Do It Go

Scuba diving an exciting adventure into the depths of sea, and offers the opportunity to catch glimpses of creatures, some bizarre while some are beautiful, that are like no others found on dry land.  Among the many wonderful aspects about a vacation on the island of Mauritius, including the hiking excursions, the cruises and some of the world’s best hotels, Mauritius offers a variety of waters in which to do just that, to scuba dive.

While this is one of the many sports that take place surrounding the island on and in the waters of the Indian Ocean, scuba diving is one of the favorites, with the locals as well as the tourists.  Various spots have gained fame due the underwater sights one will capture, such as the various reefs and coral expanses, to a myriad of wildlife that makes its home under the sea.  This is one of the most beautiful regions of the Indian Ocean, and these shores draw many a diver throughout the entire year.

Not only are their private businesses which specialize in the training for new divers, as well as offering up the rental equipment necessary, most of the resorts and hotels do the same.  For those who are not necessarily skilled in swimming or for those who have never dove before, many of the instructors will come along on the dives to provide support and to ease one’s worry.  Many of these divers are the trained instructors who are members of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.

Along with the company, these divers know the best locations for some really incredible sights.  They know where the shipwrecks are located, as well as the best locations to swim along side of the dolphins.  Any major diving attraction, they will know where to find it.  The best time to dive off the coast of Mauritius, the time of the year when the visibility under the water is best, is during November through March.  Although should one find themselves there at any time of year, one should not hesitate to jump right in.

Tags: best hotels, Mauritius, Professional Association of Diving Instructors, scuba diving
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The Chrysler Building in New York City is one of its long standing landmarks and major building icons of this great city. It is commonly considered to be an art deco sky scrapper and is located on the east side of Manhattan, the most prominent borough of this great global city. When it was first constructed it was the tallest building in the world, standing at over 1,000 feet. It was finally surpassed with the construction of the Empire State Building, which is another famous landmark in New York. The best New York city hotel offers views of these and other major buildings as well as providing the best of luxury accommodations and services to its guests.

The Chrysler Building serves as a classic example of art deco architecture. The American Institute of Architects ranked it as number nine in 2007 on its list of America’s Favorite Architecture. It was designed by William Van Alen with the intention of housing the Chrysler Corporation. Construction of the building began on September 19, 1928 during a period of tremendous competition to build the world’s tallest building. Construction occurred at a near neck breaking speed and an average of four floors a week were added to it.

Alen designed the building based on the main feature, which is a jewel like crown at the top. This class crown is easily spotted and recognized across the town, and the building is usually included in one of the bus tours that guides passengers the city, describing the major attractions and landmarks as well as incorporating significant aspects of New York’s history and contemporary society. Completion of the building occurred in May 29, 1930 making it one of the fastest constructed buildings in history. When the building was first opened it featured a viewing gallery on its 71st floor. This attracted numerous people, though the gallery was closed in 1945.

Tags: best hotels, Chrysler Building, New York, William Van Alen
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From one of the Best Singapore Hotels, my friend and I walked up to the ‘Image of Singapore’. It’s a building with an old truck in front of it and the entrance fee was S$ 10. So, we decided just to walk past it, because not far from there was a tall tower with a circling top. We found out it was the ‘Tiger Sky Tower’. We figured it must be the best place to see all of Singapore, but the ride to the top was S$ 12. So, we past that up too.

We decide to take a ‘Nature Walk’, although we weren’t sure about the nature part because we really didn’t see anything but trees, people and more trees. The road we were on leads to the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom. The entrance fee for that was S$ 16, but we really wanted to see the butterflies, so we paid the fee and went inside. It was really cool to see all the butterflies and the insects. I even thought that this would be a good place to take my niece and nephew, but they aren’t here with me, too bad, they really would’ve like it. My friend and I were surprised to find a 3D Theater here, we didn’t go inside, there were too many children in Que along with their parents. We figured it must be some kind of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ ride or something like that.

After the Butterflies, we walked to Siloso Beach. There was a tram ride there, but we doubted it was free, so we just walked around, but we still had lots of fun and it wasn’t too hot either. We took pictures of the beach, but these photos were a bit disappointing after we went to Phuket beach. I mean really, nothing compares to Phuket. But, at least this beach was small and well maintained. We even played some volleyball with some really cute local boys. But, what was really strange about Siloso Beach, is that there’s no swimming at night, no littering, no fishing and no DOGS! How sad, the locals can’t bring their dogs to the beach!  We still had fun anyway.

We took the monorail, which was at the moment free because the scanner machine was broken, back close to our hotel and decided we saved enough money today to do some shopping.

Tags: best hotels, Phuket beach, Siloso Beach, Singapore
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Okay, so I finally got to go on a real South African Safari. I went to a private game reserve and found that is has one of the Best Hotels South Africa offers and the accommodations are unique.  I got an exclusive experience of the African wilds an excellent game viewing without the jostle of other jeeps. Animal sightings were up-close-and-personal at this private reserve. The beasties, apparently, are used to human presence. I even took a guided walking tour because I arrived at the right time, September, where the grass isn’t too high and the weather’s not too hot.

