The chef takes a time-out
from his kitchen.

Super-chef Daniel Boulud opened Maison Boulud ŕ Pékin, his first restaurant in Beijing, last July. Last week, writer and food fanatic Manuela Zoninsein sat down with Boulud to talk Olympics, the restaurant biz, and burgers.

What dish has worked particularly well with the Beijing crowd?

The Red Wine Braised Short Ribs are a hit on the menu here in Beijing. I'm delighted [because] it means one of my signature dishes has translated well across cultural lines.

What lessons have you learned about the culture in terms of fine dining?

While the tradition of delicious food is deeply rooted in Chinese culture, the concept of fine dining in restaurants on a Western model is relatively new to China. Still, the appreciation and enjoyment of good food is so central to life here. Like the French, the Chinese take pride in and devote time to their cooking. Their lives revolve largely around food.

Chinese people, whether from the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, take the pleasures of eating and drinking as seriously--if not more--than any other people anywhere in the world.

I'm sure you've gone out to eat in Beijing. What has been your favorite meal so far?

I believe Da Dong deserves all the praise it has been getting. It's one of my favorite restaurants here in Beijing. They have very authentic Peking duck, and many other dishes are worth trying. I also admire [the chef] because he is always seeking new ways to reinvent traditional Chinese food without losing its essence. The presentations are fascinating.

Read how Boulud plans to work Chinese flavors into his menu after the jump.

A scene from the movie with actors Kôji Yakusho and Kyôko Koizumi.
Photo: tokyosonatamovie.com

by Julia Bainbridge

When I think of Tokyo, I picture fluorescent hair dye, pet dog robots, and slick, stylized cartoons. And I don't think I'm alone. We've heard Gwen Stefani praise fashionable Harajuku girls, we've flipped through Shoichi Aoki's Fruits and its images of Gothic Lolitas, we've snapped shut a supa kawaii Hello Kitty compact--it's all so sugar sweet.

There is no TokyoPop in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's new film, Tokyo Sonata. The closest this film gets to candy is a Jolly Rancher-colored janitorial uniform that the father character must resort to wearing after he loses his office job. After his firing, his family unravels more and more with each scene, the movie's images ultimately shifting to shacks and desolate shores. This is urban isolation. This is the pressure of saving face.

Check out the Tokyo Sonata Web site for a window into the not-so-cute Tokyo, and for show times near you. Mind you: There is a happy ending.

Further reading:
* "That Damn Mango Will Blow Your Mind": Adam Platt eats his way around Japan (Condé Nast Traveler, September 2007)
* "Tomorrowland": Simon Dumenco on Tokyo as the future (Condé Nast Traveler, May 2006)
* The new Peninsula in Tokyo was on CNT's 2008 Hot List

Ranguana Lodge, Placencia.

In case you missed the More Sun for the Money piece in the March issue of Condé Nast Traveler, we're doling out the Latin America and Caribbean deals here on the Daily Traveler all month.

Ranguana Lodge in Placencia, Belize with cabins going for $80 to $88

The pitch: The sleepy Creole fishing village of Placencia, on the southern tip of the eponymous barrier peninsula, has escaped the development boom to the north, allowing it to legitimately maintain its claim to having Belize's best beaches. The slice of silken sand at Ranguana Lodge is the perfect place to let your stress melt away into the surf. Three stilted beachfront cabanas are simply furnished and air-conditioned, while the two other units are larger, set back from the beach, and come with hardwood floors, kitchenettes, and a bit more charm--but no AC. All have decks complete with hammocks perfect for napping. For fun, stroll along the "main road," a three-foot-wide sidewalk that runs through the heart of the colorful town, or head out with a local sportfishing guide for kingfish, tuna, barracuda, and snook, which the locals have lived on for centuries.

Book: The seaside cabana, where you can leave the AC off for breeze-cooled bliss (501-523-3112; ranguanabelize.com).

