Junk in Hong Kong Harbour
By Tony R. Wagstaff
A fantastic sound and light show occurs every night in the Hong Kong Harbour. Laser beams shoot from office towers and music is perfectly synchronized. I had camera in hand to record this superb event when a magnificent tourist junk came sailing by.
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A Hot Cup of Joe and a Show
By Cynthia Archer

Take a stroll along Market Street in downtown Corning, NY, on a Friday evening in November, where the trees are wrapped with tiny white lights and storefronts tempt you with their beautiful arts and crafts and glass work, and your sense of smell will lead you to a lively little coffeehouse called Soul Full Cup. Once you open the wood and glass-paned door you are greeted by the arousing smells of fresh roasted organic coffees, pumpkin spice lattes, and hot apple cider, and friendly baristas with big smiles.
Sit down at one of the glass top tables with coffee-inspired tablecloths or relax in one of the cozy, plush chairs while listening to local musicians playing acoustic selections. For even more relaxation, retreat to the back of the shop and sink into an oversized sofa or chair and read a book or simply unwind your mind and body down from a busy day.
Since 1996, Soul Full Cup has been serving fresh organic coffees, lattes, espressos, and teas as well as an array of muffins, scones, brownies, cakes, pies, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and baklava -- and they have monthly drink specials. They also sell their famous logo hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and travel mugs, and offer free wifi. They roast and blend the finest coffee beans onsite at their Big Flats, NY, facility, thus providing customers with the freshest coffee available. To show their love for the locals, they have a convenient wall-mounted mug rack where locals can bring in their own coffee mugs and get them filled, and when they’re done the barista will wash them and place them back on the mug rack -- and it only costs $1!
Soul Full Cup is open seven days a week and is located at 81 W. Market Street in downtown Corning, NY. They are open Monday-Thursday from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. From I-86 East take Exit 45 (Downtown Corning/Riverside/Route 352), turn left on S. Bridge Street, then turn right on W. Market Street. From I-86 West take Exit 46 (Watkins Glen/Corning Museum of Glass/Route 414), turn left on Route 414, stay straight onto Cedar Street, then turn right onto E. Market Street. Visit them online at www.soulfullcup.com or call them at (607) 936-9030.
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Friendly Calgary is Enshrined in its Stampede
By Habeeb Salloum
The annual Calgary Stampede is by far that city’s greatest tourist attraction. Held at the beginning of July every year, the Stampede is a renowned rodeo that celebrates the city’s ranching heritage. Every year more than one million attend this largest cowboy contest in the world.
For ten days the people of Calgary, a city of over 1.1 million, put away their fashionable clothing and join with visitors to make merry in the exotic aura of the Old West, perpetrating the memory and ways of the western pioneers. In this cleanest, friendliest, and safest city in Canada, it is a celebration of western hospitality and fun on the edge of the Canadian Rockies.
A few of the Stampede’s attractions, like free pancake breakfasts and the Stampede Parade, are held downtown. Spectators line the parade route, thrilled with marching bands, floats, heavy horses, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, natives in traditional dress, and the Stampede Queen and Princesses.
However, the main events take place at Stampede Park, located in the heart of the city. When you enter the gates of Stampede Park, you enter a world of wonder and “Wild West” excitement.
Inside there are an authentic Indian village, a re-created frontier town, a fabulous selection of the world’s most interesting comedy acts, a fine selection of eateries, concerts and dancing performed on free entertainment stages, horse competitions, agricultural displays, the Midway with its crowd-pleasing games and rides, a dazzling array of exhibits, a casino, a Western Showcase featuring the culture and arts of the Canadian West, and a myriad of other amazing allurements.
However, two events top all the other attractions: the afternoon Rodeo and the evening Chuck Wagon Races. The Rodeo is the world’s most prestigious, with $2 million in prize money, and is believed to be the wildest and richest daredevil show to be found anywhere. Bold and skillful cowboys ride bareback bulls and wild horses, rope calves with split-second precision, milk untamed cows, and wrestle fierce steers while fearless rodeo clowns perform their crazy antics. It is a three-hour non-stop spectacle of men challenging beasts for supremacy.
The evening’s entertainment commences with the world-famous Chuck Wagon Races with $1 million in prize money. Probably the most thrilling sport known to man, these races are considered to be the highlight of the whole Stampede. The races explode in an all-out dash to the finish line in an amazing contest of nerves and horsepower. Thundering around a 3/8 of a mile track, they ignite the thousands of excited fans into frenzy -- a page from western history, coming sensationally alive.
