theatre Archives - Wandering North

Azerbaijan trip 2019 England United Kingdom

One Night in London

I ended my trip to Azerbaijan with a night In London. I lived in London for a bit after high school, but since then I have only visited for daytime layovers. I was thrilled to spend the night.

I stayed in Soho. I spent the afternoon wandering around past the parks, squares, and sights. It was so crowded. The Tube was a nightmare, the streets a sea of people walking slower than I would like, but I loved it. So familiar, historic, and exciting.

I went to James Fox’s for a cigar and then ate some street food, sitting on the steps on St Martins. I decided to see a show and spontaneously bought a ticket to Night of the Iguana starring Clive Owen in the West End.

How amazing that anything is available to satisfy any whim.

After the show I grabbed a falafel and walked around. The pubs and bars will spilling out on to the street with queues and smokers. Everything looked inviting, but I was exhausted, so I went to bed.

The next morning I got up super early for a walk before returning to the airport and home. It was kind of incredible. On that early Sunday morning the streets and squares were empty. There was no traffic. No tourists. No buskers. It was almost eerie, like everyone had been the victim of an apocalyptic event, but it was also peaceful.

It was just one night in London but it made me wish that I still lived there, or at least think that I should spend more time there than just a layover.

Asia Myanmar (Burma)

Mandalay day one

Mandalay does not make a great first impression. Stepping out from the train station, it didn’t have the charm of Yangon. The buildings are newer and unattractive. There are a lot of wide, busy roads. The traffic is orderly, but motorcycles are allowed here (unlike Yangon) so it is busier. It just didn’t have charm that I saw.

I decided to walk from the train station to my hotel. Maybe 25 blocks, but it felt longer as the walk was just not that scenic and the blocks were long. I did see the moat and walls around the palace, but they were several lanes of traffic away.

As I got nearer to my hotel, I did pass a street that had a lively market and street side food vendors started appearing, but I still wasn’t that taken with it.

My hotel was decent though. The Hotel Aurora. I picked it because it had a good location and a rooftop restaurant. My room was so nice, with a fluffy bed, excellent shower and loads of free toiletries (all of which are now in my bag). I know those things may seem commonplace, but I usually slum it a bit more, so I was happy. I checked in early and took a moto taxi to the palace.

The Mandaly Palace is a big central palace complex dating to the mid 1800s. It is a fine place to visit, but many of the buildings are identical, so I didn’t feel the need to stay long.

I took a tuk tuk to the base of Mandalay Hill, which is a long climb up 700+ stairs, past and through temples, stupas, etc. It is am exhausting but picturesque journey. Annoyingly you have to take shoes and socks off a lot on the climb as you pass through sacred sites (that’s what i get for wearing boots), but it is all quite pleasant aside from my boot unlacing and scrambling over sun-scorched tiles.

The top gives views out over the city.

When finished, I took an outdoor elevator down about four floors to a parking lot where my tuk tuk was waiting.

I had him drop me off back at the palace and I walked from there.

Here is what I realized about Mandalay on the first day: 1) things are really spread out, so walking, while possible, is a long and hot business; 2) moto, tuk tuk, bicycle, and car taxis are everywhere but you have to haggle to get good price; 3) there are an ASTONISHING about of pagodas, temples, and stupas here. They are everywhere. Imagine that every cafe in Seattle or Vancouver was replaced with a gilded, ornate temple. It’s a little overwhelming.

From the palace i walked down a quieter street and happened upon a cafe by a marionette theatre, where I bought a ticket for the evening performance. I also met the puppet master, a thin and old-looking 89 year old man. Any references to the 1980s horror classic were lost in translation.

I had lunch at a sidewalk stand (another glorious bowl of noodle soup for less than $1), walked some more, and spent the evening prior to the puppets on the rooftop of my hotel chatting with a Dutch couple traveling south east Asia for six months.

I took a tuk tuk to the theatre. The show was good. It had a band playing traditional music and they did various marionette scenes of dance and animal antics.

After the show I did not want to walk the ~20 blocks back to the hotel so I took a “taxi”. Most of the other audience members had pre-arranged their transport so the cars and tuk tuks out front were taken. But there was another option: A man with a rickety bicycle to which was attached a side car. He said he would charge 2000 kyat. (That’s a little less than $2 cdn.) Done. I hopped into side car and off we went. Slowly. The man riding the bike was old. He may have been as young as mid-60s, but he looked about 80. But he peddled me all the way to my hotel through traffic. I must admit to feeling a little uncomfortable having not only a human being, but a senior citizen, cycle me home. The longer we rode, the higher grew the tip I felt obliged to pay, until, when he dropped me off, it had reached 5000 kyat. I felt he deserved it and it absolved me of my awkwardness.

The rickshaw man who ferried me home from the theatre

And that was day one in Mandalay. I went to bed with no idea of my plans for the next day.

North America USA

Christmas in New York

Greetings from New York! I have never blogged about New York before because I wouldn’t know where to begin or end and a post on a website seems inadequate to capture the many charms of this city. I would need a novel or an opera. Christmas in New York, however, is a moment in time capable and worthy of description.

