Matador Network's Blog, page 1056

Dubai alcohol license for visitors

Dubai is well known for impressive architecture, cutting-edge technology, and, unfortunately, restrictions on alcohol. Visitors to Dubai are often concerned about accidentally breaking the country’s alcohol laws as they can be a bit difficult for Westerners accustomed to simply waltzing into any liquor store they want. Those laws are about to change, however, with the passage of a new measure designed to make visitors’ Dubai stays a little more convenient. For all non-Muslim visitors over 21 years old, a free one-month license will now be available, meaning you can purchase and consume your own alcohol for a period of one month.

The license can be acquired at one of 17 African + Eastern stores or 17 Mercantile and Marketing International (MMI) liquor stores. When you visit the store, simply present your passport, fill out a short form, and sign an official document stating that you are not a UAE resident and agree to the alcohol rules and regulations. The store will copy your passport and entry stamp, you will be given a leaflet with information on responsible drinking, and a license valid for 30 days with the possibility of renewal.

This new tourist law comes on the heels of a relaxation of the regulation for residents earlier this year. Now, residents must only provide a copy of their Emirates ID, passport, visa, and passport photo. Previously, the process of obtaining a license — for both visitors and residents — was much more lengthy and required several steps that frequently resulted in unintentional lawbreaking.

H/T: Lonely Planet

More like this: Your guide to drinking laws in the Arab world

The post Visitors to Dubai can now easily obtain a license to purchase alcohol appeared first on Matador Network.

Massive barrel jellyfish in Cornwall

Usually, seeing one or two small jellyfish is enough to keep you out of the water for a while. Now imagine seeing this giant barrel jellyfish off the coast of Cornwall in the UK. Barrel jellyfish are the largest jellyfish found in the Atlantic Ocean, and this one was even more imposing than its brethren.

Lizzie Daly, a biologist who spotted the jellyfish near Falmouth, said, “I’ve never seen one that big. We had seen a few smaller jellyfish at a beautiful reef nearby, and then out of the murk came this huge, beautiful jellyfish. You just take a double look and ask yourself if it’s actually a meter and a half long.”

And no, the creature did not attack her, and she felt perfectly comfortable swimming alongside it. Daly and underwater camera operator Dan Abbott stayed with the large jellyfish for about an hour before it swam away. Apparently, these jellyfish are relatively safe to interact with. “It has got a very mild sting and poses no threat to humans,” they said. “Some people don’t even feel it. Many people would be immediately worried, but it is not dangerous. It’s a majestic creature.”

According to Dr. Michele Kiernan of the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, the jellyfish are easier to spot right now due to weather conditions. “As we’ve had a long spell of no rain in the south-west,” she said, “people can see them more easily because of the clarity in the water.”

Photo: pr2is/Shutterstock

And the UK isn’t the only place with a recent sighting of massive jellyfish. A huge, “fried egg jellyfish” was spotted on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. Over two feet in diameter, it looked like an egg cracked into the water. Jellyfish expert Mackenzie Neale said this was the biggest jellyfish of its kind she had ever seen. “I have seen some around one foot in diameter, maybe getting close to two feet. But that picture looks like it’s well over two feet in diameter.” And unlike the barrel jellyfish, its “fried egg” brethren’s sting packs “a powerful punch.”

H/T: The Guardian

More like this: Where to swim with the world’s most amazing marine wildlife

The post A massive five-foot jellyfish was spotted off the coast of England appeared first on Matador Network.

Traditional food from Bahia, Brazil

Brazil is a vast country with a diverse food scene. You can find mouthwatering cheesy fried snacks as easily as sweet and fruity desserts, and it’s impossible to miss the many (many) Brazilian cassava-based dishes. But for the best food in Brazil’s 27 states, Bahia in the northeast stands out as a must-visit for food lovers.

Founded around 500 years ago by Portuguese settlers, Salvador was Brazil’s first capital and is still the capital of Bahia. Its large port made the city a center for the slave trade and sugarcane market. Today, the region is an important center for the country’s Afro-Brazilian population. African and European cultures mix in religion, art, and music. This diversity is especially evident in the dishes prepared and enjoyed in the noisy, chaotic, and wildly vibrant city of Salvador.

Salvador’s cuisine shares the history of the people and ingredients that came to settle in the city. Local ingredients, a mix of global flavors, and a strong culinary tradition make Bahian cuisine particularly memorable.