Najib Razak in the library of his
official residence in Putra Jaya.
Photo: Kamal Sellehuddin/The Star

by Dorinda Elliott

Reading about Malaysian politics is a bit like reading the National Enquirer. If it's not sodomy and nude photos, it's exploding mistresses. The stories just get weirder and weirder. Now the country's Web sites are abuzz with stories alleging that the prime minister-designate, Najib Razak, who is expected to step into the new job later this week, is connected to a bizarre sex-and-murder scandal. Najib denies allegations that he is linked to the murder of a Mongolian translator who helped facilitate the one-billion-euro sale of three submarines to the Malaysian government and that he profited from those government contracts. But an article published recently in the French daily Liberation and now circulating on Malaysian Web sites details alleged connections between the translator, who reportedly demanded a cut of the 114-million-euro commission on the deal, and Najib. According to the Liberation, the Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaaribuu, was killed--and then gruesomely blown up--in 2006 by two members of the Malaysian Special Branch. She allegedly was the mistress of a close colleague of Najib's--and may have been more than a mere acquaintance of Najib himself. The question, of course, is who ordered the killers to get rid of her?

Condé Nast Traveler's April issue is on stands, and in it, writer Mike DiPaola realizes that in the post-Google world our entire conception of geography has changed. Read "Google Earth: Move Over, Magellan" as DiPaola recounts his Google Earth experience. Don't forget to check out our interactive primer on the topic. If you are one of the 10 people worldwide still scratching your head on the whole Google Earth/Maps thing, it should help. 

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.
Photo: orangejack on Flickr using Creative Commons

by Ondine Cohane

It's hard to think of many architects who have influenced American design as much as Frank Lloyd Wright. To mark its 50th anniversary this May, New York's Guggenheim Museum will debut a huge retrospective of Wright's work in one of his most celebrated buildings. "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward" will showcase 62 of the projects--from the residential to the civic--that the architect tackled over his 70-plus year career, as well as a couple of hundred of his drawings, many of them on view to the public for the first time. I want to see Wright's 1957 urban revitalization model for Baghdad, which was, unfortunately, never realized. 

As I learn more about the man behind the models, though, I become increasingly interested in Wright's personal life. He was the complete opposite of his tranquil designs, full of tempestuous marriages and ugly divorces, affairs, and tragedy (one of his lovers died in a fire set by a disgruntled manservant). How fascinating that under these almost soap opera-like conditions, Wright created peaceful, decidedly harmonic buildings. If I were to plan a "Road Trip to Discovering Frank Lloyd Wright," here's how it would go:

* I'd start at Graycliff in upstate New York, with its sun-filled spaces. Supposedly, the property's former owner was losing her sight, and asked for it to be built with lots of light.

* Then on to Pennsylvania's Fallingwater, a dramatic cantilevered structure built over a waterfall.

* There would have to be a couple of stops in Chicago, where Wright lived for most of his adult life. The Frederick C. Robie House, built between 1908 and 1910, is perhaps the greatest example of the architect's Prairie style, and with its 100-year anniversary coming up, the building has undergone massive restoration. Unity Temple is considered one of the most important projects of Wright's career. And of course, his home/studio would be a must-stop. Take a look at wrightplus.org for suggested tours in town.

* Next up, Ohio's Westcott House, another Prairie-style icon. It only opened to the public in 2005, when it became a museum.

* Wright's only fully realized skyscraper, Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is now a museum and hotel.

* In Hollywood, Wright designed the Hollyhock House for an oil heiress (check out an excerpt from his letter on the Web site's home page). And I couldn't leave Los Angeles without seeing the Ennis House.

Any other stops I should add? Let me know.

After seeing airline industry expert Barbara S. Peterson's success blogging from a plane yesterday, we reached out to our Twitter folk last night to see who else has connected to the Internet aloft.

We got a thumbs-up for Virgin America--"virgin america's wifi worked great ($12.95) - my new favorite domestic airline"--and a thumbs-down--"nope, tried to use it on Virgin America from NY to LA last week. Failed." Similarly, people are fans of Delta--"i used wifi on Delta and it was flawless....amazing actually!!"--and some say it's a no-go--"Nope, Delta keeps waving WiFi in my face but its never been on any of my flights." Still others like American--"YES! I used it on an AA flight from JFK to SF. Fast, easy, and $12.95. Sweet success!"--and some haven't given the service a chance yet--"Not personally, but I've seen many a plane tweet."

What say you, readers? Has anyone successfully used the Internet in-air? And, if you experienced glitches, was the crew tech-savvy?

Read Barbara's experience in her On the Fly column. And follow us on Twitter @CNTraveler.

