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Armed with all my regular outdoor gear, plus special tent stakes for the sand, 4 gallons of water and enough sunscreen to slather an elephant, I headed to the Texas coast recently to find out what it’s like to camp on the beach. Until then, I’d left seaside camping to people who don’t mind wallowing in sweat and grit. But I love to sleep in a tent, and when a group of friends who have been surfing together since the early 1980s invited me to join them, I couldn’t resist. Six of us met in Port Mansfield, and then paid a fishing guide to shuttle us out to the cut between North and South Padre Islands. Two others drove up the beach from South Padre Island, a three-hour jaunt over soft sand that requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle. “One of the things about camping on the beach is you have to not mind being sticky with saltwater and sand everywhere and crunchy dinners,” freelance photographer Erich Schlegel tells me. He’s right, and I’ve come mentally prepared. In my book, it’s kind of fun to skip the shower and embrace the dirt now and then. As we step off the boat and unload coolers, duffel bags and folding chairs onto a sweet, crescent-shaped beach next to the channel, I scout a spot to set up my tent. It’s windy. I hope the oversize stakes for which I made a special trip to, will keep my sleeping quarters from taking flight. Five of my camping compadres met nearly four decades ago, during their high school days in Brownsville. They learned to surf together and now plan the occasional outing to catch some waves and, with any luck, some fish. Two others melded into the group more recently. I’m the only woman among them. Now, as I pop up my tent and slide my cooler inside to help anchor it in place in the gale-force breeze, the guys assemble fishing rods and wade out into the channel in search of supper. I take a look around. Beyond our protected corner of the beach, the jetty, made of giant blocks of pink and grey granite, juts out into the ocean. I hop down the structure and discover that every crack and crevice is filled with trash discarded water bottles, flip-flops, torn bags, old beach umbrellas and broken bits of plastic. It’s the only downside to an otherwise gorgeous setting and reminds me that we all need to cut back on our use of disposable stuff. Beyond the jetty, a caramel-coloured beach stretches to the horizon. Four or five other groups are camped on that side, sun shelters deployed and fishing lines like silver threads stretching to the surf. I look out to sea; the ocean glints like a mirror. I clamber back over to our side just in time to watch Schlegel reel in a nice-size speckled trout, which will wind up in a skillet with a little onion and garlic. It also turns out to be the only fish of the weekend. A few sea turtles bob near the rocks of the jetty, and birds on stilt like legs fish along the shore. After a few hours of fishing, the guys convene beneath a shade structure, a vital piece of beach camping equipment, plop down in folding chairs and sip cold drinks as they reminisce about high school and past surfing trips. For this group, reconnecting with old friends means as much as surfing, fishing and camping. “The fact that here we are in our 50s, it’s a pretty special thing,” Schlegel says. “We’re not just sitting around watching a Facebook video. We’re still doing the same thing we were doing in our teens, and it’s active.” We discuss the differences between inland camping and beach camping. A long-sleeve shirt to keep the sun off is a must, plus long pants to protect against mosquitoes at night. That shade structure is vital for the middle of the day, when the sun beats down, and since there are no amenities here you need to haul plenty of water for drinking and cooking. Remember a first-aid kit, too, since Mansfield Cut is fairly remote. You can, however, get a cell signal if you stand in just the right spot on the jetty. “If you don’t like to be gritty and sandy, don’t do it,” says Neil Haub, 52, who runs a logo merchandising company in Pflugerville. Despite the minor discomforts, beach camping comes with its own payoffs: beautiful sunrises and sunsets, for one, sand dollars to collect and birds to watch. And, I’m told, the sweetest surfing spot in Texas, when conditions are right. “It’s always an adventure. You never know what you’re going to find,” says Carlos Nunez, a packaging broker who lives in Brownsville. He and Rodrigo Esparza made the three-hour drive up the beach from South Padre Island, a shovel and extra provisions packed in their truck for emergencies. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you get stuck easily,” he warns. This time they encountered no troubles in the soft sand, parked on the south side of the cut and paddled, with their gear, across the channel on surfboards. By the following morning, the surf has picked up. Mother Nature has decided to deliver some good waves. The guys pull out their boards, carry them over the rocky outcropping, wade into the water and paddle out. “The thing about Mansfield is because of the length of the jetty and sandbar, this is typically the best wave in Texas,” says Schlegel, who started surfing at South Padre Island in 1979. The vibe differs from more high-profile surf destinations like California or Hawaii. “It’s more chill. There’s the sense in the line-up it’s not competitive like it is other places.” Here, waves arrive in tight sets crafted by the wind. The campers spend a few hours catching 3- and 4-footers, hooting and hollering as they zip down the line of the breaking waves. They’re the only surfers in sight, which is typical. “Being as isolated as it is, we usually have it to ourselves because it is a trek to get here,” Nunez says. The group spends the rest of weekend alternating between fishing, surfing and loafing. The wind blows, the waves lap and the rods dip in and out of the water. And that’s the appeal here: nothing flashy or luxurious, just good friends, the orange, setting sun, a coastal breeze and stories to tell. “Oh, man, getting together with old friends, childhood friends you don’t see that often. That’s the main thing. All this other stuff is bonus,” Haub says. This crew will return. If you go The ride takes about 45 minutes, depending on conditions. Beach camping is allowed at Mansfield Cut, but there are no facilities or fresh water. Bring water, a shovel and toilet paper, and pack out all trash.– Austin American-Statesman/TNS

Physicians experience extremely high levels of burnout and that’s contributing significantly to the medical errors. That’s the conclusion of a new Mayo Clinic study that found more than half of the physicians worldwide experience burnout, defined as either emotional exhaustion or a feeling of distance from a one’s job and colleagues, said Dr Christine Sinsky, the Vice President of professional satisfaction at the American Medical Association. Those findings resonate with Dr Albert Chan, the Chief of digital patient experience for Sutter Health and a family medicine doctor. “Our physician culture is very much a culture of putting the patients first, prioritising them, which we always have been doing and still do,” he said. “But sometimes it’s at the expense of ourselves. And increasingly we understand that that’s not a healthy thing.” The study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, compiled survey results from 6,695 physicians responding to topics including fatigue, burnout, thoughts of suicide and workplace safety. Thirty-two percent of respondents reported feeling excessive fatigue and more than 10 percent said they had committed what they considered to be a major medical error in the three months prior to taking the survey. The physicians who reported major medical errors also acknowledged higher levels of burnout. Of the 663 physicians who reported medical errors, nearly 40 percent said the mistakes were caused by errors in judgment and 20 percent attributed them to an incorrect diagnosis. Around 54 percent physicians reportedly burned out and 88 percent admitted to feel stress at work.  “The study found that there’s two times the rate of perceived error when physicians are burned out,” Sinsky said. The survey asked physicians to give their work areas a grade based on patient safety. Burnout was found to be more likely in areas with low safety grades, but it also occurred in areas with high safety grades. “High burnout, even in an excellent safety environment, is nearly as risky as no burnout in a unit that had a poor safety grade,” Sinsky said. Medical errors are responsible for 100,000 to 200,000 patient deaths every year in the United States and increasing at an increasing rate wordwide, according to the study. The study linked burnout rate to factors including a “chaotic work environment or lack of control over that work environment,” Sinsky said. Another factor is work that takes physicians away from direct patient care. “There is a great increase in the amount of administrative and clerical work,” she said. “That disconnects physicians from the reason why they went into the profession in the first place and that’s a source of burnout.” Physicians can be slow to seek out personal help; sometimes resorting to self-care and end up committing suicide at a rate that exceeds national averages, the study reports. Dr Peter Yellowlees, Vice Chair for Faculty Development in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry, has researched the suicide issue. “It’s estimated there’s something like 400 physicians a year in American suicide. That’s equivalent to two large medical school classes,” said Yellowlees, who recently published a book titled Physician Suicide Cases and Commentary. As a practising psychiatrist, Yellowlees sees physicians as clients. These physicians come from a variety of health groups, including UC Davis, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente and Mercy General Hospital as well as private practice. Burnout is a minor psychiatric problem that can have more severe implications, Yellowlees said. “I think it’s pretty clear that burnout can act as a trigger,” he said. “We know that there are lots of causes of depression. If you then are in a situation where you’re feeling very burnt out through your work, it can be a trigger.” In addition to its effect on physicians, burnout also hurts physicians’ families and their patients in various ways. “We know that patients are less adherent to our treatment recommendations when physicians are burned out, physicians show less empathy to their patients when burned out and physicians are less satisfied with their care,” Sinsky said. “Physicians and other clinicians who are burned out are at higher risk of divorce, diseases such as coronary artery disease and drug abuse.” In the 16 years Chan has been in practice as a family medicine doctor, he said he’s never experienced burnout. But he’s seen the impact on his colleagues. “At a minimum, we spend 11 plus years to get where we’re at and to reach the end of your training, which is really just the beginning of your career, and you wonder if you should continue to be a physician and you’re fatigued, that’s a concern,” Chan said. Local health providers like Sutter and Kaiser are aware of these issues and are actively working to reduce the number of stressors affecting physicians. A feature story published by Kaiser last year addressed the health group’s active and ongoing focus on improving the mental health and well-being of its medical students and staff. Efforts by Kaiser include providing wellness services like nutrition counselling and teaching students ‘resilience and coping skills.’ In the summer of 2016, Sutter encouraged its providers to engage in acts of gratitude during a two-month campaign aimed at reducing burnout. And the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society hosts the annual Joy of Medicine summit, which looks to connect local physicians and help them bring joy back into their profession. Some researchers looking into physician burnout have criticised similar efforts, saying they blame physicians instead of broader issues and employers for burnout. “It’s more nuanced, I think,” Yellowlees said. “It’s absolutely true that you can’t resilience yourself out of burnout. It’s undoubtedly the organisational issues that cause burnout and that need changing. That’s why most groups are trying to change the organisational culture. And you’ve got to avoid blaming physicians. But because physicians tend not to seek out care, it can be important for health systems or organisations to encourage physicians to do so”, he said. Sinsky said she thinks change on a systemic level will yield more long-term results. “It’s my observation that 80 percent of burnout is driven by system factors and only 20 percent is driven by individual factors,” Sinsky said. “We really get more for our investments if we invest in system factors that reduce burnout.” The American Medical Association and Sutter Health are looking into regulatory issues that can add to the administrative load on physicians. Maintenance of electronic health records is one time-consuming area both groups mentioned. Chan mentioned research published by Health Affairs, which found physicians spend around 3.08 hours in face-to-face interactions with patients and 3.17 hours interacting with electronic health records and other virtual tasks every day. Sutter is one of several healthcare systems that use a system developed by Augmedix Inc that connects physicians with a remote, trained scribe. Physicians wear Google Glass during appointments with patients and the technology allows the remote scribes, who take notes and provide medics with information, to sit in on the appointment. Sutter patients are made aware of the remote digital assistant beforehand and there is a 98 percent patient acceptance rating for the service, used in doctors’ offices in areas including Sacramento and the Central Valley, said a Sutter spokesperson. This service allows providers more time doing the face-to-face work they most enjoy. Reducing burnout among physicians is important both to ensure quality of care and because burnout is one of the reasons behind the worldwide physician shortage, Sinsky said. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 100,000 doctors by the year 2030. Sinsky referenced data from surveys completed in 2007 and 2014 that predict 2 percent of physicians are highly likely to leave the medical profession. That can be reduced if the job is made more fulfilling. “Anything that gets in the way of physicians being able to provide that high quality care is likely a contributor to burnout,” Sinsky said. “This is a solvable problem. I believe that we can work more productively together to begin to solve these problems.”– The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Yet history lingers here, palpable and powerful, just a two-hour drive from the state’s metropolitan centre of Portland. At the apex of Coxcomb Hill, the mural-wrapped Astoria Column traces the area’s evolution, from Capt Robert Gray’s 1792 discovery of the Columbia River (named for his ship, the Columbia Rediviva) to the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the railroad’s arrival in the late 1800s. At the Columbia River Maritime Museum, vivid exhibits paint a cycle of risk and reward. The river’s violent collision with the ocean spins a constant tale of destruction and death, some 2,000 vessels and 700 lives later, it’s known as ‘the graveyard of the Pacific.’ A reminder of the long-gone Astoria trading post survives in a green-paint street outline. A monument stands there, but the city’s economy has moved along: thriving bakery/café, commerce’s turn toward tourism. Brightly painted Victorian homes beckon from the hillsides. Downtown, a bit of Americana lives on in the form of spice shops, a butcher shop, bookstores and Gimre’s Shoes, which opened in 1892 and is believed to be the oldest family-run shoe store in the West. Parks, beach and the waterfront are eminently explorable on foot or bike. Back in the early 1800s, after Lewis and Clark wintered near here, a German immigrant named John Jacob Astor envisioned this confluence of the Columbia and the Pacific as the hub of an international trading empire. From his home in New York, Astor accrued a fortune in real estate and trading animal furs and soft gold. But his dream for the city that ultimately bore his name was never realised, in large part because of bad timing: War broke out in 1812 between England and the fledgling United States, a year after Astoria’s founding. Later, the region’s economy grew reliant upon timber and fisheries. Astoria, which once proudly called itself the ‘Salmon Canning Capital of the World,’ fell on hard times in the late 20th century as fishing runs dried up, consumer habits changed and canneries closed. Dick Garner, sitting behind the wheel of a 1954 Mercury Monterey, squired my wife and me around town one night in June, pointing out where Astor’s first ship that came here, the Tonquin, probably moored. Where, much later, the Scandinavian fishing workers settled. And the plant that Bumble Bee Seafoods shuttered in 1980. “When I first moved here in 1965, Astoria was a community that people drove through on the way to somewhere else,” Garner said. “Until the mid-’80s or early ‘90s’, the economy was pretty much fishing, canning or logging. We needed something else.” Investment in the future Twice in its history, in 1883 and 1922, much of Astoria burned to the ground. Each time the city rallied and rebuilt, just as it later did to create a new tourism-based economy. Over the past 35 years, the Port of Astoria has spent more than $10 million in pier improvements to attract and retain cruise ships. In 2018, 25 vessels are expected to bring more than 44,000 visitors. Since 1998, the community has raised roughly $9 million to restore the 1920s-era Liberty Theatre, now home to concerts, plays, public forums and much more. One of the area’s biggest tourist draws, Fort Clatsop, is itself a product of rebuilding and community co-operation. This was the site where Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party endured a wet, hostile winter in 1805-06. A replica of the original log structure burned in 2005. Fourteen months later, thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteers, a newly constructed fort reopened. Barges and gliders We interspersed our history lessons with a leisurely walk through downtown and its shops. We savoured a memorable dinner at a newer entrant downtown, Carruthers Restaurant. We biked along the waterfront, under the studious gaze of a bald eagle perched on a power pole. We watched from our balcony at the Cannery Pier hotel as giant barges drifted by on the Columbia, packed with wheat bound for Asia. We meandered through three-plus blocks of street vendors hawking produce, crafts and more at the Astoria Sunday Market. And we did what we always do when we visit Astoria indeed, what practically everyone does. We drove to the top of Coxcomb Hill and plopped down a dollar each for a balsa-wood glider at the Astoria Column gift shop. We climbed the circular staircase to the column’s observation deck and launched our gliders into the wind. They carved circles in the air, casting swift shadows on the history enshrined on the column itself. If you go Where to stay: Opened in 2005 on the onetime site of a fish cannery, the Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa embraces its past with historic photos throughout. All of the well-appointed rooms have balconies and gas fireplaces, and they come equipped with binoculars, so you can scrutinise ship traffic passing right outside on the Columbia River.  Where to eat: Blue Scorcher Bakery & Cafe is cosy, friendly and full of baked goodness, such as Huevos Scorcheros (two eggs over rice, beans and cheddar cheese, plus salsa and more), or French toast topped with fresh berry compote and whipped cream Carruthers Restaurant serves modern American fare and inventive cocktails in a hip downtown setting. The jumbo prawn cocktail is astoundingly good, as are the braised short ribs with polenta. Desserts (example: a berry, peach and apple crisp) are close-your-eyes amazing.  Casual yet aiming high, Bridgewater Bistro is just a brief walk from Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa. The Mayan salad (roasted beets and yams, quinoa and more) is a riot of colour and flavour, and cod fish ‘n’ chips are moist and tender.  What to do: Columbia River Maritime Museum is unparalleled in Oregon for its interactive, comprehensive exhibits, the fishing industry and civilian and military shipping. Admission includes a visit to the historic lightship Columbia, moored riverside, which served as a floating lighthouse until 1979.  Lewis and Clark National Historical Park’s crown jewel is the replica of Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in 1805-06. In summer months, park rangers in period dress conduct camps and programmes and guide canoe and kayak tours. Fort Stevens State Park has been converted to a 4,300-acre park with nine miles of paved cycling trails and a broad beach that includes the wreckage of the Peter Iredale, a British bark that ran aground here in 1906.  A climb up, the circular staircase of Astoria Column’s 125-foot-tall tower yields sweeping views of the Columbia River, but first buy a balsa-wood plane in the gift shop so you can launch it into the breeze from the observation deck.  Flavel House Museum was home to George Flavel, a Columbia River Bar pilot, and his family from 1886 to 1893. This Queen Anne-style house (more a mansion at 11,600 square feet) boasts a magnificent library and other rooms decorated with period pieces from the 1800s some of them holdovers from the Flavel estate.  Heritage Museum, formerly city hall, now houses small but informative exhibits on John Jacob Astor and his expansion plans in the West, the timber and fishing industries.– Chicago Tribune/ TNS

