Factory 798 isn’t necessarily what you’d expect to find in a communist country. This arts district is peppered with industrial spaces turned art galleries, showcasing contemporary art, photography and abstract sculpture.

Located in the Dashanzi area, this former state-owned factory can be tough to find but, those who venture beyond central Beijing will be rewarded with trendy cafes and awesome art designed by Chinese and Taiwanese artists.

First stop was the visitor’s information center for a map and a list of the day’s lectures, dance performances and film screenings. Next, a little gallery hopping, absorbing all styles of artistic expression: everything from Japanese video installations, to experimental nude photographs, to pop-art representations of Chairman Mao.

Pop-art Representations of Chairman Mao at Factory 798

Post exhibit, I popped into one of the many cafés dotting the district. I ordered a cinnamon cappuccino and a plate of pesto pasta drizzled with goat cheese. In the land of the dumpling, it felt odd to be eating this style of cuisine. This is communist China? I thought to myself while nibbling on a fork-full of green penne.

Visitors taking it all in at Factory 798

In a country that implemented the Cultural Revolution and once condemned artists now allows a modern art district. Though the Chinese government isn’t financially nurturing the arts, “they’re not storming buildings to burn down paintings either,” confessed a Finnish curator who worked in one of the galleries. “Today, a lot of censorship seems to originate from the artists themselves,” she continued. In order to survive, galleries will only carry art that sells. “Instead of art-for art’s sake, artists are creating works that are commercial viable.”

The result is revolution-less art; cool to look at, but ultimately, it lacks a strong social message. In the past, many Chinese creative types, journalists and web bloggers have been arrested and jailed for expressing their views.  I can see how, whether this censorship is self-imposed or not, being cautious is probably best.

For the art-lover traveling through Beijing, Factory 798 is well worth the trip. Expect cute boutiques, art installations and, at the very least if the art doesn’t move you, you’ll be guaranteed a great dish of pesto pasta.

Instead of signing up for four years of filmmaking school, I hunted on-line for an intensive film course that would teach me the craft, quickly. New York Film Academy offers a four-week workshop that teaches Spielberg wannabes how to write, shoot, direct and edit. Their programs are all over the world, from Paris to Milan, London to Seoul, Tokyo, Florence and Shanghai. www.nyfa.com

I paid my tuition, packed my things and flew down to NYFA’s Los Angeles school, located near the Universal Studios lot.

The Hollywood scene was a mix of glitz and grit. A city of three S’s: schmooze, smog and silicone. It’s not the most welcoming for newcomers, but L.A is the industry hub and is one of the best places in the world to learn the biz.

A typical day at the New York Film Academy is divided into lectures and workshops. There I was, sitting in a classroom with a dozen other young hopefuls, taking copious notes about the art of screenwriting. Mostly 20-somethings from all over North America and Europe, fellow students were serious about filmmaking.

Over the month, our teacher worked through the curriculum. He broke down the elements of a good story and taught us how to write a three act structure.  We learned the mechanics of a 16 mm black and white camera, experimented with shot composition, cast actors and directed our own crew. The course was intensive. After classes, workshops, individual projects and group work, there wasn’t much time left for anything else.

Some days, we’d step out of the classrooms and onto the Universal Studio back lots.  It was pretty cool strolling around the Cabot Cove set from Angela Lansbury’s Murder She Wrote and Pyscho’s creepy Bates Motel.

My first short film was shot on a Western film set. Picture saloons, spurs and tumbleweeds; actors dressed as cowboys, saying the word ‘partner’ a lot. Add a little sepia effect in Final Cut Pro and voilà, my first Western.

On this day, I was in charge of lighting the scene. I knew how to use a light meter to gage how much light hit the surface, but I had a hard time properly exposing the scene.  Since we’re dealing with 16mm film, lighting was far more complicated than a digital point-and-shoot camera. F stop became my nemesis.  I thought I’d grasped the concept, but, after the film was processed, I discovered that the entire scene wasn’t lit properly. The film came out completely black.

Slowly, I got the hang of it but one thing was for sure – there’d be no Academy Awards in my future. Though playing movie mogul was fun, I think I’ll stick to travel writing and leave the red carpet to Steven Spielberg.

Are you a die-hard film buff? What are your Top 5 most cinematic cities? Leave your comments below….