Last year, 800 volunteers helped remove 526 tons of trash from a section of the Colorado River in southern Arizona, including 2,253 tires, 46 abandoned cars, and 6 tons of scrap metal.
Photo: Take Pride in America

by Sara Tucker

There are those who trash the planet, and those who pick up after them. The litterbugs have left so much waste on Mount Everest that the Nepalese government has begun sticking climbers with a $4,000 penalty if they can't prove they're exiting the mountain with the same amount of metal and plastic they had on their ascents.

We're willing to bet there are people who would rather pay the fee than pick up after themselves.

The Everest trash heap was brought to our attention by World Hum, which cited Outside and Rock and Ice in its report. Clicking over to Rock and Ice tells us that "Everest is notoriously cluttered from climbers jettisoning oxygen canisters and gear they didn't feel like schlepping down, abandoning tents, ropes and food packaging, and leaving human waste. . . . According to some studies, more than 50 tons of non-biodegradable garbage was left on the mountain from the 1950s to the 1990s."

The sacred-site-as-human-toilet phenomenon made us wonder how much crap is cluttering up our own "pristine" wilderness areas. Curious, we started looking around our national parks and discovered an astonishing amount of junk--much of it dumped by Mexican drug cartels.

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady: He liked it, so he put a ring on it.

by Beata Loyfman

As we all know, celebs are notorious givers. Just pick a cause, and they're all over it, charitably giving of their time, wallets, and hearts. Recently, a few celebrities have rolled up their sleeves to boost the sagging travel industry. How, you ask? By getting hitched and spending tons of cash! Here's a shortlist of the selfless heroes who have paved the way for America's economic recovery:

* Bruce Willis & Emma Heming: Willis married his girlfriend (she's 23 years his junior for those of you counting) in his posh Parrot Cay home on Turks & Caicos last weekend (thanks for the details, Jaunted). A-list guests included ex-wife and uber-cougar Demi Moore and her young hubby Ashton Kutcher (he's 15 years her junior for those of you counting). The question is, where did the guests hang their hats? Perhaps Grace Bay Club or the new Gansevoort? Kutcher's incessant Twittering only gave away a small clue: this classy photo of his wife's rear end.

* Natasha Bedingfield & Matthew Robinson: The British singer and her non-famous guy tied the knot at Church Estate Vineyards in Malibu (you can find pics at Socialite Life). Apparently it's a favorite celeb wedding spot: Fergie and Josh Duhamel got hitched there a few weeks back. Where did their guests stay? Maybe at the swank Malibu Beach Inn.

* Gisele Bundchen & Tom Brady: These do-gooders are so concerned about rescuing the economy, they're having two weddings instead of just one. The first was at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica and now a second has been scheduled at Gisele's house in Costa Rica (check out the invite on TMZ). We owe you both!

* David Letterman & Regina Lasko: Dave waited 23 years to make Lasko an honest woman. The pair finally got hitched in the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Montana, after a detour that caused their pickup truck to get stuck in the mud. Sure, it's not as glamorous as a private island in the Caribbean, but what have you done for Montana tourism lately? 

Further reading:
* Scroll down for Dave's big reveal
* Boldface: Celebrity travel

Click the image for Gogo's sign-up page.

by Barbara S. Peterson

Yes, I am actually writing these words from a plane. I'm in seat 38C on Delta flight 1483 en route to Orlando. After having written about this for many months, I'm actually writing an email from an airline seat.   

By coincidence, I had coffee with Aircell executive Tom Weigman a few days ago; at the time, I hadn't yet realized that Delta had leap-frogged ahead of the competition. Weigman informed me that the airline has 64 planes wired for access; American and Virgin America each have only 15.

From what I've seen today, it's easy to use: Even with my klutzy typing, I registered with Gogo Inflight Internet in about four minutes and was online moments later. One bit of advice, though: Try to sign up before departure so you don't waste precious battery space.

The cost of connecting on this flight is $9.95 because the flight is under three hours (for longer flights it's $12.95), but Weigman told me that Aircell is rolling out a new lower-priced service soon. You can also connect to Gogo using a handheld device for $7.95.

So what are the drawbacks? I don't see any power ports on the plane, so you'll need to bring an extra battery on a longer flight. And although the captain announced there was information on how to use inflight Internet in the seat backs, I found no such pamphlet.

