Clueless

I wanted to write an informational detailed account of some of my recent hiking trips as a helpful 'how to' guide, after all how hard can it be?(ring a bell!)
But what can I say, I had no idea what was the final destination in my last hiking trip, we were just walking it up. Next day I was looking up the route, how far we made it and where was the last milestone. Needless to say I will have to undertake the hike again, so that I can walk back with the smug look of actually reaching the end point and then may be offer some words of advice..

Let me try to paint a picture, imagine two clueless Indians trudging uphill with no idea of how far they are from the end point while regularly coming across gaily retreating Chinese hikers. When you can't communicate, everything seems like a mystery and in this case a Chinese mystery (where were they heading back from, what was at the end of the hike, how close are we).. constant questions and no answers, so clueless!
It was almost sunset hour, and the only website we had referred for our hike research talked about a cop who had gone missing somewhere along the trail. Although I couldn’t fathom how, because it was a paved road and there were green taxis going up and down along the road ferrying passengers back from the mysterious ‘end point’. Perhaps I had researched a different trail and we were hiking on a different route..So much for background research in the information age!

Just today I came across an expression, ‘flying by the seat of one’s pants’, meaning to decide a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined plan or mechanical aids, which sounded about right for most hiking trips I have undertaken in HK so far and this one in particular.

I was curious about the origin of this phase and did some research. This is what I found; the phrase traces its root to early aviation parlance.  Aircraft initially had few navigation aids and flying was accomplished by means of the pilot's judgment. Flying by the seat of one's pants was originally a literal (or nearly-literal) phrase, meaning to use all of one's senses -- including lateral and vertical "G forces" transmitted to your derriere through the seat -- to control an aircraft in flight. Also the pilot would feel the side of the seat to tell how the plane was moving. I was glad to discover the roots of the expression and thought to share the gyan along!

Coming back to the afore-mentioned trail, the 100-kilometer MacLehose trail, traverses Hong Kong’s New Territories from sea level to a peak elevation of about 550 meters (1,800 feet). Here is Hong Kong's most varied - and finest - countryside. The east coast, where the Trail begins, is deeply indented and wild. The central mountains, which the MacLehose Trail crosses, include many of Hong Kong's highest peaks. And the western part, where the Trail winds to its end, has impressive valley reservoirs. (Thank you Wikipedia and such)

The MacLehose Trail is divided into ten stages, and we were (unknowingly) attempting the first section-10.6km stretch. This is not a trail but rather a paved road alongside a concrete retaining wall for about 5 kilometers on one side and the aqua waters on the other side. Since we were not in a hurry to reach the end point of the hike, we took a detour from the paved road, climbed down the hilly slope, hopping on tricky stones and boulders to reach level ground by the side of the reservoir.

It is always a good idea to leisurely lie down on your back on a gentle rock and let the sound of gushing water drown the noises in your head and experience the weightlessness of the wind as it blows away your worldly cares. It is also a good idea to pack some juicy oranges for such an afternoon. When our gods (aka Hanumanji) couldn’t resist the orange temptation in the sky, mere mortals like us cannot be blamed for our orange indulgence on a sunny afternoon sun!

Having enjoyed a leisurely break we thought of continuing our journey since everyone else seemed to be briskly marching ahead. At the sight of each panoramic view along the road we had the temptation to stray from the regular route and explore the vista beckoning us. However like prudent travelers we marched onwards in the hope of completing the trail before sundown. Also with no internet connection and scant milestones/directions along the route we had little information, we were just flying by the seats of our pants.

Directions from people walking down the road were of no avail, the 15minute estimated arrival time didn’t quite ring true when we had walked for 30mins and no end was in sight. We tried to track a passing taxi to get some clue about the distance remaining but that also didn’t help us much because the cliff offered a limited view and the taxi just turned around a corner far ahead and disappeared. The thought of getting stranded here away from civilization with no Naan & Palak Paneer for dinner didn’t quite appeal to us and we turned back.

I’ll update this post once I complete the hike. This time I’ll probably have a better idea of our undertaking, the route and the destination. Also the promised details of the route/bus number will also finally make it to the blog..

From what I hear Section 2 of this trail is better and interesting than Section 1, also it sounds a good idea to cover the entire 100km. Guess that’s how life is, one moment you have no clue where you are headed and next you want to walk the entire 100km stretch. Humanity you were always doomed!

