backless stone seats in the outdoor theater unforgiving. Many of the 8,000 spectators were irritable; most of us had shown for a rained-out performance the night before.
And frankly, I’ve seen better productions of “Carmen.” But as the performers began to move, their shadows rose 100 feet and danced across the imposing backdrop of a yellow limestone wall. A marble statue of Caesar Augustus stood ghostly white upon his perch in the wall, his right arm raised as if he had just commanded the singers to begin their performance. When Carmen sang for the last time, a bird somewhere in the black sky sang back as her shadow fell.
I had been transported into the past, watching a performance in a semicircular Roman theater in the southern French city of Orange much as spectators had done 2,000 years ago. In front of me was one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering to have survived the cruelty of the centuries: a theatrical wall. Despite its scarred and stained stones, the wall stands defiantly. It is still deserving of the description: “The finest wall in my kingdom,” bestowed by Louis XIV.
The performance ended, and the crowd spilled out into the streets below, just as it did in Roman times. Augustus, embraced by the shadows coursing across the theatrical wall, seemed to move as well.
Visitors to France do not usually seek out evidence of Rome’s conquest of what was then called Gaul (now essentially modern-day France and Belgium). Indeed, the French do not dwell on their colonization by ancient Roman imperialists. Instead, they celebrate the “Gallic” part: the stories of proud, strong natives who thrived in that era. (The most popular contemporary portrayals of Roman rule in France are the comic book and film adventures of Astérix and Obélix, the Gallic village heroes who use stealth and cunning against the Roman invaders.)
Over the years, I have discovered traces of Roman civilization throughout the country, from Arras in the north to Dijon in the center and Fréjus in the south. My hunt for Roman Gaul has turned up treasures in the oddest places, including the middle of wheat fields, the foundations of churches and the basements of dusty provincial museums.
Then I asked Patrick Périn, the director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales just west of Paris, which houses the country’s finest Gallo-Roman collection, the best way to explore Roman France. He said he had two words for me: “Go south.”
Set aside for a moment images of Provence’s lavender fields, the Riviera’s beaches and Marseille’s bouillabaisse. The southeastern swath of the country seems as crammed with ancient Rome as Rome itself: temples, theaters, amphitheaters, aqueducts, roads, arches, monuments, mosaics and every sort of object from daily life.
The South of France was the first region annexed by the Romans, in about 125 B.C., decades before Julius Caesar brought the rest of Gaul under his control. The area was ancient Rome with a French twist, a synergistic blend of two cultures and lifestyles that left a permanent imprint on both of them.
The Romans relied on the native aristocracy to administer local governments. Many Gauls became citizens of Rome. Gallic silver, glass, pottery, food and wine were exported to Italy. At a factory near Millau in the Massif Central, for example, slaves mass-produced pottery for the western half of the Roman Empire, including the entire Roman army.
To appreciate the best of Gallo-Roman France today requires only a vivid imagination and surprisingly little driving. I visited the area in several trips from Paris, but it can be covered in three or four days.
If French history books tend to underplay ancient Roman rule, local politicians and entrepreneurs in the south do not. In the summer, area restaurants offer “Roman” menus with 2,000-year-old recipes: dishes prepared with cumin, coriander, mint and honey.
In Orange, the Théâtre Antique d’Orange hosts “Roman” festivals twice a year, featuring fake gladiators, processions and demonstrations of ancient Olympic games.
The Mas des Tourelles vineyard in Beaucaire organizes “wine harvests” in which Roman methods for making wine are re-enacted: grapes are crushed under the feet of “slaves” (staff members who work at the winery). On hand is a replica of a Roman wine press and amphorae for storing the wine; of course there are also wine tastings.
Residents co-exist with their antiquities with a blend of pride and nonchalance. A seller of old books in Nîmes displays his collection of Roman artifacts in a glass case; the Hôtel d’Arlatan in Arles has a glass floor on which guests can walk and peer down at the remains of ancient baths more than 20 feet below.
For me, the epicenter of Roman Gaul is Nîmes, once one of the largest cities of the empire, called by locals “the Rome of France,” and like Rome, built on seven hills. Its amphitheater, although heavily restored, is well preserved. Unlike at Rome’s Colosseum, where passing cars and motorbikes pierce the tranquillity of the site with their noise and fumes, traffic is restricted around the Nîmes amphitheater.
