tv Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown CNN November 21, 2014 8:00pm-9:01pm PST
8:00 pm
show the night before. i am going to miss that note tomorrow. thank you to all of you watching. please keach watep watching. i will still behere on cnn to continue our conversation. here we say, the end of the game just the start of the story. i can't wait to see what story we tell next. good night. ♪ ♪
8:02 pm
♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ nearly a year on the road, all those miles, all those airports, infinite variety of awful plumbing, it was time for something low impact. so off to jamaica. ♪
8:03 pm
this is the first time i've ever driven a car on the wrong side of the road. i mean, knowingly. how hard can it be? oh, i get to pass on the right too. thankfully we have a roll bar. but this time a different angle, you probably know of jamaica has a vacation paradise, it's worth mentioning, this is a divided country and has been in one form or another since the days of slavery. there's a small minority who controls almost everything, and there's a poorer, darker-skinned majority, less connected, left out. jamaican cuisine, a lot of it reflects this conflicted history. red fruit, salt fish, this was slave food, cheap, long lasting, filling. introduced basically as feed.
8:04 pm
8:05 pm
there's the jamaica that most jamaicans live in, cook in, struggle to survive in. the real jamaican. then there's the jamaica which you're probably more familiar with. ♪ but tourists have been coming to jamaica for a long time. when this part of the island, particularly port antonio threatened to become an international jet set location. he was ship wrecked here on his yacht in 1947 and promptly fell in love with the place. before flinn, there's been an empire of bananas. a huge industry that later became united fruit.
8:06 pm
bananas went out, tourists came in. the banana business eventually went elsewhere and when tourism shifted to the other side of the island with the construction of an airport at montego bay, that was pretty much it. the northeast coast was largely forgotten. ♪ it has the feel, still, of a forgotten paradise. there are those who believe that the area can come back, that it must come back. that the future is in hotels and resorts and restaurants for wealthy visitors as it once was. ♪ take this place, for instance, the trident hotel, luxurious, best of all, i'm the only guest.
8:07 pm
oh, did i mention it comes with a castle? what kind of person would own a building like that? who? why? then, this man arrived and kind of answered that question. all of this belongs to michael lee chen, local boy turned millionaire, one of the richest men in the world, and my host. he's invited me for dinner. right, yeah, that sounds like a plan. but first, we need crabs for that dinner i'm told. caught in the traditional style. a drink is in order. >> cheers man.
8:08 pm
>> crab in. >> crab in. ♪ >> a lot of crab holes. this time of year the port antonio is crawling with crabs, i'm told. it'll billion really easy, just scoop them up and it's back to the pool. >> i'm looking, a lunge at them. it's hot. >> i think it's that rum. >> it's sweltering freaking hot, and dark. >> did you find something? >> yeah, yeah. >> awesome, man. >> but it doesn't seem to bother the hotel chefs who risk dismemberment for a tasty dinner. >> we want him alive. we have questions to ask him. where are your friends? >> yeah. >> one crab down, 49 left to go. >> we've got to get some more
8:09 pm
tonight. >> i'm frankly anxious to get this over with, so when the opportunity arises to stick my hand in a holing with there's a crab looking to clamp down with its pincers, i could care less. nothing. nope, nobody home. >> oh [ bleep ]. >> are those fire ants? wonderful, please attack my nut sack. anything to get this over with quicker. >> he's running. hey man. >> i don't to want kill the little guy. >> that's it right there. right, left, whoa. >> expert. >> nice one. >> next. >> what seems like several sweltering hours later, it's mission accomplished and it's back to home base and time to get ready for dinner at the castle followed by a party i'm
8:10 pm
told. >> do you recognize these? >> i put this guy in a bag. i'm joined by michael, his partner john baker, music producer and hotelier, john's wife, flinn's grandfather luke flinn, and his wife, sky. you grew up in this -- >> yes. >> in this area, what was port antonio like in the '50s? >> port antonio was, it was vibrant, banana, lots of wealthy tourists. so port antonio was a happening place. ♪ >> you're a man with a diverse
8:11 pm