How many others are using this? There is a huge group of high school kids aboard this plane, and one of them, upon hearing the pilot announce our Wi-Fi readiness, yelped "How cool is that?" But there aren't exactly a lot of laptop- or Blackberry-toting types on this milk run to Orlando.

All in all, it's a great invention--certainly for business travelers like me--but more needs to be done to get the word out.

Click the image for Earth Hour's Google map of locations to go dark around the world Saturday.
Photo: EarthHour.org

by Dorinda Elliott

From the looks of her, you would never imagine Jorie Butler Kent as a firebrand. In her button-down pastel cardigan, the white-haired, blue-eyed Vice Chair of high-end outfitter Abercrombie & Kent looks like she might even be ready for a ladies' tea. But sitting in my office not long ago, Butler Kent was speaking with passion about her company's efforts to get emergency relief to Burma after the cyclone hit in 2008. With people on the ground, A&K was one of the few organizations able to get aid out--A&K raised $540,000--to ravaged villages, reaching 17,500 people in the first three weeks.

With Earth Hour coming up this Saturday, March 28, the unlikely, polite-spoken activist is out organizing again--hoping to get us all to turn off our lights. The World Wildlife Fund launched Earth Hour in Sydney in 2007, aiming to draw attention to climate change issues by having people around the world go dark for an hour. This year, hundreds of cities--54 national capitals, including Washington, D.C.--have agreed to turn the lights off from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time.

Butler Kent has not only signed up her own company--62 offices around the world and 13 camps in Africa, as well as cruise ships in Egypt and the Galapagos--to turn off the lights on Saturday night. Through A&K bookings, she has also helped persuade hundreds of other companies, including Four Seasons, Hilton Hotels, Fairmont Hotels, Intercontinental Group, Radisson Group and Sheraton Hotels, to join the cause. "If we don't save what we have left," Butler Kent told me, "there won't even be an A&K any more. We just won't be around."

Butler Kent has been doing philanthropy work for almost 30 years. She heads Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy, a foundation that funds 31 programs, from a biogas plant and schools in East Africa to wells in Cambodia and a girls school in Jordan. "Travelers are more and more engaged these days. This is what our travelers want," Butler Kent said. "Our guests like to know that we are doing what we can in a very hands-on way in conservation, and philanthropic endeavors."

That said, budgets are tight this year. "We have held back this year. I'd rather do 31 projects beautifully than launch 36 that we can't support," she said. "But we simply can't afford not to do this."

Further reading:
* More on Earth Hour 2009 from Responsible Traveler's Brook Wilkinson
* Dorinda sits down with Anwar Ibrahim
* Make a Difference: Resources for caring travelers

Photo: Giovanni Stefano Ghidini

by John Oseid

So, you're finally taking that trip to Italy this summer. It's time to join the cognoscenti who adore the brilliant singer/songwriter Jovanotti, whose cracker of a year back home included his smash album Safari and sold-out 2008 tour. The socially and politically engaged pop star puts on a nonstop, madcap stage performance.

Jovanotti's U.S. debut was the social event of the year for NYC's natty ex-patriot Italian community. Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street (the old Village Gate jazz club space) was jam-packed, the crowd jumped up and down and sang along to every song like they'd been fiending for a fix of his eclectic elements of ska and reggae, funk and muscular rock riffs, rap . . . and bits of tango.

The Roman-born Tuscan is hardly a newcomer; in 20 years he's gone from DJ to rapper to world music sampler. His latest album Safari is a mature, mostly mellow and pensive work. That's the musical polymath Ben Harper you hear playing a Weissenborn lap steel guitar on the hit single "Fango" (Mud). The video for the song was shot on film at Iguazú Falls; fans of directors Herzog and Malick will recognize the homage.

You could use Jovanotti's flowing lyrics to teach your Italian class. In English, the refrain to Fango might be prosaic: "I know I'm not alone even when I am alone." But it's phonetically wicked in Italian and just lovely:

Io lo so che non sono solo
Anche quando sono solo

Once you become a Jovanotti acolyte like me, you'll proselytize your friends and forget you'd never heard of him before . . . till now.

