One Lap Around Jamaica

So, our bellies full, we proceed to the shopping plaza...which is a great slice of Kingston life. I really liked the shoe store and a couple of clothing shops. Quality merchandise at a quality price. They even had Steve Madden shoes at a fair price, so if I wanted, I could be stylin in JA....but, something else beckoned...the promise of A/C, free drinks and fun!

And....off we went to the Terra Nova Hotel to the Monte Carlo Gaming Lounge! http://www.terranovajamaica.com/ente...ent_gaming.php
However, and much to my dismay, they have done away with their OTB parlor. Which, was the nicest OTB in all of JA!

Now it was time to play slots since their is no live table games(more on THAT in a minute!)....I sat down at a three machine row..next to Rob and Lisa.....first up Keno...no joy...next up some fookin Texas Oil game....BINGO....and then the incredibly racist Chinese Restaurant game...BINGO....so, I had made a little money and I was a little tired of slots...I spied a blackjack game...the oddest one ever! This was an electro-mechanical, opto read analog-digital machine under a glass bubble. What this means is that the machine has a 6 deck split shoe that it deals cards to on a conveyer which sends the cards to a mechanical hand the flips the cards over for you to see and a camera to scan, it then puts your cards up onto the video screens, then turns the card over, sending it along the bottom of the conveyer and back to the shuffle area of the machine, where it shuffles a deck at a time and replaces the cards onto the bottom of the shoe! What a Rube Goldberg design!!! Well, it worked for me! I play a strict basic blackjack, with a progressive betting scheme based solely upon winnings...I set loss-limits and win-goals. I almost NEVER play at home, only on vacation!...I doubled my bank in only twenty hands! I had to slow down my play to take adequate advantage of the free Appleton and Coke's and the great food! They came by with jerk chicken that was good and jerk sausage which was EXCELLENT!! Dang! I;ve never been served food at a table, except in the high stakes blackjack parlor at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas...and then it was only club sandwiches....this food at the Terra Nova ROCKED!!!!

So, with our buzzes firmly in place and my wallet bulging, it was time to return to the Mayfair for some food and drink at the Pub....courtesy of the Terra Nova!!!! FOOOOOOK MOI!!!!

Next up "Q's at the Pub and Funny Things Seen Therein!"

Wallet bulging.........hmmmmm... 100's or 1000's one must ask??? Either way good.

Wicked report!

Jamb

Here is a daytime pic of Usain's Tracks & Records - I tried not to interfere with the business lunch crowd - there were several tables on their lunch break:

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And for lunch, the sliders caught my eye - three spicy jerk burgers with 3 different cheese toppings.... I didnt get a pic of the soup bowl, but it was big!

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Loving this road trip

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ohliz

Man my first meal in Kingston the first time I went was in a casino...I wonder if it will be the same one..?



One of the things I love about Kingston...I'm just another person walking in a sea of people walking somewhere. I grew up in Manhattan so it felt just like home to me :)

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Hey i must agree..NYC born and raised you can walk from canal st to the GW bridge and if your lucky you might get 1 hello...unless you are a beautiful women then you will be fighting them off like sand flies at sunset....

True bigg, true :) Loving this report, ready to hear/see more!

Thursday night at the Pub.....we apparently aren't full as we ordered dinner...I think I shared a burger...or a fish taco or something yummy and filling....

I think it was this night that a table of 20-something Kingstonians were out partying and one gal in their group had WAY too much to drink. Honestly, I don' think I have ever seen a Jamaican that drunk! She finally pissed off her BF and other friends, but they did come to her rescue when it was time for her to puke and pass out!!! OMG....drama in the Pub!

The Pub is a very friendly place with a very cool vibe. The first two nights, we are the only non-Jamaicans in the place....this would change tomorrow night because of the USA v. Jamaica World Cup Soccer match!

It was midnight, we were full and loaded and it was bed time. The tab, not small by any means, was courtesy of the Casino......thank you TERRA NOVA!!!! Again, it was Thursday and the pool area was quiet...sleep came easily...

Next installment---"Is This the Way to Port Royal?" or "Ummmm....I Think Seaview Gardens Might Be Dangerous".....

Friday's sunrise saw me getting ready for a dip in the pool before heading to Port Royal for a visit. After Rob and Lisa got ready, we left....sometime just before 10am. The traffic was horrendous and since none of us had been there, we relied on the rental car map. That was, as you will see, a strangely fateful decision...

So, we are smack in downtown Kingston, and the best I can make out of this crap map is that Port Royal is past the airport on the causeway......so....I look at the map again and see an airport..."Let's go right Rob....." Well, that was in the opposite direction and towards some very small general aviation airport, NOT the international airport! SO, we drive and drive and realize, eventually, that we are smack in the middle of the industrial wharfs and right across the road is Seaview Gardens.....YIKES! We eventually get turned around, but dead end right into the entrance for some petro storage facility. The nice guard had a chuckle when we told him where we wanted to go! At least he pointed us in the right direction. So, we are now back near downtown and we spied a sign that said "Follow The Hummingbirds to the Airport". Where was that fookin sign 1/2 hour ago????

SO, we followed the fookin hummingbirds and sure enough, they got us onto the causeway. We drove and drove and finally made it to the airport and then drove and drove some more and arrived in Port Royal. We pulled up and noticed three large tour buses....and nothing else....odd......

We walk up to the ticket window where I again experience the "locals v. tourist" pricing scheme. Again, a HUGE difference. Rob and Lisa grab their ID cards and try to hand them to the lady working the kiosk. "Mon, we don take dem cards" "These are our JA ID's" replied Rob. "Oh....thought dem were credit cards! We don take dem!" Everyone had a good laugh and I even got the local's pricing!

As we enter Fort James....an eerie feeling comes over us.....I feel very ill.....we are approached by a tour guide who thanks us profusely for coming out to the Fort and looks at us a bit quizzically...and looks at her watch....and then says...."Thank you again for coming, as you know it is a special day and we have a free movie on Port Royal for you to watch and then you can tour the museum and have a walk anywhere you wish!" "You have the timing perfect!" We look at each other and then at the tour guide who then informs us that we have arrived on the 321st anniversary at the exact time of the 1692 Earthquake and that all these schoolchildren are here to spend the anniversary! You could have knocked us over with a stiff breeze!!! I started feeling even more ill and sat to watch the movie...which was HILARIOUS for the fake British and pirate accents! Finally the odd ill feeling passed and we set about to explore the Fort....the Giddy House, the rotary cannon emplacements, the powder magazines...all had sunk from 6 to 16 feet from the Earthquake!!! The grounds are very cool, the whole thing just blew our minds! The museum is very cool as well, and includes a pocket watch recovered from the ocean(1/3 of Port Royal sunk into the ocean!) that they used to determine the exact time of the Earthquake....which we had also figured out, albeit accidentally!!!

Next Installment--"OMG Look at the Size of These Portions!" or "Oh FOOK That Wasn't a Sweet Green Pepper Slice!!"

This is very exciting. Ready for the next instalment

Lisa has a few more pics, but here are the front entrance to Fort Charles

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Fort Charles
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The Giddy House
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The Historic Naval Hospital
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