When you come to Nikolaev we would love to buy you a cup of coffee.

A number of residential projects also get the nod

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

A STRING of residential, commercial and industrial projects received provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in the second quarter of this year.

Far East Organization unit China Classic received provisional permission to build a 384-room hotel at Cross Street, while Hotel Plaza got the nod for a 345-room hotel at Upper Pickering Street.

Resorts World at Sentosa got the go-ahead to build a hotel with 1,352 rooms as well as 45,090 sq m of retail space in the central zone of its integrated resort.

Residential projects that received URA's provisional permission in April-June this year include Frasers Centrepoint' s 717-unit condo at Lakeside Drive in the Boon Lay area, Chip Eng Seng's 372-unit condo at Elias Road in Pasir Ris; and UOL/Peak Century's 643-unit condo at Simei Street 4. All these projects have 99-year leasehold tenure.

EC Prime Pte Ltd - controlled by Melvin Poh, Tan Koo Chuan and Saw Pik Kee - received approval to develop 228 apartments at Alexandra Road.

URA also gave the nod in Q2 for the development of 110,790 sq m of business park space in three new projects - to Soilbuild Group Holdings to develop a facility named Solaris at Ayer Rajah Avenue/Fusion Walk (42,780 sq m); to Lawrence Leow's Crescendas Bionix Pte Ltd to develop 41,200 sq m at Biopolis Phase 3; and to Ascendas for a project at Changi Business Park Crescent (26,810 sq m). Business park space can meet the office needs of some firms, for example, backroom operations, URA noted.

Provisional permission for multiple-user factories were also granted for projects at Commonwealth Drive and Jalan Tepong. Trio Link Development clinched approval for a 21,570 sq m industrial development at Playfair Road.

UOB Kay Hian Trading obtained URA's go-ahead for its transitional office development at Anthony/ Scotts roads (13,020 sq m).

URA also gave provisional permission to Ritzland Investment for 12,050 sq m of offices at Mountbatten Road.

Source: Business  Times

We're driving over to the IMAX theatre in Riverfront Park, Spokane, to watch The Dark Knight next weekend.   I've never been to an IMAX, and I hear that it is something I must experience.   I figure The Dark Knight would be just awesome on IMAX!   My hubby and I are taking our kids to visit some friends, and then we figure we will do some shopping and hit the rest of Riverfront park.  Just a quick little weekend getaway.   First, we've got to find a cheap hotel near the IMAX for the night. Comparing hotels is pretty easy with my little HotelsCombined.com booking widget, because I can compare prices from over 30 different hotel search engines at one time.   To find the cheapest hotel, I always "sort" the hotel selections by price.  When HotelsCombined pulls up a list of hotels, at the top portion of the screen you see the "sort" field, and you can select "price".  HotelsCombined will then re-generate the list with the cheapest hotels on top.  Now, I know from horrible first hand experience, that you never want to just stay at the cheapest hotel....(Once I was in Seattle and stayed at such a hotel, which shall remain nameless, and my cab driver was afraid to drop me off, and I could not get a cab to pick me up in the morning!).  So, to avoid putting my family in utter danger, I am much more careful about my hotel selections now.    Start scrolling down the list, paying particular attention to the "star rating".   Don't pay too much attention to the hotel names at this point.  If you find a hotel in your price-range with at least 3 stars, you may be onto something.  The next step is to read reviews of that hotel.  This is very important!  Never skip this step when booking a hotel.   The first hotel that strikes my fancy is the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane.  It has 3 stars and the picture looks nice at only $73 a night.   On HotelsCombined, underneath the price there is a little link to the hotel reviews.  (Some hotels have no reviews on HotelsCombined, so you would need to look elsewhere).   I'm in luck, HotelsCombined has 38 reviews of Ridpath Hotel.  Clicking on that, and....ouch!   Not the best review to start off with.  Scrolling down, I see the word "horrible" and "outdated" and several other dispariging remarks.  Okay, moving on.  I hit the back button on my browser, and continue my quest for the perfect cheap hotel near the IMAX in Spokane.  I come across the Ramada Limited Hotel, with 3 user reviews on HotelsCombined.  The reviews are okay, not spectacular, but okay.   I am mainly attracted to the location, 2 blocks from Riverfront park.  At only $75 per night, that is not bad.  However, I'm not really sold, so I do a little more price surfing.  On Priceline, I find a King room with sofa bed & mini-fridge at the Courtyard By Marriott Spokane Downtown for $129/night.  If you are wondering if that is really a deal, I took a gander on Mariott.com's site and found that they would have charged me $159/night for the same room.  I also liked the Madison Inn by Riverstone for $95 on Hotels.com.   