financial interest. >> uh-huh. >> banks, communications. as a veteran of 30 years in the hospitality business, why? why would you do such a hard and probably unprofitable thing? [ laughter ] usually unprofitable. >> you're being very kind. >> it's really -- >> business, i thought you were smart, brilliant, but your behavior shows that you're dumb. >> no, no, i know the answer. are you a romantic? ♪ >> great things will happen when you dream, you aspire, you see a vision, and you settled to achieve that vision. trident is here to capitalize and for people to and to discover again. >> where does it cross over why
8:12 pm
where all of the things you love about this area, where all of the villas are spanking new, and people are building 400 room hotels, is there a threshold where things start to not be the things that you loved about the place in the first place and how do you guard against that? >> you know, tony, port antonio is a long way from getting there. it has not progressed out of the '50s. >> its had very little tourism in recent years. >> why, everybody loves reggae, bob marley, everybody loves spicy, delicious food. what's the problem? >> because you don't get off a plane and go hundreds of yards to an all inclusive. you have to get here -- >> it's that simple? >> it's as simple as a lift and simple as we're surrounded by the blue mountains and it's an effort to get here. so it filters out certain form
8:13 pm
of travelers. we have to make it easier. >> you get beat out by a lot of -- >> exactly. even in jamaica, lamer areas for me, if someone says i've been to jamaica and not port antonio, oh really, you didn't get a real feeling of jamaica. >> you can't go many places in the world and find natural beauty, people genuinely warm, where there's a strong culture of food, strong culture in terms of music, and at the same time, be able to be part of a community and you can be a visitor without being a part of a tourist industry. ♪ ♪
8:14 pm
hello. during world war ii, british naval intelligence officer ian fleming came to jamaica on a secret mission to investigate possible u-boat activity. like the legendary character he would later create, he was a spy. the mission came to nothing, but fleming fell immediately in love with the island and vowed to return. than ever why now is the best
8:15 pm
time to be on verizon. one: verizon's the largest, most reliable 4g lte network in the country. that's right america. with xlte in over 400 markets. two: and here's something for families to get excited about. our best pricing ever! get 2 lines with an incredible 10gb of data to share for the low price of $110! or just $140 for a family of 4! and three: get $150 credit for every line you switch. the more you switch, the more you get. verizon.
8:18 pm
hello. during world war ii, british naval intelligence officer ian fleming came to jamaica on a secret mission to investigate possible u-boat activity. like the legendary character he would later create, he was a spy. the mission came to nothing, but fleming fell immediately in love with the island and vowed to return. which he did. buying this place, golden eye. at the time considered very spartan, a cottage, single room
8:19 pm
really, few smaller rooms in the back, but an incredible view. he spent much of the rest of his life here writing a book each year at this desk. you know those books. ♪ today, fleming's cottage has been enlarged and made more luxurious as a hotel, but the original house still stands along with some improvements. grotto, eh. what did every male want born in 1956? they wanted a grotto. it sounded good to me at 12, as i got older, who was in the grotto before me becomes a concern. like ron jeremy just leave the grotto? am i the first one? someone changed the water? these were concerns later in the life. this was it, i wanted a grotto. i still kind of do. ♪
8:20 pm
thank you so much. this is totally better than the playboy mansion. you know that the playboy mansion totally smells like old man ear stink. the current owner of golden eye is another unusual man, chris blackwell, legendary music producer turned hotelier. over the years, blackwell expanded the property into a resort, gates reaching right up to the fishing beach. blackwell has big plans for the area. ♪ the next day i live golden eye's
8:21 pm
luxurious embrace, headed into town for something, well i just had to have a long time favorite. what do we have here? oh, ox tail. >> yeah man. >> goat. >> sweet. >> i don't care whether it's the bronx or kingston or wherever i can get it, ox tail, and of course rice and pigeon peas. got to have that. god, i love the food in this country. >> it's the best. >> it's such a mix. african. a lot of -- people totally miss out. goat. east indy is what they used to call it. >> that's true. >> chef chris's cook shop became a thriving business in a town that's seen better days. how long you been open here? >> i've been open, in this little shop for 13 years. >> 13 years. >> yeah man. >> the town changed in that time or stayed the same? >> right now, our economy is not good right now.
