We All Need Craic!

It was a cold and grey morning when I landed in Dublin for the first time in mid-January 1989. In those days, Ireland was in a bleak state: it was one of poorest countries in Western Europe; unemployment rate had remained above 15% for at least half a decade; public debt was at 120% of GNP; there was mass emigration, with 200,000 people (over 5% of the population) leaving the country during the decade. No wonder Ireland was not a very popular destination. There were few tourists, less so in winter, and most were from other European countries. At the time, the Irish population was not diverse at all so everyone knew I was a tourist just by looking at me. But it was not a bad thing: locals would ask me if I needed help going somewhere and would actually take me there at times. Amazingly friendly people.

A lot has changed since then. Though still recovering from the 2008 economic crisis, Ireland is in much better shape today: it is attractive to multinationals, unemployment rate is declining, and the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the European Union last year, with forecasts predicting it will continue to have the highest growth rate in the EU through 2016.

But without a doubt, the biggest change on the island took place in Northern Ireland. From 1968 to 1998, Northern Ireland was plagued by The Troubles, violent conflicts between unionists (mostly Protestants who want to remain part of the United Kingdom) and nationalists (almost exclusively the Catholic minority who want to become part of the Republic of Ireland) that resulted in over 3,600 people dead and more than 50,000 maimed or injured. Peace came in 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement established a power-sharing government that must include both unionist and nationalist parties. But old enmities die hard...in several cities, including the capital Belfast, there still stand several so called Peace Walls, built during The Troubles to separate unionist and nationalist neighborhoods, and minimize violence. There are plans to remove all Peace Walls by 2023 but here's an interesting fact that almost no one hears about: some walls have gates and to this day, they are closed at night! If you take a black taxi tour (which I think is a must), you will see the walls and political murals in both the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods as well as learn more about Belfast’s recent troubled history.

A place with so much turmoil needs weather to match. Ireland is known as Emerald Isle, almost 100% green when seen in a satellite image. The lushness comes from rain but it is not steady...it is more dramatic than that. There can be a downpour for 15 minutes, followed by sun for 20 minutes, then some hail followed by more rain. You will likely experience all weather conditions in a single day in Ireland. Your outdoor experience will depend a lot on luck as you can get stuck with several cloudy and rainy days in a row (as happened to me in 1989) or you can have hours of sunlight, as we were graced with when visiting the amazing Cliffs of Moher, towering stone faces that plunge vertically into the sea and stand against gale force winds that will sweep you down to sea if you don't have enough rocks in your pockets.

One thing that the Irish talk about, look for and enjoy is craic, a Gaelicization of the word crack. You will have it too and won't need to check into rehab afterwards. In the Irish context, it means fun or good times, usually involving good company (easily found in Ireland) and music, and perhaps that is why live music is frequently found in Irish pubs.

Speaking of music, many may not know it but next year will mark 40 years that 5 punk-inspired lads in their mid-teens formed a band called Feedback (later Hype) in the north side of Dublin (even today people jokingly say that you only go to the north side if you want to get robbed). They chose that name because it was one of the few musical technical terms that they did know. No, they didn't know much...but they learned and less than two years later, five became four and changed their name to U2. The rest is history. And whether you like them or not, one thing you have to realize: an Irish band achieving the level of success that they did in the mid- to late ‘80s was nothing short of extraordinary. I know this because I love rock & roll and, in fact, only learned English because I wanted to understand song lyrics and only started to travel because I wanted to buy CDs that weren’t distributed in Brazil at the time. Silly teenage whims, yes...but that took me places.

Sun, Sand, Surreal

Until the late 19th century, Tampa was an isolated, yellow fever plagued area. But in 1883, phosphate, a mineral utilized in the production of fertilizers, was discovered and the area's fortunes changed. Soon a railroad connecting Tampa to Jacksonville was built to enable phosphate and fish transport to the north, but it also brought the first visitors, Thomas Edison and John Ringling (of circus fame) among them. Nowadays, the Greater Tampa Bay area, also encompassing the cities of St Petersburg, Clearwater and Sarasota, has over 4 million residents.

Tampa was once called "Cigar City" after many cigar manufacturers moved in from Key West in the late 1800s to take advantage of railroad transportation. A group of cigar manufacturers led by Vicente Martinez Ybor brought in mostly Cuban and Spanish immigrants to work in the factories, and created a town that came to be known as Ybor City. At their peak in the late 1920s, the factories were hand rolling some half a billion cigars annually. But the Great Depression of the 1930s and later the US embargo against Cuba led to the end of the cigar era. Ybor City turned into a collection of empty factories and deserted sidewalks, remaining so until the late 1980s when artists looking for inexpensive studios began converting vacant spaces into galleries. Ybor City is now a National Historic Landmark District and an entertainment, nightclub and shopping area.