Jovanotti performing at New York's Highline Ballroom the night before I caught him at Poisson Rouge.
Photo: Anthony Salamone

More music:
* Jovanotti's videos are pure theater. He plays jester on "Mezzogiornio" and does a slow dance with earth movers in "Come Musica". Here's version 2 of his hit "Fango"
* If you read Italian, you'll enjoy Jovanotti's chronicles of his recent artistic adventure in New York on his Web site.
* Check out "Mani Liberi" with American hip-hop fusion Michael Franti
* Boom Box: An unabashed gusto for music of the world

Condé Nast Traveler Consumer News Editor and blogger extraordinaire Wendy Perrin did a fun half-hour radio interview on Monday with The Trip Chicks. To hear her thoughts on the South by Southwest Interactive conference, the power of Twitter, and her twenty years at CNT, listen to the interview.

And check out our sister blog, the Perrin Post, for more from Wendy.

A beach is so much more than a sunny stretch of sand, although there are plenty of those, too, in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, where Condé Nast Traveler surveyed more than 9,000 miles of coast to come up with 13 of the continent's best strands. Check out the April issue, on stands now, for tropical heat (and the hardbodies who come with it), pebbled shores populated with penguins, unpeopled stretches where palm trees are your only company, and waves without end. If you can't wait to see it in print, catch a sneak peak of our April cover story here.

Earth Hour practice session.

by Brook Wilkinson

Spread the word to all your city-dwelling, stargazing friends: On Saturday night, the ambient light from more than 100 U.S. metropolitan areas will go dim for one hour, starting around the world at 8:30 p.m. local time. The Empire State Building will fade to black. So will the Vegas strip, the Sears Tower, the St. Louis Arch, even the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt (thanks, Abercrombie & Kent), the Eiffel Tower, and the Sydney Opera House.

Earth Hour is an initiative introduced by the World Wildlife Fund back in 2007. It's not meant to produce a real reduction in our carbon footprint--we'll have to do a lot more than turn out the lights for 60 minutes to accomplish that--but as a symbolic act that unites millions of people across the globe.

And many hotels are participating. The Conrad Centennial Singapore will have a fleet of hybrid taxis available for guests. Bushmans Kloof, a wildlife reserve in South Africa, will serve dinner by candlelight. At last count, the list of chains pledging to turn off all the (non-essential) lights included Fairmont, Hilton, InterContinental, Langham, Loews, Radisson, and Starwood. So if you're heading into Ducca at the San Francisco Westin for a late dinner on Saturday night and the lights go dim, don't blame it on a breakdown of the country's 19th-century power grid (Obama's got it handled--check out the cover story in the current issue of Wired.)

More than 2,400 cities in 82 countries have pledged to turn the lights off this Saturday. You can do the same at earthhourus.org.

JetZone to the rescue.

by Mollie Chen

A couple weeks ago, we brought you Studio BeautyMix founder Robin Coe-Hutshing's new Go-Go bag for keeping your can't-live-without-'em products organized when they're stashed deep in the belly of your suitcase. Here, Roe-Hutshing tells us the five must-have items she takes when traveling:

* Memoire Liquide Nudité Absolue Perfume: Coe-Hutshing's own creation, a sheer fragrance that smells like "nude skin"--freshly bathed, we hope

* KaplanMD Lip20 in Berry: "SPF, lasting moisture treatment and easy-to-wear color in a genius tube"

* BURN VOYAGE candle (Azure Seas Fragrance): "Perfect small candle for adding instant atmosphere," it also works as an emergency hostess gift and makes "hotel rooms feel like home"

* JetZone: Coe-Hutshing takes this homeopathic combination to relieve jet lag and "symptoms of insomnia, exhaustion, irritability, and anxiety"

* Orlane Morning Recovery Serum: "Serious help for travelers who face an unflattering mirror too early after being up too late"

Bottle, Bottle, on the wall.
Who's the most palatable of
them all?
Photo: filtran on Flickr
using Creative Commons

by Clive Irving

Forgive the Global Gourmet for taking pleasure from the distress of others. But when the others are the wine merchants of Bordeaux, the pleasure is, as they say, fruity with a satisfyingly dry aftertaste. Bordeaux wines, principally the reds, are a classic case of a self-deluding brand. In the best years, the great red wines (Petrus, Margaux, Haut-Brion) are peerless. But great years are intermittent and the prices suggest AIG bonus ranking: For example, a 1999 Margaux is currently "on sale" at $695 a bottle.