In 1911, James Manges laid claim to 160 acres inside what eventually would become this park, and when he left his small cabin to fish cutthroat trout in the Snake River, he’d tack a handwritten note to the door: “Gone fishing,” he scribbled. “If I don’t come back try to make a living off the place.” Manges was only the second settler to pony up $15 for a plot of land in the shadow of the Teton Range, following passage of the Homestead Act of 1862. Other stake claimers followed. But 50 years would expire before 400 titles were let in Jackson “Hole” the name trappers gave to valleys surrounded by mountains. The other day, as we launched a drift boat into the Snake River, its wide sweep of clear, moving water bore the same invitation it must have rendered to Manges, and some 11,000 years earlier to the forebears of modern American Indians who visited here to hunt and gather plants in spring, summer and fall. One of the West’s great waterways, along with the Yellowstone and the Missouri, the Snake, unlike the latter two, eventually flows west, into Idaho and ultimately into the Columbia River, before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. “We’ll try these,” my older son, Trevor, said, selecting large foam-bodied attractor flies to tie onto our leaders. Trevor lives in Missoula, Mont, where he is a fly-fishing guide, and had travelled to Grand Teton National Park to spend a few days with his mother, Jan, and me. “Remember the first time we were on this river?” Jan said from the bow. An eager fly angler, and a good one, Jan, on a given day, will match me fish for fish. Her reference was to a trip we had taken perhaps 10 years earlier. Trevor and his younger brother, Cole, were still in high school, and I, trusting soul that I am, had bought a drift boat over the Internet from a man who lived in Idaho. The four of us took possession of the craft in Jackson, Wyo, while vacationing in our pickup camper. We called that double-ended boat on the Snake River below Jackson, a float that surprisingly came off without incident, and during which, as a bonus, we caught plenty of fine-spotted cutthroat trout, a species veritably unique to the Snake. Now, absent Cole, who also lives in Missoula, we were on the Snake again, this time much farther upstream, inside Grand Teton National Park. Anchoring us alongside a rock-and-pebble restaurant, Trevor looped the first cast of the day to a side channel that bore a riffle and below it a counter clockwise eddy. Drifting into the eddy, his fly on its initial pass tempted an 18 inch cutthroat that corkscrewed up from the stream bottom and inhaled the fly, tightening Trevor’s line and bowing his rod against the current. Bringing the fish to hand, Trevor soon released it, its spotted sides glistening. Measuring 310,000 acres, Grand Teton is a relatively small national park. Yellowstone, by comparison, is 2.2 million acres, and Glacier more than 1 million. A geologic freak, the park’s namesake mountains jut stunningly from the valley floor. Multiple earthquakes beginning 10 million years ago gave abrupt rise to the Teton Range, while more or less simultaneously dropping the valley floor. Glaciers as thick as 3,500 feet subsequently conferred the region its peaks, lakes, rivers, wetlands and vast sagebrush flats. Headquartered in an RV campground along the shores of Jackson Lake, we were, it seemed, among an endless stream of park visitors. Some arrived in buses, others motorhomes and still others on motorcycles or bikes. Cell phone coverage was sketchy, and Wi-Fi was available only at the village store. Near these, in evenings, as the setting sun backlit the Tetons, campground visitors gathered like lemmings, their phones and laptops in hand. The rising sun illuminates the front of the Teton Mountains, while, the setting sun back lights the peaks that rise abruptly from a valley floor, making them unique among North American mountain ranges. Different as such scenes were from the encampments the Shoshone made here hundreds of years ago, and after them the beaver trappers, homesteaders, cattlemen and, ultimately, the dudes from back East who came to play cowboy and cowgirl, the Tetons, it can be said, have seduced indiscriminately over time, people to people. And still do today. The first beaver trappers to inhabit Jackson ‘Hole’ thrived until the fur market collapsed. Settlers subsequently moved in, but harsh winter weather argued against their success. Mormons were among those who tried to make a living in the shadows of the Tetons, leaving behind structures such as barns. Whatever eye candy the Tetons provide, with their craggy granite peaks and rock-strewn glaciers, the Snake is the park’s lifeblood. Grizzly and black bears depend on it, also moose, wolves, antelope, beavers, otters and anglers. On this day, the river wasn’t busy. A few kayakers moseyed downstream, and an occasional raft of sightseers. Also beneath Wyoming’s summer-blue sky, its gauzy clouds untethered, a few drift boats of anglers materialised. Continually in motion, rivers can be a gateway drug to a life lived obsessively. Lakes entice. But rivers intimate continuums on which existence itself rides, with the backwash of disappointment ever disappearing down river, yielding to new water and better days. “Dad, I’m going to hold us right here against the current,” Trevor said. This was just after we had eaten lunch. A remuda of horses, some spotted, grassed in the distance, while overhead, an osprey, ever the opportunist, eyed the same river we did, for the same fish. “It’s a tight cast. But put your fly as close as you can to shore, between the two branches of that deadfall.” I might not have made the cast a second time. But I did the first, and when my fly settled onto the water as directed, a 17-inch cutthroat tipped up its nose, mouth agape. “Set,” Trevor said. The park is a hotspot. About 4 million people visit Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming each year. Were it not for President Teddy Roosevelt, who in 1908 established the 2 million-acre Teton National Forest; President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1943 leveraged the 1906 Antiquities Act to create the Jackson Hole National Monument; President Harry Truman, who in 1950 signed the bill launching the park; and John D. Rockefeller Jr, who donated 33,000 prime acres to help form the park, the valley lying beneath the Teton Range might today be a hodgepodge of fast-food joints and neon signs. Perhaps then I wouldn’t have had a chance to hook that fish. And bring it to a net. And release it. But I did, its sides glistening. – Star Tribune/TNS

As I hurtled through the sky above a sprawling valley, in view of sapphire waves and verdant mountain slopes, the wind was whipping past me and my eyes were streaming tears. My lips were peeled back, I was yelling incomprehensibly and my brain was blaring, “This could be the end.” But let me unveil the track of my strory from the beginning, before I zoomed down a three-quarter-mile zip line on Kauai, the westernmost of the well-populated Hawaiian Islands. I had never been to the so-called Garden Island, but I knew it by reputation. Less built up than Maui and Oahu, Kauai is blessed with spectacular hiking trails, secluded beaches and dramatic vistas. That made it an ideal warm-weather destination to rev up and unwind, while talking to residents opened my eyes to Kauai’s history and the consequences of more mainlanders visiting the island. Through the air and up the coast If I have to visit Kauai again, I will concentrate on a particular pastime. But on this trip with friends, I tried both exciting and relaxing activities. This brings me back to my mid-air moment, courtesy of the FlyLine, a special zip line operated by Outfitters Kauai, which also offers kayak, bike and stand-up paddleboard tours. The company has several zip-line packages. Looking for thrills, we chose the so-called Adrenaline excursion. It began with a pair of conventional zip lines, which allowed us to soar over the trees. Then some of us stripped into our swimsuits and jumped off a mini zip line into a water hole hidden in the muggy jungle, where we gaped at tropical plants with fronds longer than my arm. The biggest thrill came last, however. The FlyLine starts atop a wooden tower, several stories tall. Below is Kipu Ranch, where the movie Jurassic Park shot several scenes. Strapped into a hammock-like harness, I swung horizontal, and then swooped across the valley in a superman pose. Outfitters Kauai says zip liners reach 50 mph. Others in the group were less scared than I was. They coasted down in serene style, extending their arms like birds. Hiking with chickens Speaking of birds, chickens rule Kauai. Scientists believe their numbers surged in 1992, after a hurricane destroyed farms, setting birds free. The strangest spot I saw a rooster was Hanakapi’ai Beach, a rocky cove two miles up the renowned Kalalau Trail. The trail runs along western Kauai’s Napali Coast, where sparkling waves crash spectacularly against plunging mountains. To get there; drive counter clockwise on the island’s outer highway until you run out of road. We stayed in Kapa’a, on the east shore, and the drive took us about an hour. Next to the trailhead is Ke’e Beach, where we watched an endangered Hawaiian monk seal as we enjoy a nap on the sand. The sun was out for our hike, which made the coast’s colours really pop. Rest breaks are the best part of the trek, thanks to the views: The ocean couldn’t have been more blue and the hillside couldn’t have been more green. Tropical flora, lauhala and banana trees, ohia lehua and ti plants, offers shade and wonder. When hiking, you can expect to sweat. There are steep sections and my boots grew heavy with squelchy, red mud. Budget about an hour per mile, bring water bottles and take care not to slip when crossing Hanakapi’ai Stream. Serious hikers can trek the entire 11 miles in to Kalalau Beach, but our 4-mile round trip was plenty dazzling and tiring. When you return to the trailhead, you’ll be ready to kick back. On the beach and on the shelf That’s easy on Kauai, because there are quiet beaches everywhere you go. The strand we’ll remember best is the crook of Lumahai Beach by Makahoa Point. Park your car in the unpaved area on the ocean side of Kuhio Highway just west of Hanalei, where the road takes a sharp twist. Then look for a gap between the trees, where a path leads down to the beach. You’ll see smooth yellow sand, frothy surf and jet-black volcanic rocks being pummeled by waves. When we were there, waves washing over the rocks had created a sandy wading pool. The beach appears wild and remote, and for about an hour, we were alone. Though the quiet stretch is no secret, it was easy to pretend that it was. We decided to stick to the shallows, partly because there was no lifeguard. Many Kauai beaches have sign warning about dangerous riptides and Lumahai is known for strong undertow and currents that makes swimming there much more dangerous. “Our currents are very strong,” said Sabra Kauka, a Hawaiian-studies educator and cultural practitioner who grew up on Kauai. “When we were children, our elders taught us to sit and observe the ocean for at least 20 minutes before we went in.” Rather than swim, we stood knee-deep in the sparkling tide, listened to the ocean and drank in the scenery. The other end of Lumahai Beach, where a river meets the ocean, is also pretty. But a parking lot and easy access makes it lot more crowded. That’s the overall trend on Kauai, where tourism has surged in recent years. Though the island relies on tourism, its residents are dealing with more traffic, more construction and more visitors who have a lot to learn about local history and culture. “The taro patches were always here but the rest was all bush,” said Keola Yokotake, talking about development near Hanalei. Yokotake sings Hawaiian songs and plays ukulele at Hanalei’s Saturday Farmers Market. “People aren’t too happy about the traffic. We never had backups before. Now the traffic never ends,” he said. Kauka says tourists can show respect by adopting a patient, upbeat attitude on the road, in eateries and in stores. “Take a deep breath,” she said. “Make the beauty last and just slow down.” Something that hasn’t changed on the island is the weather. Rain showers are common on the north shore. If your No 1 vacation goal is to dry out, you may want to head south. That’s where the sun rarely disappears (and where most of Kauai’s large resorts are located, around Poipu and vicinity). Also on the south shore, in Hanapepe, is Talk Story Bookstore, billed as the westernmost independent bookstore in the United States. ‘Talk story’ is local lingo for ‘shooting the breeze,’ and Hanapepe is an old community with antique frontier storefronts and an easy-going vibe, though 20 people were killed when police attacked striking Filipino plantation workers there in 1924. The store has rough wooden floors, a sleepy pet cat and rambling shelves. The selection will surprise you and the owners have a great story to tell. Ed Justus and his wife visited Kauai years ago and never left. They opened the store on a whim in 2004 because the space was free for a month. Since then, they’ve sold 150,000 books. Sounds like a nice life, I quipped. “It could be worse, right?” Justus laughed. The big picture We were visiting quaint Hanapepe on our way to a much grander attraction. The scale and power of Waimea Canyon makes you catch your breath when you step on to the viewing deck at a lookout 3,600 feet and 25 minutes by car above Kauai’s coastal highway. You’ll swear a talented giant painted the sloping gorge walls and slender valleys with inspired brush strokes, blending oranges, greens and browns. Like the island as a whole, the canyon is a place where adventure can meet tranquillity.– The Seattle Times/TNS