Le Petit Bofinger is more than the brasserie across the street. A well-positioned sidewalk table becomes the perfect perch to absorb the grandeur of the site. I felt that the visual exploration deserved a café gourmand — an espresso served in a gold-trimmed claret-colored cup and saucer along with miniature servings of crème brûlée, chocolate cake and fromage blanc with raspberry sauce.
My guide to the area was Sophie Bouzat-Wildbolz, a Swiss-American who has been giving tours throughout this part of France for 20 years. (She works through the Nîmes Tourism Board and offers both tours of the city and custom tours of the region.) She led me up stairs and through stone corridors to the highest point of the unusually shaped elliptical amphitheater. Gladiators once did battle here; now crowds come to watch modern-day re-enactments, as well as bullfights, which have been held in the amphitheater since the mid-19th century.
“The only way you can understand an amphitheater is to feel like a spectator,” Ms. Bouzat-Wildbolz said. “Imagine all the seats filled, the cries of the crowd, the gladiators in battle below.” She told me that although Nîmes’s amphitheater is smaller than the Colosseum, it suffered much less degradation.
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Exuberance in Taiwan as Ties With China Warm
TAIPEI — The bulls are running hard in Taiwan as the island prepares to open its doors to mainland Chinese investment for the first time since breaking from Beijing in 1949.
After the two sides announced plans late last month to sign accords on banking, insurance and access to financial markets, mainland fever has set in on the island: its benchmark stock index, the Taiex, climbed 13 percent in the two weeks to Friday, and some analysts are predicting an additional gain of 25 percent to 50 percent by year-end. The Taiwan dollar has strengthened 2.5 percent.
Optimists see decades of bitter rivalry across the Taiwan Strait fading. The British bank Standard Chartered has dubbed the opening a “great leap across the strait,” and Goldman Sachs has called it a “paradigm shift.”
But others here are cautioning that the opening to mainland money could take longer than expected — and that in the near future at least, mainland investors will face a daunting maze of regulatory approvals and political concerns.
“People are overoptimistic,” said Norman Yin, a finance expert and informal economic adviser to Taiwan’s president. “They don’t understand that there are many constraints in the first stage. And in sensitive sectors, such as high-tech, military-related or mobile phones, there will be even more restrictions.”
Beijing officials have viewed Taiwan as a renegade province ever since the Nationalists retreated to the island when they lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists 60 years ago. Though not formally independent, the island has had its own government, economy and currency. For most of this decade, Taiwan was led by a pro-independence government that increased some cross-strait ties, although not nearly as quickly or broadly as business interests and investors would have liked.
But since Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as president nearly a year ago, Taiwan has moved rapidly to forge closer commercial links with China to lift its sagging economy. In the past year, it signed deals with China on tourism, airline flights and shipping.
Investment, however, has remained a one-way street, flowing from the island to the mainland. Taiwan has invested $150 billion in the mainland since the 1980s, according to one Taiwan government estimate. Mainland China has until now been barred from directly investing in Taiwan.
Now, analysts are heralding the long-term financial implications of Taiwan’s opening to the mainland. The anticipation began on April 26, when officials from Taipei and Beijing met in the mainland city of Nanjing and signed a statement on financial cooperation.
Three days later, Taiwan said it would allow mainland investment in nearly 100 sectors. Taipei also said it would permit mainland investment in construction projects that are part of Mr. Ma’s economic stimulus package. The same day, the first possible deal was announced. China Mobile, which has the most subscribers of any mobile phone carrier, said it had agreed to take a 12 percent stake in Far EasTone Telecommunications of Taiwan.
On May 1, China formally approved Taiwan-bound investment by qualified domestic institutional investors. Four days later, it announced a plan to step up development of a cross-strait economic zone in Fujian Province. Taiwanese auto, banking and other companies added to the euphoria by announcing investment tie-up plans with mainland companies.
The response to all this has been a stock market frenzy, especially by foreign institutional investors. JPMorgan Chase announced a target of 8,000 for the Taiex by year-end (the Taiex closed at 6,485 on Wednesday).
Goldman Sachs upgraded Taiwan shares in general to “overweight” this month. “The rapidity and scope of recent cross-strait initiatives,” it said in a note, “are welcome signals that Taiwan may finally reap the economic benefits from a warmer relationship with China.”
But many investors seem to have glossed over or willfully ignored the fact that many essential details remain unresolved or undisclosed. For one, the details of which specific sectors will be open to mainland money have not been completed. Taiwan will most likely allow mainland investment in 98 industries during the first phase, including automobiles, textiles, rubber and retailing, with detailed rules probably coming at month-end, the Taiwan minister of economic affairs, Yiin Chii-ming told reporters this week. But flat-panel and contract-chip manufacturing will still be shut to mainland investors for now.