Last year was a particularly bad one in Bordeaux. The weather was unfriendly. The 2008 vintage will be released for expert tasting in April, and expectations are for a dud. This comes as London merchants, who traditionally pre-order Bordeaux wines in barrel before it is bottled, are sending earlier vintages, like 2002, back at a loss because the market for them is shrinking fast in the economic meltdown.

Maybe at last this will help to do two things. One, bring down prices more in line with real values. Two, lead to the admission that poor Bordeaux vintages are a lot less palatable than far cheaper wines.

You need not go very far from Bordeaux to find two red wines that have always been far better value.  A few years ago, the Global Gourmet discovered one of them in Gascony, the region immediately north of the Pyrenees, while he was tasting a more legendary local hooch, Armagnac.  Gascony's food is powerfully rustic, featuring foie gras (duck and goose livers) and rib-sticking stews.  The wine I found is Madiran, made mostly with a grape hardly seen elsewhere, called Tannat. At its best, Madiran has the tannic base of a Bordeaux with the guts of a far more expensive Rhone red.  About a hundred miles southeast of Bordeaux is the ancient provincial city of Cahors, where another distinctively local red is produced. Again, Cahors is a really satisfying wine for carnivores.

Have your own "stick it to Bordeaux" pleasure with these two picks: Alain Brumont Chateau Montus, 2005, at $25 a bottle from snooth.com; Chateau La Caminade, 2005, at $21 a bottle from klwines.com.

Further reading:
* Introducing the Global Gourmet with London's Modern Pantry
* Catch of the Day: International noshables

The Pussycat Dolls performing "Jai Ho" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

by Guy Martin

The power of world music is nowhere more apparent than in the home of Bollywood. Bollywood's signature dance troupe routines are, themselves, excellent narrative: flashing eyes, rampant vogue-ing, and all the footwork absolutely synchronized without the use of our restrictive, Western, eight-note scale or time signatures. A musical monument to universal longing, via Busby Berkeley and Krishna! Awesome cribbing everybody!   

However.  The world's current most popular Indian song--the Oscar-winning "Jai Ho" (You Are My Destiny), played as the credits roll over the fabulous synchronized dance in Slumdog Millionaire--is a halfbreed Bollywood tune, performed as it was by Nicole Scherzinger and the eponymous Pussycat Dolls. Just as the film itself is not a full-on Bollywood flick, but a Western (Anglo/Irish) interpretation thereof. Personally speaking, the DT is fine with that. Cultural robbery can cut both ways. Sting! David Byrne! Brian Eno! Olly-olly-in-free!

But: After last month's Oscar sweep, India's politicians woke up to the fact that Slumdog was doing something for the mood of the country, namely, infusing the common man with pride via its real-Hollywood feel-good hit at the end. And specifically, that song! "Jai Ho," which translates as "be victorious," is a common salutation in Hindi. Although performed by Scherzinger (a native of Hawaii) in her video and at the Oscars in excellent belly-baring sari-drag, "Jai Ho" was written by "India's Beethoven," the double-Oscar winner and real-Bollywood schlockmeister A.R. Rahman.

by Barbara S. Peterson

Spanish discounter Air Europa is returning to New York City after an absence of several years and its Web site claims that it is offering some "unbeatable" fares to boot. To promote the start-up on June 1 of daily A330 service between JFK and Madrid, the airline has been touting round-trip fares of around $400 (not including taxes and fees). Tack on those levies, however, and a round-trip flight on the airline's 299-seat Airbus 330 planes will set you back $694. Still a good deal for high season, to be sure, but several other airlines currently have good fares on sale on that route. 

For travel to Madrid this fall, Air Europa has a fare of $159 round-trip for midweek flights booked online if you travel from October 29 to December 13,  but there's the "excluding fees" catch again. This time, the taxes and fees are nearly double that "fare", which will run you $452.34 by the time the government gets through with you.

OK, we understand that airlines didn't ask to be tax collectors. But what ever happened to truth in advertising?

A pause between meals: Ondine with the sun and St. Peter's Basilica at her back.

by Ondine Cohane

Just back from a quick getaway to Rome and am happy to report that the city, unsurprisingly of course, continues to be one of my favorite European capitals. The weather helped frame it in the very best light--it was one of those March days in the high 60s with sparkling sunshine--and despite being there for only about 24 hours, I made it to a couple of wonderful restaurants.

