Then She Fell

"It is a good night for ghosts. The rabbit in the moon is full and waiting to take souls to far shores as it crosses the sky."












This past Saturday I saw an amazing show called "Then She Fell" in a building which was once a school in Williamsburg. "Then She Fell" is an interactive theatre performance based on the writings of Lewis Carroll. Once the audience / participants (a small group of 15 people) had assembled in a waiting room we were each given a set of keys and a glass of mulled wine. The only rules we had to follow were to only speak if spoken to by the cast and to not open any closed doors.  

I was impressed with how well orchestrated the production was. I was ushered up and down stairs, into and out of various rooms, sometimes alone and sometimes with one other person or a small group of people.

During some scenes I was a spectator and in others, a part of the action.  As a child, "Alice in Wonderland" was one of my favourite books. It was fantastic to actually BE a guest at the mad hatter's tea party and to paint a white rose red.

The music and sets really transport you to another world. I was offered food and drink during this show which of course I partook of.

The dark side of Lewis Carroll's aka Charles Dodgson's relationship with the real Alice Liddell is explored in this production. Why did Alice's mother suddenly insist of stopping all contact with Dodgson? Why did Dodgson's sister rip out and destroy pages from his diary?

Curiouser and curiouser....

"Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes."
                                     -Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Reality Tours

Last month I found myself in Mumbai at the end of my (too short) trip to the amazing country of India.

The seawall along Marine Drive is a lovely walk and a great place to view the sunset. We stayed in a business / boutique hotel in a quiet part of town.






On our last day in India we booked a tour of the Dharavi Slum with Reality Tours. This slum is one of four in Mumbai. It is a city within a city. Approximately the same population as Calgary (1 million +) live in an area 1.7sq km. You aren't allowed to take photos in the slum but if you saw the movie Slum Dog Millionaire - this is the slum that was featured.

We met our guides at Churchgate train station and took a thirty minute train ride to the slum entrance. The first part of the tour takes you through the heavy industry area. All sorts of things are recycled and sold. We saw plastic being melted down, dyed, and made into pellets. The pellets are shipped to China where they will be made into plastic lawn furniture etc. In one factory, men were recycling oil cans. First they burned away the oil inside in giant furnaces, then they hammered out the dents in the cans, and finally polished them up to look like new. Nobody was wearing masks although the fumes were toxic.

Further inside is the residential area. Most homes are sheds about 21m sq. In one home there were five family members and three renters living there. The slum only got running water a few years ago and there are two outhouses to serve two thousand people.

We visited a school where an English class was in progress. The students were a blend of Hindu and Muslim. Everyone is co-existing peacefully now - in the 90's tensions were high and riots were common. Some of the other industries in Dharavi include pottery, leather, soap, and poppadom making.

This tour was shocking, enlightening and really worthwhile. I came away with an appreciation for all that I am lucky enough to have. I'm a "glass is half-empty" type but I came away with a new perspective.

So - if you do go to Mumbai, take the tour!

www.realitytoursandtravel.com

SLEEP NO MORE

Yesterday night, I attended a production of "Sleep No More." This was a fantastic sensory and theatrical experience and very hard to explain.

The British theatre company that puts on this show is called Punch Drunk and the show is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth.

We arrived at the McKittrick Hotel at 7:45 and were led into the fabulous Manderley Bar. A place that looked a lot like Twin Peaks' One Eyed Jack's brothel. The drink of choice in this bar is absinthe - you will need a shot of courage before entering this place so why not the green fairy?




I was immediately seperated from my companion  and taken into  a "briefing" room with a group of people. We were all given a white mask to wear for the preformance and told not to speak for the duration of the show. Then the group was taken into an elevator and enters the show. Basically the idea is to explore the set (which is the entire McKittrick Hotel) on your own and to create your own theatrical experience.

 It was creepy, macabre, and dreamlike. I wandered through rooms of clawfoot bathtubs, hospital beds, a forest of dead branches and taxidermied animals, a cemetary with eerie statuary...
You are encouraged to open drawers and search through files, even eat candy in the candy store if you chose. As you explore you will encounter actors who enact key scenes from Macbeth silently but through hyperkinetic dance moves.

Macbeth and Lady MacBeth plotting murder, the three witches (crazy strobe lights and a naked man with the head of a goat) and the dinner where MacBeth sees the ghost of the murdered king.







After the show you can retire to the Manderley bar, listen to some jazz and blues, have a drink and try to process all that you just saw.

Here's the website for the production: www.sleepnomore.com

Art Explorations at The New Museum

This Saturday I checked out the Carsten Holler Experience at The New Museum on the lower east side.

This was not part of the exhibit - it's just a trippy wall.

The first thing we did was line up (forever) for a pair of perspective changing googles. They make you see upside down and sideways!


Most people can't wear the googles for long since they make you feel nauseous.
After waiting for an hour to get the things I have to say the googles were a bit of a let down.

On the forth floor you can ride a mirrored carousel. You can jump off whenever you want. It was nice and mellow...