There are a few important things to know before diving into a plate of Bahian food, known around the country as some of Brazil’s best cuisine. Azeite de dendê, red palm oil, is an essential ingredient in many iconic Bahian dishes. It has a distinct flavor and texture and can be hard to digest if you’re not accustomed. Pimienta malagueta, malagueta pepper, is a chili popular in Brazil as well as some Caribbean and African countries. If you’re missing the spice in many traditional Brazilian dishes, head to Bahia and this chili will fire you up. Salvador’s seaside location also makes it the perfect place to sample delicacies from the ocean.

Here’s what not to miss in the heart and stomach of Brazil.

1. Acarajé

Photo: PedroHgcp/Shutterstock

No talk about Bahian food is complete without the inclusion of acarajé, a street dish officially declared part of Brazil’s cultural heritage in 2017. When slavery was legal in the country, acarajé was an important source of income for the Afro-Brazilian women who sold it and were allowed to keep a portion of the profit. It’s still sold by baianas, Bahian women who dress in traditional white attire. Besides being culturally and historically significant, acarajé is also an offering to the deity Iansã in the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé.

Popular among tourists and locals alike, acarajé is made from a ball of mashed black-eyed peas that’s deep-fried in dendê oil. It’s served with vatapá, a paste made from coconut milk, ginger, nuts, and dendê oil. Always opt for the extra shrimp and condiments, a mixture of diced vegetables and seasonings called caruru. An alternate preparation is abara, where the ball of peas is boiled rather than fried.

2. Vatapá

Photo: lhmfoto/Shutterstock

Vatapá is a stew-like mash of bread crumbs, dried shrimp, spices, coconut milk, nuts, and dendê oil that’s typically served with rice. Add fish or meat to make a filling meal. It’s a common component of the ever-popular acarajé.

3. Moqueca

Photo: rocharibeiro/Shutterstock

At the top of many travelers’ list of foods to try in Salvador, moqueca is a seafood stew made from coconut milk, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, ginger, garlic, spices, and dendê oil. Slow-cooked in a clay pan with local fish or prawns, moqueca is usually served with rice and other accompaniments such as farofa, a seasoned mixture made from toasted cassava root. It’s best enjoyed in one of the seaside neighborhoods along Salvador’s coastline.

4. Bobó de camarão

Photo: Vinicius Tupinamba/Shutterstock

Bobó de camarão (also sometimes referred to as shrimp bobó in English) is a shrimp chowder that’s similar to moqueca and the West African dish ipetê. Bobó de camarão is made with a base of pureed cassava. Shrimp, coconut milk, dendê oil, and cilantro are added to the stew, giving it a creamy texture. It’s served with the usual sides of rice and farofa.

5. Mungunzá

Photo: Paulo Vilela/Shutterstock

A favorite during winter celebrations, mungunzá (also known as canjica in southern Brazil) is a porridge made from white corn cooked in coconut or cow milk. It’s traditionally sweetened with sugar and seasoned with cinnamon. Common additions are cloves and condensed milk.

6. Beiju

Photo: Tatiane Silva/Shutterstock

Beiju (also known as tapioca) is a grainy crepe-like flatbread. It’s made with cassava starch that’s first moistened, passed through a sieve as a coarse flour, and then sprinkled on a hot pan. The heat makes the starch bind together. Beiju can be buttered for breakfast or filled with sweet or savory ingredients as a snack. Some favorites are coconut, carne do sol (sun cured meat), and Romeu e Julieta (guava paste and cheese). Lines of hungry customers can be found at stands all over Rio Vermehlo, a popular seaside neighborhood.

7. Bolo de aipim

Photo: Amallia Eka/Shutterstock

Cake for breakfast is not uncommon in Salvador. Bolo de aipim (cassava cake) is a dense and sweet cake made from grated cassava root that’s sweetened with shredded coconut and sugar. It’s sold by street vendors, supermarkets, bakeries, and cafes, and is often present during winter celebrations.

8. Pamonha

Photo: RHJPhtotoandilustration/Shutterstock

Variations of pamonha, a sweet corn paste wrapped and boiled in a corn husk, are found across Latin America. Think tamales, but with a Brazillian twist. Pamonhas are made both sweet and savory. For the former, coconut is a common sweetener, while savory pamonhas are filled with cheese, pork, chicken, or peppers. Easy to find at street stands and small snack bars known as lanchonetes, pamonhas always hit the spot.