The first, in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Prati, was Settembrini, recommended by a friend who has just rented an apartment nearby. It was wonderful--intimate and well designed with a great small menu. I particularly liked the dentice, a type of white fish with buffalo mozzarella and stewed tomatoes--having fish in a caprese-like concoction was unexpected and delicious. And the wine list was as good as my friend had promised with a large range of excellent vintages under 100 euros; we sampled the cult wine Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from 1980 for just 80 euros (the producer gives artisanal new meaning).

Then the next day, after a long walk up along Passeggiata del Gianicolo with its views over the whole city, I headed down into Trastevere to Da Lucia for lunch (Vicolo del Mattonato 2, 06 580 36 01). My dear friend and fellow travel writer, Danielle Pergament, has turned the quest for a great cacio e pepe pasta (with pecorino and cracked black pepper) into a quasi religion, and although she rates Taverna Romana the very best, Da Lucia is also high on her list. Me too! And the marinated alici (anchovies) here are also exemplary. After a carafe of wine and a quick siesta, it was back on the train home to Tuscany. Perfect!

If you are heading to Rome anytime soon, read after the jump for some more of my favorite things to do.

Camp Quixote, a homeless encampment in Olympia, California, February 2007.
Photo: televiseus on Flickr using Creative Commons

by Sara Tucker

The Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire has spiked interest and debate in so-called "slum tourism" in places like Mumbai and Rio: Is it exploitative?, asks National Geographic Traveler this month (the consensus: It depends). Meanwhile, a March 6 photo essay about Sacramento's tent city has generated some 80 comments at the U.K's MailOnline. We decided to take a cue from the foreign media and look at our own backyard. For a virtual tour of Americans struggling to keep a roof over their heads, click on the links below. Their stories are courageous and eye-opening.

"A Home in the Colonias": Inside a jumble of poverty, Texans build a future. While the jerry-built shacks may look crude, they are often the works in progress of determined parents willing to spend decades to create a heart for their extended families. New York Times audio slideshow by Erik Eckholm and Michael Stravato. (For complete article, click here.)

Two videos on Seattle's Nickelsville: "Pink Tents in Seattle" by "Nathan" for CNN and "Robert Brenot Show Us His Home" by Moises Mendoza. "It's one big family," says Brenot, "and we're all here to stop homelessness."

"Former addict gives homeless veterans a second chance": Story behind Stand Down House, reported by CNN. One in three homeless adults has served in the military, and more than 150,000 veterans nationwide are homeless on any given night, according to the Veterans Administration (video link is at top of page).

"No one chooses to be homeless": A young woman's story of how she became homeless at the age of 12, filmed by HomelessYouthAmongUs.

"Homeless in Miami": Story of Umoja, from Blog Like You Give a Damn: The official blog of Architecture for Humanity Minnesota. Scroll down for the video by Laura Rivera and Matt Mireles. The Miami-Dade County planning department estimates Miami will need 294,200 new housing units by 2025, 42 percent of them for "very low- or low-income households."

Homeless America: Photo montage from Newportliving99.

Reading list:
*Shantytown USA: Liberty City's embattled Umoja Village gives hope and shelter to the homeless (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
* Web sites of Dignity Village, River Haven, Camp Quixote, Take Back the Land and Dome Village.

It's a wrap: Carla Bruni and
the Dalai Lama. One of them is
the 13th reincarnation of Tibet's
patron saint, and the other
dated Mick Jagger. You decide.
Photo: Ammar Abd Rabbo on
Flickr using Creative Commons

by Beata Loyfman

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his model-turned-singer-turned-First Lady Carla Bruni reportedly spent a staggering $63,000 on a weekend vacation in Mexico's El Tamarindo resort. Interestingly, that's just $30K less than the amount Bruni's famous nude photo fetched at a Christie's auction. Located in a nature preserve in Costalegre, on the Pacific coast, El Tamarindo has 29 casitas each with a private pool and unbelievable service.

The real question isn't why the French first couple chose El Tamarindo for their vacation, but rather how they managed to spend that sort of coin there. The most expensive accommodation in the resort is the four-bedroom Oceanfront Residence. It would set you back $5,500 per night in March. And since the property is owned by a friend of Mexico's President Calderon, couldn't he cut the Sarkozys a deal? Perhaps the Mexican sun caused Nicolas to forget that the French economy is in a tailspin.