Hong Kong Diaries

I sit down to write about my experiences in this new city before the sheen of being a newbie fades out. I am inching slowly to have spent almost two months here, about time to dedicate a post to the new city..

To set the mood, before writing this post, I listened to We're going to be friends-White Strips. I wasn't done, next on my list was Landon Pigg- Falling in love at a coffee shop...
Yes I am professing my love for this city with songs.. I have totally internalized this city's love for 'cuteness'.. hey there 'Hello Kitty!'..
To be honest I am already biased to the city because you are never too far from the hills or from the water. I might have confessed a million times to my good friends(the ones I bore with 100 renditions of same old stories) that I wanted to run by the ocean looking at the hills. When I really found myself running along the harbor, I caught myself smiling at this part of me which occasionally bubbles up with genuine happiness.

When I was moving out of US and going through the tedious affair of packing and selling my things, I thought that perhaps I wasn't going to work this hard any time soon..
And then I moved to HongKong. So I guess you are never done..
My first month in the city was all about apartment hunting, cooking & eating weird broccoli permutations, furnishing the apartment/kitchen, trying to meet new people and make new acquaintances. I am not yet done, still braving weird hot/cold showers every morning- courtesy the 'environment friendly' tankless water heater.
Moving into a new place is always a hassle but local standards, practices and systems can either make things simpler or create complications. Apartment hunting in this city is a revelation, you come face to face with the reality of the over-inflated real estate market prices, tiny apartments that are like those Sunday newspaper puzzles that come crammed in a small box in a corner- and they challenge you to find what's missing...
This city is very modern and efficient on surface but at its core it is a very traditional society, there is a human element in most transaction. For instance your apartment search begins with the brokers, you tag along as they show you a 'lot' of apartments. Each broker/agency will specialize in a neighborhood, so if you are searching a broader area be prepared to talk to multiple brokers. Add the work schedule to this equation and you have some brutal weekends.
When you do find the apartment of your dreams (by this point apartment hunting has already turned into a nightmare)the broker will settle all the legal stuff for you, set up the utilities and put you in touch with the internet agent. For all his services you pay the broker, the internet guy on the contrary would promise you a gift coupon for signing up through him, and well I haven't my gift card yet..(update:I had to go in person to collect it from the store, but I did get it finally!)
I'd say the whole process was very intense and took a few weeks but with some distant friends prodding me through, i did find a place.. and while skyping with my parents all they had to say was, 'this place looks decent than what you had been telling us'.

When people say it is a small world, they usually mean it figuratively, but when I say HK is a small place I am almost speaking literally. I have the worst direction sense and after getting lost a few times, I realized that it is such a small place that you cannot get hopelessly lost. It definitely helps if you know the major roads(generally English names so easy to remember) and also there are multiple modes of transport to get to the destination.  Taxis are a safe bet if you can get a Cantonese speaking friend to do the talking for you or else just walk it up with a GPS in hand.

X who has lived here for few years keeps telling me that this is the most capitalist city in the world and I keep disagreeing. In terms of my simplified view of capitalism, there are two very defining characteristics of capitalism:
a) the enterprising shall have access to capital, ideally-free market forces (the good)
b) the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer(the bad)
I might agree to the second point, which sadly makes HK a crony-capitalist place. However it is not such a bad picture because of lower corruption levels and the generally honest HongKong populace. HongKong owes its status as world's key financial centre as much to capitalism as to China's communism and the general lack of trust in the Chinese government.
It is the most commercial city no doubt, even Buddha sitting peacefully on a hill-top is not spared, a fake Bodhi wishing tree with redeemable coupons complete the picture.
Its the shopping mecca.. big stores, flashy stores and the stores with flickering neon lights in broad day light. I have not erred much on the shopping side, so can't really comment, I am still grappling with the roti-kapda-makaan paradigm!

My relocation to HongKong coincided with the Occupy Central, pro-democracy protests. I would have to concede that i don't have much experience with protests, I have watched them from sidelines. As a child I witnessed the Uttarakhand state movement, the demand for a separate state to spur development. That vision is far from realized but I would avoid any judgement on the movement.
In the violent times that we live in, we rarely see protests that are inherently peaceful, creative and so young. The HK protest was all of the above. I saw the protest sites where people were peacefully camped and going about their business. Like a naive tourist I took pictures at the protest site and asked questions.  You can be more pragmatic when you are not involved, and despite all the passion and conviction of the protesters i didn't really see the mighty Chinese government conceding ground any time soon. To be honest I wasn't quite sure of what they were hoping to achieve.
I think after I explored the HK University campus on my way to a hiking trail, I accidentally uncovered something very fundamental about the roots of this movement. I was surprised to see video's of the Occupy movement running on TV monitor next to the elevator in the campus. Pro-democracy slogans on the bulletin boards. The campus has a 'pillar of shame' dedicated to the Tiananmen square massacre and the caption there says- "the old cannot kill the young forever". I stood there for a moment trying to capture the mood of the University and somehow I felt like what I witnessed on the streets was brewing and seething in this atmosphere..