Then, the two sides will have to sign a memorandum of understanding, probably in June or July for stock investments, as well as separate agreements for banking and insurance.
“On the Taiwan side, the government is still keeping their cards close to their chest,” said Tony Phoo, an economist with Standard Chartered. “We still don’t have details on everything we’re hearing and reading about, so there’s a lot of market speculation.”
Kevin Yang, chief investment officer at Paradigm Asset Management, added that for now, Beijing was capping Taiwan-bound investment at about 7.2 billion Taiwan dollars, or about $219 million.
“That’s very little,” he said. “I think the market’s overreacting.”
Phil Chu of Grand Cathay Securities and other analysts say foreign investors are betting that Taiwan will be another Hong Kong, where the stock market boomed following its opening to mainland investment. “I think it’s possible Taiwan’s stock market could double by 2012,” Mr. Chu said. “But it won’t go up as much as Hong Kong’s did.”
Still, analysts see Taiwan’s opening to the mainland as helping the island’s economic recovery in the short-term, and providing a structural boost in the long-run. China has already played a part in lifting some sectors. Its rural stimulus plan has increased mainland demand for televisions and other appliances, which has increased orders for Taiwan’s high technology companies.
Investors in Taiwan’s market have been burned before on inflated mainland hopes. Last year, for example, the market rocketed in the two months before Mr. Ma’s inauguration, only to plunge steadily afterward as the reality of the global downturn set in. Still, analysts insist that the long-term picture is bright.
“For eight years, Taiwan kept limits on exchanges and investments,” Mr. Chu said. “But since last year, Ma Ying-jeou has steadily adopted opening policies.”
TAIPEI — The bulls are running hard in Taiwan as the island prepares to open its doors to mainland Chinese investment for the first time since breaking from Beijing in 1949.
After the two sides announced plans late last month to sign accords on banking, insurance and access to financial markets, mainland fever has set in on the island: its benchmark stock index, the Taiex, climbed 13 percent in the two weeks to Friday, and some analysts are predicting an additional gain of 25 percent to 50 percent by year-end. The Taiwan dollar has strengthened 2.5 percent.
Optimists see decades of bitter rivalry across the Taiwan Strait fading. The British bank Standard Chartered has dubbed the opening a “great leap across the strait,” and Goldman Sachs has called it a “paradigm shift.”
But others here are cautioning that the opening to mainland money could take longer than expected — and that in the near future at least, mainland investors will face a daunting maze of regulatory approvals and political concerns.
“People are overoptimistic,” said Norman Yin, a finance expert and informal economic adviser to Taiwan’s president. “They don’t understand that there are many constraints in the first stage. And in sensitive sectors, such as high-tech, military-related or mobile phones, there will be even more restrictions.”
Beijing officials have viewed Taiwan as a renegade province ever since the Nationalists retreated to the island when they lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists 60 years ago. Though not formally independent, the island has had its own government, economy and currency. For most of this decade, Taiwan was led by a pro-independence government that increased some cross-strait ties, although not nearly as quickly or broadly as business interests and investors would have liked.
But since Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as president nearly a year ago, Taiwan has moved rapidly to forge closer commercial links with China to lift its sagging economy. In the past year, it signed deals with China on tourism, airline flights and shipping.
Investment, however, has remained a one-way street, flowing from the island to the mainland. Taiwan has invested $150 billion in the mainland since the 1980s, according to one Taiwan government estimate. Mainland China has until now been barred from directly investing in Taiwan.
Now, analysts are heralding the long-term financial implications of Taiwan’s opening to the mainland. The anticipation began on April 26, when officials from Taipei and Beijing met in the mainland city of Nanjing and signed a statement on financial cooperation.
Three days later, Taiwan said it would allow mainland investment in nearly 100 sectors. Taipei also said it would permit mainland investment in construction projects that are part of Mr. Ma’s economic stimulus package. The same day, the first possible deal was announced. China Mobile, which has the most subscribers of any mobile phone carrier, said it had agreed to take a 12 percent stake in Far EasTone Telecommunications of Taiwan.
On May 1, China formally approved Taiwan-bound investment by qualified domestic institutional investors. Four days later, it announced a plan to step up development of a cross-strait economic zone in Fujian Province. Taiwanese auto, banking and other companies added to the euphoria by announcing investment tie-up plans with mainland companies.