I am pleased to report that there was snow on Christmas Eve; not falling from the sky, but piled up along sidewalks and balanced on top of mail boxes. I arrived to find a pleasant nip of winter in the air – the sort of brisk chill that is invigorating and fresh, worthy of mittens, not balaclavas.

I set out on my search for Christmas splendor in Union Square where the annual Christmas market was in full swing, with artists and jewelers and craftspeople selling their wares from red and white stalls decorated with pine tree garlands. I didn’t buy anything, but I spend about an hour strolling around. I had a pleasant chat with the world’s greatest sock puppet portrait artist, Marty, of whom I am a great fan and then I enjoyed a small cigar as I walked onward in the winter sunshine.

Later I found myself in Times Square, having decided to pick up my theatre tickets ahead of time. Times Square looks the same at Christmas as it does at every other time of year, but it feels Christmassy nevertheless. After all both Times Square and Christmas are all about colored, blinking lights and insatiable consumerism. I collected my tickets for my upcoming shows (Billy Eliot, Hair, and A Little Night Music) and meandered over to 5th and 42nd to have a cigar at Nat Sherman.

The fellows at Nat’s welcomed me warmly and I enjoyed a 75th Anniversary non-Cuban Montecristo Robusto in their Johnson Club Lounge, where I chatted about the injustice of the anti-smoking regulations with some local guys. The cigar lacked complexity, but it was fairly strong, well-constructed and tasty.

After my cigar, I dashed over the Grand Central to have a cocktail with my friend Dave. Grand Central Station was buzzing with Christmas travelers boarding trains with bouquets of flowers, giant wreathes, bottles of wine and shiny, wrapped presents. We sat at one of the bars, overlooking the station and taking in the light show on the ceiling, which was cool in a 1970s sort of way. Eventually we boarded one of the trains north to Chappaqua for Christmas dinner with friends (sadly, not the Clintons).

On Christmas day I was insistent that we take in all of the typical Christmas sights. We took the subway to Columbus Circle and walked along the south border of Central Park to 5th Avenue; as we approached, you could actually feel the Christmas spirit intensify. The streets were overflowing with people (almost all tourists) gawking at the impressive decorations and waiting in line for horse-drawn carriage rides.

The decorations on 5th Avenue are impressive. Every building is tarted up with lights and elaborate displays. The window displays at Bergdorf’s were amazing; each window is a self-contained world of magic. They had sort of an Alice in Wonderland Theme – not especially Christmasy, but very cool. The Cartier building is wrapped in a massive red ribbon and bow made entirely of glittering scarlet lights.

As I said, 5th Avenue was thick with tourists, which meant that is was also crawling with those wanting to profit from them. There were about a half-dozen guys on every block selling fake designer purses, watches and sunglasses. There were stalls selling souvenirs and winter accessories food vendors selling pretzels and knishes and then there was my favorite: the three card monte guys and the guys who play that game with the three cups and the ball. It is fascinating to watch these guys, because they always draw a small crowd of interested onlookers, planning to profit from what seems like an easy game. My favorite part is watching the one plant in the crowd – the guy who bets $40, $60, $100 and always makes a profit by picking the right card or cup. Of course this guy is in on the con. Quickly others in the crowd, inspired by the easy with which the plant is winning his money, start placing bets with less success. For me, the entertainment is free.

I crossed the street and went to the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, which was filled with the pious and the curious. The music was beautiful, but the crowds were a bit too much to bear, so I did not stay too long.

Finally, the Mecca of New York Christmas cheer: Rockefeller Centre. The centre is decorated with illuminated snowflakes, angels blowing gilded trumpets, towering toy soldiers and, of course, the massive Christmas tree. It is all very lovely. I had hoped to go ice-skating, but as with my previous trip to Christmas New York, the line is ridiculously long. If you have your heart set on skating at the Rockefeller rink, I recommend getting there as soon as it opens.

On the streets surrounding Rockefeller centre are dozens of people dressed up as Santa, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, Hello Kitty, the Grinch, et cetera. For a dollar you can have your picture taken with them. I think these people are just entrepreneurs who rent costumes and take to the streets in the hope of making a buck. Not a bad idea, really. I saw one child staring up with utter bafflement at group of costumed characters composed of two Elmos and two Cookie Monsters. The poor kid must have thought he was seeing double.

Boxing Day was a day of theatre. I saw “Hair”, which was joyous. Every member of the cast had an amazing voice. The best part was at the end when they sang “Let the Sun Shine In”, they invited people to join them on the stage to dance and sing along. I bolted down from the mezzanine and clapped and sang and danced on the stage with all of the hippies. It was awesome. In the evening, I saw a performance of “A Little Night Music”, starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was a wonderful production and I loved it. In between the two shows I enjoyed a cigar at Nat Sherman’s where I also attempted to dry out from the unrelenting rain outside.

Today I plan to go to the MOMA and the rest of the day is a mystery. The snow and rain are both gone, the sun is shining, and my flight is not until 9:45pm, so almost anything is possible. It is the 27th and there are still the faintest wisps of Christmas still in the air.

Tag: theatre