Since the advent of a certain IFC show starring a member of Sleater-Kinney, Portland has been mythologised as a town built on nothing but whimsy and underemployment. But like any city, the reality is more complicated and a lot more enjoyable. Portland’s the kind of city where you can learn to bike-commute without fear, where bookstores rule and indie publishing thrives. It’s also the home of the Decemberists, Cheryl Strayed, Chuck Klosterman, Stephen Malkmus, the other two members of Sleater-Kinney, and, when it comes right down to it, some pretty fascinating city politics. Its casually gorgeous riverfront bike trail and its transit-friendly navigability, there’s much to love about Portland. And Portland will love you back, if you let it. If your only goal in taking a trip to Portland is to get your picture taken in front the ‘Keep Portland Weird’ mural, be my guest. You won’t need my help finding it, and it won’t give you a real sense of the place, beyond the parts of it most easily reduced to caricature. But if you’re interested in getting to know what endears Portland to the people who live there, here’s where to start. Just remember to keep your preconceived notions and your ‘Put a bird on it’ jokes to yourself. A culture of resistance Portland is a beautiful city bisected by the Willamette River. It is home to iconic public art such as the Portlandia statue. Few commutes are prettier than the ride over the Broadway Bridge on a clear day, when Mount Hood is out, or biking down the Eastbank Esplanade at sunset. But many of the photos I have from my time in Portland were taken at protests. This is partly circumstantial covering protests was part of my job when I lived there but it’s also just Portland. Portland is a city that can always be relied upon to show up in the face of injustice (or perceived injustice) with civic-minded, contrarian panache and an undying streak of creativity. Portlanders have protested everything from a Shell Oil icebreaker ship bound for the Arctic in to vaccines. Perhaps most famously, Portland mounted one of several protests nationwide the day after the 2016 presidential election. Property damage incurred by a splinter group of anarchists made headlines. What was less publicised was the peaceful rally beforehand, and that in the same week, one of the protest’s organising groups raised $32,000 to repair the damage they hadn’t caused. Two months later, the city’s Women’s March drew 100,000 attendees, according to estimates reported to The Oregonian. Not bad for a city whose population numbers less than 650,000, and not surprising for Portland. Portland’s culture of resistance is indicative of a rare level of civic engagement you don’t find everywhere. For better or for worse, it’s part of the city’s DNA, a messy, ongoing element to life in Portland that can’t be reduced to a quirky joke on a T-shirt. Proper attire Except when it is! While you’re in Portland, you’ll probably spot at least one incredibly cool-looking person wearing a shirt that reads ‘Wild Feminist’. This is the work of Portland women-owned, feminist-informed clothing line Wildfang.  This is a company that recently came up with an inventive response to the uproar over Melania Trump heading out to immigrant detention centres for children clad in a jacket that read ‘I really don’t care. Do u?’ Wildfang retooled a military-inspired jacket so the back of it reads ‘I really care. Don’t u?’  Wildfang is arguably one of Portland’s most visible clothing companies, for its political stances as much as for its clothing (which is wonderful. They make a short-sleeved button-down in wacky prints) But it’s just one of many local clothing companies that make Portland a well-dressed city. And while we’re on the subject of shopping, Skip downtown’s ‘Saturday Market’, which manages to be simultaneously underwhelming and kind of a madhouse. If you want locally designed clothing, you can get it from Portland lines such as Bridge & Burn and Poler, and if handicrafts are your thing, try Tender Loving Empire, Land Gallery and Crafty Wonderland. If you’ve got a predilection for vintage, go digging for thrifted treasures at Magpie, which will impress even your coolest vintage connoisseur friend, and where I found a red cocktail dress from the ‘60s’ with an actual chiffon cape the last time I was in town. Physical media lives Powell’s City of Books is legendary for a reason, and it’s one of Portland’s touristy stops you absolutely must not skip. The small-press section is great for scoping out books from local indie publishers. The kids section is a massive treat for children and anyone who was once a child, the true crime section has rubberneckers covered, and the best-seller wall is always a fun glimpse into what the city’s reading and thinking about.  And that’s not the only good news Portland has for physical media-loving luddites. Portland is home to a wide array of excellent, cheap movie theatres that almost all sell pizza. Living Room, down the street from Powell’s, has extremely comfy armchair-style seats and a full-service menu. And the Hollywood Theatre, the only theatre in Oregon equipped to show movies in 70mm, is kind of an institution. It’s where I’ve gone to see everything from Agnes Varda’s Faces Places to David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, with a guest appearance from Barry Gifford, whose novel the film is based on. And if your film nostalgia extends to video stores, still-standing Movie Madness is also worth a visit. The platonic ideal of a friendly neighbourhood video store, this is where you can find an out-of-print edition of Silence of the Lambs, or pay a visit to a tiny collection of Hollywood treasures, including one of the prosthetic ears used in Blue Velvet. That’s the thing about Portland, though: Portlanders know how to show up to a protest, but they also know how to have fun, and the more time you spend in the city the more you’ll see how closely linked these things really are. Portland’s politically minded scaffolding is what holds up the cute exterior, but fun, after all, can be its own form of resistance. Once you understand that, it’s a lot harder to laugh at it. – The Seattle Times/TNS

I have often said that I think Miami is America’s best city. The sun-kissed metropolis is the United States’ answer to jet-setting hot spots from Monte Carlo to Marrakesh. There’s South Beach and its continuous parade of socialites and stars, models and millionaires, who make Ocean Drive pulse with activity 24/7. There’s upscale Coconut Grove, hugging Biscayne Bay, with its European-style sidewalk cafes and chic boutiques. There’s Coral Gables, with its tree-lined boulevards choca-block with Mediterranean-style mansions. Well, you get the idea. But before you get another idea that Miami is all style and no substance, I want you to know that this metropolis has a serious side as well. I found out just how serious on a recent visit. A museum like no other OK, raise your hand if you think the prospect of spending half a day at a science museum isn’t exactly what you had planned for your vacation. Those of you with your hands in the air probably haven’t had an opportunity to visit the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science. Opened just last May in downtown Miami’s Museum Park, the 250,000-square-foot structure is a combination of science museum, aquarium and planetarium, all under one architecturally eye-popping glass roof with incomparable views of the city. Some may find the ticket price a bit steep, but considering that with that price, you get one ticket good for what is essentially three different experiences. I think it’s a bargain. Start off your visit with the three-level aquarium, taking a trip from the surface view of Florida’s waters to the depths of its seas. The top level, Vista, is a journey through South Florida’s watery eco-systems from mangrove swamps and the Everglades to the Gulf Stream. Giant clear tanks put you face to face with all manner of aquatic creatures, from hammerhead sharks to large turtles. Descend one level down to the Dive, and you can experience, without getting wet, the majesty of undersea life. Some 30 aquariums offer a peek into a living coral reef and the millions of organisms, from colourful coral to multi-hued fish, that inhabit it. Finally, venture into the Deep, a mysterious undersea domain where graceful jellyfish engage in aquatic ballets. The aquarium experience ends with a chance to observe sharks and other denizens of the deep through the prism of a 31-foot oculus lens. As dazzling as the aquarium is, the nucleus of the museum is the science exhibits, which range from prehistoric dinosaurs to space-age technology. No doubt every visitor will have his/her favourite exhibit, mine was Brain. The Inside Story, which takes one on an interactive journey through the human brain. End the day with a show at the 250-seat planetarium where six 3D projectors and surround sound create a stunning, sensory-filled spectacle. I was so impressed I went back for an evening performance of To Space and Back, a one-hour laser show where planets collided and meteors showered, all choreographed to the music of Queen. There is so much to see and do at the Frost that you may find the half-day you had planned just isn’t enough time. Art and Drama Just across Museum Park from the Frost Science Centre is Miami’s flagship contemporary art museum, Perez Art Museum. With a focus on 20th and 21st century art from the Atlantic Rim (the Americas, Western Europe and Western Africa), it has 1,800 works encompassing painting, sculpture, video, photography and installation art. While well-known artists such as Diego Rivera are represented, much of the focus is on works resulting from the Cuban diaspora, with artists such as Jose Bedia Valdes and Wilfredo Lam. The sleek exterior of the waterside museum is as artistic as the works inside. The three-story building has a wide canopy, creating a shaded veranda, complete with a hanging garden that serves to merge the indoor and outdoor spaces. Accolades for the Arsht No less a talent than Harry Connick, Jr. calls the Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts ‘one of the great music halls in the world.’ That’s quite a mouthful considering that the centre has only been open since 2006, the gift of businesswoman/philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, who also sits on the board of the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Nevertheless, the multi-theatre venue has been referred to as the catalyst for Miami’s cultural transformation. With its three resident companies, Miami City Ballet, Florida Grand Opera and New World Symphony, along with travelling theatrical companies, the Arsht Centre definitely raises the bar on the city’s arts scene. I’m still not sure what I thought of the play I saw, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/ Underdog by American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. What I am sure of is that it played to a packed house of serious theatregoers the kind you routinely see at Off-Broadway arty venues. Another thing I’m sure of is that the Arsht is one of the most spectacular structures I’ve seen anywhere. Its two main buildings are connected by an expansive outdoor Plaza for the Arts overlooking Biscayne Bay, where you can sometimes catch an al fresco performances. It’s hard to decide which is the most elaborate feature of the complex. The Art Deco Carnival Tower preserved from a 1929 Sears Department Store, or the floor-to-ceiling glass mosaic that illustrates the act of artistic expression itself. In retrospect, the Frost Science Centre, Perez Art Museum and Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts may not be the main reasons someone chooses the city as a destination. Still, they are proof that you shouldn’t hate Miami because it’s sexy. It has a brain as well. – Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