The response to all this has been a stock market frenzy, especially by foreign institutional investors. JPMorgan Chase announced a target of 8,000 for the Taiex by year-end (the Taiex closed at 6,485 on Wednesday).
Goldman Sachs upgraded Taiwan shares in general to “overweight” this month. “The rapidity and scope of recent cross-strait initiatives,” it said in a note, “are welcome signals that Taiwan may finally reap the economic benefits from a warmer relationship with China.”
But many investors seem to have glossed over or willfully ignored the fact that many essential details remain unresolved or undisclosed. For one, the details of which specific sectors will be open to mainland money have not been completed. Taiwan will most likely allow mainland investment in 98 industries during the first phase, including automobiles, textiles, rubber and retailing, with detailed rules probably coming at month-end, the Taiwan minister of economic affairs, Yiin Chii-ming told reporters this week. But flat-panel and contract-chip manufacturing will still be shut to mainland investors for now.
Then, the two sides will have to sign a memorandum of understanding, probably in June or July for stock investments, as well as separate agreements for banking and insurance.
“On the Taiwan side, the government is still keeping their cards close to their chest,” said Tony Phoo, an economist with Standard Chartered. “We still don’t have details on everything we’re hearing and reading about, so there’s a lot of market speculation.”
Kevin Yang, chief investment officer at Paradigm Asset Management, added that for now, Beijing was capping Taiwan-bound investment at about 7.2 billion Taiwan dollars, or about $219 million.
“That’s very little,” he said. “I think the market’s overreacting.”
Phil Chu of Grand Cathay Securities and other analysts say foreign investors are betting that Taiwan will be another Hong Kong, where the stock market boomed following its opening to mainland investment. “I think it’s possible Taiwan’s stock market could double by 2012,” Mr. Chu said. “But it won’t go up as much as Hong Kong’s did.”
Still, analysts see Taiwan’s opening to the mainland as helping the island’s economic recovery in the short-term, and providing a structural boost in the long-run. China has already played a part in lifting some sectors. Its rural stimulus plan has increased mainland demand for televisions and other appliances, which has increased orders for Taiwan’s high technology companies.
Investors in Taiwan’s market have been burned before on inflated mainland hopes. Last year, for example, the market rocketed in the two months before Mr. Ma’s inauguration, only to plunge steadily afterward as the reality of the global downturn set in. Still, analysts insist that the long-term picture is bright.
“For eight years, Taiwan kept limits on exchanges and investments,” Mr. Chu said. “But since last year, Ma Ying-jeou has steadily adopted opening policies.”
Governing Party in India Scores Victory
NEW DELHI — The governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress sailed to a surprisingly decisive victory in India’s grueling parliamentary elections, vaulting Manmohan Singh, a soft-spoken economic reformer, to a second term as prime minister, and sweeping away the prospect of political instability in the world’s most populous democracy.
Mr. Singh, 77, called the victory “a massive mandate” on Saturday afternoon, hours after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party conceded defeat. The victory, in what is apparently a Congress landslide, signals the possibility of a stable and strong government in the face of stiff challenges: a sharp slowdown in economic growth, abiding poverty and instability in the region.
It also sidelines a slew of small, regional party bosses whose influence had steadily grown in Indian national politics, and potentially cuts down the power of Communists who had blocked economic reforms for most of Mr. Singh’s first five-year term.
The Congress Party’s showing vindicates the prime minister’s efforts to deepen a strategic partnership with the United States at a time when the Obama administration is deeply concerned about security in the region, chiefly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A stronger government will also be better able to tackle issues of crucial importance to Washington, from economic reforms to climate change, although there is not necessarily agreement with the Americans on how to proceed.
By early evening, the Election Commission of India projected that the Congress-led alliance would win 259 of 543 parliamentary seats, while the opposition B.J.P.-led alliance was expected to take 160 seats, and a third alliance, dominated by Communists, 63. Congress alone was projected to win over 200 seats. Results were not yet final, but the government had finished counting ballots for 55 percent of the seats.
The projections are expected to dispel the fears of investors and analysts abroad. A smaller vote share for the Congress coalition would have almost surely led to protracted and painful political horse-trading with groups it would have been forced to ally with and engendered a weak government. The coalition will need partners to form a parliamentary majority, but it will not be nearly as dependent as it has been on allies with whom it disagrees.
Still, the seemingly large mandate also brings large expectations from various constituencies in a nation of 1.1 billion people, a third of whom remain among the poorest in the world.
