W New Orleans: French Quarter, anyone?

No other city in the US perhaps holds more secrets side by side with pomp and pageantry than New Orleans. But one revelation this city in Louisiana is proud to unravel to its visitors — either first timers or frequent guests — is that it’s a place where dead people surface near their burial sites. But don’t be spooked out quite yet.

Over the many times I have traveled to New Orleans, I have come to understand the explanation for this phenomenon, which has long intrigued its initiated and uninitiated guests. The city, with about 1,500 canals, has a high water table and sits below sea level. In the past, coffins in low shallow burial graves would quickly rise from below. Because of this, the “six feet below the ground” expression does not sit very well as the dearly departed are buried above the earth in ornate mausoleums, which are usually for rent because of the very high cost of owning one.

Don’t get me wrong but a trip to New Orleans will never be complete without visiting the most dramatic cemeteries with Creole aristocracy and ornate mausoleums. The most famous of all is probably the tomb of Marie Laveau. Crowds visit her tomb, marking it with an  “X” (requesting that she grant a particular wish).

“This is the richest place in the world because it is here where dreams were not fulfilled, love was not continued, visions not born, joy and happiness not turned into more abundance because they all ended abruptly,” our tour guide Andy explains of the tourist fascination with the cemetery tour. “Patience, loving kindness and time ought be to valued when decisions are made but remember to make them while they still matter.”

If the secrets of the dead keep resurfacing due to the high water table level, New Orleans also reveals a not-so-secret joy that is celebrated every year: the Mardi Gras. Frenetic is the mood up and down Bourbon Street. Participants create a sybaritic, hedonistic atmosphere. But the revelry created is convivial and contagious. People in costume, or almost no costume at all, parade the long stretch, colors bursting along the way. The sound of happiness permeates the air, the scent of intoxicating revelry perfumes it. Painted faces and out-of-this-world floats steal the show. But the real scene-stealers are the revelers who, if you throw beads and pearls at them, will show you their “bumpers” and “tails.” When well-wishers seated or standing in the balconies above the street throw merrymakers some more beads, the revelers reveal even more flesh. With that, the partying on the street is kept at a fever pitch, seemingly unstoppable. It is always very hard to judge who among the Mardi Gras revelers will stand out because everybody in that sea of humanity (we’re talking about millions of participants here) trumpets a unified voice of glee.

Long after my Mardi Gras experience, I can still feel the drums beating in my heart. My affable niece Christel Boncan-Constantino, who recently had her honeymoon at the French Quarter with her charming husband Mike Constantino, Yahoo Philippines country sales director, also raved about their experience of New Orleans. In fact, Mike told me they haven’t gotten over the elation of their visit. If you see their captivating smiles, just ask them to explain why.

In the city, my friends and I stayed at the W New Orleans-French Quarter. We were pampered. And if you really want to know how to feel loved in the city, the whimsical and exhilarating W hotel just knows how. Our days upon waking up here were spent basking in the scent of fresh morning dew. The magnified and languid afternoons can be spent just having a margarita while watching the world go by. 

I love the W hotels all over the world but I must admit, I do play favorites. In fact, my dear friend GM Greg White of W Vieques in Puerto Rico, where I witnessed the magnificent bioluminescent bay, arranged this stay for me in the French Quarter through the kindness of Emily Schmidt Liuzza, the complex marketing manager. Nothing is ever the same when it is with the W. I often say, if I were a hotel brand, I would be a W —“Whatever, whoever, what else.” God always gifts us with the best that He knows will eventually make us the happiest ever. That’s how I feel every time I stay at the W. 

The W New Orleans-French Quarter has fanciful accommodations with guestrooms named Wonderful, Spectacular, Fabulous and Mega. It also has a Studio Suite and a Fantastic Suite. Each room opens to either French Quarter or European courtyard view that has a balcony, patio or separate sitting area. All the rooms have tempting beds adorned with a custom pillow-top mattress, silky 350-thread-count linens, a goose-down duvet and four plump hypoallergenic pillows. The sleek bathrooms have the legendary Bliss Lemon + Sage Sinkside Six amenities.

The W New Orleans is where elan meets cool. It’s showy and glass-robed on the outside, classy and garnet–hued on the inside. The hotel is a paean to pleasure. Only the best of everything is good enough at this notable Big Easy address. From dipping in the pool at daylight, getting sexy for dinner, joining happening in the living room and getting hotter and hotter despite the scene at the Rande Gerber’s Blue Whisky Blue Chic and all that jazz.

One tip to always remember when in New Orleans: bring your appetite! How can you decide when there are thousands of restaurants to choose from? The Tourism Board of New Orleans can help you decide which restaurant to dine in, which jazz club to attend or parade to watch! Try the Grills that serves oysters cooked with spicy Parmesan cheese, seafood jambalaya and bananas flambé with rheum cream. 

You will fall in love with the French market where all kinds of merchandise is peddled from leather goods to trinkets from the Far East. Many of the shops and food concessions are inside a complex of renovated buildings. We grabbed a bite at Café du Monde known for its delicious beignets, which are rectangular donuts drenched in sugar. We passed by many houses of voodoo, which sent shivers down our spine. Voodoo was a primitive practice imported by slaves from Africa and it incorporated a multitude of gods, rituals and cults. There are witch doctors and voodoo queens who tell fortunes, sell love potions and put curses on an opponent — anything to earn a quick buck.

We had a drink at the world famous Pat O’Brien’s Bar. At its cobblestoned courtyard, we sipped refreshing cocktail blends before checking out the Jack Sutton Shops that specialize in the finer things in life like antiques, estate jewelry and fabulous artworks. We enjoyed delectable Creole cooking at Olivier’s Restaurant arranged by the New Orleans Tourism Board.

The dichotomy of contrasts in New Orleans is very stark — like the soulful rendition of Amazing Grace by a lone saxophonist, versus the lively choir in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Just like the W hotel, there is always a sensational twist in the city.

Every whimsical nook and cranny of New Orleans always reminded me of the inspiring, refreshing and provocative experiences the W hotel has offered me, from San Diego to Seoul, from Maldives to New Orleans. Yes, at the W New Orleans, travel on the electrifying journey inside the heart of the brand to a place where comfort meets cool, innovative design intersects with fashion, food, music, art and everything in between. In the W, there’s no such thing as rules. An exit can be turned into an entrance. You can always depend on the kindness of the W concierge for whatever you desire. Everything can be done at this hotel — as long as it is legal!

New Orleans has many monikers. This “Big Easy” and “Crescent City” is home to almost half a million people. It is a melting pot of races. For hundreds of years, Native Americans made New Orleans their homeland. By the 17th century, the French set their sights on this sleepy backwater. Jean Baptiste de Bienville named the settlement in honor of the Duke of Orleans. The Spanish took over in 1762. Napoleon gained power in 1800 but three years later France sold the city to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase.

I will never forget New Orleans and how magic resides in this amazing city. It is a burial city where many dreams may have been buried by those who could not make them come true but for me, I always believe that God had plans and new purposes for each and every one of us to resurrect or renew our dreams for they are precious and few.

Now, where was my coffin supposed to be again?

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For information, visit www.starwoodhotels.com. Cathay Pacific flies direct from Manila to Newark, New Jersey then drive or just take a domestic flight to New Orleans. For info, call 757-0888 or log on to www.cathaypacific.com. 

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Email the author at miladay.star@gmail.com.