It takes 27 minutes to pass through the Gotthard Base Tunnel. It’s something of a dreamlike experience. You’re on the train hurtling through lush Swiss scenery, trackside haystacks and farmhouses, small villages with a single towering steeple, distant mist-crowned mountains, and dramatic landscape unfolding in more shades of green than you knew existed. Then all of a sudden, everything goes dark. Pitch black. You’re still moving at about 150 miles per hour, but now you can’t see where you’re going. The darkness stretches to about 35 miles through a mountain of granite.  The completed tunnel is part of an epic narrative. The Gotthard Base Tunnel replaced one that took 10 years to construct during the Victorian era. At that time, European commerce was growing briskly. To travel from the medieval city of Basel, in northwest Switzerland close to the French and German borders, to Milan, a commercial centre, took 50 hours across the Alps by stagecoach.  The new tunnel, which carries a price tag of $12 billion and took 17 years to build, is the longest train tunnel in the world. I relate all this not to bury the lead, but because these are the things you’ll think about as the train emerges into Bodio, a tiny town in Switzerland’s Ticino region. It feels like a world away from the other side of the mountain. You’ll notice how quickly the scenery transformed from mountainous Alpine stretches to palm tree-dappled Mediterranean landscape. Even the outside temperature is a few degrees warmer than it was where the tunnel starts. You’ll think about these things until your reverie is interrupted by a man with a stoic expression and an old-timey conductor’s cap. He’ll be gently ringing a bell to announce his arrival. He’ll be pushing a cart from which he’s hawking frothy cappuccinos, dispensed from a compact machine, Swiss chocolate bars and croissants, as well as souvenirs such as Swiss Army knives and detailed toy train cars. You’ll snap a photo for Instagram. The new tunnel is part of the Gotthard Panorama Express, which I rode with a Eurail pass. The Eurail system is an astonishingly expansive network comprised of more than 35 railways, both high-speed and international and smaller regional lines. It covers more than 155,000 miles through 28 countries. I have always had a fascination with mass transportation. I don’t have a license, so I depend on it in my daily life in New York City. But in my romantic, precision-obsessed image of Europe, I envision the train system as being as unflawed and lovely as other European contributions to the world, Mozart’s operas, Vermeer’s milkmaid, Coco Chanel’s little black dress, baguettes. So it didn’t take a moment’s hesitation when a friend suggested a spring trip across country lines via rail. Our journey started in Lucerne, a medieval city where German is the primary language, rustic fondue eateries offer all the giddy excess you’d expect, and its moniker as the City of Lights rings true when you stand on one of the historic covered bridges watching the light bouncing off the Reuss River.  The next day, before my friend and I caught the steamboat that would take us on a nearly three-hour ride across Lake Lucerne to the Panorama train, we stopped into the Swiss Museum of Transport The journey ultimately ended in Lugano, a small town tucked in a bay on Lake Lugano, surrounded by the epic mounts San Salvatore and Bre. Everyone speaks Italian, which makes sense when you learn that it was part of Italy until 1803.  Lugano is a financial centre, so all the familiar luxury stores are there, but paces away are various shops and boulangeries that stand like open-air vaults where old-world Switzerland is preserved. At Gabbani Salumeria, bulky salamis are suspended from the arched doorways. More meat hangs from the ceiling inside. It’s easy to imagine that’s how it’s been since the owners’ ancestors opened the shop in 1937. Nearby, fishermen’s nets are draped along bulky iron hooks outside Bernasconi Gastronomia. Inside, the expansive counter displays a bounty of iridescent smoked fish and caviar. I stopped at the stately Grand Cafe al Porto for a cappuccino as locals and travellers, including Clark Gable, have done since 1803. Like so many European cities, old and new don’t clash, they co-exist. The buildings surrounding the square date to the 1600s. The mighty San Maris Angel Catholic Church, its interior adorned with a fresco by Bernadino Luini, Leonardo da Vinci’s protégé, was completed in 1499. A sleek concert hall a short walk away opened 2015. The next afternoon we were back on the train, destination Genoa. Crossing the border into Italy, however, was far less dramatic than careening through a mountain. We passed through towns that looked like bedroom communities of bigger cities. At Balerna, in southern Switzerland, an arrangement of blocky buildings with elegant shutters, manicured lawns, small-domed churches and lots of parking lots, a rowdy group of teenage boys in track suits livened up the train car. At the Chiasso station, situated amid pastel-coloured buildings, a hipster with a fedora sauntered on. When we pulled in at Como, a businesswoman lugging a Gucci bag sat down next to me, barely glancing up from her iPhone. The train chugged along a countryside that delivered views of electrical towers and smokestacks rising up parallel to church steeples. Other panoramas also showed where industry appeared to threaten to overshadow nature. At Milan we switched trains for the hour-and-45-minute ride to Genoa, easily one of Italy’s more overlooked destinations. Genoa is a metropolitan vibe yet a veneer of antiquity. It’s a city of rich maritime history, narrow medieval streets, ornate 17th century palazzi, and excellent down-to-earth eateries. Plus it’s a magnificent home base if you’re exploring the Ligurian coast.  We decided on a day trip to Cinque Terre, a cluster of five hilly towns, 4,000 residents, and terraced vineyards, architectural marvels built into the coastal hillsides. This is a land of heroic viticulture. En route back to Milan to fly home the next day, I sat next to an older woman in a brown wool suit and bright red neckerchief. She wore giant rings. She was a product of an era that dressed up to travel. Her name was Ida. She didn’t speak English, but a woman in the seat across from us translated, and I learned that Ida’s husband of 54 years just died and she was going to visit his sister in Milan. She showed me his passport photo and her eyes teared up. She took out a piece of bread and offered me some. It was incredible. It was her own recipe and the next thing I knew, she was writing down the recipe in my notebook as I watched the countryside zoom by. A man in a train conductor’s cap was approaching, ringing a bell. This was humanity. This was Italy. This was the train. – TNS

We’re learning that Andy is smart. The boy who owns Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear, he made only brief appearances in the Toy Story movies, a supporting character while his toys were the leads. But looking at the new Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which according to Disney’s back story Andy created in his own backyard, we realise that he’s resourceful, clever, and creative. Who knew? Toy Story Land officially opened recently. If you thought the toys would continue being the heroes in this chapter of the Toy Story saga, you’ll see now how wrong you were. Here’s what Andy did to create Toy Story Land: He assembled a Dash & Dodge Mega Coaster Play Kit, but instead of using the standard vehicle that came in the kit, he used his slinky dog toy and turned a dachshund into a roller coaster train. If you have doubts that he’s smart enough to accomplish that, you can see his notes and drawings tacked to the wall in the Slinky Dog Dash loading zone. He used a playset that he won at Pizza Planet to create the Alien Swirling Saucer ride. He propped open his lunch box with a giant thermos to serve up grilled cheese sandwiches and soda floats. And he turned two other toys, a dump truck and a camper, into souvenir shops. Andy didn’t make an appearance recently when Disney World showed off the new land to more than 400 members of the media, or when Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, made an appearance. A crew of Imagineers, Disney’s term for its creative team took all the credit. Here’s a bit more evidence that Andy, not the Imagineers, is the creative brain behind Toy Story Land. They couldn’t say how high or how fast the roller coaster goes. Asked about the numbers, Pam Rawlins, executive producer of Toy Story Land, said, “It’s just thrilling enough that it can appeal to everyone.” Setting aside for the moment the question of who was the real creative mind behind Toy Story Land, here’s what you’ll find there. Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster is fast but it’s not too fast. It never turns upside down but it has smooth banked turns, two high-speed launches and a couple of not-too-steep but still thrilling drops. The coaster, the centrepiece attraction, is just right for kids under 10 who’ve outgrown kiddie coasters. It might be a little tame for thrill-seeking teens, but their parents, who grew up in the era of the first Toy Story movie (1995), might find Slinky Dog Dash more their style than high-speed coasters that have sheer drops and turn upside down. And the decor, colourful and full of classic toys, might appeal to their grandparents (or people old enough to be grandparents), who grew up in the era of Tinker Toys, which are part of the kitschy infrastructure, and Slinky Dog, a pull toy that came out in 1952 and is the model for the coaster. The park’s youngest guests may like Alien Swirling Saucers, where the minimum height to ride is only 32 inches. More than many theme park lands (or clusters or islands), Toy Story Land has an appeal that is multigenerational. It was deliberately designed that way, said Ryan Wineinger, creative director for Toy Story Land. “One of our guiding principles was making this experience something that children and their parents and their grandparents could all have a good time here,” said Wineinger, who added that he and Andy were the same age when the first movie came out in 1995. If the land is going to be true to the values of the Toy Story movies, he said, “We need it to be multigenerational. It’s a very fine line between being an approachable attraction and being too thrilling for the young ones or for the older generation.” The 11-acre land sits roughly behind Toy Story Mania, Which got a new entrance across from Slinky Dog Dash, a third track, and a general refresh. Here’s what to know about Toy Story Land. How fast is Orlando’s newest roller coaster? Disney won’t say. Its representatives frequently compare Slinky Dog Dash to another family coaster, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom, which has a top speed of 39 miles per hour. Slinky Dog feels faster than that. Another coaster with parallels to Slinky Dog Dash is Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens, also a family coaster. Like Cheetah Hunt, Slinky Dog has a couple of launch points from which the coaster accelerates like a rocket. On Cheetah Hunt, a launch takes the coaster to 60 mph, its top speed. Slinky Dog Dash doesn’t feel that fast. Best guess for Slinky Dog Dash IS 45-50 mph. Minimum height for Slinky Dog Dash is 38 inches, which generally means children as young as 3 or 4 can ride with their parents, although Disney had in mind children a couple years older. Which toys are real and which were created for the movies?  Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who greet visitors at either end of Toy Story Land, are original characters who were created for the Toy Story movies. But more of the toys featured at Toy Story Land are real toys from the mid ‘40s through the ‘60s, including Mr and Mrs Potato Head, Tinker Toys, Etch-A-Sketch, Barrel of Monkeys, Cooties and Slinky Dog. What’s with the spinning spaceships? Alien Swirling Saucers was designed for kids 3 and older. It is based on a scene from the original movie in which a giant claw in a vending machine occasionally descends and grabs a little green alien. On the ride, a claw grasping a helpless alien hovers overhead. The ride’s architecture is similar to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland. The ride vehicles, toy rockets pulled by aliens in tiny spaceships, are arranged on the disks or carousels that turn constantly and move the spacecraft from one circling carousel to the next. And it’s a generation or so removed from the Mad Tea Party at Magic Kingdom, which also has a rotating carousel. Unlike the teacups though, the rockets don’t spin which is probably more of a relief to adults than it is to spin-loving kids. Who wants a retro breakfast?  One of Toy Story Land’s most unexpected features is a food item, sugary pastries such as Pop-Tarts, a still-popular snack introduced by Kellogg in 1964. At Woody’s Lunch Box, you can buy Raspberry or Chocolate-Hazelnut Lunch Box Tarts developed by Disney’s culinary team.– Miami Herald/TNS