Now that I've booked our hotel.  I'm checking into getting some IMAX tickets online.  The Dark Knight is currently showing 4 times daily.  It is a "special feature", so I believe it is more expensive than the regular IMAX movies, (ie. the combo attraction ticket won't work for this one).  However, it looks like they do not sell tickets online.  Crossing my fingers that it doesn't sell out!

Remember the bathroom saga..well the entire week we've been gone my cousin the construction worker has been redoing my bathroom. We have crap and dust ALL over the house and no toilet or shower..maybe until Friday. I had to extend the cats stay at the kennel and Jack is staying at mom and dad's.

BUT...we are experiencing "Pimp My Bathroom".. OMG...OMG... We're going to have a shower w/ a shower head, 2 body sprayers and a seat...new floor, new ceilings w/ 2 heating lamps and an exhuast fan (we never had a fan in the bathroom...mp says while holding her nose) When it's all done I will be SO happy. Then we just need to get the kitchen plumbing up to par..that's a whole other story.

I have 89403 pictures..yes I do!~ You know I will be making you go look at all of them.

Did you follow my twitters? I was following a few people then I turned it off, the alarms got annoying.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

We drove after the American Idol concert through to Hilton Head...without stopping. I drove through the moutains at sunrise when everyone else was asleep..that was awesome.

We went boogie boarding in the beach everyday for a while. This was Drews first time to the beach and he LOVED it.. He wiped out once though..but got back in there. I have not had that much fun in the beach for YEARS. J got out there too...every morning I would get up SOOOO sore and I would just get my swimsuite on..grab my boogie board and spf 50 and head to the beach. TOO much fun.

We also went onto a lake and saw alligators..and a rubber raft following a shrimp boat watching dolphin..and shark. We played putt putt..swam in the pool, made dinner, went out to dinner, road bikes. Then on the way home we stopped in Atlanta and went to the Georgia Aquarium. OMG that is awesome. We decided when we hit Nashville to just drive home but we knew we couldn't go "home" so I called to get a hotel near Drew's house..we went to Harrah's.. $100 for a room w/ 2 Queen beds..perfect. We got there, there were no rooms and we got booted up to a Penthouse suite for the same rate.. Very Nice.

So today we napped at a hotel near our house, tomorrow I'm going w/ my cousin to pick out tile. We're unpacking the rental right now since we have to return that tomorrow..we won't stay too long though, the dust is killing me.

I had internet and blog withdrawls..I need to catch up on the news too.

So just in case I don't get to everyone's blog leave me a comment and let me know what is up with you? Any exciting news?

Believe me by Monday I'll up date w/ little stories and hopefully have some pictures uploaded.

Darine rêvait de se réveiller chez sa grand-mère, dans la montagne surplombant Beyrouth, et de déguster un petit-déjeuner composé de confiture de fruits et d'une manousheh, la galette au thym libanaise.

Souhait exaucé cet été pour elle comme pour des dizaines de milliers de Libanais et d'étrangers qui ont pris d'assaut plages, restaurants et boîtes de nuit au Liban.

Une image aux antipodes de celle du pays qui était au bord de la guerre civile en mai.

"A chaque fois que je voulais venir, des combats éclataient ou l'instabilité régnait", affirme Darine Hakim, une femme d'affaires de 30 ans vivant à New York et venue préparer son mariage prévu en juillet 2009 à Beyrouth.

