Thursday 11th of December brought a rare sight to The Big Easy: a blanket of fresh snow. I awoke and opened the curtains expecting sunshine as I had run in 24°C the previous day! Seems as though I manage to attract the cold and sometimes not such good weather wherever I travel! Fortunately this was short lived and although Friday was cold it started to warm up by Saturday just when it was time to return to Shanghai. The last recorded snowfall in New Orleans was in December 2004.
I have traveled to many cities around the world but found New Orleans to be quite fascinating, perhaps because my hotel was located in the French Quarter where much of the entertainment occurs in the city.
Although there was little evidence of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the French Quarter it is still a topic much talked about by the locals and many people are still trying to recover and rebuild their homes but in general the attitude is positive. The French Quarter is particularly attractive with some beautiful homes, many now decorated for the Christmas Season.
The people are friendly and southern hospitality was welcoming despite the sometimes particularly slow service in the restaurants and the odd hustler trying to extricate a wallet or some money from you!
The French Quarter is crazy and bars are open 24 hours a day, and one is able to walk the streets drinking alcohol in public and go from bar to bar as long as it is in paper cups. At 3 am on Sat morning as I was returning to my hotel to get to the airport for my early flight Bourbon Street was more crowded than the main shopping areas of Shanghai on a busy day!! Not often that one has to fight your way through the masses on what seems to be a normal night out in this particular part of the US! Every form of music, rock to jazz, blues and country blares from every bar and club. The atmosphere is extremely vibrant and energizing but different to that which one often experiences in Asian cities. It is very easy to find yourself out until 6 am in the morning and suddenly realizing that the sun is about ready to rise and breakfast is beckoning.
Also fascinating were the number of “girly/boyi” bars or whatever one wishes to call them. “Hustler”, “Barely Legal”,” Males better looking than Females” etc are on every block on Bourbon St so business has to be good for them. I met up with one of the dancers in a bar after her show – not at her show and she came over to say hello as she was fascinated by my accent and for no other reason!! She was down from California for the weekend just to make a little extra money and she was barely legal but must have been over 18 to be drinking in a downtown bar.
Local cuisine is excellent although as in many restaurants in the US, vegetables and salads are not really the order of the day, and eventually I was craving just to have a regular salad or plate of steamed vegetables without any of the sauces or garnishing that tend to abound and add all the additional calories. My next cooking adventure will be to try my hand at some Creole shrimp, gumbo and jambalaya, all tasty dishes, but will have to be accompanied by some greens.
The economy of New Orleans seems to be doing well if just based on the thirsty business in the quarter and slowly some of the folk are recovering from their devastation and life goes on – this is a city to be recommended for a different travel experience.