9. Cocadas

Photo: gustavomellossa/Shutterstock

Cocadas will surely satisfy, or possibly overwhelm, even the most extreme sweet tooth. The bars are made from condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla that’s covered in grated coconut. Cocadas are easily found at street vendors and bakeries around Bahia. Variations include the addition of toasted coconut, doce de leite (a sweet made from condensed milk that’s similar to caramel), and chopped nuts.


More like this: 10 mouthwatering cheesy, fried, and savory snacks from Brazil

The post Bahia is the best place to eat in Brazil. Here are 9 dishes that prove it. appeared first on Matador Network.

Japan rental cars used for sleeping

People in Japan are getting very creative with their car rentals habits. Orix Auto found that many of its 230,000 registers users weren’t driving their rented vehicles at all, with other rental companies in Japan reporting a similar phenomenon, explained The Guardian. Instead of actually going places using the rentals, they are returning cars with zero mileage, because, according to industry surveys, people are using their car rentals to take naps, have their lunch, as a home office for working and studying, or for storage.

One survey respondent said, “I rented a car to eat a boxed meal that I bought at a convenience store because I couldn’t find anywhere else to have lunch.”

Car rentals in Japan are actually incredibly cheap, making the phenomenon a little more understandable. Most cars are easily rented online, and some even cost as little as $4 for a half hour. According to a 2018 survey conducted by NTT Docomo, another rental company, one in eight customers did not rent their cars to drive, but rather to sleep or use the phone.

“Cars can be used as a private space,” said NTT Docomo. “People used our vehicles in more ways than we expected.”

Orix Auto, however, is less enthusiastic about people’s creative car use. “We do not recommend that our customers rent vehicles for purposes other than traveling,” said an Orix official. “We believe it’s best for our cars to be used for driving.”

As long as cars can be reserved online for cheap and unlocked with a prepaid card — as many companies in Japan offer — this trend doesn’t look like it’s going away, especially in a place as crowded as Tokyo, where personal space is a rarity.


More like this: Facebook is secretly the best place to rent a car abroad

The post People in Japan are renting cars for everything except driving appeared first on Matador Network.

Best airports for wellness

Flying is bad for you. This shouldn’t be groundbreaking news to anyone who’s gotten home after a long flight and slept for 12 hours, since the combination of thin air, cramped spaces, and a flying petri dish of germs isn’t exactly a recipe for pure bliss. This is why airports around the world have started adding stuff like spas, gyms, and relaxation centers,to help you feel a little less awful while you fly.

To see exactly which airports are doing the best job of helping you stay healthy in the air, Netflights looked at which have the most quiet spaces, yoga studios or fitness classes, relaxation zones, outdoor or green space, gyms, prayer rooms, massages, and running tracks. Then tallied it up to find which airports were the best for wellness.

1. Frankfurt Airport

Photo: Frankfurt Airport/Facebook

The eighth-busiest airport in the world can also be among the most relaxing, thanks in large part to its two, full-scale yoga rooms. Not merely old closets with a few mats in the corner, these rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, blocks, mats, and monitors with yoga videos. If you’re not looking to limber up, retreat to the airport’s designated quiet room, or sit in one of its many silent chairs. FRA also helps you escape the hectic airport concourse without leaving your seat at artificial plant gardens around several gates. Add in a visitors’ terrace to watch the planes, and you’ve got a little slice of serenity in one of Europe’s busiest hubs.

2. Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

Photo: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol/Facebook

The Massage-o-Matic sounds like some kind of futuristic robot that’s great at first, until it goes haywire and starts massaging everything around it. Thankfully, the five-minute shiatsu massage — for two euros! — at one of Schiphol’s automatic massage chairs knows when to call it quits. If you prefer a human touch, a live person will massage you at the ExpressSpa not far away. The airport also has a meditation center and a park within the airport for passengers to read and respirate. And you can get an education in the Dutch masters at the Rijksmuseum, or let your kids learn about science with eight interactive exhibits at the NEMO Science Museum.

3. Dubai International Airport

Photo: Dubai Airport

Leave it to Dubai to come up with the most insane in-airport gym in the world, where you’ll feel like you’re at a mega-resort spa and fitness center without even leaving the terminal. The G-Force health club at DXB has steam rooms, a sauna, jacuzzi, Nautilus gym, relaxation pool, and showers, so a long layover can actually leave you less stressed than a short one. The airport also has two spas, if you’d prefer to skip the workout portion of wellness, and multiple prayer rooms complete with Ablution facilities. They’re designed for Muslim passengers but open to anyone.