Le ministère du Tourisme attend entre 1,3 et 1,6 million de touristes en 2008, contre un peu plus d'un million en 2007 et 1.062 en 2006, année qui a vu les touristes bouder le Liban en raison de la guerre entre le mouvement chiite Hezbollah et Israël durant l'été.

Le nombre de touristes a augmenté de 97,5% en juin 2008 (136.853) par rapport à juin 2007 (69.303).

"J'ai décidé de venir après l'accord de Doha", explique Nadim Saab, 58 ans, en allusion à l'accord interlibanais du 21 mai qui a mis fin à des violences ayant fait 65 morts début mai.

"Avant cela, (...) le pays ne semblait pas être un lieu sûr pour se divertir", affirme cet homme d'affaires basé aux Etats-Unis qui n'avait pas revu son pays depuis trois ans.

Assassinats politiques, guerre de 2006, combats dans un camp palestinien, crise politique aiguë et affrontements entre factions ont effrayé les touristes ces deux dernières années.

La situation du pays s'est améliorée avec l'accord de Doha, suivi de l'élection du président Michel Sleimane après six mois de vide présidentiel et la formation début juillet d'un gouvernement d'union nationale.

"Tous les vols vers le Liban affichent complets" cet été, affirme-t-on à la compagnie aérienne nationale, Middle East Airlines.

"Le taux d'occupation des hôtels dépasse les 90% à Beyrouth et les 75% dans les montagnes contre 60 à 65% l'année dernière dans la capitale", indique Pierre Achkar, président du syndicat des hôteliers.

Les chambres libres sont rares et louer une voiture n'est pas plus simple.

"Il ne reste plus aucun véhicule à louer. Nous louons des voitures privées pour les sous-louer aux clients", affirme Tony Haddad, directeur de la compagnie HR Rentals.

Restaurants et boîtes de nuit sont en effervescence et les chanteurs Mika et Bob Sinclair ainsi que le célèbre DJ Tiesto doivent se produire à Beyrouth.

Le Sky Bar, la boîte de nuit ultra-branchée de Beyrouth pouvant accueillir jusqu'à 2.000 personnes, affiche complet tous les week-ends jusqu'à la fin de l'été.

"Même en semaine, les réservations s'élèvent à 80 à 85% de notre capacité", indique le directeur Adham Beainy, 29 ans.

Ces excellents chiffres auraient été meilleurs si la formation du gouvernement n'avait pas pris 45 jours.

"En l'absence d'un gouvernement, les gens craignaient l'irruption d'un problème", a-t-il ajouté.

Selon M. Beainy, la majorité des touristes sont koweïtiens ou qataris, "les Saoudiens n'ayant été autorisés à venir qu'après la naissance du cabinet".

Ryad avait en effet sommé ses ressortissants de quitter le Liban en mars en raison de l'instabilité.

Des familles qui avaient réservé des suites et des appartements de luxe à 2.000 ou 2.500 dollars/nuit, avaient annulé en raison du retard de la formation du gouvernement, selon M. Ashkar.

"Ils ont alors reporté leur choix sur Saint-Tropez ou Monte Carlo, mais reviendront peut-être en août", selon lui.

Mlle Hakim, elle, est déterminée. Elle se mariera à Beyrouth ou ne se mariera pas.

"Si quelque chose arrive, j'attendrai. Un mariage au Liban n'a pas d'égal".

Question: Please send me some thoughts about what an ideal summer meal.  What would the menu be?  Would you prepare it, or part of it?  Where might you purchase the ingredients?  Where would you eat it?  (e.g., indoors or outdoors?)  Would you go to your mom's instead?  Or a restaurant?  Which one or what type?  Would your meal include appetizer?  Dessert?  Wine?  What time would you eat?  Who might be there?