With its light-weight body, intuitive touch screen and multi-media features, the iPad is shaping up to be a handy gadget for avid travelers.

Strikingly similar to the iPhone, I don’t think it’s as revolutionary as advertising would suggest, but, with tons of entertaining features to kill time at an airport, I can certainly see the value for those like me who spend a lot of time trapped in transit.

Not only can you can surf the web, check your email, store your photos, watch high-quality videos, surf YouTube, listen to music through iTunes and read thousands of e-books with the mere flick of a finger, but you can access a growing amount of travel apps made exclusively for iPad.

There are new iPad travel apps being launched everyday, but here are some of the best:

1) Kayak.com: Leading the ratings race in the “travel” category, Kayak allows travelers to quickly search and book flights, hotels and car rentals from their iPads. Just like the website Kayak.com, this app helps you compare prices across hundreds of sites to find the best travel deals.

2) Submaps HD: Now you can navigate a spider web of underground transportation systems across some 16 cities. Maybe this means I’ll finally stop getting lost in subways around the world.

3) Loopt Pulse: Search the best of events, bars, restaurants and music venues across a variety of cities. Read reviews, get directions and, for those who like to stalk, this app helps you find where your friends are, what places they like and what they’re doing.

4) Beat the Traffic: Great for road trips across North America, this app helps combat your inner road rage. With live traffic maps, up-to-the-minute weather conditions and incidents on major routes across 100 cities, Beat the Traffic helps for a hassle free commute.

5) DishFinders: Satisfy your cravings for a particular dish with this new app. Dying for a juicy hamburger, tuna sashimi, pesto pizza or foie gras mac and cheese? Search your stomach’s desire and DishFinder will set you up with local delicacies in the area.

What do you think of the iPad? Indispensable gadget for frequent fliers or pure marketing genius? What iPad travel apps do you recommend? Leave your comments below….

If you’re in the Windy City this weekend, check out the Chicago Tribune Travel & Adventure show! On Sunday, March 21 from 2:30pm – 3:30pm, I’ll be talking about my adventures around the world, through 80 countries across six continents.  I’ll share tips and tricks for maximizing your independent travel and boosting your cultural experiences while cutting the costs.

Here’s a brief description from the travel show’s official website:

“The world’s largest travel and adventure show – the Travel & Adventure Show – gathers hundreds of captivating destinations from exotic India to captivating Cayman and exciting, activities: a huge scuba pool, kayak demonstrations, an aerial zip line, a rope adventure course, cultural performers and much more. The Travel & Adventure Show is THE place to kick off the winter blahs and plan that ultimate vacation.”

In terms of presenters, I’m in good company – renowned travel writer Arthur Frommer; Captain Keith Colburn, fishing vessel Wizard from Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch and Zac Sunderland, the youngest to solo circumnavigate the world.

For more details and tickets, check out: http://www.adventureexpo.com/

Hope to see you there!

In the spy capital of the world, it’s no surprise that the International Spy Museum is a hot ticket.  In downtown Washington DC, just steps from the FBI building, this one-of-a-kind tourist attraction has been educating the masses and instilling paranoia since it first opened in 2002.

This past weekend, between schmoozing and stage presentations at the Travel & Adventure show, I had a chance to check out The Spy Museum.

This unique museum traces the history of espionage – from Biblical times, through World War II, the Cold War, to modern day.  Dubbed “the world’s second oldest profession”, spying has quite the rap sheet.

Museum exhibits include: testimonials from former CIA agents, tips on disguises, surveillance and decoding classified information.  Displays are packed with authentic artifacts and cool spy gear. There’s even an Aston Martin – used in the 1964 James Bond thriller Goldfinger – fully loaded with an ejector seat, machine guns and tire-slashers.

I loved the spy gadgets.  There’s the lipstick tube that morphs into a pistol, the camera watch, the poison gas gun, even the radio transmitter disguised as dog poo.

Pace yourself when you stroll through the Spy Museum.  There’s a lot to see and just when you think you’ve reached the end of this huge and exhaustive collection, there’s another labyrinth of rooms filled with more stuff.

For those Bond wannabes who prefer sitting to strolling, Spy City Tours offers an alternative to the museum-going experience.  This coach tour, launched in September, is taking espionage to the streets.