The Confederation of Indian Industry called for reforms to be “fast tracked” along with investments in infrastructure to revive the economy. That could swell an already ballooning deficit and harm the country’s credit ratings.
But the party will also be beholden to the majority of Indians. Congress had campaigned on its record of spending on the rural poor, including a huge public jobs program in the countryside and a costly loan waiver program for indebted farmers.
The margin of victory surprised even party officials. “It exceeded our wildest expectations,” Jairam Ramesh, a Congress Party strategist, said in an interview in the party headquarters, as workers beat drums and set off firecrackers in the sizzling midday heat. Throughout the afternoon, Congress politicians trailed into the official residence of the party president, Sonia Gandhi, bearing giant bouquets.
At a somber and largely empty B.J.P. office, Arun Jaitley, a party leader, accepted defeat early in the day. “Something certainly did go wrong,” he told reporters. The party, which has a vocal Hindu nationalist base, had sought to capitalize on the incumbent Congress-led government’s handling of the economic downturn and terrorist attacks during its tenure.
The party’s new star was also its most controversial member: Feroze Varun Gandhi, an estranged member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who had been jailed for making anti-Muslim speeches and was released on bail. He won by a large margin.
Among the biggest losers in the vote were the four separate Communist parties on whom the incumbent Congress-led coalition initially relied to stay in power. The four parties had successfully blocked several reform measures, including privatizing more state-owned companies. The Communists eventually withdrew their support, over a nuclear deal with the United States last July.
For Congress, the Communists’ weak performance brought sweet relief. “The left will not have a stranglehold,” Mr. Ramesh said. “There will be better cohesion on economic policy. Right now, the priority is to restore high economic growth.”
How fast the next Congress-led administration will further liberalize the economy is unclear. In the face of the global financial crisis, Congress leaders are not likely to want to open up India’s banking and insurance sectors, for instance, although they could reduce interest rates and increase infrastructure spending.
The election results, though preliminary, defied several commonplace assumptions. Several commentators had rued the absence of big ideas in these elections, yet Indians went to the polls in droves in the scorching heat. At nearly 60 percent, election turnout was higher than in 2004. There had also been widespread fears that small, regional parties might upstage the national parties or demand influential government portfolios in exchange for their support. But they remained small and regional, and some of them appear to have been trounced.
Ramachandra Guha, a historian of modern India, saw in that perhaps another important shift in the political landscape. After 20 years of the once-dominant Congress Party being challenged by the ascendance of small identity-based parties, these elections suggested something of a course correction, he said.
Not least, these elections were a test of credibility for Rahul Gandhi, 38, the fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and his party’s inevitable leader. He became his party’s star campaigner in these elections, crisscrossing the country and attending an average of four campaign rallies a day for more than a month.
Renouncing personal power is a powerful political gesture in India, and the Nehru-Gandhi family has used it deftly. Five years ago, when Congress won a surprise victory, Sonia Gandhi renounced the prime minister’s post, bequeathing it to the professorial Mr. Singh. On Saturday, Mrs. Gandhi insisted that the top job should remain with Mr. Singh, rather than go to her son.
With a knowing smile, Mr. Singh told reporters that he would continue to try to persuade Mr. Gandhi to join his cabinet.
Hari Kumar contributed reporting.
NEW DELHI — The governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress sailed to a surprisingly decisive victory in India’s grueling parliamentary elections, vaulting Manmohan Singh, a soft-spoken economic reformer, to a second term as prime minister, and sweeping away the prospect of political instability in the world’s most populous democracy.
Mr. Singh, 77, called the victory “a massive mandate” on Saturday afternoon, hours after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party conceded defeat. The victory, in what is apparently a Congress landslide, signals the possibility of a stable and strong government in the face of stiff challenges: a sharp slowdown in economic growth, abiding poverty and instability in the region.
It also sidelines a slew of small, regional party bosses whose influence had steadily grown in Indian national politics, and potentially cuts down the power of Communists who had blocked economic reforms for most of Mr. Singh’s first five-year term.
The Congress Party’s showing vindicates the prime minister’s efforts to deepen a strategic partnership with the United States at a time when the Obama administration is deeply concerned about security in the region, chiefly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A stronger government will also be better able to tackle issues of crucial importance to Washington, from economic reforms to climate change, although there is not necessarily agreement with the Americans on how to proceed.
By early evening, the Election Commission of India projected that the Congress-led alliance would win 259 of 543 parliamentary seats, while the opposition B.J.P.-led alliance was expected to take 160 seats, and a third alliance, dominated by Communists, 63. Congress alone was projected to win over 200 seats. Results were not yet final, but the government had finished counting ballots for 55 percent of the seats.