When SeaWorld San Diego unveiled its now closed Submarine Quest attraction last year, passengers quickly discovered that the closest they were going to get to seeing sea life during the three-minute long ride was a brief encounter with a digital version of a giant octopus in a darkened enclosure. Not so for Legoland California, which is delivering an abundance of marine life – more than 1,000 sea animals, from stingrays to sharks – as it has debuted its version of a submarine ride that really does go underwater. Standing in for an actual ocean is a 300,000-gallon aquarium populated with multiple species of sharks, rays and tropical fish, a feature that differentiates the park’s Lego City Deep Sea Adventure attraction from other theme park submarine rides, including the last incarnation of Disneyland’s longstanding Submarine Voyage, now dubbed Finding Nemo. None incorporate real sea life. Inspired by a similar ride at three other Legoland parks overseas, Deep Sea Adventure marks parent company Merlin Entertainments’ single largest investment in an attraction in any Legoland park, outside of Carlsbad’s Sea Life Aquarium. Park officials, however, will not disclose how much was spent on the ride. The attraction is located in the northeast corridor of the park where its miniature golf had previously been situated. While the Carlsbad park is no stranger to underwater life considering it also operates the Sea Life Aquarium, it is no small feat creating a massive concrete-walled tank and the accompanying infrastructure needed to navigate 12-seat vehicles through the watery environment. “This is a big deal because any other submarine ride is mostly simulated and there isn’t even water in them much less sea life,” said Larry Wyatt, owner of Pasadena, Calif.-based Wyatt Design Group, which does design work for theme parks and was involved in the original planning for Legoland California. “For a lot of these it’s animation or animatronics so this is something no one has done, not even Disney. “There is a lot of competition in Southern California so every so often you have to do something really big to make a difference.” The ride inevitably invites comparisons with SeaWorld’s ill-fated Submarine Quest, a ride that ran on an elevated track and did not traverse water. It has been closed since early this year with little explanation for the closure. In a May post on his website, ThemeParkInsider.com, editor Robert Niles said of Legoland’s Deep Sea Adventure: “no matter how this turns out, it’s got to beat last summer’s Submarine Quest ride at SeaWorld San Diego.” Conceived four years ago, the attraction has a direct tie-in to Lego’s Deep Sea Adventure line of toys and complements its aquarium that opened eight years ago. It also builds on the popularity of similar attractions at the Windsor and Japan parks. “Sea Life Aquarium is an extremely popular attraction here and part of the formula that makes Legoland a successful resort,” said park president Peter Ronchetti. “So bringing that into the ride in a very controlled way opens up a whole new area of discovery for the children. It checks all the boxes for us, it’s something different for us, it’s in an exciting environment, and we’re bringing the ride and fish together in a whole new way.” It’s also designed to appeal to Legoland’s demographic of young children who likely haven’t been exposed to submarines or even sharks, Ronchetti said. “How many 10-year-olds have been on a submarine and looked out and seen a shark?” he said. “The industry benchmark in North America has been submarines with animation and mechanical fish. But this is real so we’ve broken new ground for North America.” The ride’s story line is structured around a voyage in which the passengers are searching for sunken Lego artwork, swords and other treasures strategically located on the “ocean” bottom. In keeping with the Legoland tradition of Lego model-building, the journey starts in the ride’s queue area where children are invited to construct sea creatures at a large table dominated by a 5-foot-tall shark crafted from more than 80,000 Lego bricks. As they move through the line, submarine passengers are treated to a bit of high-tech wizardry as they’re given a briefing on the mission that awaits them by a 3-foot-tall Lego diver whose face appears to be moving as he speaks. Except the figure itself isn’t really moving. “This was specifically developed for Legoland California,” said Tom Storer, senior project manager with Merlin. “We spent a lot of R & D to find the projector that would fit into the microphone so you can feel like the figure is talking to you. This came from Merlin Entertainments creative team, so this is a unique idea developed for this project.” The real treasure-hunting quest begins as passengers step down to board the submarine while it advances very slowly along the track. Once seated, riders can gaze out at the water via portholes in front and back or through large picture windows on either side of the vehicle. They are soon greeted by the voice of a master diver. “There’s incredible sea creatures and treasures to discover out in the deep,” he says. “We’re going to have a whale of a time.” As exotic fish glide by and an occasional nurse shark or southern stingray with a 5-foot-wide wing span come into view among the faux coral, the guide says excitedly, “Wow, there must be hundreds of fish here. Keep your eyes open, too, for blacktip reef sharks. Above are individual touch screens where kids and adults can tap icons of treasures as they spot them in plain sight. The more treasures they successfully detect, the better their outcomes at the end of the ride as they strive to become a master explorer. “Keep looking explorers,” the guide urges, “you’re off to a flying start.” An occasional cloud of bubbles erupts outside the windows, designed to mimic a sub descending. While the vehicle itself does not descend, the depth of the tank changes at one point from 7feet to 10feet. Most of the fish that have been curated for the attraction are native to Australia and were acquired from multiple sources, including accredited zoos and aquariums in the US and Europe, said Marie Collins, displays curator for the Sea Life Aquarium and Deep Sea Adventure. Eventually, there will be more than 2,000 sea animals. The fish are fed throughout the day, occasionally in sight of those riding the subs, but before the park opens, aquarium staff do the heavy feedings. Because of the variety of fish, food varies from algae and garlic-soaked nori to shrimp, clams, tuna and salmon. With eight submarine cars continuously operating, Legoland hopes to process 1,000 passengers an hour on the ride. Storer of Merlin was formerly a lieutenant in the Navy and recalls not so fondly his training on submarines. “Compared to that, I like this a lot more,” he said. “There are no windows on a real submarine so it’s refreshing to look out and see real sea creatures as opposed to a white wall.” – The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Cincinnati is a city that often fails to get its proper due. Along with fellow Midwestern stalwarts St. Louis, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Kansas City, Mo., it’s often overlooked in favour of other metropolises perceived as being more glamorous. In a classic case of substance over style, the Queen City shrugs its shoulders and soldiers on - re-vamping, re-inventing and re-energising itself - which ironically, adds style to its substance. One Cincinnati institution in need of no re-vamping, re-inventing or re-energising is its terrific art museum, picturesquely situated in Eden Park and home to some 60,000 works spanning 6,000 years. Founded in 1881, it was the first museum west of the Alleghenies built specifically to showcase art. The collection includes the usual suspects - from Peter Paul Rubens to Pablo Picasso, but if you pay a visit before August 12, you can take in one of the most eagerly anticipated exhibitions in recent years. ‘The Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China’ illustrates the First Dynasty’s formation and vast influence over the rest of China. The exhibition features 120 objects, including 40 that have not previously been seen in the US. While the Cincinnati Art Museum is a cultural beacon, it is far from the only cultural jewel in the city’s crown. Celebrated for its acclaimed ballet, opera and symphony, Cincinnati is also a centre of attraction for those interested in regional theatre. I had a chance to visit the newly renovated Ensemble Theatre, located in a former bank building in the Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood, to catch a performance of His Eye is on the Sparrow. The one-woman musical about the ground-breaking African-American performer Ethel Waters, whose career took her from vaudeville and Harlem’s Cotton Club to Hollywood, was as good as anything I’ve seen Off-Broadway. If Cincinnati’s cultural scene is famously robust and firmly entrenched, a new wrinkle on the tourism horizon is happening just across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky. Our intro to the B-Line began with lunch at Tousey House, an 1822 Federal-style house in the historic district of Burlington, Ky. It began as a tavern and after functioning as a livery, hotel, boarding house and consignment store, has come full circle and is once again a tavern/restaurant serving Southern comfort food at its best (the salmon croquette sliders with fried green tomatoes and house-made remoulade were delicious.) If you’ve filled up your Kentucky Trail Passport and are itching for some more trails to travel, this is the one for you. The Cincinnati area’s ever-evolving food scene is as creative as its arts scene. Boomtown Biscuits gets its name from the westward expansion where intrepid pioneers struggled for every acre of ground, often fortified by ... biscuits. They’ll likely fortify you as well, but there is a caveat. This place is a popular brunch spot, with a wait for a table often being 90 minutes on weekends. Do wait ... it’s worth it. It’s a bit of a stretch from hardy pioneers to French existentialists, where at Sartre in Over-the-Rhine the menu is light on biscuits and heavy (but not too) on contemporary French cuisine. You might feel a philosophical bent coming on as you tuck into dishes such as country pate with fermented pickles, griddled bread and mustard and steak frites with peppercorn sauce and lollipop kale. If you need a Southern soul food fix, book a table at Purple Poulet, a mix of culinary styles from Charleston, New Orleans and points beyond. You can’t say this place doesn’t have a sense of humour, with dishes named Redneck Rockefellers (oysters) and Swamp Critters Provencale (skillet frog legs, shrimp and crawfish with garlic, tomatoes and capers). If you’re not feeling too experimental, you can always go with their claim to fame - the fried chicken dinner (four pieces with green beans, buttermilk-potatoes and black pepper gravy). Artistic touches abound as well at one of the area’s newest places to spend the night. Hotel Covington is a funky fixture in what was formerly that city’s Coppins Department Store. Masterfully repurposed, it offers guests local delicacies such as Maverick chocolates and Newport’s Carabello coffee. In addition, each room features a fur throw from the faux fur collection of local icon Donna Salyers. The colourful lobby is a buzzy meeting place. Hotel Covington serves as a microcosm of The Queen City itself - with its mix of working-class unselfconsciousness and trendy bravado - a place I never tire of visiting. – Lexington-Herald Leader/TNS

If I close my eyes, I can still feel the warm, tropical breeze blowing across my face as our cigar-shaped motorboat purrs down the brownish, silt-laden Cuyabeno River, heading for the remote Siona Lodge in Ecuador’s Amazon region. Our two-hour boat ride into the heart of the 2,300 square-mile Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve exposes our small group of adventurers to the wonders of a tropical rainforest: brilliant blue, iridescent morpho butterflies flash across the open space ahead of us; monkeys dart effortlessly through the branches of an overhanging tree; a toucan calls noisily as it flies from one towering treetop to another. We are spellbound. Can this be real? I was fortunate to share this four-day trip, arranged weekly by the lodge, with just five other Americans and Europeans. Frankly, I didn’t know what to expect, but I figured that a trip involving Amazon-style tropical plants, exotic creatures and river-based travel should be a fun adventure, but it proved to be an experience of a lifetime. Let me back up a step and explain how I got there. From my home base in Quito, Ecuador, I took a 50-minute flight to Lago Agrio, a forgettable little town named for the bitter waters produced by its surrounding oil industry. The next morning our group piled into a Siona Lodge van that careened down a curving, bumpy road for two hours through a landscape once teeming with jungle and wildlife, now cleared and converted to homesteads by poor farmers who didn’t realise that nutrient-poor rainforest soil produces meager crops. Eventually we arrived at a ramshackle restaurant across from the Cuyabeno Reserve headquarters, adjacent to the river’s entry point where a procession of motorboats transported visitors to and from the reserve’s five lodges. While others enjoyed ice-cold drinks or fast-melting ice cream, my new photo buddy, Kyle from Manhattan, and I excitedly photographed a pair of the world’s most beautiful, day-flying Uranus moths, languidly sipping minerals from the mud and showing off their large, jet-black wings embossed with iridescent green and blue stripes. Anxious to experience whatever adventures awaited us, we headed down the gangplank to our slender 40-foot boat, and after we secured our gear and seated ourselves, the engine roared to life and we set forth into the great unknown. All we knew initially was that our Siona Lodge package included a nature guide, transportation to and from the lodge, and all meals, excursions, rain gear and a private room. As we progressed through the rainforest, our eagle-eye guide, Neiser, proved to be invaluable as he spotted and explained details about otherwise invisible birds, monkeys, lizards, tree sloths and even a group of rare river dolphins. By the end of the trip, he figured we had seen all 10 species of monkeys. As much as I delighted in seeing such spellbinding exotic creatures, I found myself mesmerised by the infinitely varied sizes, shapes, textures and colours of the tropical plants passing before my eyes. Calling the vegetation “thick and impenetrable” was an understatement. But there was one final touch that made this scene so surreal _ the sounds of the jungle. As we cruised down the river, the sound of our boat’s motor was interrupted at unpredictable intervals by the sudden pulsating, shrill sounds of a hidden army of cicadas serenading their patch of the jungle in a stereophonic blast. At other times we craned our necks to follow the high-pitched chirping of toucans perched in the tallest trees. Eventually, we emerged from the confines of the river and glided across a moderately sized lake sprinkled with 20- to 40-foot high trees that appeared to float on the water’s stillness. Large and small bromeliads, with striking red, curved leaves, stood out from the surrounding orchids, delicate ferns, stringy mosses and philodendrons that blanketed the branches of these semi-submerged trees. Lime green parrots screeched at us while snow-white egrets gazed indifferently as we passed by. Seemingly from out of nowhere, hidden amid the leafy foliage, an oval, wood sign proclaimed “Siona Lodge” and our boat halted alongside a small wood dock. In the midst of an open clearing stood our lodge, with a covered, wooden walkway connecting all five duplex bungalows and a combo kitchen/dining area/sitting room. Each wood structure sported a palm frond roof that blended perfectly with the jungle’s ambiance. At the farthest end of the compound sat a small hut at the edge of the lake from which we gazed at the sunset, chatted or just sat in meditative contemplation. My room, aptly named Caiman, was sparsely furnished but clean, with a double bed covered by mosquito netting and a private bathroom with hot water. The only drawback was that the high, partially open ceiling transmitted any sounds from the occupants next door. Each day brought a new set of adventures as we set off on a sunrise bird-watching expedition, a nighttime search for caimans whose eyes glowed in the flashlight beam, two jungle hikes and a refreshing, daily sunset swim in “our” lake. The first of our two terrestrial outings involved a three-hour daytime hike in the nearby jungle; thankfully the lodge provided rubber boots which were oh-so-necessary as we slogged through stretches of foot-deep mud. Our perspicacious guide spotted tiny but colourful poison arrow frogs, medicinal plants and most striking of all, a three-foot long earthworm! “The Siona Indians use these earthworms for fishing because they are the best bait,” he explained. I eagerly awaited our night hike through the nearby trails, because my past experience told me that the phantoms of the rainforest only reveal themselves after dark. Nonetheless, I marveled at how dramatically the inky darkness had transformed the landscape into a foreboding place. Peering ahead into our headlamps’ pale circle of light, we stepped cautiously over rocks and roots, making sure not to confuse the shadowy objects with vipers. Call me crazy, but I was sorry that we failed to find any snakes, though I was delighted to find a harmless but wicked-looking tailless whip scorpion (aka amblypygid), a large owl butterfly and a green, leaf-shaped katydid waving a pair of delicate, 10-inch antennae. Our final excursion, a visit to a Siona Indian village, proved to be my favourite. Another two-hour boat ride took us through a maze of twisting tributaries until we reached our destination, a jungle clearing sprinkled with the Siona Indian’s wood homes. The billowing gray clouds overhead produced a light sprinkle of rain that soon grew into a monsoon-like torrent as we strolled through the village’s grassy pathways. Machete in hand, our guide cut large banana leaves for us to use as disposable umbrellas. We met a local woman who demonstrated her machete skills by unearthing and preparing a bulbous yucca root that, when cooked over a set of hot stones, produced savoury, tortilla-like bread. After a brief rest and lunch, we were greeted by the village’s diminutive head man who was also the region’s main shaman, or spiritual healer. He led us to a spacious communal hut with a hard-packed dirt floor, a series of evenly spaced sticks forming the chest-high walls and a high arching roof made of branches and woven palm fronds. We sat on log stools and watched as the man mysteriously disappeared. A few minutes later he reappeared, transformed by his shaman-best regalia: standing barefoot before us, he wore an emerald green tunic adorned with a bandolier of crisscrossed strings of tawny nuts; encircling his neck were two dozen sharp, white boar tusks, and a jaguar claw hidden among the dozens of fine strands of green, red, blue and white beads. But most striking of all, above his red-streaked cheeks and forehead sat a resplendent headdress glowing with hues of light yellow, mustard yellow, crimson red, orange and turquoise feathers. A translator enabled us to ask him about his life in the village and his shamanic duties. After patiently answering our questions, he proceeded to demonstrate one of his healing rituals on me. This time there were none of the hallucinogenic herbs that a shaman normally ingests for special, multi-day healings, but he did chant while gently striking me with a bundle of medicinal leaves. I kept my eyes dutifully closed and felt open to whatever aid the jungle spirits might invoke to keep me from harm. Our four-day stay at Siona Lodge ended in the most perfect way _ as we prepared to leave, a seven-foot caiman crawled ashore by our pier, impressively close to where we stood. A cook rushed to fetch pieces of meat, which we took turns tossing into the fearsome creature’s snapping jaws. We departed with a deep sense of awe and gratitude for our brief but profound exposure to the rainforest’s unique ecosystem. I nodded as Celine, my young German friend, remarked, “I loved everything we saw, it was so magical, and I think the jungle reflects the diversity of this world perfectly with so many species living together in one place. We desperately need to save the Amazon’s rainforest.” In our travels we seek those places and events that change us and leave a lasting spell, and my four unforgettable days at the Siona Lodge in the mystic heart of the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve did just that. – The San Diego Union-Tribun/TNS