Departing from Union Station, this two-hour Grayline tour claims to hit “Washington’s most notable espionage sites.”  If you only have a few days to visit, this tour kills two birds – seeing the city while learning about real life spies.  A training officer (a.k.a the tour guide) teaches the group about the risky spy missions that went down in DC.

Tourists can expect to see buildings where clandestine meetings unfolded; hear stories about men who betrayed their countries; try to decode their own secret (but very simple) message.

“Trust no one. Spies are among us,” warns the training officer.  “According to CIA video sources, undercover ops often use disguises and pose as average people.  Dog walkers, couriers or repairmen may actually be spies.”

With so much talk of covert missions and surveillance gadgets, it’s easy to feel paranoid.  Who’s watching?  Are pedestrians innocent bystanders or are they CIA agents?  The tour preaches that things aren’t always as they seem.

Though they may breed paranoia among conspiracy-theory junkies, both the Spy Museum and the new Spy City tours are worth the time.  They give us common-folk a peek into the secret world of spying, leaving us to question whether that cigar is really just a cigar.

Julia’s Tips:

- On weekends, the International Spy Museum is packed.  Go early to reserve tickets.  For more information on the museum and the new spy city tour visit www.spymuseum.org

Have you been to the Spy Museum? Any other must-see attractions in DC?  Comment below….

If you’re in our nation’s capital this weekend, check me out at the Adventures in Travel Expo!  Sunday, March 7th at 12:15-1:15pm, I’ll be talking about my adventures around the world, through 80 countries across six continents.  I’ll share tips and tricks for maximizing your independent travel and boosting your cultural experiences while cutting the costs.

Here’s a brief description from the travel show’s official website:

“The world’s largest travel and adventure show – the Travel & Adventure Show – gathers hundreds of captivating destinations from exotic India to captivating Cayman and exciting, activities: a huge scuba pool, kayak demonstrations, an aerial zip line, a rope adventure course, cultural performers and much more. The Travel & Adventure Show is THE place to kick off the winter blahs and plan that ultimate vacation.”

For more details, check out: http://www.adventureexpo.com/

Hope to see you there!

Check me out this year’s New York Times Travel Show (Feb 26-28th at the Javits Convention Center), the largest consumer and travel trade show produced in the US, featuring more than 500 tourism boards and 23,000 attendees.

Travel seminars are held throughout the day, hosted by experts in the field including the “Frugal Traveler” columnist Matt Gross, “Practical Traveler” columnist Michelle Higgins, WOR Radio host and travel experts Arthur and Pauline Frommer, “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” author Patricia Schultz and yours truly.  I will be a featured speaker for a seminar called:  Around the World With Julia Dimon – Beyond the Tourist Zone. In this 45 minute session, I’ll talk about my adventures across some 80 countries and six continents, from extreme religious festivals in Sri Lanka, to fair trade coffee farms in Nicaragua, to worm-infested jungles of Venezuela.  With an insatiable passion for off-the-beaten track exploration, I’ll share tips on maximizing your very own travels, experiencing local culture and pushing beyond the tourist traps.

I’m also speaking with Max Hartshorne and Kent St. John about Travel Writing 201:
GoNOMAD.com editor Max Hartshorne and senior travel editor Kent St. John, and TV personality Julia Dimon (that’s me) provide insider’s tips for travel writers.  This class builds upon last year’s successful workshop.  Back from a trip and want to share what you saw with the world?  We will present an overview of the travel writing market for beginner travel writers, and provide tips and tricks that will help get your articles published.  We will also teach you how to use social networks like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to get more exposure for your travel stories on the web.

Hope to see you at this weekend’s New York Times Travel Show!!  For more information about the travel seminars, check out: http://www.nyttravelshow.com/Travel-Seminars.html

If you’re in Boston this weekend, check me out at the Boston Globe Travel Show!  I will be speaking about two hot topics:

Travel Writing 101: where I offer a step-by-step guide on becoming a travel writer.  In this interactive discussion, I’ll take you from proposal to pitch, providing tips and tricks that will help get your articles published.  I’ll also offer social media secrets on how to promote your writing.

The Reality of Reality Travel TV: where I talk about the behind-the-scenes reality of filming a travel show across some 36 countries.  I also offer advice to those looking to break into the TV travel industry for themselves.

Visit the Boston Globe Travel Show for more details: http://www.bostonglobetravelshow.com/

Hope to see you there!