4. Changi Airport, Singapore

Photo: ChiMoL/Shutterstock

You don’t routinely top lists of the world’s best airports without a good fish spa. So be sure to hit the Airport Wellness Oasis, where fish will nibble on your feet while you wait for your flights. You can also get non-fish pedicures, massages, or other spa treatments. The wellness doesn’t stop once you leave the designated oasis, though! You’ll also find oasis lounges with big, comfy couches and ergonomic recliner chairs. Rather swim like a fish than get massaged by one? There’s a full-on lap pool at the Aerotel Transit Hotel, which is free to hotel guests and available to anyone for a fee. Or you can just cool off and shower at one of two Ambassador Transit Lounges, then enjoy an orchid garden, butterfly garden, or piazza garden full of seasonal plants.

5. Hong Kong International Airport

Photo: Hong Kong International Airport/Facebook

The Terminal 2 Wellness Lounge with massages, mani/pedis, and full hair salon services lands HKG pretty high on this list. As do the free shower facilities, designated resting lounges, and “relaxation corners” with giant recliners and fast WiFi. If you want a little exercise, this airport is a short shuttle ride from the SkyCity Nine Eagle Golf Course, where you can play nine holes before jumping on your next flight.

6. Vancouver International Airport

Photo: Vancouver Airport

You realize what an emphasis the folks at YVR put on relaxation when you step into their customs arrivals hall. The airport takes a place almost always synonymous with stress and decks it out in local plants and waterfalls. It’s the most relaxing immigration line in the world, a big part of why this airport ranks so high. Another is the Fairmont Vancouver Airport’s Fit on the Fly program, which allows passengers traveling through the airport to access its fitness facilities for a small fee. Look for Vancouver to rank higher in coming years: The airport’s installing a forest of live Douglas Fir trees as part of its $9.1 billion renovation, complete with an open roof to allow in rain and snow.

7. John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York

Photo: littlenySTOCK/Shutterstock

JFK is a lot like the city it services: Like NYC’s five boroughs, the airport has eight separate terminals that could really be individual airports unto themselves. So lumping American’s terminal in with Delta’s would be like lumping the Bronx in with Staten Island. That said, JetBlue’s Terminal 5 rates JFK highly on its own, with reclining silence chairs and a lounge with full showers. There’s also an urban farm right outside the terminal, which grows produce for employees and a small amount of Terra potato chips. You can’t visit the farm — it’s only open to local school kids and employees — but it’s nice to know a trip to JFK can also be a relaxing trip to the countryside.

8. Haneda Airport, Tokyo

Photo: Haneda Airport International Terminal/Facebook

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport recently launched the groundbreaking new Haneda House. It has, to our knowledge, the only full-fledged boxing gym located in an airport, a few years late for Tyler Durden but still a pretty cool advent. It’s also home to a virtual driving range if you want to hit some balls and take out that flight-related aggression. There’s also a folding bike rental, providing bicycles you can take with you into the city. Outside Haneda House, the airport also boasts a calming observation deck where you can relax and take in the wonders of flying after all that exercise.

9. San Francisco International Airport

Photo: San Francisco Airport

The airport that led the in-terminal yoga room charge in America still ranks high for wellness, offering two yoga rooms and three spas for pre-flight relaxation. SFO also is the odd airport with its own aquarium, which is open at all hours (though the fish might be sleeping). You can buy day passes and shower at both the American and Delta lounges, as well as at Freshen Up, which is also open 24 hours in the International Terminal. The Napa Farms Market is also one of the best airport food shops in the country for healthy, fresh-tasting local food.

10. Toronto Pearson International Airport

Photo: Nadezda Murmakova/Shutterstock

North America’s fourth-largest city doesn’t skimp on wellness amenities at its international airport, starting with the WellBeing Spa in Terminal 3. Here you can get facials, waxing, or threading while you wait for your flight, or just relax in the nearby Plaza Premium lounge. Lucky for us Americans, both of these are located after customs in the US flights section. If you’re in Terminal 1, you can also hit Goodlife Fitness, a full gym that sells day passes and will rent you clothes if you didn’t pack them in your carry-on.


More like this: The 10 best airports in Europe to travel through

The post The 10 best airports for wellness in the world appeared first on Matador Network.