My response: When I was little, my family used to pile into the car – an ’89 Izuzu Trooper that was in danger of tipping over if we went around a curve too fast – and drive to Island Beach State Park. I was in elementary school at the time, and while it was always a treat to go to the shore, I always felt a little disgruntled that we went to Island Beach State Park and never to Avalon or Wildwood or Ocean City or any of the “cool” beaches that other kids in my class visited. No one had ever heard of Island Beach State Park. I also felt perturbed that the beach was always a day trip for my family. To save on costs, we never stayed the night. I had only stayed in a hotel a handful of times in my life and so the idea of staying at some building overnight was very novel to me. I had come to love the two-star hotel smell – that combination of air conditioning vents and generic laundry detergent, mixed with a tinge of cigarette smoke. I always felt envious of my classmates whose parents would take them out of school to go to the beach for a week. They’d run off to exotic locales down the Jersey coast and stay at some hotel with a pool and a waterslide while I, on the other hand, would hit Island Beach State Park after about 2 hours in the car, sit on the beach for a few hours, wash off in a freezing cold outdoor shower, and then come back home with sand in my bathing suit.

Of course, despite my spoiled displeasure and vocal complaints at the time, I do fondly recall a family tradition that developed through all our years of making day trips to the beach. Before making our way home, we would always stop at some tiny crab shack and pick up bags of live crabs. The crabs would serve as our dinner but only after we got home from the shore. We would talk and titter in anticipation the whole ride home, excited to steam the crabs, throw them onto our kitchen table, and dig in. In retrospect, it was probably only about 9pm by the time we cooked the crabs and began to eat them, but it always felt like some ungodly hour and that added to the delight of the experience – I always felt that this crab-eating-tradition was the one occasion that I was allowed to stay up super-late with the rest of my family. The affair was not fancy by any means – our hair would still be coarse from sea salt as we covered ourselves in paper napkins, grabbed the largest crab we could find, plopped it onto our Corelle dishware, and scraped it out with any number of tools – forks, knives, chopsticks. I don’t recall much about the actual taste of the crabs – only that they were heavily doused in bay seasoning and that in those rare occasions when we were able to salvage a big chunk of meat, we would pick it up, show it off to the rest of the family, and bask in their admiration.

Kirk Whalum That's The Way Love Goes

**Please Rate & Share your thoughts on this video..Thank You**And Please visit My YouTube Channel and let me know what you think of the other videos and songs**Sing their song, play their music and don't forget .... buy their Music!!
♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*
From his beginnings in Memphis, where he played in his father's church choir, Kirk Whalum drew inspiration from the rich musical traditions of that city, including gospel, R&B, blues, and eventually jazz. He received a scholarship to attend music school at Texas Southern University, where he formed a band in 1979 and began playing on the local club circuit.

*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥* ♥*♥*
Hello my sweet friends. Hope this finds you all well.. I want to Thank all of you for the Love and Support you have given me and for the time you all take to watch all my videos, rate them and for leaving me your kind, generous comments and messages.. Ty for your friendship and for making a DIFFERENCE!!.. WE ARE ONE!!
Much Love, Peace, Light, and Laughter for you and your family.

Huggies Kassandra

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Here are today's Quick Pickz!

Unlike Lotto and Powerball where you usually end up with ZIPPO...with these Quick Pickz you always get interesting, goofy, weird, valuable, far out, right on, totally off base, make you roll your eyes, scratch your head and shake your fist little snacks to tickle your basal ganglia.

Don't be timid. Dive in, swim around a bit and give us your $0.03. (Yep, on today's economic roller coaster - even your infamous and time honored 2 cents is worth more!)

"Information is shock resistance - arm yourself"
- Naomi Klein

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Test your instincts
Do you have what it takes to survive? Find out here!

Remember Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction"?
Well...four years later it's finally over.

Belly up to the bar
For frosting shots? (Just when you thought you've seen and heard it all...)

Hold up a McDonald's
Be a finalist in the Big Mac Chant Off!

Can't wait to stay here!
This hotel is made out of...exactly what you can't stand in your bed!

Word of the Day:
camarilla

Today's DOUBLE BONUS:
In a pinch - squeeze cash from your home

Would be fun to be a fly on the wall...

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Bedrooms at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast guest house are normally cheap and extremely competitively priced but, as the Autumn and Winter booking season approaches, we are pleased to be able to offer bedroom prices that are even cheaper.

In fact, we love offering cheaper hotel and B & B bed room prices in the Autumn and Winter because it enables us to align our needs as an accommodation provider with the needs and benefits of our guests.