I received an exhaustive checklist for recording sightings of everything flora and fauna. Of course, all the biggies are one the list and on the reserve, such as a dozen leopards, close to 36 elephants, 21 lions consisting of 2 prides, 20 white rhinos and tons of buffalo. Now because the reserve is on the small side, basically the size of Wales and fenced in with Thornybush, sightings are frequent and I got close enough to see a baby kicking inside a pregnant giraffe and watch a leopard’s belly rise and fall while is slept after a kill (it’s victim was stashed up in a tree right beside our vehicle).

After observing the colossal elephants tear down trees, a family of four southern white-faced scops owls blinking in the sun and lions feasting on a freshly killed giraffe (yes lions can take down a giraffe), I needed to take a break and write in my journal. I needed a collective on animal nouns like a crash of rhinos, a journey of giraffes or a dazzle of zebras. My mind was stimulated like it never has been before. Actually watching nature, not on some television show, but actually being in the middle of the struggle to survive this harsh wilderness, made me come alive. I will forever be grateful that Africa is doing it’s best to keep this treasure from extinction.

Tags: best hotels, Safari, South Africa, Thornybush, Wles
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There is only one reason my best friend planned our vacation in Ibiza, Spain, the clubs. And we weren’t disappointed. We arrived in Ibiza around 10pm, checked into one of the Best Hotels Ibiza offers, put on our club clothes and headed out with no time to waste. We were ready to party and maybe, just maybe meet our future girlfriends.

We managed to make it to the latest hottest club ‘London’ just around midnight. We were surprised to find everybody was inside, apparently to make to most of the ‘drink all night’ price. We headed immediately to one of the two main rooms upstairs. We were excited to find Jo Mills spinning to a cavernous room crowded with clubbers dancing beneath a white camouflaged cloth suspended from the high ceiling. We caught the club fever as a spontaneous ‘Woo oooh’ broke out among the dancers. Luckily we were dressed appropriately, this was no t-shirt and jeans crowd. We managed to work our way to where most of the clubbers were wearing their luminous accessories and fluorescent painted faces and exposed body parts. We brought our our rave rings, wristbands and the newly popular shutter shades with which Kanye West wears. We fit in quite nicely.

My friend and I danced with a lot of hot girls and we were impressed with how quick we got drinks served to us. After about an hour of intense dancing and flirting, we take a quick chill and find a seat in the main room. We talked to this guy sitting next to us, he was a local and he said he’s addicted the all the colors and clubbers. He comes all the time. We were envious to say the least. We have nothing like this back home. Nothing.

The free drinks kept coming and the girls flowed up to us as well, but unfortunately, there is a side effect to free drinks, a downfall really, we became too drunk and tired. It was only 3:30 in the morning, so we hailed a taxi and headed back to our hotel room, without new girlfriends, but not penniless. Ah, there’s always tomorrow night.

Tags: accessories, best hotels, Clubbing, Ibiza, London, Spain
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My best friend, who is a world-class traveller and stayed in some of the Best Hotels Hong Kong has, gave me a list of places I must see while I’m in Hong Kong on a business trip. She said the list isn’t in any particular order, but that they were what she fell in love with about one of the biggest cities in the world. I wasn’t to sure, but, I do adore my friend, so I did bring the list along with me, even though I didn’t think I’d have time to check any of them out.

When I arrived to Hong Kong, a note was waiting for me when I checked into my hotel. The note stated that one of my business appointments cancelled. The meeting was for the next day, for the whole day actually, so I thought this would give me a chance to check out my friends list of things to do in Hong Kong. First on her list was to check out the midnight shopping. She said the city, like New York, never sleeps and they never stop shopping. I decided to skip that one. I’m not much of a night person.

The next on her list was to see what she considered the coolest bridge, better that the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. I decided to check this one out, since I am an architect. My friend was right. the Tsing Ma Bridge is the coolest bridge I’ve ever seen. Beautifully constructed, approximately 2 kilometers long and about 55,000 tons of material. It links Hong Kong to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok. Definitely a new landmark for Hong Kong.

I was hungry, and luckily, she had a restaurant for me to dine at.  Mak’s Noodle. I found it to be bright and spacious. The wait staff was extremely pleasant and professional. I had a bowl of shrimp wontons and it only cost me $3.00! She was on the mark about this place. Good inexpensive food with a great atmosphere. For a late afternoon refreshment, I went colonial and walked into the Peninsula Hotel Lobby in Tsimshatsui. I was treated to a traditional English tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones served with jam and cream, and of course one of the best hot teas I’ve ever had.  Now for dinner, I went to the next restaurant she listed, the International Curry House in Wanchai. I can’t say enough about the mouth watering entries. I managed to order a more milder dish, the vindaloo fish, and I’m thankful for that because it was on the hot spicy side, but still a delicious zesty curry dish.

I had to send my friend a postcard from all of the spots I visited which were on her list and I wrote in capital letters, THANKS!

Tags: best hotels, Best Spots, Golden Gate bridge, Hong Kong, midnight shopping, vindaloo fish
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