Immediately following the Chuck Wagon Races, hundreds of comedians, dancers, singers, international acrobats, and world-class musicians entertain and delight the crowd on a gigantic stage in a mammoth 90-minute Grandstand Show -- an exciting variety spectacular. Fabulous costumes, glittering lights, and lavishly choreographed musical productions are included in a Vegas-style show featuring young Canadians and well-known star performers from around the globe.
It all ends with a spectacular fireworks display, a brilliant finale to an exuberant and memorable evening that captures the rousing spirit of Canada’s western pioneers and caps the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”
A mere 60-minute drive to the west and you are in the heart of the breathtaking splendor of the Canadian Rocky Mountains enjoying the world-famous Banff National Park and the unforgettable allurements of Lake Louise. This is what the Stampede is all about. As one of its officials explained some years back, “The Calgary Stampede is much more than an exciting world class event and destination... it’s an attitude of true western hospitality that engulfs the whole city.”
For information about Calgary: http://www.visitcalgary.com
For Calgary Stampede information: http://calgarystampede.com/
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Molokai: Hawaii's Little Gem
By Fern Innes
Darkness hung low, encompassing the island in its wet grip even as the sun struggled to break over the horizon. It was early in the morning as we stepped off the puddle jumper onto the soil of Molokai. As dawn turned into a diffused gray light, my first glimpse of Molokai was that of mountains rising up to the sky, completely shrouded in mist. But behind the curtain of drizzle, paradise awaited.
Leaving the airport, we were greeted by a sign stating “Slow down, you’re in Molokai.” And indeed, that slogan defines the way of life here on the second smallest of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands. Not a single traffic light is to be found. No building is higher than a palm tree. Traffic jams occur only when locals stop their vehicles in the middle of the road to chat with friends driving the opposite direction. Shopping malls are a foreign concept here.
Molokai’s solitude and wild beauty present a compelling case to reconnect with nature. Molokai offers a plethora of hiking trails to assist one in this endeavor. The Kalaupapa Pali Trail is one of the most widely known. This 3.5-mile trail -- the trailhead is located off Highway 470 -- winds its way down sheer sea cliffs, ending at the peninsula where a key part of Hawaii’s tragic side of history took place. In the 1800s, when many Hawaiians were contracting the dreaded leprosy (now called Hansen’s disease), the affected were brought here in the hope that isolation would halt the spread of the disease among the Hawaiian population. Here, the patients lived out the remainder of their lives in less than desirable conditions. Today, all remaining patients have been cured. Some have chosen to continue living on the peninsula.
This peninsula is now the location of Kalaupapa National Historical Park. A permit is required to visit the park, and can be purchased from the State Department of Health or from Damien Tours. To visit this park you can fly in, hike down the sheer sea cliffs, or take a mule ride down the cliffs. We decided to rough it, descending the 26-switchback trail to the seaside. It was during our long hike down to the peninsula that we came face to face with a delightful surprise. Out of nowhere there appeared a tiny newborn fawn, undoubtedly only days old. The fawn stood on trembling legs, and tentatively stepped toward us with soulful, trusting eyes. As the fawn moved forward, it let out a cry not unlike a newborn kitten’s meow, and cautiously smelled our hands. Having concluded that the mother was nowhere to be found, I admittedly was plotting how I could bring this adorable creature home with me. Rest assured, my sanity quickly returned. A local guide rescued the fawn, and carried it back up the cliffs draped over the back of a mule.
The perfect place to recuperate from the grueling Kalaupapa Pali hike is Papohaku. Located on the western coast, it is one of the most pristine beaches of the Hawaiian Islands. At three miles long, the width of the beach is no small matter either. The golden sand is so soft that I was compelled to entrench my feet deep down, reveling in the smooth, powder-like substance. Though swimming here can be hazardous, the sunsets give a glorious ending to the day.
The often-overlooked island of Molokai is clearly Hawaii’s hidden treasure. If you’re seeking nature, adventure, beauty, or just a slower pace, you will find your refuge on the beautiful, lush island of Molokai.
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Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road
By Bina Joseph
What is the link between a sow and her piglets and the twelve apostles? The answer is found at “the end of the end of the world.”
One of Australia’s most visited landmarks was originally known as the Sow and Piglets! Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge, was the Sow, and the smaller surrounding rock stacks, the Piglets. This unromantic moniker was converted to the esoteric Twelve Apostles -- although there were only nine stacks, of which eight remain -- in 1922 when construction of the Great Ocean Road began.