Here I am (crash helmet on) just before launching myself down a slide that goes from the forth floor to a crash pad on the second floor. Definitely the most enjoyable "piece" in the show. The slide went a lot faster than I was expecting. (This is why you have to sign a waiver, well this and the seizure inducing lights on the 2nd floor. )

Of course there was an hour long wait to go down the slide so you have plenty of time to anticipate the ride.

Richard is expelled from the slide on the 2nd floor.

There was an article about this exhibit in the New York Times that I couldn't attach but if you want to know more you know where to go.

It was definitely different but we all agreed that the line ups inside the museum were too long for what we got.


www.newmuseum.org

http://youtu.be/eJf1qVKWV8Y

What did it all mean?
 I'm not sure but it was an experience.

Prince Edward Island

This was the first time I had been to a maritime province and, of course, besides seafood, this island's most famous attraction is the Anne of Green Gables house. It was Thanksgiving weekend and the end of tourist season so many stores were closed. The house itself reminded me of one of the houses in Heritage Park in Calgary.

Anne parphernalia was everywhere in PEI - dolls, chocolates, books, movies, fridge magnets. Raspberry cordial and stuffed lobsters sat on every shelf.


It's really quiet here - quite a contrast to NYC as you can imagine. You don't even have to lock your door (in the suburbs of Charlottetown anyway.)






We visited an art gallery with a cafe and loads of sculptures from Bali. Kind of unexpected but a nice place. Also there are a lot of artisanal workshops here. I liked The Great Canadian Soap Co. You can feed oats to the goats in the yard!

Best of all was the lovely red sand beaches. A really unique landscape. I loved the grass covered sand dunes and searching for moon-snail shells. All the beaches were almost deserted. You can walk for miles at the edge of the Atlantic and take in the fresh air. I wouldn't recommend swimming in October - the water temperature is rather bracing to say the least.

 

Spa Castle

I lived in Korea for six month in 2005 / 2006 and one of my favourite things about living there was the jimjilbang or Korean style spa. I was excited to discover that there is a fantastic jimjilbang in NY.

It's a bit of a trek to get there. You have to take the number 7 train to the very last station - Flushing, Queens and from there you catch a shuttle to the spa.

If you go on a week day it's only $35 to enter. It's $45 on a weekend.



At the check in counter you are given a wristband that you scan to buy things and to open your locker. You put your shoes inside a shoe locker in the women's or men's change room and get your uniform from the check in counter.

As you can see it's a hot look. Everyone is wearing the same outfit in the co-ed sections of the spa. I usually start in the women's section of the spa. This is the tricky part for some people - you have to be naked in the pool area. No swimsuits. Nothing.
Before going in the tubs you have to shower, scrub, and shampoo throughly. They even give you a toothbrush. All the soap, shampoo and toothpaste is provided. You can buy face-masks and lotion if you want.
There are several hot tubs with different temperatures some with jets. There is also a cool pool and a freezing cold plunge pool, steam room, and sauna. You can get a salt scrub from a woman in black bra and panties for an extra $50. I have no idea what goes on in the men's room but I imagine it's more or less the same...



After this I usually go upstairs to the snack area. There is a Korean restaurant on the top floor where you can get your bibimbap on or you can go with the traditional hard boiled egg snack (delicious!)
























After I digest my lunch I try out the different kiln saunas. Each sauna has a different health benefit. Inside you can sit or lay on straw mats and take the heat.

After that I go up to the roof top pool area where there are two large pools with jets and a wooden Japanese style hot tub.



There are other services here that I haven't used, There is a gym, a day spa with massages and manicures, a hand and foot only massage and a relaxation room with loungers and a personal tv at each.

It's really easy to while away a day here. I always come out feeling great and completely rested. The only downside is the journey home afterwards.

www.nyspacastle.com

The Catskills!

O.K. so it wasn't the best time to go to the Catskills what with the mess left over from Hurricane Irene...

We stayed in Kingston (one of the few places that had affordable hotel rooms left on the labour day long weekend) and rented a car there too. F.Y.I - car rentals are MUCH cheaper outside of New York City.

I liked Woodstock. It's in a bit of a time warp - a lot of the residents still seem to be living in the 60's and have the tie-dye clothes to prove it.
Had a great brunch in Garden Cafe and checked out the flea market. Did a lot of window shopping in the boutiques and bought a souvenir pair of rainbow candles from Candlestock.








On Saturday we took a tour of Farm Sanctuary www.woodstocksanctuary.org where we met some of the residents:

Alfonzo the turkey

Miss Piggy

Louise the cow

On Sunday we visited a Tibetan Monastery
www.kagyu.org
The head of this Buddhist sect escaped Tibet from the Communist government of China in a similar way to the Dalai Lama.

Later, we hiked up Overlook mountain which normally has fantastic views from the top but was overcast and foggy on the day we were there. The fog did manage to make the ruins of a hotel on the hike very atmospheric and mysterious.

Fire Lookout

Kaaterskill Falls

Such a pretty area and a nice mini-break.