Road Rambles

Hedonistic Ho Chi Minh City

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:03:01 +0000

My piece on 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam for Wanderlust magazine.

Silvery, seductive portraits of Cubans at Play (Habana Libre)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:57:11 +0000

Esencia Experiences publishes my review of Michael
Dweck’s monochrome portraits of Cuba’s artistic elite:

http://www.esenciaexperiences.com/blog/ habana-libre-by-michael-dweck/

Repainting the Revolution

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:52:33 +0000

I took this picture in Santiago de Cuba recently. Somebody’s paintbrush obviously slipped...

Singing Gibbons of Northern Laos

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 13:05:49 +0000

Wanderlust magazine’s first 2012 issue
features a piece with my photographs
on the Gibbon Reserve in the Bokeo
Forest of northeastern Laos.

One of the highlights of staying in the
treehouses at Bokeo is hearing the
sound of the endangered black gibbon
as he sings.

Here’s a recording of this truly
beautiful sound, one of the most
magical in nature. They really are the
music maestros of the natural world.

The last 40 seconds features a stunning
crescendo from these primate virtuosos.

London Latin American Film Festival Launches

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:21:40 +0000

Several celluloid tales from Cuba have made it on
to the programme of the 21st Latin American Film  Festival.
Launching in London this week and running from
the 18th-27th of November across several venues,
films about Cuba include:

RETROSPECTIVE 25 YEARS OF  HAVANA FILM SCHOOL EICTV PARTS 1 & 2,  a short made between 1993 and 2003 about  Cuba’s renowned film school and what its  students trained their lens on.
“Subject matter ranges across illegal immigration, bullying, and corruption in the army, Chinese cuisine in Havana, and an extraordinary observational piece on the work of wedding photographers. Must-sees include “Those Who Stay”, based on a riveting interview with a mother who cut contact with her son after the dramatic events at the Peruvian Embassy in Havana in 1980, and has not seen him since, while “Neighbour” develops a basic scenario using an unrelenting audio-visual logic, building into a shattering commentary on the plight of immigrants everywhere.”
A DREAM COMES TRUE / EL DESPERTAR DE UN SUENO documents the Ballet Nacional de Cuba on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. It focuses heavily on a tribute to prima ballerina Alicia Alonso, still in charge at 90!
THE CIGAR OUT OF THE HUMIDOR directed by Mary Dickinson (1997) covers the smokers’ art,  the history of cigar production and the impact of the US embargo on the puro trade.

The full timetable is available here:

http://www.latinamericanfilmfestival.com/timetable/

Cuban Stories Exhibition, Soho 2011

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 18:30:36 +0000

My colleague Helena and I are showing our Cuba photos at La Casa, Floridita in Soho, from November 4 till January 15.  Taken in the 50th year of the Cuban Revolution, the images  focus on the country’s cinematic street life and its painted  propaganda.

My new Guatemala guide published

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:46:30 +0100

Footprint guides publishes Guatemala Focus, my new guide
co-authored with Richard Arghiris.

Cuba in luxury

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:57:10 +0100

My pieces on touring 1950s Havana, honeymoons in Cuba, music tours around the island, the annual December Latin American film festival, renting villas, the ultimate getaway in Cuba, and deep sea fishing for luxury tour operator Esencia Experiences.

www.esenciaexperiences.com

Afro-Cuban dance in Glasgow

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 18:38:06 +0100

Super-talented dance crew Descarga will be performing at
Glasgow’s Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow later this month.

Asere: On My Mind – A Dancing Mis-adventure is the first
full-length show from the Descarga Dance Company, Scotland’s
only contemporary dance company representing Black and
African-derived dance arts. The show brings together dancers
and live musicians for a riveting celebration of popular music
and traditional folklore from across the Caribbean and Africa.

Asere: On My Mind tells the story of a man exploring his history as he moves to Europe in search of a new life. The piece fuses contemporary African dance, popular Cuban dance, classical ballet, street dance and West/South-African folklore.

Watch Cuban Yainer Carbonell and Namibian Tulimelila Shityuwete’s spell-binding show for the Bournemouth Salsa Congress at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1-4Q6YDV7Q&feature=youtu.be

ASERE: On my mind
26th October at 3.30pm (open rehearsal)
27th and 28th October, 8.30pm
Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow
www.descarga-dance.com

new Michelin Havana Guide is published

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 16:47:30 +0100

Michelin publishes the Must See Havana guide, its first guide to Havana.