This highway, stretching over 151 miles from Torquay to Allansford, was built as a monument to those who lost their lives in WWI. The portion between Lorne and Apollo Bay is acknowledged as being the most picturesque. From Apollo Bay the road traverses the center of the Great Otway National Park with its lush, untouched rain forests before following the coast for the entire length of the Port Campbell National Park. This most famous section of the Great Ocean Road is home to the Twelve Apostles.
It is a panoramic cliffside drive unfolding in endlessly dramatic scenery, rest stops, and viewing points for the limestone rock formations rising from the sea. Viewing boardwalks have been constructed from the visitor center. Scenic helicopter flights are also available.
The Twelve Apostles is a collection of eight miocene limestone rock stacks jutting from the Southern Ocean in Port Campbell National Park between Princetown and Peterborough. These incredible formations were carved through millennia of erosion of soft limestone areas by wind and wave, creating caves in the shoreline cliffs. These further wore away into domes and arches. In time, they disintegrated and detached from the mainland into stacks, towers, and islands rising from the ocean. The cliffs rise to nearly 230 feet at their highest, the highest Apostle spanning approximately 164 feet from base to tip.
The continuous action and rate of erosion at the existing headlands is expected to form new limestone structures in the future. Monstrous cliffs, immense rock stacks, fierce, restless surf, secluded coves, pristine beaches, unspoilt rain forests, and exciting resort towns are part and parcel of this magnificent vacationland vista.
The Apostles are a sight to behold and well worth the long drive. At sunrise and sunset they change color from dark and foreboding shadows to brilliant golden yellow or rust red under a full sun. And there are other awe-inspiring rock formations on the coast and towering out of the sea: the Gibson Steps, the Loch Ard Gorge, The Arch, the London Bridge, and the Grotto (http://www.visitvictoria.com).
Having made the trek so far it is advisable to plan for a few days rather than the hurried trip most tourists end up making just to see the Apostles. This is a vacation destination with much more, though admittedly the Apostles are the star attraction. But the national parks, the towns and beaches, the touring and activity options, and the variety of accommodations all along the stunning Victorian coastline and inland areas offer just about everything that a holidaymaker desires, in typical, laid back, inimitable Aussie style.
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Rosewater and Kebabs in Antioch
I tucked into my Antioch kebab in an outdoor restaurant packed with Ramadan fasters, a gale blowing up from the ancient river that bisects the city sending burkas billowing on one side and blowing designer sunglasses and packs of Marlboro across Formica tables on the other. Miniskirts and veils mix easily in modern Antakya, a refreshingly cosmopolitan Turkish city close to the border with Syria.The moon emerged from cloud and lit up a sliver of walls on the distant hills as I started on my dessert of haytali dondurma, two dollops of ice cream in a bowl of rosewater. Somewhere up there a traitor inside the city had dropped a ladder for waiting knights of the First Crusade in 1098 and initiated the usual massacre of inhabitants.
The walls were what I’d endured a 14-hour coach trip from Alanya for, but now that I was here I’d immediately fallen in love with the whole place. I’d imagined a monotonous jumble of disorganized concrete building projects, a backwater far from the cultural orbit of distant Istanbul, and had found instead something completely different. The movie theater in the city center, oozing art deco, was built in 1927 by the French occupiers and housed the short-lived independent Hatay government until the province was absorbed into the Turkish state in 1939. Its balcony overlooking the river was the perfect place to enjoy a drink and watch the evening crowds before heading back to my hotel.
That French influence has left a veneer of colonial charm which blends perfectly with the Islamic arches, mosques, minarets, and Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian churches I came across during my stroll the next day. I became lost in a maze of narrow alleyways that could have belonged in Damascus or Moorish Spain, and ended up in a church run by young Koreans who made me promise to come to their fundraising Mozart concert later that evening.
If the medieval city walls were beyond me in the July heat, I at least managed to struggle up to St. Peter’s Cave on the lower slopes of brooding Mount Silpius. I don’t know whether the disciple really preached here or not, but I had to admire the gothic vaulting and rose window facade piously added by the crusaders after they’d finished slaughtering or selling into slavery most of the inhabitants. That night, I belatedly remembered my promise to the Koreans as my coach pulled away and headed back west for the deep gorges of the Taurus Mountains and the tourist resorts beyond. But time had run out for me as it had for my Pythonesque medieval heroes, who’d no sooner occupied the city than they found themselves besieged by a relieving Arab army sent from Egypt. Sod’s Law is timeless.
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