Flagstaff's Lunar Legacy Trail

July 20, 2019, is the 50th anniversary of when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. His path to get there included a good deal of time training in Flagstaff, Arizona. Eleven others, including Alan Shephard and Buzz Aldrin, also trained in Flagstaff as part of the Apollo Moon Missions, creating a lunar legacy which is massively understated. No city — not

Best traditional Chinese desserts

Dessert in Western countries is typically sweet foods like ice cream, doughnuts, cookies, and candy. In China, dessert strays away from these super sugary concepts — even cake is turned on its head and means something different. Dessert in China can be either sweet or savory, and many times, it’s both, making for a delicious combo that satisfies both kinds of cravings. These are eight Chinese desserts you need to try on your next visit.

1. Mooncake, or yuèbing

Photo: Amawasri Pakdara/Shutterstock

One of the most well-known Chinese desserts, yuèbing, otherwise known as mooncakes, are traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This festival is right up there with Chinese New Year in terms of significance and is celebrated during the middle of autumn when the moon is at its fullest. It’s thought that the moon is closely tied to the seasons and agriculture, so the Chinese would offer a sacrifice as thanks to the moon during the autumn season. The festival became official during the Tang Dynasty. Part of the sacrifice is mooncakes, which are offered up and then eaten. During this time, people also give them as gifts to friends and family to wish them good fortune. Mooncakes are a round (like the moon), soft pastry. The fillings vary by region, from ice cream to custard to ham, though the original is sweet lotus seed paste and salted duck egg yolk.

2. Sweet rice balls, or yuanxiao or tāngyuán

Photo: dolphfyn/Shutterstock

Sweet rice balls can be eaten year-round but are especially important during Chinese New Year festivities when they’re shared between families to bring harmony and happiness in the new year. The round shape is meant to represent family completeness. The official name used for this dessert depends on what part of China you’re in. It’s called yuanxiao in the north and tāngyuán in the south, though yuanxiao came first. These sweet rice balls are particularly prevalent during the Lantern Festival that rounds out the new year celebrations due to sharing a similar name (it’s also known as the Yuanxiao Festival).

The glutinous rice powder used is what makes them sweet, and the fillings can further add to the sweetness (like with fruit or bean paste) or add a savory element with nuts.

3. Dragon’s beard candy

Photo: jreika/Shutterstock

Dragon’s beard candy is akin to cotton candy, though where cotton candy is large and fluffy, this Chinese confection is small and thin. The name for it comes from its similarity to depictions of dragons; the sugary strands are so wispy that they resemble dragon whiskers. The making of dragon’s beard candy is also considered an art form in China as it’s made by boiling a mixture of sugar into a gel-like substance, which is then made into a ring that’s folded and pulled over and over in figure eights until there are a number of tiny strands. But it’s not all sugar and potential cavities; after, there are hundreds to thousands of strands, and a filling (nuts are common) is added on top and then rolled so that it’s inside the candy.

4. Prosperity cake, or fao gao

Photo: Kristina Ismulyani/Shutterstock

A typical Chinese New Year pastry, fao gao has a number of English names — prosperity cake, lucky cake, and fortune cake. Its purpose is to bring luck when eaten, and it’s often gifted to others during the holiday. The word fa has a double meaning, both “prosperity” and “raised,” while gao means “cake.” The traditional way of making these cakes is by mixing rice flour, cake flour, and baking powder with sugar and hot water, and then putting it into cupcake molds. The batter is steamed, which makes the tops open up into four different sections. The cakes can come in a variety of colors, and while they look soft, the insides are quite thick.

5. Sugar painting

Photo: HelloRF Zcool/Shutterstock

We’ve all seen artwork of food that looks so appetizing that we want to eat it. In China, there’s a form of art that you actually can eat, if you don’t mind eating pure sugar. Sugar paintings are exactly what they sound like: paintings made out of liquid sugar. It’s thought that these edible works date back to the Ming Dynasty when sugar figures were part of religious rituals.

They’re typically found in street markets, parks, and, because of their popularity with kids, around schools. Artists can usually be found at a stall with their canvas of choice, either a slab of marble or metal. The liquid sugar has to be made first, so usually there’s a pot on the side where the sugar is cooked and melted down. Afterward, the artist will drizzle the hot sugar onto the “canvas” in the shape of whatever the buyer wants — butterflies, dragons, bicycles, flowers, etc. — and the shape can be either two or three dimensional. Then, the artist will attach a stick to it and remove it from the workspace with a spatula so that you can take it on the go.