The projections are expected to dispel the fears of investors and analysts abroad. A smaller vote share for the Congress coalition would have almost surely led to protracted and painful political horse-trading with groups it would have been forced to ally with and engendered a weak government. The coalition will need partners to form a parliamentary majority, but it will not be nearly as dependent as it has been on allies with whom it disagrees.
Still, the seemingly large mandate also brings large expectations from various constituencies in a nation of 1.1 billion people, a third of whom remain among the poorest in the world.
The Confederation of Indian Industry called for reforms to be “fast tracked” along with investments in infrastructure to revive the economy. That could swell an already ballooning deficit and harm the country’s credit ratings.
But the party will also be beholden to the majority of Indians. Congress had campaigned on its record of spending on the rural poor, including a huge public jobs program in the countryside and a costly loan waiver program for indebted farmers.
The margin of victory surprised even party officials. “It exceeded our wildest expectations,” Jairam Ramesh, a Congress Party strategist, said in an interview in the party headquarters, as workers beat drums and set off firecrackers in the sizzling midday heat. Throughout the afternoon, Congress politicians trailed into the official residence of the party president, Sonia Gandhi, bearing giant bouquets.
At a somber and largely empty B.J.P. office, Arun Jaitley, a party leader, accepted defeat early in the day. “Something certainly did go wrong,” he told reporters. The party, which has a vocal Hindu nationalist base, had sought to capitalize on the incumbent Congress-led government’s handling of the economic downturn and terrorist attacks during its tenure.
The party’s new star was also its most controversial member: Feroze Varun Gandhi, an estranged member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who had been jailed for making anti-Muslim speeches and was released on bail. He won by a large margin.
Among the biggest losers in the vote were the four separate Communist parties on whom the incumbent Congress-led coalition initially relied to stay in power. The four parties had successfully blocked several reform measures, including privatizing more state-owned companies. The Communists eventually withdrew their support, over a nuclear deal with the United States last July.
For Congress, the Communists’ weak performance brought sweet relief. “The left will not have a stranglehold,” Mr. Ramesh said. “There will be better cohesion on economic policy. Right now, the priority is to restore high economic growth.”
How fast the next Congress-led administration will further liberalize the economy is unclear. In the face of the global financial crisis, Congress leaders are not likely to want to open up India’s banking and insurance sectors, for instance, although they could reduce interest rates and increase infrastructure spending.
The election results, though preliminary, defied several commonplace assumptions. Several commentators had rued the absence of big ideas in these elections, yet Indians went to the polls in droves in the scorching heat. At nearly 60 percent, election turnout was higher than in 2004. There had also been widespread fears that small, regional parties might upstage the national parties or demand influential government portfolios in exchange for their support. But they remained small and regional, and some of them appear to have been trounced.
Ramachandra Guha, a historian of modern India, saw in that perhaps another important shift in the political landscape. After 20 years of the once-dominant Congress Party being challenged by the ascendance of small identity-based parties, these elections suggested something of a course correction, he said.
Not least, these elections were a test of credibility for Rahul Gandhi, 38, the fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and his party’s inevitable leader. He became his party’s star campaigner in these elections, crisscrossing the country and attending an average of four campaign rallies a day for more than a month.
Renouncing personal power is a powerful political gesture in India, and the Nehru-Gandhi family has used it deftly. Five years ago, when Congress won a surprise victory, Sonia Gandhi renounced the prime minister’s post, bequeathing it to the professorial Mr. Singh. On Saturday, Mrs. Gandhi insisted that the top job should remain with Mr. Singh, rather than go to her son.
With a knowing smile, Mr. Singh told reporters that he would continue to try to persuade Mr. Gandhi to join his cabinet.
Hari Kumar contributed reporting.
2 Studies Tie Disaster Risk to Urban Population Surge
A pair of new studies say that more people than ever lie in harm’s way from earthquakes, droughts, floods and other disasters, largely because of a surge in urban populations in developing countries.
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Multimedia
Graphic
Mapping Disaster Risks
Smaller or poorer countries can be devastated by disasters that are relatively inconsequential in places shielded by size or wealth, said one of the reports, a United Nations study that is being released Sunday in Bahrain.
That study, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, compared the impact of cyclones in the Philippines and Japan, for example. While more people in Japan are exposed to cyclones, the estimated annual death toll from such storms is 17 times higher in the Philippines, the study said.