If you are a regular visitor to Bournemouth, Poole or Southbourne for business visits, a contractor or perhaps even needing regular accommodation for family, leisure or entertainment purposes, we would like to talk to you about cheaper prices. Regular guest visits help us greatly to be able to plan our room occupancy ahead and, in return, enable us to offer you cheap or cheaper deals on hotel bedroom prices, benefiting us both.

So, whatever your reason for visiting Bournemouth, Southbourne or Poole on a regular basis, give me (Christine) a call on (01202) 425047, outline your arrangements and I will see what I can do to give you a cheap and hopefully the cheapest hotel guest house bed and breakfast deal around.

We offer single rooms, with or without en suite, double rooms with en-suite and family rooms with en-suite bathroom so there is a good choice of bedroom sleeping accommodation. Cleanliness and comfort is our highest priority and you will always receive a friendly smile.

Breakfast is normally included in our room tariffs but a cheaper accommodation deal to exclude breakfasts can also be arranged. Sometimes business men and women prefer to rise early and make other arrangements for breakfast (for example a working breakfast). Often contractors working on building projects prefer to make their own arrangements too and take advantage of significant discounts.

Whatever your requirements for Autumn and Winter guest house hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation, we will be as flexible as we can to help you enjoy a comfortable, convenient regular and bargain hotel stay.

Naturally, if you do opt for breakfast at Newpoint Hotel, we will endeavour to ensure it is tasty, appetising and served up with a smile to start your day off in the very best way.

Bye for now

Christine

Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast guest house (B & B)

Look a bit at the presentation of the Hotel De Paris in Monaco and tell me how your Middle East experience is above that!

It is one day closer to the weekend and I for one, could not be happier. I have no plans to head out of town this weekend but if I were to go, I have a few places in mind that make perfect getaways. Living in Los Angeles is great for several reason. On the top of my list is it's sheer proximity to so many wonderful destinations all within a two hour drive. You can head to the mountains, the beach, the vineyards or the desert on less than one tank of gas!! Who needs "staycations" when we are so close to so many cool places. One of the most interesting places within a hundred miles is a campground known as El Capitan Canyon. 

Located 20 miles outside of Santa Barbara, this natural haven is not your ordinary camp site. All the things that people love about camping are present ( smores, BBQ, stars etc) but instead of sleeping on the hard Earth, you can choose between a luxury tent or a luxury cabin. Okay, Okay, it's not luxury in the five star sense, but luxury as far as camping goes. Rates range anywhere from 145 for the tents to 350 for the large cabin. You will need a bit of savvy planning skills though as this place is booked up pretty far in advance..

(KUALA LUMPUR) Berjaya Land Bhd has received offers to buy both its hotels in Seychelles for US$62 million, Malaysia's Business Times reported, quoting the company's resort and hotel division head Foo Toon Kee.

The hotels are the four-star, 232-room Beau Vallon Bay Beach Resort & Casino on Mahe Island and the three-star, 80-room Berjaya Praslin Beach Resort. 'We have been operating there for over 10 years. We might consider the sale. We are still contemplating whether to sell or redevelop the place,' Mr Foo, the acting head of Berjaya Hotels and Resorts, told MBT in an interview.

Should Berjaya decide to sell the properties, that would be in line with its future plans to focus on five-star hotels and resorts. Berjaya has had a presence on the popular island resort for over a decade. When asked what would be a comfortable sale figure for the hotels, Mr Foo said: 'They could fetch US$70 million . . . but I am not saying that we will definitely sell.'

Yet another property it may consider selling if the price is to its satisfaction is the three-star Berjaya Georgetown Hotel in Penang. The 323-room hotel has a book value of about RM80 million (S$33.5 million). The hotel produces a lower profit margin than its five-star hotels. It has an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin of about 20 per cent versus 45 per cent for the five-star properties.

In the event that the hotel is not sold, Mr Foo said, the group may consider rebranding it to better distinguish the various star categories of the hotels under Berjaya.