6. Sweetheart cake, or lou po beng

Photo: francoimage/Shutterstock

There are several legends and variations that surround sweetheart cakes, but the most common one is of a married woman whose father fell ill. The family was poor and used a majority of their money to pay for treatment, and this is where many of the legends vary. Some are vague and simply, saying that the woman sold herself as a slave to buy more medicine, while others are more specific and say that she sold herself to their landlord — though whether it was to pay bills they couldn’t afford due to using all their money for medicine or to get more medicine depends on the legend. Another place where they deviate is on the husband’s involvement, though most say that upon hearing what his wife had done, he worked hard to make enough money to bring her back and created lou po beng as a result.

Sweetheart cakes originated in the Guangdong province (formerly known as Canton, making them a Cantonese dessert). Traditionally, they’re made with a flat and flaky dough that’s filled with candied winter melon, glutinous rice flour, and sesame seeds.

7. Black sesame soup

Photo: ThamKC/Shutterstock

Soup isn’t normally thought of as a dessert option, but black sesame soup in China is a dessert sought after for its health benefits. Served hot, all that’s needed to make the soup is water, rice, sugar, and, as the name suggests, black sesame seeds. In addition to giving the soup its opaque color, black sesame seeds are rich in nutrients that promote healthy hair and skin, blood flow, and bowel movements.

8. Hong Kong-style egg tarts, or dàntǎ

Photo: Coco Rattanakorn/Shutterstock

Egg tarts can be found all around the world, though they’re particularly popular within China as a dim sum option and can accompany any meal. There are different versions within China itself, but the most common is Hong Kong-style egg tarts, which have a British influence. Hong Kong-style egg tarts have a glossy finish, are flatter, and are sunken into the crust, which is made from puff pastry (with a more bowl-like appearance) or shortcrust pastry (like a pie crust). They’re also completely yellow. The taste is thick and almost jello-like. Prep time for this dessert can take hours, so they’re usually prepared in advance for purchase.


More like this: 5 essential Shanghai dishes you need to try that aren’t soup dumplings

The post 8 sweet, savory, and delicious Chinese desserts you have to try appeared first on Matador Network.

People are planning to storm Area 51

It’s become old news by this point. A UFO is spotted in the night sky, people speculate about its potentially alien origin, the government remains silent, and, eventually, the whole issue goes away. Not in the case of Nevada’s Area 51, which has managed to hold people’s interest for years. The alien enthusiasts have seemingly had enough, and they’re planning to do something about it. An organized storming of Area 51 is in the works — although creating a public Facebook group isn’t exactly an “ambush” — with the aim of finally getting the answers everyone has been looking for.

Over 400,000 people responded to the event, which invites people to “meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let’s see them aliens.”

The base is widely believed by conspiracy theorists to be the site of the government’s alien research, and it’s staffed by the US Air Force. There doesn’t seem to be any concrete plan in place, which may not be the most sound strategy when contending with the US government and, potentially, aliens. Since the public is barred from entering Area 51, any attempt to “storm” the place probably won’t be too successful.

To participate in the event, you’ll have to show up at the designated meeting spot on Friday, September 20. The entire “storming” is only scheduled to last from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM, so don’t worry, once you ambush the US government’s alien headquarters, you can still make it to work on time.

But, you know, don’t.

H/T: The Cut

More like this: 6 space travel projects that will become a reality in our lifetime

The post People are planning to storm Area 51 to discover its alien secrets appeared first on Matador Network.

Raglan, New Zealand, surfing guide

For a surfer, arriving in Raglan is a revelation. You might ask yourself why you thought of New Zealand mainly as a hiking destination. Or you might wonder why Australia gets so much surf attention. Strolling through the bohemian surf town, gazing at the endless sand of Ngarunui Beach, or catching a left-hander that goes on forever at Manu Bay, you might just decide to move to Raglan.

Charlie and Erin Young did just that. They came to Raglan, located on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, for a month-long trip, planning to drive a camper van to the country’s main surf spots before returning to California. Their van ended up parked in the driveway of a friend they made on their first day, and Charlie and Erin opted to stay in Raglan — permanently. That was 21 years ago.

“We fell in love with this community,” said Charlie, whose terminology by now sounds more Kiwi than SoCal. He added, “It’s a fairybook place, really.”

Not long after that, Charlie and Erin opened the Raglan Surf School, the first surf school in New Zealand. “People thought we were mad. Raglan was a sleepy town at the time,” said Charlie.