Yet the report’s authors concluded that the level of vulnerability does not always mirror economic conditions, with high rates of disaster losses seen in a mix of developing countries with growing or weak economies.
The other study, conducted by the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction, a coalition of private nongovernmental groups, notes some isolated examples where communities acting on their own have found ways to reduce disaster losses. But it warned that many governments were lagging in efforts to make such resilience the norm, not the exception, despite having pledged to do so in a declaration in 2005.
The United Nations report is the most ambitious effort ever to compare data on all kinds and scales of disasters against population and economic trends, development and disaster experts said. It is available online at unisdr.org.
It offers hints of progress. While the economic cost from disasters has risen, the cost as percentage of the global economy has been flat. The mortality rate has been declining in many areas. But in hot spots combining dense populations with the risk of earthquakes, floods and other hazards, the potential for catastrophic impact is growing.
Additionally, the study shows how deep poverty and rapid economic growth can increase vulnerability to disasters.
In a telephone interview, Andrew Maskrey, the report’s lead author, noted, for example, that the breakneck pace of economic growth in China since 1990 had brought tens of millions of people to the eastern seaboard, “an extremely hazard-prone area that is regularly threatened by flooding and cyclones.” “The country has not yet developed the institutional mechanisms to reduce the risk that entails,” he said.
He pointed to the collapse of recently built schools last year in central Sichuan Province, another fast-growing area, as a sign of the problem. “Without governance capacity, the faster you develop, it’s almost like the faster you’re building disasters,” Mr. Maskrey said.
He added that Myanmar’s enormous losses in cyclone-driven floods last year resulted from virtually the opposite condition: no economic development. “There, people were killed not by schools falling down, but by a lack of schools and other buildings to shelter in,” he said.
At the same time, Mr. Maskrey said, there is evidence that a willingness to make disaster risk reduction a priority can forge progress even in struggling places.
Bangladesh has created effective evacuation programs for coastal flooding with scant resources, and Bogotá, Colombia, has found the means to greatly bolster buildings against earthquakes.
Sub-Saharan Africa and other rural areas dependent on rain-fed agriculture remain hot spots for drought-related mortality. But the dominant factor raising death tolls and economic losses from disasters is humanity’s hastening transformation into a mainly urban species, with a surge of people in search of work settling in marginal urban lands and shoddy housing.
“Some of the statistics are almost hallucinatory,” Mr. Maskrey said. “Some time before 2050, the urban population of India will rise by 500 million people. Mumbai and Calcutta are already very poor about providing land and housing. How will they accommodate tens of millions more? And both cities are in very hazard-prone locations.”
The other study of disaster risks took a very different approach from the United Nations analysis, using fewer official databases and relying more on 5,000 interviews with people in vulnerable urban and rural communities in 47 countries, said Marcus Oxley, its lead organizer.
It detailed some innovations that have helped some communities reduce their exposure. In one rural Indian village, the report’s authors said, cellphones have become a lifeline, allowing residents to track approaching cyclones through text messages sent by relatives watching Web sites in the United States devoted to weather conditions.
The report, “The View From the Frontline,” is to be released next month an international meeting on disasters, but organizers provided a draft to The New York Times to provide context for the United Nations report.
The isolated success stories are encouraging, Mr. Oxley said. But he added that the sweeping scale of vulnerability to disasters showed the need for systemic changes in policy by governments, aided by institutions like the World Bank and the United Nations.
Education in local communities is needed to overcome a tendency to accept high disaster tolls as a matter of fate, instead of, for example, lax building codes or warning systems.
Ben Wisner, a retired geography professor in Oberlin, Ohio, who is involved with the coalition and focuses on making schools in disaster hot spots safer, said the lack of accountability in many countries, and the tendency of international institutions to focus on symbolism more than concrete change, was blocking progress.
He cited a recent United Nations program that distributed posters and textbooks about disasters. “Does it make sense to teach lessons about natural hazards and disaster risk in a classroom that is a liable to collapse and kill students and teachers alike?” he said.
“There is a long, long way to go, and unless and until the U.N. system has the support and political will to name and shame, and to hold countries to account for failing to protect their citizens from avoidable harm in extreme natural events, most national governments won’t prioritize disaster risk reduction.”
A pair of new studies say that more people than ever lie in harm’s way from earthquakes, droughts, floods and other disasters, largely because of a surge in urban populations in developing countries.
Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
Graphic
Mapping Disaster Risks
Smaller or poorer countries can be devastated by disasters that are relatively inconsequential in places shielded by size or wealth, said one of the reports, a United Nations study that is being released Sunday in Bahrain.