Further west is Clearwater, a place (in)famous for two things: the birthplace of Hooters, and the worldwide spiritual headquarters of Scientology, in a building that used to be the Fort Harrison Hotel and dominates the downtown area. Clearwater's namesake beach stretches for 3 miles along the coast, is very popular and very commercial, with a Hooters right in front of the main entrance area. Yuck. If you want something less spring-breaky, head to Honeymoon Island State Park which has the same white sand and turquoise waters plus a short trail that leads to osprey and eagle nesting areas.

Siesta Beach near Sarasota stretches for half a mile and is hailed as one of the best beaches in the US, in large part due to its very fine white sand. So fine in fact that it is claimed that Siesta Beach has the "whitest and finest sand in the world". Exaggerations aside, it is indeed soft and supposedly remains cool underfoot even on the most scorching days due to its mineral composition. But remember...it is the sand that stays cool, not you. Don't turn into a swollen lobster like many I saw roasting themselves down there.

Lonely Planet has compared Florida's Gulf Coast to "an impressionist watercolor painting". But the must-see paintings are those in the Salvador Dalí Museum in St Petersburg where the largest collection of his works outside Europe is found. He used extensive symbolism in his art and the museum offers free docent tours every hour where you'll gain some insight into his genius. Just as an example, in the slideshow there is one of his paintings showing a woman looking out the window. Pause there, move some 5 to 7 steps away from the screen, look again and you'll see something totally different. Surreal.

Eat, Drink, Pray

Is it a province? Is it an S.A.R. (Special Administrative Region)? Is it a country? It is not clear and therefore Taiwan is one of those ambiguities of our time. It all started in 1949 when the then ruling party in China, the Kuomintang, realized that its defeat in the Chinese Civil War was imminent and decided to relocate the seat of government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, leaving the communists in the mainland. Along with it went China's gold reserves and some two million refugees that included soldiers, businessmen, landowners, monks, artists, gangsters, peasants and intellectuals. There were now two Chinas: the Republic of China in Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China in the mainland, both claiming to be the legitimate government of China! In 1971, the UN recognized the People’s Republic of China as the only lawful representative to the United Nations and since then, Taiwan (to this day officially called the Republic of China) has operated as a de facto independent state. It is not recognized as a country but maintains diplomatic relations (formal or informal) with nearly all nations.

Whatever the official status may be, Chinese influence in Taiwan is clear, especially when it comes to food. If you are an adventurous eater, Taiwan will be heaven. Not only is food cheap but also ubiquitous, with at least one eatery or restaurant on virtually every block, some serving very out of the ordinary delicacies: pig ears, pig’s brain soup, caramelized duck tongue, caramelized pig blood cake, duck head. And someone please tell me how one would go about eating a head.

I confess that for a vegetarian like me, Taiwanese cuisine was at times horrifying but one local product I couldn't get enough of: tea. Taiwan has the perfect environment for growing tea (high mountains in a subtropical climate with a fair amount of rainfall) and the country is an important producer of teas, with some varieties of its oolong called "The Champagne of tea" . Tea has long been a part of Taiwanese culture so it is no surprise that tea houses and bars abound. There are countless flavors and you'd need months to try them all: melon, plum, rose, jasmine, ginger, pudding milk, grass jelly milk, red bean milk and others you'd never think could end up in a tea but that turn out to be delicious. And perhaps the most exotic of all is the pearl milk tea, also known as bubble tea, a Taiwanese invention from the late 1980's - an iced tea mixed with milk or fruit, with some tapioca balls (the pearls) thrown in. It is very popular in Taiwan and though not my favorite, it is definitely worth a try.

If food and tea feed the body, temples feed the soul. As of 2009, there were almost 15,000 registered temples in Taiwan, nearly one for every 1,500 residents. They are not, however, merely houses of worship; they also play the role of art museum, community and recreation center, marketplace, pilgrimage site and sometimes even fronts for money laundering. Taiwanese temples are very colorful, generally with multitiered roofs decorated with the four spiritual beasts: dragons, phoenixes, tortoises and qilins (mythical hooved creature associated with the arrival of a sage). Though Taiwanese temples can be very similar architecturally, the atmosphere inside them varies widely. Some are very lively such as the Longshan Temple in Taipei where daily hour-long chanting draws throngs of worshippers while others such as the Confucius Temple are low key and conducive to silent contemplation. But one thing they all seem to have: the door gods, very fierce-looking creatures that look ready and willing to kick your ass. But worry not...their job is to ward off evil spirits. I just wish they were real and could wipe out some of the evil in the world today.