This is a rich city(true that!!!) and there is something intricate and almost mysterious about the Chinese culture and psyche, so there is a lot to discover here..

Choices

There are some moments of earnest desperation or perfect clarity when you know what you want from the core of your entire being. These moments are but few.. and the choices span both our personal and professional lives.

Four feet underwater holding your breath for just a moment longer you repeat your deepest wish in your head, you can always trust water to keep your secrets.
In all the theatrics of flashing light and thunderstorms closing your eyes a minute longer you can whisper your deepest wish in a prayer, you can always trust the falling rain to keep your secret.
Standing in the feeble winter sun shivering slightly in the chill of the frozen wind you can rub your hands together in the warmth of your deepest desire, you can always trust winter with your secrets.
Listening to Ludovico Einuanidi’s composition in perfect silence, you can sometimes feel your eyes swell up with tears of your deepest wishes, you can always trust music to be privy to your secrets..

You may or not believe in God, but in that one moment, you surrender to something bigger than you and pray to find ‘your’ way.. I believe this is a very powerful moment when you know with absolute clarity the ‘something’ that you want. You are not just a lost soul who wants someone to show you a way, but every nerve, every bone, and every fiber of your body is alive in the knowledge of what you want..

Sometimes we owe the certainty of our choices based on our familiarity and comfort of knowing and experiencing something over a period of time- the test of time. Other times it is a gut feeling about something completely unknown.

Sometimes people will tell you that they don't exactly know what they want but they have some clue about what they don't want. 'Selection by elimination' is a real thing, this strategy works successfully in competitive exams, so you may as well apply it in life.

At the other end of the spectrum are situations where we seem to be clueless of what choice to make. Opinions may differ here, but I believe deep down everyone knows what they really want. But sometimes making that choice entails a huge risk, it requires courage, faith, going against people we love.. It is a choice between 'the rational'  and 'the emotional', it is this that makes us confused and clueless.

The Architect: There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the Source and the salvation of Zion. The door to your left leads back to the Matrix, to her... and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you are going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction: the chemical precursors that signal the onset of an emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason. An emotion that is already blinding you to the simple and obvious truth: she is going to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

-The Matrix Reloaded

Every moment we are making choices, some consciously others unconsciously. Some easy, some not so easy. We live with choices we make, we live with choice that others make for us, we live with choices life makes for us. It is a fascinating gossamer, every choice tied to the other slowly building the life we live, the relationships we build, the friends we make, just everything..

Morpheus: You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
-The Matrix
Just like this everything starts, but that moment doesn't give away anything. You have to go all the way down the rabbit hole to understand the choices that you make..

You can either read the blog, or just listen to this piece.. (Its a choice!)

Dreaming Apples!

It was frog green, you might as well call it ugly. It would screech and growl with clenched jaws and still not reach a speed of 40kmph.  It would breathe in fresh pure air of the hills and exhale out dense black fumes from its garbled lungs. It huffed and puffed and belched as it tried to squeeze through narrow serpentine roads overlooking cliffs and valleys and at each hilly turn, all the skinny passengers aboard that bus gingerly clutched any adjacent bars, handles or rods for fear of being rolled off by the mischievous centrifugal force..

The mid-aged fellow behind the wheels looked least bit athletic but he showed sufficient dexterity when he steered the big black steering wheel, carefully manoeuvring the big fat bus around tricky turns and bends.

The bus conductor in turn had a gift of the garb starting instant conversation pertaining to weather (dhoop), potato prices and condition of roads with on-boarding passengers (favorite topic of conversation for Paharis) while tearing out tickets.

Between the two of them they ran a successful courier business, carrying packages back and forth between families living along the bus route and for their services they were well paid- fruits, vegetables, cooked meals, winter clothing and occasionally a pack of cigarettes.