Beijing’s sidewalks are packed with bicycles, crowded together and sometimes stacked wildly on top of one another in a multi-coloured jumble. With every other resident in the city of 22 million using a bike-sharing system, people have gotten used to this colourful sidewalk confusion. The first step is to free one of the bikes from the tangle of metal. Then, the bike’s QR code has to be found and scanned with a smartphone, at which point the lock snaps open – and you’re ready to go. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, the bike can be locked and left behind. Unlike older systems in many countries that still rely on fixed stations for picking up and returning bikes, the ones in Beijing can be left just about anywhere the user sees fit. Most of Beijing’s residents approve of the system, including Ye, a local business manager. Standing in front of a row of yellow bikes, the 25-year-old raves about the convenience they offer. “We want to head in the direction of Wangfujing,” he says, referring to the capital’s most famous shopping street. “But the metro station there is still a long way from our destination, and it would be too far to walk.” Up to the 1980s, China was known as the ‘kingdom of bicycles’. But the country’s rapid economic growth soon made it a nation of proud car owners, and the bicycle was displaced as a primary means of transportation. Then, three years ago, the freely parked bike sharing system surfaced in China – and is now conquering cities around the world. In Beijing and other major Chinese metropolises that suffer from terrible traffic jams and smog, shared bikes have quickly become an important means of transport. But cyclists need to stay sharp as they make their way through thick traffic and compete for space with polished limousines, tall SUVs and long buses. On Chinese roads, survival of the fittest is still the rule, and cyclists who hesitate will be mercilessly pushed around. The city’s countless electric scooters are also a force to be reckoned with, as they dart through narrow streets and gaps almost silently. In addition, since many Chinese city dwellers didn’t learn how to cycle at an early age, some cyclists meander unpredictably through the already chaotic traffic. Twenty-six-year-old Shi uses the bikes every day for her commute. While she finds the system practical, she doesn’t understand why her fellow citizens park them so carelessly. “Many people just drop their bikes wherever it’s convenient, without worrying about others,” she says. “And if they fall over, they don’t care.” To the chagrin of many residents, footpaths and squares have been transformed into a jungle of spokes, handlebars and frames. In places where there is no getting through, some locals resort to force, tossing bikes into heaps and perhaps even stomping on them in a fit of rage. Other cities abroad have had similar problems. In Munich, for example, the Singaporean company oBike is pulling about 6,000 of its almost 7,000 rental bikes from the streets; ultimately, the extent of vandalism and resulting maintenance costs was deemed too high. But what is considered an unbearable mess in Munich would hardly be worth mentioning in China – in Beijing, 2.4 million rental bikes reach 11 million users. As Ye and his friends unlock their bikes and get ready to take off, the 25-year-old says he can understand that some people are bothered by the masses of bicycles. Even so, his complaint is a different one, namely that the bikes are distributed unevenly across the massive city, and many of them are broken due to a lack of maintenance. “In many places I still cannot find a working bike when I need it. They are all over the place here,” he says, looking around. “But that’s not the case everywhere. It’s not as practical as you might think.” Despite these problems, shared bikes are indispensable in Beijing, as they are not only useful but also cheap. The cost of an hour’s ride, depending on the provider, is about 1 yuan – or 0.16 dollars. The fee is paid directly from an account that users set up with the respective provider. The low prices are the result of a start-up war in which several opponents are competing for investment. While many of the early pretenders have quickly disappeared, the companies Ofo and Mobike are currently leading the way. And their investors are sensing big money in customers’ data. Ofo is supported by the online trading platform Alibaba and the driving service Didi Chuxing. Mobike, on the other hand, has recently been bought by the major Chinese delivery platform Meituan Dianping – the company behind Internet giant Tencent – for a whopping 2.7 billion dollars. – DPA

The South Atlantic island of St Helena opened its first airport late in 2017. Now enough tourists are coming to sustain the economy, but their small numbers get to enjoy unspoiled landscapes and clear ocean waters in Napoleon’s place of exile. “You may experience some discomfort” is not exactly what you want to hear as your plane dips towards gaunt volcanic peaks during its landing approach over the ocean. But bumpy descents at St Helena’s newly opened airport are a small price to pay for the South Atlantic island’s fast link to the outside world after decades of travel by sea only. “You’re not on a boat for five days when you want to go on holiday,” says Derek Richards, who runs a guest house on this tiny, isolated British territory located about midway between Brazil and Angola. More people are coming the other way, too, drawn to this unusual destination by its seclusion, imperial history and natural abundance. Around 80 tourists visited each week since the airport opened last October, with one weekly flight from Johannesburg. St Helena seems quite desolate at first glance, its landscape dominated by steep mountains of dark volcanic rock. Napoleon Bonaparte was sent here in 1815 to live out his life in exile because there was simply nowhere for him to escape to. But first impressions are deceptive. The island offers hiking, boat tours, diving, fishing, warm weather (average temperatures of 20-24 degrees Celsius), comfortable stays and a gentle pace of life. Yet it also feels curiously close to Europe. Pegged to the pound sterling, the St Helena pound is used to make most payments. The island’s administration is directly subordinate to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Its few cars drive on the left, and the official language is English – although the Saints, as the 4,500 inhabitants call themselves, speak a uniquely accented variant. From 1990, the British mail ship RMS St Helena used to connect the island with Britain and the wider world, sailing via Cape Town in South Africa. The monthly arrival of meat, vegetables, medicines and a handful of travellers set the tempo on the island for decades. After the air route was opened, the ship was retired from service in February 2018. A replacement vessel brings only goods, and locals say freight charges per container have risen, adding to the island’s already high cost of living. This is blamed on Brexit, which caused inflation here since 2016. Increased tourism is hoped to compensate and reduce St Helena’s dependence on the British government. The idea has long been to persuade people to invest money here, says Governor Lisa Phillips, “But that was difficult because the airport was not yet open.” Now there is a growing need for guest beds and facilities, adds Phillips, who receives visitors in her office in the fort, one of the first sites built by the British in the 17th century. A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II hangs on the wall behind her. Investments have gradually picked up, both from private individuals like Richards, and the island’s government, which refurbished and joined three historic townhouses in the centre of the capital Jamestown to create an elegant hotel. But Phillips also worries that while pushing up prices, Britain’s exit from the EU jeopardises the continuation of EU support programmes in St Helena. Regarded by some as the “most out-of-the-way place in the world,” the island has for centuries enjoyed links to Europe. After discovering it in 1502, the Portuguese used the uninhabited 121-square-kilometre patch of land as a supply station. They introduced livestock, planted fruit trees and stockpiled drinking water. Other European powers coveted the strategic location, and the Dutch and the British even fought over the island. In 1657, the British Crown gave the rights to the administration of St Helena to the British East India Company, which began to fortify and colonise it with planters. But St Helena’s most famous inhabitant was French. The defeated Napoleon was banished and guarded by the British here until his death in 1821, but enjoyed freedom of movement and a rich supply of food and other things from Madeira, Cape Town and Spain. His story is a reason many people visit. Local tour guide Trevor Magellan now takes regular groups to the guest house where the emperor first lived on the island. He chaperoned 32 visitors in the past week, and 25 more just today, Magellan says proudly. Meanwhile, boats operating out of Jamestown’s small harbour bring divers to explore the reefs among the colourful surgeon fish, rockfish and moray eels. But the main attraction between November and March are the huge plankton-eating whale sharks, which, much like the islanders, calmly go about their business alongside the steady trickle of curious visitors. – DPA

Remember that moment in the original Toy Story movie when Buzz Lightyear climbs into the Claw vending machine at Planet Pizza, Woody goes in to rescue him and they disappear under the three-eyed toy aliens? The Claw descends to grab one of the little green aliens, and they reverently explain that the Claw is their master. That scene was the inspiration for Alien Swirling Saucers, one of the rides that will anchor the new Toy Story Land when it opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios June 30. The ride will have a Claw hanging over it, as if it might pluck you from your rocket and deliver you into the hands of Sid Phillips, the toy-terrorising boy next door. With two new rides and a themed eatery, Toy Story Land is the biggest new attraction coming to Florida’s theme parks this year. But it’s not the only one. Universal Studios is set to open its Fast and Furious – Supercharged thrill ride this spring, and SeaWorld says it will open Infinity Falls, a whitewater raft ride, this summer. Legoland debuted a virtual reality component on its Project X roller coaster on March 23, while SeaWorld quietly removed the virtual headsets from its Kraken roller coaster. Disney’s Animal Kingdom will mark its 20th anniversary with a new show, ‘UP! A Great Bird Adventure’. Aquatica (SeaWorld’s water park) will open the Ray Rush family raft slide this spring, while Adventure Island (Busch Gardens’ water park) will get a 70-foot drop slide. And Universal Orlando will open its sixth hotel. But what about Star Wars land, you may ask, that sprawling mix of science fiction and fantasy that is expected to challenge the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for scope and popularity? Galaxy’s Edge will open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – and at Disneyland Resort in California – in 2019, no date specified. A model of the new land is on display at Walt Disney Presents at Hollywood Studios. Here’s the rundown: Walt Disney World In Toy Story land – Andy’s toy-filled back yard – guests will be magically shrunk to the size of a toy, where they can ride two new rides, Alien Swirling Saucers and Slinky Dog Dash, a roller coaster. They’ll also have access to the recently expanded Toy Story Mania! ride and can buy food from Woody’s Lunch Box, a walk-up window Andy created by setting his lunch box on its side. Another moment in the original Toy Story movie might help you visualise the new roller coaster: Andy’s toys are in the back of the moving van, trying to rescue Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and Slinky Dog stretches way out to reach them. That’s what the ride vehicle looks like. The coaster track was assembled by Andy from his Mega Coaster Play Kit. It runs through a good part of the 11-acre land. Disney says it will be “thrilling but not scary,” but has not yet said how fast it will be. The setting for Alien Swirling Saucers is a play set that Andy won at Planet Pizza. The ride vehicles are jet rockets towed by the aliens’ saucers. There’s some spinning on carousel-like platforms – fan websites say the ride is similar to a slower version of the Mad Tea Party – but nothing too fast and no one is turned upside down. It’s a family ride in a land designed mainly for kids. Other Disney news: Animal Kingdom, created as a celebration of animals, animal conservation and the natural environment, will mark its 20th anniversary on Earth Day, April 22, with a two-week Party for the Planet and the debut of a new show, ‘UP! A Great Bird Adventure’. The show will feature Russell from the movie Up as a senior wilderness explorer and his friend the golden retriever Dug in encounters with exotic birds. At Epcot, Mission: Space, a simulator attraction, was revamped over the summer and now offers two versions of the ride. The old Orange Mission to Mars was enhanced with new, high-definition video, and a less intense and more family-friendly Green Mission around Earth was added. Beyond this year: In addition to Galaxy’s Edge, Disney plans to open Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Ü which, surprisingly, will be the first Mickey-themed ride at any Disney park – at Hollywood Studios in 2019. Disney Riviera Resort, a Disney Vacation Club hotel, is also scheduled to open in 2019 near Epcot. Disney has also tantalised us with these attractions: at Epcot, a Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster and Ratatouille: The Adventure, a trackless dark ride, by fall 2022; at the Magic Kingdom, a Tron roller coaster in 2021; and a Star Wars-themed immersive experience based in a new hotel, location and opening date not announced. Universal The Fast and Furious franchise, subject of eight movies that have grossed more than $5 billion, arrives at Universal Studios this spring. Parkgoers get involved in a wild chase, depicted on high-definition 360-degree screens, similar to the setup for Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Islands of Adventure. The ride has its own original story line. Riders will start in the Supercharged building, the base of operations for Dominic (Van Diesel) and the family, where they’ll see cars and scenes from the movies. They’ll board customised party buses to attend a race after-party, but en route, guests learn that Dom’s nemesis, Owen Shaw, has tracked them down. Soon they’re the prey in a high-speed chase. Fast and Furious will use the same virtual line for admission that debuted last year at Jimmy Fallon’s Race through New York. Guests can reserve a specific time to see the attraction at no charge, either at kiosks near the ride entrance or on the Universal app, or they can wait in the stand-by line. Other Universal news: At Islands of Adventure, the former Dragon Challenge coasters in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter have been taken down and will be replaced in 2019 by a coaster with a Wizarding World theme. The intertwined coasters were among the original attractions when Islands of Adventure opened in 1999 and were named Dueling Dragons, with the two coasters synchronised to make it appear they were about to collide. The coasters were renamed and rethemed in 2010 to fit into Wizarding World, but soon afterwards, their timing was changed so that there were no more near-misses. Universal has not released any information on the name or design of the new coaster. The Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle show began in January and runs most nights after dark, also at Islands of Adventure. During the show, Hogwarts appears to be wrapped in light with projection mapping that uses video displays and special effects to bring the four houses of Hogwarts – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin – to life. Aventura Hotel, Universal’s sixth hotel, will open in August. The 17-story hotel will have 600 guestrooms at a price point similar to Cabana Bay and lower than Universal’s legacy hotels. Universal closed its Cinematic Spectacular show last fall, five years after the outdoor light-and-water show opened in 2002. It will be replaced by another show featuring a new story line and animated Universal characters, but an opening date has not been announced. Beyond this year: Universal plans to build Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios and has said only that it will be after the Nintendo attractions open at Universal Studios Japan in 2020. Seaworld SeaWorld will open a new thrill ride this summer, a river rafting ride that will feature a 40-foot drop. Infinity Falls, inspired by South America’s rainforests, will be a twisting, four-minute ride on a jungle river with intense whitewater rapids. An elevator will lift each eight-passenger raft, then launch it into the river with a 40-foot drop. The ride’s story line is that a drone exploring a jungle in South America discovered previously uncharted structures in a remote area along the banks of a freshwater river. Explorers and scientists set up base camp nearby, fell in love with the river, and set up a sustainable camp so others could learn about the jungle and the river. The attraction will also offer encounters with animals native to South America and interactive experiences that will educate park guests about freshwater ecosystems. Other SeaWorld news: The virtual reality component added to the Kraken roller coaster last summer has been removed with little explanation and no word on when it will be returned. The coaster, which opened in 2000, continues to operate as it originally did. The headsets created a new story line about undersea adventure, with visuals that began in a submarine base and led to encounters with prehistoric sea creatures. A statement from SeaWorld said the virtual reality headsets were temporarily removed because of “equipment issues,” and that the park’s priority is “to provide a safe and exciting experience on every attraction.” The equipment issue is apparently specific to Kraken; a virtual reality coaster scheduled to open this year at a sister park, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, is not affected, a SeaWorld spokesman said. At Aquatica, SeaWorld’s water park, a new family raft slide opens this spring, replacing HooRoo Run. As with so many SeaWorld attractions, this one has an animal connection, in this case the manta ray, and it is called Ray Rush. Highlights of the 500-foot slide include swirling up and down the inside of a giant, translucent sphere and a drop into an open-air halfpipe that resembles the shape of a manta ray, where rafts will move as if on the ray’s wings. SeaWorld Orlando is working on a new Sesame Street kids land, scheduled to open by the fall of 2022. Legoland The Project X roller coaster, which started life as the Jungle Coaster at Legoland in Windsor, England, and moved to Florida in 2011, reopened on March 23 in its third incarnation  a virtual reality coaster named the Great Lego Race. Like Legoland’s other coasters, the park calls Project X a pink-knuckle ride. It’s a little scary, but not too scary, for younger kids. It stands 52 feet high and has a top speed of 35 miles an hour. The track doesn’t have steep climbs and drops, but a series of hairpin turns, which makes it a good fit for a race-themed makeover. With the virtual reality add-on, guests will be in a race, sometimes airborne, against animated Lego models – a pirate, wizard, surfer and pharaoh – in quirky Lego vehicles and a setting made of Lego bricks. The virtual reality component is optional – guests can ride without the headsets. Other Legoland news: Miniland, which already has model displays of characters and scenes from Star Wars movies, is getting new scenes from The Force Awakens, built of Lego bricks, to be unveiled on May 4.                               – Miami Herald/TNS