I co-wrote the guide and took most of the photos. This is the first
guidebook to be published that includes reviews of great new paladars
(private restaurants) that have opened in Havana since Raúl Castro’s
late 2010 reforms created scope for small business opportunities.
Since the reforms were announced many chefs and restaurant workers
from state restaurants have launched their own paladars creating a bit
of healthy competition in the existing private restaurant scene.

The Michelin guide reviews a handful of what I considered the best of
the new paladars on the Havana scene in summer 2011.

My Culinary take on Cuba

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 16:41:24 +0100

My interview with the owner of Paladar La Casa in Havana, Alejandro Robaina.

I talk about my favourite Cuban foods as well as Alejandro’s long-running paladar:

http://restaurantlacasa.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/claire-boobbyer-speaks-about-cuban-food/

Looking at Cuba TV

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:38:56 +0100

My review of Simone Leuck’s compelling
photographic book Cuba TV:
http://www.esenciaexperiences.com/ blog/cuba-tv/

Havana Club Launches App to Havana

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:29:00 +0100

Havana Club, purveyors of Cuba’s famous  rum, has launched an app to one of the  world’s greatest cities — Havana.

The app look — all distressed masonry,  chipped granite plus peeling, browning tape  pinning the photographs — is alluring and  conveying an authentic Cuban look...  Top marks for the graphics.

From the makers of the cool, unique cultural  content website Havana Cultura —
http://www.havana-cultura.com/INT/EN —  featuring video interviews with Cuba’s  farándula: contemporary artists, singers,  and dancers spanning temas from reggaeton  to film, sculpture and writing, I had hoped for  much more, though.

I thought, as the Havana Cultura site  captures the zeitgeist, that Havana Club’s  app might go some way to doing the same  and lead travellers to more of the new and  exciting in Cuba’s capital.

I’m actually disappointed: the writing lacks  sparkle, the Best Bars are mostly tired ones,  or tourist traps, there are innumerable typos  in English and in Spanish, and some badly  cropped pictures... and some generally bad  pictures, full stop.

At least the Best Live Music Venues includes  El Sauce but there are some new and alternative  spaces that are worthy of inclusion.

The Best Restaurants are let down by the fact that the app doesn’t include a single new paladar (private restaurant) thus dating the app quite badly. Since January 2011 a new culinary wave has rolled out across Havana providing healthy competition to the existing paladar scene. In the app’s Best Restaurants, not one of the top three new paladars in Havana, features. A big shame for new and returning travellers to Havana.

For the first-time visitor, the 48 hours in Havana is a helpful guide, the Play Cuban Dominoes is a cool feature, and the videos on how to make classic Cuban cocktails a fun feature for back home when you’ve brought your bottles of Havana Club back on the plane.

And, for a branded app, it’s pretty restrained on pushing its brand... or am I immune to it seeing as the liquid gold flows everywhere in Cuba? Havana Club is the ron de Cuba and its welcome presence is served in every nook and cranny in Havana.
But, note to travellers: you’ll definitely get a better mojito at the Havana Club bar with its beautiful mural than at the tourist magnet of La Bodeguita del Medio with its overpriced made-on-a-conveyor belt national cocktail.

Havana Club’s Guide to Havana
Free of charge
Available on iTunes.

Claire Boobbyer
Author Frommer’s Cuba
Author Frommer’s Cuba Day by Day

writer editor photographer
+44 7914 800222
www.claireboobbyer.com
http://twitter.com/claireboobbyer

dumpling disaster, Hanoi, Vietnam

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:44:08 +0100

My culinary faux pax under the railway arches in Hanoi for Traveller Magazine:

(My culinary faux pas under the railway arches, Hanoi, Vietnam)

Claire Boobbyer
Author Footprint Vietnam (2011)

writer editor photographer
+44 7914 800222
www.claireboobbyer.com
http://twitter.com/claireboobbyer

Journeying through Northern Vietnam

Tue, 7 Jun 2011 14:53:43 +0100

What’s steaming, spitting and smoking in Hanoi... and the legendary dragon of Halong Bay...

My piece for the Civil Service Magazine:

Trip of a lifetime A journey through Northern Vietnam

Claire Boobbyer
writer editor photographer
www.claireboobbyer.com

Author, Footprint Vietnam (2011)