Where else on earth can you feel like you are in a pirates of th

Where else on earth can you feel like you are in a pirates of the caribbean but with classic 50s american cars plying the streets alongside horse drawn carriages, locals that claim to be descendants of spanish, indian, african, and chinese blood, be in a country that gave the world afrocuban rumba, mambo, salsa, chacha (chacha actually invented for the less coodinated north americans) etc. Record music with 90 year olds (buena vista club cd--4mm sold thus far and a wonderful album) exports incl Cohiba/montecristos cigars and daiquiris/ mohitos.  Coming to cuba is a musical pilgrimage and time capsule where you can see people dancing and singing in the streets, where the sun shines,  the food is good (if u know where to go) and where it feels like everything could change overnight! ( not necessaily for the better )

8:14 pm 4/8

at nh parque central lobby enjoying my first mohito. Had tapas in hababa vieja -- meson de la flota. Supposed to be good for tapas but except for the blackbean soup everything else was overrated. But the restaurant is in a nice part of havana vieja

the more east & into habana vieja I was the more I liked it. It was a bit like New Orleans ( beautiful old buildings ) except without the herds of mardi gras tourist &  there was music everywhere. Since arriving from the airport got to see some really nice classic old cars already. The buildings were run down but charming.  Saw some dudes playing what looked like & sounded like mahjong ( but were dominoes) Also plenty of cute little parks where the locals hang out. A city so not yet completely taken over by tourists.

What u hear about the local boys learning to flirt since they were babies is true. Even the young cute immigration officer was winking and flirting. I was just too jetlagged to react.

While walking around, being Chinese I can pretend not to understand the catcalls in english or spanish :). There is a chinatown here but it really isn't ( there were 100,000 chinese here back in 1800 but lots left and less than 100 that still speak the language left)

Havana is just across the water from key west & no doubt going to be a popular destination when it opens again.

My flight over on virgin I slept most of the way. Despite the older planes the food was excellent & they even had a yoga class on board!  My 1st virgin flight but already a big thumbs up vs the american airlines.

Location of nh is good just at the border of habana central & habana vieja. Rooms were not luxurious but no doubt one of the best in town.

I would have loved to walk around even more but am very tired -- a bit like how I felt after eating the 4 hr lunch at tetsuya (straight post red eye from hk) where I was ready to just fall asleep with my face in the plate!

7:30 pm 4/9 thurs

At la guarida in central havana. Beautiful romantic cute little place in a run down building 2 flights of stairs up -would have never come to this part of town if not for the restaurant. There apparently was a movie filmed here.  (Fresca y chocolate)

A bit of the feel of the "in the mood for love movie." Had a snapper capaccio followed by a curried chicken- not indian tasting but a fusion of sort.  One of the most famous artists in town is Wilfredo Lam, he's half chinese & half african. Cuba is also a land of mixed blood, like my dinner.

Started the day at the revolution museum, was not that exciting for me but spent the rest of the day in havana vieja. My favorite square of the 4 i saw was plaza de la catedral & the beer i had at restaurante plaza -- it was everything i imagined old town to be, beautiful old restaurants in grand old historic mansions with beautiful courtyards close by the water, creole looking ladies, live buena vista club type of bands, beautiful churches, abundant sunshine, art galleries & museums all within a stone's throw-- it was fantastic!  After that the rest was a blur, lot more old mansion /museums & squares, one filled with book stalls. Memorable shops incl a pharmacy with tons of french jars & a complete human skeleton hanging there looking very happy, A chocolate shop/museum,  a school full of singing kids and a human version of dr seusse, an ancient perfume shop,  an excellent coffee shop with resident pianist.

1pm 4/10 fri

Back at the bar at nh parque central, had a quite non productive day except for the excellent lunch at out of the way paladar la cocina de lilliam where i comtinued my food obsession inspired by la guarida last night, just like guarida. The setting was beautiful. Reminded me of one of my favorite outdoor restaurants near Malibu.  Food was excellent. Had possibly the best lamb stew i ever had in my life.