What’s crazy is the idea that there wasn’t a surf school in Raglan before then. There are eight surf schools in Raglan now, a few of them belonging to former instructors of the Raglan Surf School. And Raglan is slowly getting the attention of surfers from around the world.

The surfing is awesome.

Photo: Coralie Semelle/Shutterstock

What first attracts surfers to Raglan are the waves themselves. The left-hander that seems to go on forever at Manu Bay was memorialized in Endless Summer. The surf spots Indicators and Whale Bay are just beyond Manu Bay; given the rocks there, though, they’re best left to experienced surfers. On big days, waves can connect all the way from Indicators to Manu Bay.

Shortboarders looking for a steep, hollow wave will be stoked at Ruapuke. Just note that, even in friendly New Zealand, locals can get a little possessive of their home break. At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re just learning to surf, there’s hardly a better place to do so than at Ngarunui Beach, with its gentle rollers and easy shoulders for when you get good enough to ride the wave down the line. You’ll find plenty of take-off spots too, so you won’t have to battle it out with other surfers.

Not only is Raglan packed with good surf spots for every experience level, but it also has waves all year. While other surf destinations around the world may depend on winter storms or summer swells, Raglan never really has a down period. As Charlie sees it, New Zealand is a “wave machine.”

“You’ve got the heat of Australia and the freezing cold of Antarctica,” explained Charlie. “When they meet, things happen.” He said year-round storm systems generate waves in every season, adding that he’s been able to surf on every calendar day of the year.

In New Zealand’s warmer months from January to March, you get the bonus of warm weather, although swells are usually not as big. If you’re looking for powerful waves, and don’t mind 50-degree days, winter is the time to visit.

Nina Du Niak, an instructor with the Raglan Surf School who hails from the Pyrenees Mountain region in France, said that winter waves are simply nonstop — with back-to-back swells bringing waves every single day.

“Sometimes you stop surfing because you’re just too tired.” said Nina. “People ask, ‘Why are you not out there”?’ I say, ‘Because I surfed every day since three weeks [sic] and I can’t move my arms anymore.’ I’ve never had that before. That’s special.”

The location is beautiful.

Photo: Noelle Alejandra Salmi

Besides its consistent waves, Raglan is just beautiful. Green mountains meet the sea, sometimes in vast beaches and sometimes in small sandy coves. When you’re in the water on your board, the beach and the hills behind it seem to extend up the coast forever. Those hills are decorated with the ivory-hued plumes of the toetoe plant, which sways lazily in the breeze.

Due east of the surf spots, the town of Raglan itself spreads across two small peninsulas that are themselves inside a fjord-like inlet — so that the town is surrounded by water and hills. Because the town’s in the fjord, the sea there is calm, and massive tide changes create and erase expansive black-sand beaches every day.

Late afternoon bathes Raglan in a golden light, with quiet silhouettes of people rowing down the watery fingers of the fjord, kids riding bicycles, boys and girls passing soccer balls on massive grassy fields, and skaters trying new tricks at a skateboard park on the water’s edge — with rolling hills in the background, just for good measure. The scene is at once serene, sporty, and stunning.

Raglan is laid-back.

Photo: Noelle Alejandra Salmi

Raglan is chill. Surf shops like the Raglan Surf Emporium may have an intimidating coolness when you first peak in, what with its posters of big-name surfers and, in front of them, toned shopkeepers pushing back the sun-bleached hair from their eyes. But this is New Zealand, and attitude is hard to find. The folks who are in Raglan are happy they’re there and they make you feel happy to be there too.

Beyond the surf shops are a handful of artsy boutiques like the Kanuka Design Gallery and Ulo, yoga studios, the Wrong skateboard shop, and an organic grocer called The Herbal Dispensary. Restaurants include the Rock-it Kitchen and the Wallis Bistro, while George’s Beach Club is a good spot for a beer outside and the Yot Club is the place to hear music. And then there’s the The Shack, an airy coffee shop that seems to be a central meeting point in Raglan.

While restaurants keep opening up, hotels are in much shorter supply, with little more than a backpacker hostel and apartments for rent. That said, over a quarter of Raglan’s homes are listed on Airbnb. While that’s good for visitors, it puts pressure on the rental market, according to Charlie. Combined with Raglan’s rising real estate prices, young families are being replaced by older, more moneyed surfers, he said.

Surfing like it used to be.

Photo: Noelle Alejandra Salmi

Despite the changes, Charlie said that “the town still retains a chunk of its soul.” He said the community has come together in a group called Raglan Naturally to devise ways to manage the changes, adding that plans which are good for residents will be great for visitors, too.