Source: Business Times

INXS - Pretty Vegas JD FORTUNE
Uploading again, my videos were all deleted, I had over 400+ videos and till this day I have no idea why my channel is gone, and I don't believe I will ever find out, but decided to load them again.
LYRICS BELOW:
**Please Rate & Share your thoughts on this video..Thank You**And Please visit My You Tube Channel and let me know what you think of the other videos and songs**Sing their song, play their music and don't forget .... buy their Music!!
♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*
In 2001, INXS was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame.

In recent years INXS returned to the news when they announced a new reality television program titled Rock Star: INXS. The show was a contest, held in 2004 to find a new lead vocalist. On 20 September 2005, after an 11 week competition J.D. Fortune of Oakville, Ontario, Canada was proclaimed the winner. "Pretty Vegas," a song that Fortune wrote as part of the competition, was released as a single on October 4, 2005 and reached #5 on the iTunes Store ranking of top downloaded songs

In total, INXS has received three Grammy nominations over their 30 year career.
♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*
LYRICS:

Falling asleep at the wheel again baby
You're drifting over the line (the line) yeah
Your hands are tight but you're losing grip quickly
Fix me, can you read the signs?

Thumbing your way to Vegas, dirty
And dreaming of the other side
Save your tears and laughter
Because it doesn't matter what you find

It ain't pretty
After the show
It ain't pretty when the pretty leaves you
With no place to go
If you think you need it
Here's the place to feed it
But it ain't pretty

With everything that you do is wrong
And you fell like you can barely survive yeah
When those around you are crumbling downwards
Buried in the sunset alive

Thumbing your way to Vegas, dirty
And screaming like you're back from hell
Save your dreams and occupations
Cos' it doesn't matter what you sell

It ain't pretty
After the show
It ain't pretty when the pretty leaves you
With no place to go
If you think you want it
Here's the place to get it
But it ain't pretty

The party's over and the road is long
The party's over and we're moving on
The party's over and the road is long

So if you think you want it
Then just come out and say it
It aint pretty

Falling asleep at the wheel again baby
You're drifting over the line (the line)
You're hands are tight but you're losing grip quickly
Fix me, can you read the signs

Thumbing your way to Vegas, dirty
And dreaming like you're outta control
Save your tears and laughter
Because this is the ride
And this is the show

It ain't pretty
After the show
It ain't pretty when the pretty leaves you
With no place to go
So if you think you want it
Just come in and get it
It ain't pretty
♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥* ♥*♥*
Hello my sweet friends. Hope this finds you all well.. I want to Thank all of you for the Love and Support you have given me and for the time you all take to watch all my videos, rate them and for leaving me your kind, generous comments and messages.. Ty for your friendship and for making a DIFFERENCE!!.. WE ARE ONE!!
Much Love, Peace, Light, and Laughter for you and your family.

Huggies Kassandra

Hotel Jen, Hong Kong’s newest independent hotel is currently offering a sensational city escape package for those seeking affordable luxury from now until 31 August, 2008.Available on any stay of two nights or more, guests can enjoy a great rate of just HKD2,588++ per night to stay in a luxurious Harbourview Jen Suite providing them with the opportunity to enjoy the stunning skyline of Hong Kong without the usual high costs associated with hotel accommodation.

Guests will also be able to enjoy their in-room mini bar with compliments of Hotel Jen, a 24-hour room service option, and make full use of the hotel’s recreation facilities including a 16-metre outdoor roof-top swimming pool and fully equipped gymnasium.

Hotel Jen opened in March 2008 and is located in Western District, Hong Kong. Still only 10 minutes from Hong Kong’s Central business district, the Airport Express and the city’s hottest nightlife centers of Soho and Lan Kwai Fong, Western District preserves the flavour of old Hong Kong inviting guests to embrace some of the city’s famous heritage.

For the convenience of guests, the hotel operates a regular shuttle bus service throughout the day to Macau Ferry (Sheung Wan MTR), Central Star Ferry, Airport Express Hong Kong Station (ifc mall) and Admiralty MTR (Pacific Place), free of charge to those taking advantage of the summer package.

