Monday we decided to go to Orient, on purpose because there were no ships in. We didn't have to deal with busses or the madness at Sunset. It was an interesting experience and to me, really scary for the 'new' restaurants on Orient. Stayover visitors have 'learned' to go somewhere else during the closure and if there are no ships in, they seem to have almost no business. Hopefully for them, stayover visitors will soon learn to come back and patronize them.



I wanted to try out Parrotville, a relatively new thing on SXM, again, on a non cruise ship day. That didn't work out so well, as they were closed! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> I saw an article in the Daily Herald about them and said they were open daily, but perhaps as of now, they are only open when ships are in?? We weren't exactly sure exactly how to get there and there were not any signs, that we saw anyway. From the Dutch side, go to the roundabout that is very close to the french border, where the relatively new McDonalds is. For long time visitors, it's where that blind corner used to be. Anyway, at the roundabout, go to your right, like you are going toward Oyster Pond. It's a very short distance there, maybe 1/4 mile on the right. I hope we will make time to get there when it is open. Supposedly, the cost is only $10. We took a picture of the front anyway! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />




We were be-bopping along the road toward Orient and went right past it, somewhat befuddled by the sign for the new development there.






This gave us an excuse to go into Paradise View for a couple of minutes. I picked up a very pretty pareo for $6 and took a couple of obligatory pictures.




So, on to Orient, which we had not seen since the new restaurants. The road to Club O is nicely graded now, as well as the road behind the restaurants along Orient. There hasn't been much rain lately, so that situation could certainly change. The parking lot is huge and nice. We walked down the back of the restaurants and checked out the bathrooms. Here is where some of the 'government project' clicked in. The restrooms were nice and very clean, but only three stalls on the women's side--one of which was filled with paper products and cleaning supplies. According to a local lady there, she said that there was no closet made in the building for such things. Really? They are also located ALL the way at the far end from Pedro's, instead of what would seem more logical to me, if they were located in the center.


We walked through one of the shops and I was stunned at the prices.

$25 t-shirts? Really? I know their rents are sky high, but I don't envision them selling too many at that cost. I was also pretty stunned at there was basically no one there.



We sat and had a drink at Brothers and saw several people walking over from Club Orient to take some pictures, but none of the restaurants or bars appeared to have anyone in them. This was around 11:30 AM. Aloha was closed. I DO like the wall, which I think will make a big difference as far as erosion on the beach.



We saw a fellow working on one of the restaurants which is not open yet. I should know his name, but do not. He said that the restaurant would be the Pirate, and it had been Ethnic before. We chatted for a while about the whole project, but he had to get back to work. He had said that he had planned to be open by this coming weekend, but figured it would be a bit longer now, as he wanted to take a bit more time to do things right.


Pedro's actually looked fairly spiffy, to me, for Pedro's that is.




The former stairs are all roped off now and stop several feet before reaching the sand now. You can walk in front of the building to get over toward Club O though. There is a new stairway off to the right of Pedro's now, to reach the sand.

Since we had the camera, we didn't go down to Club O beach, but there looked to be one row of chairs to the Perch, and then about two rows of chairs after that. We didn't see any seaweed anywhere on Orient.

So we headed down to Kakao for lunch.



We both opted for specials for lunch. I had the ginger beef with Oriental sauce, which was very tasty.




It was similar to Dreams' bo bun nem salad, although not quite as good. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Eric had a salmon filet with spinach, wrapped in puff pastry and served with a butter cream sauce.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/ksalmoninpuffpastry.jpg[/img]


He thoroughly enjoyed it! Kakao was moderately busy on the beach and by the time we left, the restaurant itself was pretty busy, with mostly what appeared to be locals or French tourists. It was a lovely lunch. I do enjoy their individual dining areas there.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/kview.jpg[/img]

So, it was back to the house for a couple hours and then we headed over to the Boat Bar for a couple of drinks and a "special" pizza.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/pizza.jpg[/img]

We had intended to make it to Sunset yesterday but didn't get there. Soon come.

[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/ttol/bsv2016/sbag.jpg[/img]

We weren't real hungry, so half of the pizza came home with us. It was another early night, such party animals we are!!