When I enter the rainforest of Indonesia’s Waigeo Island, the first thing I notice is the equatorial air. It’s so thick, I feel as if I’m walking through a cloud. The next thing that hits me is the deafening hum of cicadas. They drown out the noise of my feet crunching leaves as I step ever closer to my destination: a tiny thatched-roof hut in a muddy riverside clearing. It’s hard to imagine spending a single night here, much less two months, but that’s exactly what British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace did in 1860 while studying birds-of-paradise, an aptly named group of about 40 species whose lavish plumage and elaborate courtship dances helped inform early research on evolution. Few people realise that there were actually two men who co-founded the theory of evolution through natural selection. Charles Darwin and the Galapagos Islands are familiar names, but Wallace and the isles he studied (such as this one in the Raja Ampat archipelago) have largely been lost to the sands of time. Intrigued by the story of this unheralded thinker, I set off on a trip to West Papua, Indonesia, on the western half of the expansive island of New Guinea, for a cruise with SeaTrek Sailing Adventures, which runs educational and excursion-heavy 10-day trips on small, two-masted sailboats to remote Indonesian islands (all-inclusive Jewels of Raja Ampat cruise from $5,350). My goal was to trace Wallace’s journey through the four main islands of Raja Ampat and find his beloved birds-of-paradise. Along the way, I would discover a startlingly archipelago that remains little changed in the 150 years since Wallace left. The 1,500-odd islands (mostly islets) that make up Raja Ampat are at the centre of the Coral Triangle, a hot spot of marine biodiversity at the crossroads of the Pacific and Indian oceans that’s often called “the Amazon of the sea.” This wild frontier lies off the west coast of New Guinea, the world’s second-largest (and some say least explored) island, and has been an in-the-know spot within the scuba community for about a decade. Divers from around the world flock here to swim with massive manta rays and glide through undersea forests of brain corals, blue staghorns and orange sea whips. In recent years, the islands have emerged as a trendy destination for non-divers too, with new live-aboard expedition boats, eco-resorts and village homestays (with over-the-water bungalows for less than $25 a night). Two new airports _ one in West Papua and one on Waigeo, the largest of Raja Ampat’s islands _ have made it more accessible than ever. Foreign visitor numbers climbed to 13,000 in 2016, a big jump from fewer than 2,000 a decade ago. I began my own journey here in the port city of Sorong, a haphazard collection of basic homes, modern energy-company offices and karaoke bars at the tip of New Guinea’s Bird’s Head Peninsula. With little to hold my attention, I set sail the following morning toward Misool, the Raja Ampat island at the heart of a 300,000-acre marine reserve. Foliage clings, improbably, to dramatic karst formations that rise out of the sea like shards of green glass on Misool’s edge. Many of these formations hide turquoise lagoons that are so crystal-clear you can see blue sea anemones swaying in the water as you glide above. The lagoons are a favourite hangout spot for hornbills, who fill the air with their guttural moans as they whoosh overhead like helicopters en route to coconut palms. I sailed north from Misool to the Fam Islands, where pincushions of bush-clad rock jut out from the sea, forming a labyrinth of earth and water. Then it was off to investigate Papuan culture at Arborek Tourism Village and, eventually, find Wallace’s cabin on the nearby island of Waigeo. Now, on my penultimate day in Raja Ampat, I’m finally ready to find the birds that helped Wallace cement his ground-breaking theories. To do so, I must wake up at the uncomfortable hour of 4am and prepare myself for an hourlong hike into the jungle. A full moon sends icicles of white light across the sea as I motor away from the sailboat to a small dock. All I can make out in the distance is a tiny cove and the perky shadows of palm trees. As we get closer, I spot my bird guide, Daniel, waving a flashlight. Papuans have a reputation among other Indonesians as fierce, man-eating warriors. Yet Daniel, like everyone else I’ve met in Raja Ampat, is all smiles and high-fives as I exit the boat onto the south side of Waigeo and head into the rainforest. We hike together under the soft glow of a flashlight, stepping over rocks, roots and moss-covered logs on our way to a crude viewing blind in a hilltop forest 650 feet above the sea. A cacophony of birdsong greets us as we rise higher into the jungle. Though my eyes can only see a few feet ahead of me, my ears are flexing their muscles. I’m reminded that Wallace collected 73 species of birds on Waigeo, 12 of which were entirely new to science. I manage to reach the viewing blind by sunrise and survey my surroundings. There are sturdy buttress roots below and pen-thin palms towering above the forest canopy. Vines swirl around a nearby eucalyptus tree, choking it. I spot the first signs of movement in a distant branch. It takes a few long minutes, but a creature finally emerges from the leaves. It has an elaborate outfit that even a peacock would envy: crimson red wings, emerald green cheeks, yellow shoulder tufts and wispy purple tail feathers that curve away from its body. It truly is paradise embodied. (Indonesia has 29 species of birds-of-paradise, nine of which are found only in this country, according to experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York.) It’s not long before more birds-of-paradise arrive, heeding the bleating calls of their brethren. By 7am the sun has crested above the horizon and the birds, like clockwork, dissipate into the forest in search of food. For Wallace, this would mark the end of a productive day and the return to his meagre hut. For me, it’s the culmination of a long journey to a faraway archipelago I won’t soon forget. – Chicago Tribune/TNS I

Royal Caribbean finally got its hands on Symphony of the Seas, and the ship has inherited the title of world’s largest cruise ship. The ceremony that took place at the STX France shipyard in St. Nazaire, France recently is the culmination of 36 months of construction on the fourth Oasis-class vessel in the fleet, which will make its way to Miami this fall. On hand for the flag-changing ceremony marking the official delivery of the vessel were Michael Bayley, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International; Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.; and Laurent Castaing, General Manager of STX France. “Symphony of the Seas is the latest example of how our people work to push the envelope of innovation with each new ship,” said Fain. “The Oasis Class has been a trend-setting design, but the team has evolved the design to build on that success to provide even more incredible family adventures. We’re thankful to have a partner in STX France that is every bit as ambitious as we are about building technologically advanced ships.” The 228,081-tonne, 1,188-foot-long ship has a maximum capacity of 6,680 guests with 2,200 crew. At double capacity, though, the guest count is 5,518 from 2,759 staterooms. The Oasis-class vessels have each held the title of World’s Largest Cruise Ship, certified each in turn by Guinness World Records. Each one has been slightly larger than the last, with Oasis of the Seas first inheriting the title almost a decade ago when it debuted in 2009, followed by Allure of the Seas in 2010 and Harmony of the Seas in 2016. The ship becomes the 25th in the Royal Caribbean fleet. “It is a proud and exhilarating moment to welcome a new member to the family. Thanks to our stellar crew and partners at STX France, we now are ready to embark on this new boundless adventure that comes to life on Symphony of the Seas,” said Bayley. “Symphony will take family vacationing to an all new level with energy and options never before found in one place. This ship is the perfect blend of our greatest hits we know guests love and a lineup of vibrant, new restaurants, activities and unparalleled entertainment – all purposefully designed around vacationers’ preferences.” The new ship features the same design, with seven distinct neighbourhoods and several of the same features that debuted on Harmony of the Seas or are mainstays across the fleet. Those include the 10-deck twisting dry slide The Ultimate Abyss, twi FlowRider surf simulators, a zip line, twin 40-foot rock climbing walls, ice skating rink and the AquaTheater. Unique to Symphony of the Seas will be the “world’s largest laser tag arena,” in the Studio B space where the ice skating is performed. It will be transformed into a glow-in-the-dark venue themed around the fate of the last planets of the galaxy. Also new to the fleet will be the Ultimate Family Suite, a two-level suite that will feature a slide, a floor-to-ceiling Lego wall, air hockey, movie-theater-style TV room with popcorn machine as well as a 212-square-foot wraparound balcony with its own climbing wall feature, bumper pool table and whirlpool. It’s a two-bedroom suite that can accommodate up to eight guests. Symphony will feature 28 more staterooms than Harmony of the Seas with a Royal Suite class, neighbourhood balconies overlooking Central Park, virtual balconies on inside staterooms, and the highest number of ocean-view cabins at sea. A new Mexican food concept called El Loco Fresh and casual seafood option called Hooked will debut on the ship. While other of the many dining options will be the same as other ships in the fleet including fusion food venue Wonderland, Jamie Oliver’s Italian dining venue, Japanese cuisine at Izumi, the Chops Grill steakhouse and 150 Central Park, which serves seasonal American cuisine. Entertainment offerings include Broadway show Hairspray, original production Flight that is a humourous look at the history for flight, skating show 1977 and in the AquaTheater, a show titled HiRo. One other feature coming to the ship will be the introduction of app-based mobile check in, that will be available in both Europe and when it comes to North America. The ship will sail to Barcelona at the end of the month and then debut with a full set of passengers on the already sold out inaugural sailing. It will spend its first season of cruising in the Mediterranean. It then repositions to PortMiami on a 12-night transatlantic voyage that departs on October 28 and begins Caribbean sailings on November 9 with the first seven-night cruise on November 17.  – Orlando Sentinel/TNS