As for the bus route it was an absolute delight, passing through the lower Himalayan ranges with occasional views of the glistening snow capped mountains. Step farming is a common practice here, the green-carpeted stairs look inviting for a jumping match. Tall pine trees, Oak trees and Deodar trees form a dense canopy hiding the elusive sun. Many a dark nights people run into a stray leopard roaming these dense jungles. The route is undoubtedly scenic however each season has a different highlight. In winters there is nothing more inviting than fresh snow-carpeted hills with brightly colored birds hopping and leaving their footprints around. The early spring is the season of fresh green shoots and bright red rhododendron blossoms. The monsoon season ushers in the fruit season- apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, strawberries, pomegranate, almonds, some very native fruits like small dark ‘kafal’.. It’s a long list.

This is a magical story of a journey for a little impressionable girl onboard this bus going to her Nani’s home in the hills.  Mesmerized by the pristine beauty, and slightly lightheaded by the circuitous journey she unconsciously drifted into a dreamlike state where her imagination further accentuated reality to create a beautiful tantalizing memory for her adult life.

That monsoon season was very generous to the hills, and the trees were bent with heavy load of fruits. The bus meandered through the narrow road flanked by apple orchards on either side. Sitting tall in the bus she was at a good height to survey the colorful apple trees around. The branches of the apple trees seemed so close that they almost brushed against the bus. A shiny red apple caught her dreamy eyes and with all the agility she could muster she plucked it right off the tree while sitting inside the moving bus. Ah.. What a moment of absolute delight! Wonder if anyone had ever done that before.  She took a victory bite and the juicy apple was quite a mouthful..

What joy lies in the simple luxuries of life, like eating a Delicious apple and gazing through the window at the passing hills!

Imagine a long drive and just when you feel a little hungry or a little thirsty you can just pull an apple from thin air. This little memory fills me with joy and a part of me still believes that you can get lucky enough for an apple on the go!

I drove through this route again after more than 20 years. The fat ugly bus was politely ignored; the route was just as scenic and magical. As for the re-run of the apple story, I had to console myself with buying a bag of apples by a vendor sitting by the road side.. 

For some reason certain dreams, memories and impressions are more vivid, beautiful, tantalizing and real-life than well real-life! Sometimes our dreams embody our deepest desires and wishes in their truest form, more than we concede in any waking hour. I wake up sometimes smiling inwardly at a weird conversation I had with a long lost friend, sometimes a forgotten childhood memory plays out and sometimes I just eat apples off a moving bus :)

                                     

                                     Maa enjoying an apple..

PS: This post is not about Apple watch or any of its kins..

A visit to Lat Sahib's HeadQuarters

As I focussed my camera to take a picture of the Governor's House(Raj Bhavan) formerly called Government House, I chuckled inwardly at my poor Pahari imitation of the name from the Raj era- Lat Saab-ek-haveli..

The rising mists of the Monsoon set the perfect stage for this symbol of ancient majesty
Green is the new Purple!-the Monsoon green Deodar and Oak trees flanking the building, stand tall as the royal sentinels..
The architecture style is called Victorian Gothic domestic style, but to my vivid imagination, the front facade of the building looked like royal chess pieces laid out in this sprawling 220 acres lush green space. The police in their khakis completed the picture as the bored pawns, policing the handful of tourists.

The foundation stone of the Nainital Government House, modeled after Buckingham Palace, was laid on April 27, 1897, and the building was completed in March 1900. If memory serves right, the scaffolding and the repair work is a constant feature here, maintaining a century old building in a moisture rich atmosphere is a tall order.
Inside the building, water has seeped through the cracks and crevices of time, slowly staining the walls black and turning wooden floors mouldy. The combined effect of the constant temperature changes and the occasional dramatic hailstorms has shattered the old glass windows and glass houses. The almost shrunk bows with missing arrows, and the rusted muskets no more look menacing however the decorative animal head mounts do look menacing in this picture of slow decay and death.

The repair work has been underway since the last three years and certain parts of the building are closed for public viewing, the whole upper storey is out of bounds for tourists. The entrance foyer, ballroom, the dining space, the visitor's parlor are open for viewing. Most of the old paintings hanging on the walls have been treated and restored, the copper artefacts and the elephant tusks in the front foyer gleam eerily under the light of the grand chandeliers, the piano is kept dusted and tuned, the ballroom floor is still bouncy courtesy the springs embedded between the wooden floor boards. The guide usually makes the heftiest person in the group to jump so that the others can feel the bouncy floors. I believe this is a daily performance for the empty chairs now sitting around the ballroom!