Taking its name from the Chinese character which symbolises the Confucian ideal of love and goodwill towards people. Hotel Jen aims to bring the gracious traditions of Asian hospitality into the modern hotel context. In so doing, Hotel Jen aims to appeal to a growing class of entrepreneurs and travellers from around the world.

Hotel Jen’s approach is to provide travellers with the essentials of a quality hotel room without the expensive extras. A clean and functional room, a comfortable bed and a great shower are at the heart of the Hotel Jen experience. The chic, modern design showcases clean lines and functional creativity, and the guest rooms are highlighted with natural colours and light wood finishes.

The Lobby Bar, located in the lobby level of the hotel, serves beverages, light and ready-to-go snacks. On the top floor with sweeping harbour views, Sky Lounge provides an exclusive retreat for Jen Room and Jen Suite guests during the day that includes a nightly 6-8pm complimentary wine and cocktail hour. Thereafter it is open to the public, and offers a place to relax and unwind with wine, cocktails and snacks into the evening. 

I was just looking around the web to see what's on during October 2008 in Bournemouth and there really are lots of interesting things happening in Bournemouth.

Just looking at the BIC (Bournemouth International Centre), there is Beauty and the Beast on Ice, Best of British Variety, Jethro Laughter in the Rafters, Lee Evans Big, The Moody Blues (Woohoo!), Boy George and Enter Shikari.

What a wonderful choice of entertainment for visitors to Bournemouth during October 2008 and that is only a few of the acts that are on at the BIC.

Whether you are looking for a romantic weekend away, a few days respite from your usual environment, or are visiting friends or relatives, Bournemouth and Poole are truly great places to visit all year round for a great time.

Whatever your motivation in coming to Bournemouth or Southbourne, I look forward to providing a comfortable bed and a hearty breakfast to send you off on your travels to enjoy all the entertainments that this area has to offer.

Bye for now

Christine

Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast guest house (B & B)

At least the room was cheap.

As, apparently, is the owner. :P

But that seemed to be a perfect ending to this day. It has been quite… full. Since five o’clock this afternoon, I have walked through a ghost town, traveled to Colorado, put my feet in a lake (the first water I’ve been in for months), hiked up a hill while following the stations of the cross, eaten fantastic Mexican food in the oldest town in Colorado, and drove through the mountains while lightning illuminated the sky.

And that’s only a brief glimpse at some of this day.

It was a good day.

I woke up knowing that things needed to change. The woman I was staying with in Taos was a nice person, and I felt safe with her, but she was definitely a Debbie Downer. I have to give her slack, though, for her life seemed pretty horrific. From what I could piece together, her daughter was killed right in front of her, as was her dog, Ocito, who had been her companion for the last few years. She had traveled to South Africa, started her own charity, and had recently lost one of her best friends over there, to AIDS. So those are just a few examples of the weight she carried on her shoulders, so I can certainly understand that, but after being woken up by her in the middle of the night, as she cried, and I comforted, I realized that this might not be the ideal situation for me to get myself balanced.

Yesterday, I woke up, happy for a decent sleep (and my life) and headed over to the Taos Pueblo. Since Magellan told me to, I illegally drove through the Pueblo land, but luckily I didn’t get in trouble for it. Instead, I got to see how these people live, tucked away on their reservation, without water or electricity, and lots of dogs and horses walking around freely. Mostly, though, the drive was filled with empty desert land, beautiful in its simplicity and loneliness.

The Pueblo itself was gorgeous, even though I felt as though I were trespassing. A couple dozen people of the Pueblo have little shops, and they don’t mind the tourists, but the rest of the people who live there must be pissed! I know I would be. The entire purpose of living on the Pueblo is to maintain tradition and distance, and then suddenly you start charging people 10 dollars to witness this incredible life choice, and I don’t know… it would piss me off.

The Pueblo people really liked me, however. Especially… the men. Cheyenne, when I got home that night, said “yeah – they like the big, beautiful women.” I was initially going to be affronted by this comment, but then realized I was talking to a 5 foot one, 90-pound individual. She would probably be offended if I called her… squirt. So I let it go, and accepted the truth of it, because during my couple days in Taos, I think I had the potential for about five marriage proposals if I had just smiled one more time, or stayed a moment longer. It was nice, to feel so beautiful and mooned after, but it was… odd, since the culture I come from isn’t that way.