That boxy new ship one sees while driving across the McArthur Causeway between Miami and Miami Beach? It’s the 5,119-passenger MSC Seaside, the newest vessel from the European cruise line MSC. It joins 3,502-passenger Divina, which arrived in 2013, and a half-dozen others that MSC will bring to North America by 2020. (Three of those will be in Miami year ‘round.) The 10 ships now on order amount to a $12 billion investment. We toured the ship just after it arrived. Along with a few first-at-sea features, we found others executed in interesting ways. (We didn’t sail, so we can’t comment on service or food.) These notable features have brought it to the top of this year’s awards lists for new ships. Squared shape Nautical classicists may decry the decidely boxy shape that makes Seaside look more like a condo-set-asea than a cruise liner. Once you’re on board, you’ll appreciate the endless views and wide range of spaces (4 pools, four slides and three specialty restaurants) made possible by the change. Onboard tech Everybody has it these days. MSC keeps up with the trend, with digital wristbands and touch-screen displays around the ship where you can book appointments. The multi-level atrium features a massive series of LED screens that transport you from under the sea (think corals and jellyfish) to far away places. Flexible modular staterooms Connected staterooms finally are becoming more available at sea. On Seaside, those cabins are modular too, meaning they can be re-configured to fit your group’s specific needs, with up to 10 people in a single lodging configuration. Views Most modern cruise liners have their engine room aft. Seaside’s engines are located mid-ship, which increases stability and puts its outdoor boardwalk closer to the sea (on deck 8) rather than higher. Other view-ready design elements, restaurants and the ship’s atrium; plus balconies on 76 percent of the staterooms. And for those who love a safe thrill, the clear Bridge of Sighs atop the ship lets you “walk” on water as you peer down 131 feet. Boutique “hotel” The idea of a hotel-within-a-hotel – or in this case, a ship-within-a-ship – isn’t new. Concierge decks and spa cabins are found on many liners, and Norwegian Cruise Line has a private cabin-and-lounge area with its own pool, called The Haven. MSC’s Yacht Club goes further, incorporating a bright airy lounge, 86 suites, private sundeck and pool, and a private restaurant. The successful formula is found on a half-dozen MSC ships, including Seaside. Adventure park Nobody does water features like Carnival. And nobody does high-octane adventures (think surfing and skydiving simulators) like Royal Caribbean. MSC follows the trend but adds a few twists, stretching its zip line to the longest at sea (394 feet) and adding a jungle theme to its waterpark, complete with a giant dumping buckets. Bonus: The waterslide features “slideboarding” technology that makes the experience a competitive interactive game. Low-tech kid spaces Europeans have a knack for creating children’s spaces that are sophisticated and low tech. On Seaside, you’ll find a play area with fibreglass islands, logs and palm trees begging to be climbed. A nearby bench is set up for selfies surrounded by a group of colourful kids made of Legos. Retro zone Baby boomers can relive their youth at the ‘50s themed lounge and playroom, complete with two full-length bowling lanes, air hockey and the driving compartment of a ‘56 Chevy Bellaire convertable that’s been transformed into a DJ booth. In turquoise, of course. Chocolate wall Yes, that really is chocolate flowing down the recirculating wall fountain at the counter of Venchi, the Italian chocolatier. If that’s not enough to rev your endorphins, the scent of freshly made jimmies, non-pariels, squares, hot cocoa and sorbets may put you into a stupor. Brunch On land brunch is a Sunday staple, but at sea it’s a meal rarely served. Seaside is one of the places where that’s starting to change. At the Butcher’s Cut specialty restaurant, you can order a Mediterranean omelets, country chicken and biscuits, and wild blueberry pancakes for a modest fee. Brunch is served on selected days throughout the cruise – not just on the weekend. Roy’s The first shipboard restaurant of Roy Yamaguchi, the award-winning chef behind Roy’s Restaurants in Hawaii and elsewhere, is in a wow of a space, with low tables set into the wood floor set with red leather benches (instead of those tricky tatami mats). The Asian Market Kitchen menu comes with an extra fee and features Roy’s famous ribs in Mongolian marinade, fried whole snapper in Thai coconut curry sauce, and a wide array of sushi and sashimi dishes. MSC Seaside The size of the ship is 153,000 gross tons. It is 1060 feet long. It has the beam 135 feet long. It has the capacity of 4,132 passengers, double occupancy. The ship has 20 decks in total and each with capacity of 15 passengers. – Miami Herald/TNS

Look west on a clear day from any hilltop in Puebla. In the suburb of Cholula, seven miles outside downtown, you’ll spy an orange church and a snow-topped peak looming behind it. This church is Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, built in the 1570s, damaged by a major earthquake, now whole and open again. The peak is the volcano Popocatepetl, alive and fuming. That curiously symmetrical hill beneath the church? That’s not a hill at all. It’s the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the largest known pyramid on Earth completed long before the Spanish arrived, now cloaked in vegetation. Consider this easy-to-misread scene a fair warning: Puebla, about 85 miles southeast of Mexico City, is full of earthen surprises, architectural wonders and human resilience. I know this from two visits. I spent five days here in July gathering information for a travel article that was to be published in the fall. Then came the magnitude-7.1 Mexican earthquake of Sept. 19, which killed about 220 people in Mexico City and 45 in the state of Puebla, most of them in small, outlying towns. I shelved the story. But in the days and weeks after, it became clear that Puebla, whose downtown core includes more than 2,500 colonial buildings from the 16th to 18th centuries, had survived remarkably intact. I returned in February. I found scaffolding on several buildings and heard from several vendors and hoteliers about the post-quake slump in visitation. A taxi driver showed me video on his phone of the Cholula church losing the tops of its two towers. Five months after the temblor, just one visitor attraction remained shut because of quake damage – the 18th century Casa de Alfenique museum, closed indefinitely. Meanwhile, the list of what endures in Puebla is long and wonderful enough that it might astonish a newcomer. Here’s some of what I found, beginning with recent additions and rediscoveries. Pen for Business At the base of the Great Pyramid, the Regional Museum of Cholula opened in 2017 to highlight the area’s pre-Hispanic cultures in buildings that used to be a psychiatric hospital. A block away, a tourist train (also opened in 2017) offers service to downtown Puebla for about $4 each way. In early 2016, the International Museum of the Baroque opened in the Puebla suburb of Angelopolis; its displays, monitors and projections are housed in a startling building by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. This museum is as minimalist as its contents are elaborate. The Cableway of Puebla aerial tram opened in 2016 at the city’s convention hall, two miles northwest of the city centre. Pay about $4 for a round trip, and from aloft, you’ll see that an entire neighbourhood’s roofs and walls have been painted in blue and white patterns as though they were a vast piece of talavera pottery. In the central Barrio del Alto, a luxurious Rosewood Hotel opened in early 2017 in a rehabilitated compound of historic buildings. Another luxury lodging, Hotel Cartesiano, opened in late 2017 near Callejon de los Sapos. Also, there are the tunnels. On my first visit, guide Daniel Lima led me to some stairs labelled Pasaje 5 de Mayo and told me how, when he was a kid, “our grandparents told us legends about tunnels under the city” – legends that turned out to be true. Archaeologists discovered these tunnels in about 2012. Researchers found a series of underground passages, dating back at least 150 years, beneath some of the city’s busiest blocks. For now, just a few segments, dubbed Los Secretos de Puebla, have been shored up and opened to the public. (And yes, they survived the quake just fine.) Locals and tourists like me strolled through for about $1.50. Coloured lights played on the stone walls, and the P.A. system issued a spooky soundtrack of galloping hoofs and war cries, evoking the battle of 1862 when Mexican forces in Puebla won a crucial but temporary victory against the French. (I walked through the tunnels – and a narrower passage under the Cholula pyramid – in July and again in February.) My base for these explorations was the tranquil Quinta Real hotel, a converted 16th century convent. But next time, I may try Casa del Callejon, a 10-room boutique hotel upstairs from the see-and-be-seen sidewalk tables of Cafe Santo Patrono. Either way, a traveller can do what I did, strolling through the zocalo at every opportunity, measuring its lazy mornings against its bustling nights. Two blocks north of the zocalo, be sure to step into the Church of Santo Domingo’s Rosary Chapel, where you can see Spanish baroque design in full flower. On the way into the church on my second visit, I saw a team of workers repairing quake damage to the facade. To see a little of the city’s semi-rural outskirts – and a pair of remarkable colonial churches – combine a day trip to Cholula with a stop at the Church of Santa Maria Tonantzintla, about six miles southwest of Cholula, where you can see lavish details on the interior walls along with sculpted brown faces that resemble residents of the rustic town. Then head a mile south to the Church of San Francisco de Acatepec, where you’ll find a red-tile-and-talavera facade that mesmerises with its riotous colours, geometric patterns and mismatched towers. During my February visit, both churches were open while quake repairs were underway. Mole and more I ate well – no surprise in a city that calls itself “the kitchen of Mexico.” The stylish Casareyna in Puebla’s Barrio San Francisco served my favourite mole over chicken. At El Mural de los Poblanos, one of the busiest restaurants in the central historic district, a kind waiter talked me into my first chiles en nogada – stuffed poblano chiles in walnut cream sauce dotted with pomegranate seeds. At Antigua Taqueria la Oriental, a fixture on the zocalo since the 1930s, I grabbed a hearty taco arabe (marinated pork wrapped in pita bread instead of a corn tortilla) for about $1.25. At La Berenjena, two blocks southwest of the zocalo, I strayed from traditional Mexican cuisine and was rewarded with a great carpaccio pizza. Another evening, I lingered over a simple $8 dinner of salad at La Profetica bookshop and cafe. From street vendor Faustina Juarez, I bought a $1 quesadilla with mushrooms that brought me deep happiness. At the Parian Market, Anayeli Garcia sold me a $2 bag of roasted grasshoppers (chapulines) and immediately crossed herself. “My first sale of the day,” she said in Spanish. In seven days of meals during two visits, only one underwhelmed me – a bland chicken mole at Nevados, overlooking the zocalo. I should mention that throughout these meanderings, I felt as safe as I do in Burbank or Glendale, Calif. The Puebla area has seen conflict as government forces confront pipeline-tapping fuel thieves, but it has been largely free of drug-related crime. The US State Department, which uses a 1-4 scale in assessing risks to travellers abroad (4 being the most dangerous), gives the state of Puebla a 2 (“exercise increased caution”). Another nice thing: I never ran out of discoveries. At the Museo Amparo, I looked at pre-Hispanic sculptures. At the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, which Unesco says may have been the first public library in the Americas, founded in 1646, I lingered under the arched ceilings, wondering how to say “Hogwartsian” in Spanish. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

And no wonder: She’s spent the last 24 hours in a cage - first on the back of a truck, then on a boat. Before that, it had been more than 10 years since this orangutan had seen the jungle. The 40-kilogram animal now sits majestically atop a Bintangor tree in Borneo’s Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park watching three other apes also be released by the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) animal rescue group. They come out of their cages and head for the trees. However, there are fewer and fewer trees on Borneo and the neighbouring island of Sumatra. Over the past decade, more than 7 million hectares of rainforest here have been razed. The orangutan’s natural habitat is steadily being replaced by palm oil plantations: Never-ending fields containing rows of 30-metre-tall palms with huge leaves and thousands of fruits.  Laws protecting the forests here are still very lax. A moratorium on the allocation of new plots of land has made little difference. “You are put into prison when you kill a single orangutan. But if you burn down a whole rainforest and the orangutan is killed, nothing at all happens,” says Jamartin Sihite, director of BOS. The destruction of the forests could genuinely mean the end for orangutans. In the middle of the 19th century, Borneo was almost completely covered by forest. Today, only around half of it remains. The past few years have been particularly bad: A recent study estimated that the number of orangutans in Borneo has plunged by around 150,000 since 1999 to between 50,000 and 100,000. No one is sure of the exact number. Behind the numbers are the personal tales of misery. Agis, for example, was kept by a villager for seven months as a sort of replacement child. When she was rescued in 2006, she weighed just eight and a half kilograms, was suffering from malaria and typhus, and hardly had any hair left. One of the BOS’s two rescue centres is at the Nyaru Menteng Arboretum on a piece of government land. It has been there for almost 20 years and today shelters around 450 orangutans. It is hoped that most will return to the jungle one day.  “We are the biggest orangutan rehabilitation centre in the world,” says 52-year-old Jamartin. “But we hope one day to be the smallest.” The rescue centres are financed by donations from all over the world. “Adopting” an orangutan costs about 30 dollars a month. BOS says it costs around 300 dollars a month to look after each ape. The Swiss and the Danes are particularly generous, and Germany has also given money via a development ministry project. A few months ago, BOS began working with the palm oil industry. The agricultural company Sawit Sumbermas Sarana (PTSSS) is contributing towards the purchase of an island where the orangutans can take part in a kind of jungle camp before they are released back into the wild. Currently there are around 30 animals on the 20-square-kilometre island, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive away from the centre. But the work is something of a Sisyphean task. Orangutans are disappearing at such a rate that they cannot be replaced.  The rescue centre continues on regardless. Last year it released 75 apes back into the wild, and this year plans to double that number. Sometimes the animals are even flown back into the jungle with government helicopters, with the cage hanging from a rope beneath. That can be dangerous for both parties. In December, a male orangutan attacked the cage and its carers after it had been released. Before each ape is released, a chip is inserted in its neck with a battery that lasts for two years. It allows BOS to keep track of the animal as it moves through the forest. BOS statistics give each orangutan an 85 per cent success rate - that means that for every 100 apes released back into the wild, 85 are still alive two years later. Seven of its orangutans have even had babies since being released. Despite BOS’s success, there are people who think the efforts aren’t worth it. The environmental organization Borneo Futures believes BOS’s work distracts from the issue of habitat destruction. Expert Michael Kruetzen, from the University of Zurich, says releasing animals back into the wild “basically makes sense.” “But you have to track the animals for several years afterwards to see how they get on,” he says. “Or more bluntly put, to see if they actually survive.” – DPA