Luckily, us regular folks don't have to mortgage our (foreclosed) homes to pay for a Mexican getaway. In fact, if fun in the sun is more important to you than foie gras and caviar, an all-inclusive vacation is just the ticket. True, quantity sometimes trumps quality in these all-you-can-eat resorts, but choose any Iberostar, Riu, Palace, Secrets, Barcelo, or Fiesta Americana property and you can be sure that you'll get the most for your buck. Book your hotel and air together on a consolidation site and the savings increase even more. 

If you're into quieter locales and smaller hotels, head to towns like Tulum (in the Mayan Riviera) or Troncones (on the Pacific). Here, boutique hotels like Las Ranitas and Hacienda Eden are the relaxed and affordable options.

Just don't tell the Sarkozys . . .

You say hello, New York says good-bye to A380's glorious bathroom.
Photo: Ammar Abd Rabbo on Flickr using Creative Commons

by Barbara S. Peterson

So, you've been hoping to hop a ride on the world's biggest airliner, belly up to that upstairs bar, and climb that double-wide staircase linking the two giant decks? Sneak into one of those shower stalls in first class? Or buy a first-class ticket and laze back in a "private suite" complete with minibar and 23-inch TV screen? If so, mark May 31 on your calendar. That, folks, is the last day the richly appointed behemoth will roll into New York City for the foreseeable future. 

The decision of Emirates to yank the A380 from New York a mere six months after a splashy debut isn't a total shock, what with all those high-flying Wall Streeters grounded for the moment. But it leaves just one U.S. city--Los Angeles--with any A380 service at all, and given Qantas's ongoing technical difficulties with the airliner, and widespread reports of unhappiness with the jet's performance, you have to wonder when--or if--the supersize jet will ever fulfill its self-styled destiny as the plane of the future.

by John Oseid

On a breezy summer night in the hip Moroccan coastal town of Essaouira a few years ago, the soaring voice of a griot star kept me enthralled through the wee hours. Sitting cross-legged on an outdoor stage, Dimi Mint Abba showcased her percussive Mauritanian music at the Festival Gnaoua. Her ensemble's nomadic folk drums, strings, and hand clapping had the whole audience hooked.

If you happen to be in Paris this weekend, you can witness Dimi jam with the veteran American jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette at the new Quai Branly museum. Their three-night set launches a series (March 20-28) designed for jazz artists "to get back in touch with their African origins." Two shows of Ethiopian jazz, which I love, will be followed by pianist Randy Weston's innovations with Moroccan Gnawa musicians.

After Paris, head far south for the insanely huge Cape Town Jazz Fest on April 3-4. American stars like singer Dianne Reeves, saxophonist Maceo Parker and alt-hip hop star Mos Def are among the forty artists. South Africa is a jazz hotbed, of course. We know that trumpeter Hugh Masekela is a legend. But who of us (in the States, at least) have heard of veteran jazz and opera singer Sibongile Khumalo? I've just discovered a fine young Joburg-based quartet from Mozambique named 340ml who will be bringing its trip-hop fusion to the fest.

And the artist I'm really dying to see? In 1957 Miriam Makeba invited a 16-year-old Sowetan named Abigail Kubeka to join her township group, Skylarks, and Ms. Kubeka is still going strong with that gorgeous sound of their youth. The wow factor as she sings "Yini Madoda" in the documentary clip above will have you packing right away for the trip.

More music:
* Dimi Mint Abba sings in Mauritania at the Festival Musiques Nomades
* "Thando's Groove" is a recent cut by Sibongile Khumalo
* For a quick taste of 340ml's eclectic sound, watch them perform "Shotgun"
* Boom Box: An unabashed gusto for music of the world

Simon Winchester, regular Condé Nast Traveler contributor and author of such books as Krakatoa, The Professor and the Madman, and his latest, The Man Who Loved China, is en route to Cape Town aboard the Corinthian II, where he's giving lectures on the Falklands War and the remaining colonies of Great Britain, among other subjects. He sent in these snapshots from South Georgia Island to make us jealous.

Simon gets to play with King penguins.

. . . and fur seals.

Read Simon's most recent Condé Nast Traveler article, "The Secret of the Caves" (April 2008)