The winner for best ‘mooning after’ was definitely Joseph, however, He was a Pueblo man, who lost an arm a dozen years back while… carving a buffalo, or something. For some reason, it was as though I walked into his Pueblo and changed his life, because he lit up and hugged me for about… five minutes too long. After talking to me for a while, he also decided to bless me and my journey, so he lit a sage smudge stick and covered me in smoke and whispers. Wait, I made that sound too mysterious and sexy. It was definitely mysterious, and it was a beautiful Pueblo tradition he was allowing me to be a part of, but sexy it was not. Just to clarify. However, after this he asked me if he could take me to the mountain that night, and play his drum and sing to me the native music of the Pueblo people.

I mean, how could I turn that down.

But I did. I wasn’t about to put myself into another situation like that, however more innocent and authentic he seemed than Scott in Roswell. So I might have missed out on the most life-changing drum-filled spiritual experience of my life, but I had to let it pass.

I felt a bit of a stronger affinity to Cesar, who was a young man who worked in one of the stores in town. I didn’t notice him much at first, since I was enamored by all the beautiful jewelry, but eventually I needed to ask for his assistance, and we talked for quite some time while I was being wishy-washy about which pieces of jewelry I wanted.

In the end, I spent farrrrr more than I expected to, but not really since I had been waiting since Georgia to get to the Southwest and purchase the jewelry I wanted. I had wanted some inlaid jewelry (I expected it to be Zuni at the time, but the pieces I bought were Navajo, I believe), and I wanted some of the… green stuff. I think it’s just green turquoise, but I’m not completely sure. You think I would have learned the stones by now, but alas. I have not.

However, Cesar was extremely kind, and I didn’t think about him ‘that way’ until I was leaving and he said “see you tomorrow.” I turned around, and he said “Please?” I told him I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I didn’t end up going back, even though I happened to drive by the shop today and was tempted. He was a good person, with intelligence and drive. He wasn’t what he initially presented himself as, and I liked that about him. He had definitely grown on me. But the last thing I want is to suddenly be stuck in Pueblo town.

Another fascinating individual I met was… well, Aspen something was his Native name, and I forget his real name… so I’m basically useless. But anyways, he was a 14-year-old boy from the Pueblo, who was selling the family wares that day with his grandma. They were such sweet people, and I bought a piece of inlaid work in the shape of a turtle, which his father, a master silversmith, had made. The boy, however, was fascinating, because at 14 he was one of the smartest, well-spoken individuals I have ever met, which is not just rare for the world, but extremely rare for this area of New Mexico. He painted cards, and was working on the Micaceous clay pottery, and was studying Law, and was basically a fascinating young man. I wanted to kidnap him and show him the world, and see what he had to say about it all.

Today was a tough one. I woke up, really unsure about what to do. All I knew was that I had to keep moving, and that the air had very quickly gotten stagnant while staying with Cheyenne, as interesting and kind as she was. So I packed up, and left Taos around noon.

The funny thing is, I left Taos again around five.
Haha.

The reason for this is that I drove the Enchanted Circle, an 80-mile loop around the Carson National Park area, which is wonderfully scenic, and drives through quaint little mountain resort towns. I especially liked Red River - it would be an ideal place to have a family vacation. There was even a ghost town, Elizabethtown, along the way, which used to be a thriving gold rush town, and is now essentially a shadow. Of course, I loved that… being surrounded by the history, with only remains acting as proof that anything was ever there. The woman working at the “museum” was really kind and gracious to me, and it was strange to be in the middle of nowhere, looking at old stuff. Really surreal experience, though, even if I’m not bothering to describe it very well. As I was driving out of the “town,” four horses were walking alongside my car.

That was fun.

And since the time between this morning and this evening, everything has changed. This must be the most life-filled day I've ever lived.

The most life-filled day I've ever lived. :)