As Charlie sees it, Raglan has world-class waves, art, music, skateboarding, and a “full-on Kiwi vibe.” There’s no doubt in his mind that it’s a must-stop destination if you’re a surfer. There’s no doubt in this surfer’s mind about that, either — nor in the minds of surfers I know who’ve recently traded their native Kauai for Raglan or who, more understandably, left Cornwall for this enchanting surf town.

Nina, the surf instructor from France, lives in Raglan with her Irish boyfriend. For her, Raglan still has a vibe that you don’t find in many other places anymore. Not that Nina was around back then, but for her, the undiscovered aura of the place harkens back to an earlier time.

“It feels like surfing in the 1970s,” she said.

If surfing back in the 1970s meant big, beautiful beaches with very few people; a small town with a handful of restaurants and bars; friendly, welcoming locals; and surfing uncrowded waves day after day, then yes. Raglan feels just like that.


More like this: 2019 is the year to finally try surfing. Here’s where to do it.

The post Raglan, New Zealand, is the coolest surf town you’ve never heard of appeared first on Matador Network.

Diving with sharks

Sharknado, sadly, is only the stuff of Ian Ziering, straight-to-TV fiction.

Swimming through a wall of sharks seems equally as far-fetched but is actually possible once a year in Fakarava atoll in French Polynesia. The 35-mile rectangular stretch of coral in the South Pacific is home to a small, 100-yard-wide channel called the South Pass, which for the weeks surrounding the summer solstice is filled with a venerable wall of sharks.

Okay, so it’s not an actual barrier fence made out of sharks. Though that would be cool. It’s a massively high concentration of gray reef and other sharks, who come to the South Pass to feast on spawning groupers. And if you’re cool with swimming through hungry sharks and fish reproductive fluids, it’s one of the coolest dives in the world.

Here’s how it works: Camouflage groupers flock to the South Pass each year for spawning. They do this because the torrential currents that flow through it each day efficiently carry fertilized eggs out to sea. Male groupers spend about four weeks here, fighting off other males for the right to be the first to fertilize a female’s eggs. Not the only one, mind you, just first. Seems like a lot of work to be Baby Daddy #1.

Photo: Grégory Lecoeur via Top Dive

About 17,000 groupers spend the month in the 115-foot-deep channel. While they wait for their chance to spawn, they also try and avoid the 700 or so sharks who also come to the South Pass looking to make them late-night snacks.

Fortunately for the groupers, they’re mostly too fast for the sharks to catch. The sharks know this, so instead of wasting energy trying to hunt in daylight, they just swim around the pass and enjoy the warm water. If you want to dive with sharks in a calm environment, daytime is the time to go.

However, if you’re the kind of person who replays lion takedowns on Planet Earth, you’ll want to dive the South Pass at night. Because the sharks can’t catch the groupers during the day, they wait until nighttime to pounce, when packs of hungry predators can rouse sleeping groupers, surround them, and tear them to shreds.

Some of the groupers survive the attacks too, swimming through the channel with missing fins and mangled eyes, still hoping to get a shot when the females release their eggs. It seems as close to a Civil War hospital as any of us will get.

Photo: Grégory Lecoeur via Top Dive

Finally, just around sunrise on the night of the full moon, females release their eggs into the water, and males furiously follow them shooting sperm they hope will fertilize the egg. If nothing else, it makes you thankful humans don’t breed this way.

Aside from the inherent grossness of navigating a sea of fish sperm, diving the wall of sharks is pretty safe. Or so says famed underwater photographer Laurent Ballesta who in 2014 spent an inhuman 24 consecutive hours at the bottom of the channel observing these sharks for National Geographic. In his account of the dive, he said humans are “obstacles, not targets,” and in a total of 21 weeks researching the phenomenon, the worst any of his team got was an errant cut from a surgeonfish.

Photo: Grégory Lecoeur via Top Dive

If swimming through 700 sharks by day and watching them pulverize thousands of groupers at night sounds like your idea of a dream vacation, you’ve got a year to plan. Companies who run these dives, like Top Dive, can help you with the logistics of getting there, then guide you as safely as they can through the wall of sharks. As with anything in life, there are no guarantees. But your odds of surviving are still a lot better than if you ever got stuck in a real sharknado.


More like this: The best places in the world to dive with sharks

The post You can swim through a terrifying wall of sharks in French Polynesia appeared first on Matador Network.