That study, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, compared the impact of cyclones in the Philippines and Japan, for example. While more people in Japan are exposed to cyclones, the estimated annual death toll from such storms is 17 times higher in the Philippines, the study said.
Yet the report’s authors concluded that the level of vulnerability does not always mirror economic conditions, with high rates of disaster losses seen in a mix of developing countries with growing or weak economies.
The other study, conducted by the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction, a coalition of private nongovernmental groups, notes some isolated examples where communities acting on their own have found ways to reduce disaster losses. But it warned that many governments were lagging in efforts to make such resilience the norm, not the exception, despite having pledged to do so in a declaration in 2005.
The United Nations report is the most ambitious effort ever to compare data on all kinds and scales of disasters against population and economic trends, development and disaster experts said. It is available online at unisdr.org.
It offers hints of progress. While the economic cost from disasters has risen, the cost as percentage of the global economy has been flat. The mortality rate has been declining in many areas. But in hot spots combining dense populations with the risk of earthquakes, floods and other hazards, the potential for catastrophic impact is growing.
Additionally, the study shows how deep poverty and rapid economic growth can increase vulnerability to disasters.
In a telephone interview, Andrew Maskrey, the report’s lead author, noted, for example, that the breakneck pace of economic growth in China since 1990 had brought tens of millions of people to the eastern seaboard, “an extremely hazard-prone area that is regularly threatened by flooding and cyclones.” “The country has not yet developed the institutional mechanisms to reduce the risk that entails,” he said.
He pointed to the collapse of recently built schools last year in central Sichuan Province, another fast-growing area, as a sign of the problem. “Without governance capacity, the faster you develop, it’s almost like the faster you’re building disasters,” Mr. Maskrey said.
He added that Myanmar’s enormous losses in cyclone-driven floods last year resulted from virtually the opposite condition: no economic development. “There, people were killed not by schools falling down, but by a lack of schools and other buildings to shelter in,” he said.
At the same time, Mr. Maskrey said, there is evidence that a willingness to make disaster risk reduction a priority can forge progress even in struggling places.
Bangladesh has created effective evacuation programs for coastal flooding with scant resources, and Bogotá, Colombia, has found the means to greatly bolster buildings against earthquakes.
Sub-Saharan Africa and other rural areas dependent on rain-fed agriculture remain hot spots for drought-related mortality. But the dominant factor raising death tolls and economic losses from disasters is humanity’s hastening transformation into a mainly urban species, with a surge of people in search of work settling in marginal urban lands and shoddy housing.
“Some of the statistics are almost hallucinatory,” Mr. Maskrey said. “Some time before 2050, the urban population of India will rise by 500 million people. Mumbai and Calcutta are already very poor about providing land and housing. How will they accommodate tens of millions more? And both cities are in very hazard-prone locations.”
The other study of disaster risks took a very different approach from the United Nations analysis, using fewer official databases and relying more on 5,000 interviews with people in vulnerable urban and rural communities in 47 countries, said Marcus Oxley, its lead organizer.
It detailed some innovations that have helped some communities reduce their exposure. In one rural Indian village, the report’s authors said, cellphones have become a lifeline, allowing residents to track approaching cyclones through text messages sent by relatives watching Web sites in the United States devoted to weather conditions.
The report, “The View From the Frontline,” is to be released next month an international meeting on disasters, but organizers provided a draft to The New York Times to provide context for the United Nations report.
The isolated success stories are encouraging, Mr. Oxley said. But he added that the sweeping scale of vulnerability to disasters showed the need for systemic changes in policy by governments, aided by institutions like the World Bank and the United Nations.
Education in local communities is needed to overcome a tendency to accept high disaster tolls as a matter of fate, instead of, for example, lax building codes or warning systems.
Ben Wisner, a retired geography professor in Oberlin, Ohio, who is involved with the coalition and focuses on making schools in disaster hot spots safer, said the lack of accountability in many countries, and the tendency of international institutions to focus on symbolism more than concrete change, was blocking progress.
He cited a recent United Nations program that distributed posters and textbooks about disasters. “Does it make sense to teach lessons about natural hazards and disaster risk in a classroom that is a liable to collapse and kill students and teachers alike?” he said.
“There is a long, long way to go, and unless and until the U.N. system has the support and political will to name and shame, and to hold countries to account for failing to protect their citizens from avoidable harm in extreme natural events, most national governments won’t prioritize disaster risk reduction.”
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