Interestingly there is a certain vanity in all the present day repair work, the guide tells you proudly that the new renovation is modelled to replicate the current look of the Buckingham palace. The wallpaper and the carpets are same as the ones adorning the British royalty and are imported all the way from England. This 'good' part of the building is not open for general public viewing and you need to have some 'good contacts' to witness the current day luxury befitting the 'de-jure' head of the state.

Stepping out of the building is a slight relief as the stale mouldy air inside gets overbearing after a while(true only for the public section).
The well kept garden is truly inviting with multicoloured shrubs of hydrangea in full blossom. The uninterrupted expanse of green surrounding the property is a true testament to British idea of leisure, wooded pathways with trailing climbers, ornate lampposts, resting benches under the trees, stairways cutting across hill slopes.

And then there is the Golf course, an 18 hole golf course spread
over an area of 50 acres, at an altitude of 6500-6580 feet above sea level. Set in a lush and pristine hilly terrain surrounded by mixed forests, the changing elevation and thin mountain air(your ball travels longer here) make it a connoisseur's delight . The golf course has an underground tunnel to channel water to the lowest part of the course, a marvel of engineering skills of 1920's.















Apart from the touristy stuff, we also stood for a while standing and admiring the engineering details of one of the big drainage channels (nalas) constructed in the premise to allow for easy drainage of rain water. The frequent landslides in Nainital prompted the Britisher civil engineers to set up an elaborate system of drainage channels to save the hills from the ravages of heavy downpour. The rains of last year and flooding in neighbouring SukhaTaal brought the spotlight back on the neglected nalas- the lifeline of the hills..The 'Nala's' are again topical and trending courtesy high profile HighCourt orders but the real life picture hasn't changed much..

Also in close vicinity of the Raj Bhavan are the most prestigious boarding schools of Nainital. Founded during the British rule, each of these schools has a hundred year old rich history and many young lives have graduated from these hallowed portals to real world.
As we drove past the gates of my Alma Mater, I was flooded with fond memories of walking to Government grounds for school picnics. It was a magical place then.. and it is an equally magical place for me even today..!

Coming Home-II

Nainital, India:

After a very long time-almost 7 years I came home to the Monsoons in Nainital..

While growing up, these were the magical days of rising fog, green ferns, wild flowers, random waterfalls, brown snails & slugs, yellow raincoats, duckback rainboots, rainy-day holiday. This was also the season fraught with the perils of landslides, roadblocks, cloudbursts, waterborne diseases, fungi growth and damp smells. Every Monsoon season a wild river would usurp an adjoining village; a cloudburst would wipe off a complete village; landslides would trap unprepared travellers, but I guess we had accepted these risks as part of nature’s plan.

And then last year happened, days of heavy rains, large-scale destructions, thousands of deaths. However to call it nature’s fury would be naïve, last year was a man-made disaster in equal measure. We became victims of short sighted, half-baked development projects-Tehri dam, large-scale residential construction in eco-sensitive zones, greedy commercialization of religious pilgrimage and absence of any backup plans for a natural disaster.

I saw the ravages of last year and the current onslaught of the rains as we drove along the twisted-turning hilly road from Haldwani to Nainital.  We passed by broken roads, partially blocked roads and impatient people. Despite the sight of the lush green, the general air of apathy agitated me. The critical part of me could not shake off the thought: “Things seem to move backward here..”. Is it just the realist part of me questioning the status quo or am I enamored with the developed world and so critical of my modest pahad?

California, Nevada, Pacific Northwest USA:

California Coast: Brown hills with ridges sculpted by the whimsical winds and patches of stunted trees hurdled together in trenches. The restlessly beautiful waters, the splash of colors at sunset, the joy of taking the less-travelled secret hidden roads and discovering small cozy houses or lavish large ranches in the hills.

Nevada: Brown barren mounds of dusty hills, some had random single English letters etched upon them. This barren monotony was occasionally interrupted by pockets of sudden greens and flowing streams

Sequoia National park:Dusty brown hills with withered brown vegetation, sightings of burnt tinder and warnings of forest fires. Then after you climb 3000ft above sea level, the landscape changes completely, the hills became verdant green. These hills are home to some of the tallest trees in the world- Sequoia trees. You also find the sun at its playful best here, playing hide and seek with you and staging multiple ‘sun-sets’ as you climb down the hill.