Then spent the afternoon at one of the museums that had lots of cool art by the local artists. Was not so in love with Wilfred Lam's work but a few others had interesting work.

Too bad no photos were allowed as couldn't find anything at the museum shop. Afterwards came back to the hotel to crash thinking I would make it to tropicana tonight but the tourist desk was closed by the time i got there. Decided to hit habana vieja at night and sad to say at night the place is literally a shadow of the daytime self as it's definitely more vibrant in the daytime.  Maybe the tourists were all at tropicana and the locals all at malecon. but it was almost deserted. So after trekking all the way to el templete and back and at one point seriously worried about a pack of dogs, back at the hotel bar having a drink and a cigat + listening to the band here.

Nh is supposed to be the best hotel in town and i still have no doubt it is.  Location is great and breakfast is excellent. The hotel is indeed very busy and feels a bit understaffed at times.  But they have no official concierge service. Given the amount of english speaking tourists that pass thru u would think they would hire speak better english speaking staff but they don't. Last night's request for lilliam restaurant was completely forgotten. 2 emails to the hotel pretrip re: airport transfer came back with msg saying take taxi at airport as it is safe. Also tried to arrange a couple of times for car pickup from tropicana coz the idea of grabbing a cab back by myself post midnight was not that exciting, but again I got the it's safe line. At least the female front desk girl had enough EQ to tell me to arrange for return transport with the same cab driver that takes me there... But, again not expecting much, coz this is havana and they were doormen

cum bellboy cum concierge.

Interesting thing about the hotel here are lots of young girls in the lobby plying their trade. Overheard typical conversations and the hotel policy is for the extra room guests to be registered though i wonder how many comply.   They are not much better at the bar. A guest asked for omelette and they thought she meant tortilla.  I was smoking my montecristo and wondering why it had no taste then realized it was because they didn't cut it for me!!

On the upside the hotel pool area has the most incredible view of the parque central area, so that kind of makes up for everything.

4/11 sat-last night in havana

Last night in cuba at el aljibe where chicken is their specialty. Reminds me of fernando's but a bit too salty for me. Got a bit more sightseeing in today, incl the 2nd half of museo nacional de bellas artes ( the non cuban art part in a beautiful building),farmacia museo taquechel, the florida bar, a cigar shop, and capitolio--according to lonely planet, the building is marginally taller and much richer in detail vs the us version, saw some artwork i would have loved to take home except i have no room for anything, at Capitolio some annoying attendant asked for tip to allow me into a room she had no right to deny me entry into to start out with.  But again remembering the rearing pigs in bathrooms + sugar & water for breakfast (during periodo especial) gave her the tip out of charity.

The most overrated museum this trip where i was annoying followed around by the attendant and also would not have taken photos even if I could was the  asociacion cultural yoruba de cuba. And it cost a whopping cuc$16. For a place that should charge a fraction of that. No wonder it was sooo deserted.

What was worth it was the tropicana show.  Very vegas but a havana version. Lots of feathers and good music. Nice outdoor setting. Ended up at a table with this family from ecuador -father, uncle, and 18yr old daughter. And a guy on my left from texas. All in the oil biz.  table was excellent, the Ecuardorian family was great company. In sum, a great way to spend my last night here.

4/12 sunday

Cannot ignore the poverty here. Spent the morning at fortaleza de san carlos de la cabana, no cabs to come back so ended up getting a ride from a "taxi" that looked more like a coke can on wheels but with cracked window shieldsand etc The fact that it started at all was amazing, now at hotel inglaterra where this beggar lady keeps trying to get my attention. I already gave her half my sandwich but....

4/13/09

Spent yesterday afternoon at callejon de hamel. The cultural scene in cuba is quite vibrant, aside from the state sponsored fontaleza int'l arts exhibition, callejon is pure afro cuban street jam.  It was all very cool and enjoyable except for the constant attention you get as a tourist. The local women wouldn't leave the men alone and the local men wouldn't leave the tourist women alone. It's all quite entertaining. I found my comfort zone at some point wedged between two female local tourists.