Pacific northwest coast:Dark blue hills at a distance separated from land by water bodies, floating white clouds over the hills, tourists flocking with camera's to capture the colorful totems of the Red Indians along the waterfront..

When I drove along the US west coast soaking in the beauty, I was completely at peace, not a bit agitated by anything. The only distraction was the question of where to stop and eat (so many choices) first world problem!

It’s a familiar story you leave a loved one behind to meet new people. You see the idiosyncrasies and struggles of the old world in sharp contrast to the convenience and simplicity of living in the new world. You come back to the old world, only to find it encumbered in the old struggles. You look into the shriveled face of the loved one, the sunken cheeks smiling a shy toothy smile to welcome you.. You try to muster the humility to embrace him with the same warmth without the arrogance of judgment but it’s a labored effort.. Its not how it should be..

Then magically from somewhere the white Monsoon fog descends upon the hills, it hides everything from sight- everything visible to judgmental eyes- it conceals all the colors in its white embrace; the only sound is the falling rain. I stand at my balcony, stretch out my hands to feel the raindrops and in that moment of complete peace, I am finally home to the Monsoons in Nainital..

happy bday dost!!

We laugh 
We cry
 
We love 
We lose
 
We walk
We stumble

hack each others minds
make it all worthwhile
to my bff...happy bday dost...!



Here comes one more

again and again :P

Floridaying!

In case it is not obvious this post is about living it up in Florida- the sunshine state!

It took me almost three years in US before I touched Florida beaches so the anticipation was quite high. In my mind I thought of Florida beaches as high-end party destination; the glamorous kinds where people come to flaunt their well-toned bodies and drink mimosas by the pool side. 

So we planned an old friends Bachelorette in Florida and headed out to party!

For comparison purposes, I thought of Rio beaches as being relaxed and unpretentious. The kinds which I would not attribute as sophisticated ‘water-sports package’ sporty but simple ‘football/surf board’ sporty. (Yeah football not beach volleyball). It’s a party destination again; but you come here to soak in the native experience..

I thought of California beaches as a lifestyle, where RV beach camping is a regular sight and young people jog around in the morning and walk their dogs in the evening. The beaches feel young and a part of everyday life. It’s the ideal destination for a road-trip, you’ll see the beaches, the mountains, the deserts everything as you keep moving along the coast.

These are just my general perception, I would not argue their merit..

The question now is did Florida live up to this anticipation?

Honest answer would be it wasn't what I expected it to be.

I came across the most peaceful of beaches-literally deserted beaches where dolphins just walked by you.  

I came across the playful white beaches and incidentally it was really easy to leave the crowded beaches and sail away to a quite island on the Gulf of Mexico where the water is perfectly clear for snorkeling and again chase dolphins!

So for me Florida was about lying on the front deck of boat eating water melons, soaking  in the sun, getting sprayed by the salty waters as we raced along the gulf of Mexico, listening to Reggae music-‘everything will be alright’..

I saw the partying but not the high end swanky clubs kinds but a very colorful Spanish-Cuban-Colombian roadside partying (7^th Avenue Street). Colorful splash of yellow-blue and green, a Scientology church (i haven't seen one before), lots of tattoo places and Cuban cigar shops, stores selling bric-à-brac from south east Asia, from Colombia, dresses from France and slew of pubs each trying to stand out in its own way and you could tell the clientele they were shopping for.

For me it was a feeling of déjà vu, like visiting the little cousin of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street (colorful, musical, flavorful, ethnic and the wildness of the partying crowds at night)

One reason to explain this anomaly might be the choice of destinations in Florida- Tampa bay area & Orlando. We didn't really spend much time in Orlando, so my sphere of vision would be just Tampa bay area- Tampa city and the beach towns of Clearwater and St Petersburg. My general impression was that these places had more local businesses running the show, they didn't have the familiar promenades with big brand stores. We found the food was really cheap- small cozy cafes serving good food to a loyal customer-base. Initially we fancied the idea of driving in a convertible, but then we settled for a budget Nissan Versa, although the Nissan made us scratch our heads with their bizarre design choices(the car seats felt funny and the dash lights were an ugly red) but there weren't too many posh/stylish drivers on the roads so we blended in just fine..
It was a small town feeling through and through, not some crazy party destination on steroids..(haha..just my imagination..)
In the end a place can offer a lot of things to a lot of different people, it all depends on what you are seeking for.. perhaps this was the Florida I was seeking!

I neither shot the video and nor edited it... but I am sharing it across here..
Credit: video swati, editing: parixit