8:22 pm
>> why not? it's one of the most beautiful areas in the world. >> for real. we have a beautiful water front. >> beautiful weather. >> what more could a guy ask for? >> what do you think went wrong? i mean, why would people stop coming? >> i guess the guys in the top seat messed it up, they're trying to correct it now, you know. >> it's expanding fast. >> yeah. it is. it is. >> you're going to be building all the way -- >> all the way down there. >> all the way around. >> so that's thousands of tourists. >> thousands. to be honest, i'm waiting for the moment. i don't want to think. ♪
8:23 pm
we really need that, this town was dying fast, real fast. chris blackwell came back and he's booming the town. that's a good step in the right direction. >> oh, thank you. oh yeah, see now, now i'm happy. that is just beautiful. nice place to grow up? >> it is. >> that's what like being a kid? >> my childhood days, i used to spend it on the beach. >> that's good. who gets to do that? >> well, i guess only me and my friends. >> do you ever take it for granted, like do you get -- >> we do. >> you do? >> we do, we do. see the thing about it when we really need it, that's the time we can't have it. a lot of our water fronts have been gone. we have very little right now. you know, it's okay. we have james bond beach like ten minutes walk from the house. we're one of the lucky ones.
8:24 pm
dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future.you. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. which means it's timeson for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. hurry in and get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment
8:26 pm
8:27 pm
8:28 pm
i'm here to hit a local rum bar where one can indulge in a fishermen's breakfast, rum. so we drinking rum here, beer, rum and beer? >> all i know is hard core. >> but you're recommending just like beer and rum together? >> better now. >> all right. >> right. then one part of rum. >> yep. >> and four parts of beer. no water. no ice. try that. steel bottom. meaning -- >> good. >> and you could take it to your dimension. >> so who fishes here? you fish? >> yeah. >> what are you fishing for? >> multiple fishing. >> yeah. >> snapper, your parrot. >> business better or worse? okay, worse. >> fishing is a problem. >> this is a fishing village for now, at least. all throughout the caribbean,
8:29 pm
fish stocks are in decline and making a living from the sea is getting harder and harder. >> so right here, it's actually the fishing area. we're trying to revive the fish stock around the island. >> so if this becomes a protected sanctuary, what are you doing far living? >> we'll have to go further out to sea. >> that means more gas. >> more gas, and less fish. so it's a strain, right. >> is there a future for the traditional fishing industry in jamaica or do you think like every place else in the caribbean, is it going to end up an entirely tourist economy? >> it's going to belong to the tourist. this place, i can tell you something, i live up the road, love the spot. blackwell, i cannot fish in there. >> here's what i'm kind of
8:30 pm
getting here, rich people want to live what they see as a simple life, in their minds, they want to live the life of a jamaican fishermen. they want to live the life of somebody that doesn't have a lot of money. but the people who actually do that now are giving up their living and essentially given the tourist sector? there's weird irony at work here. who gets to live in paradise? >> nobody. because guess what -- >> you have a point, there's a lot of things going on here, right? i read a piece of paper a couple months ago that's going on down here, all right. native here, there are no beaches. >> this architect's model sits in one of golden eye's offices, showing what the coastline will look like if all goes according
8:31 pm
to plan. >> they've going to come inside here. >> i'm no expert on local politics, whatever is going on here has clearly stirred up some strong emotions. >> the school kid, they also want to own that. >> wait a minute, i'm talking -- >> wait a minute. >> stop that. >> stop talk. all right. big man, stop talk. >> why? >> come here, come here. >> sit down.
8:32 pm
>> don't do that. don't do that. sit down. >> which is better, to be your own man, uphold family tradition in a dangerous, evershrinking, ever more difficult business trying to catch fish in the sea or carry a golf bag for a wealthy tourist? i couldn't tell you. i was in the service industry cooking people's food for most of my working life, so it's not like i have anything against it, but i don't know. >> let us find the spirit in man and travel. because we are here in the present, this is coming. and we are going to go on into there.
8:33 pm
if one man die, all man dead. and if one man live, all man live. one moon, one sun, multipurpose in the energy on life. black, blue, green, pink, yellow, river, sea, mountain, bird, dog, man. the money, everything is connected to the universe. so if we are one person does not realize or wherever we are within the time. earth will not disappear. ♪
8:34 pm
♪ ♪ sea captain: there's a narratorstorm cominhe storm narrator: that whipped through the turbine which poured... surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. chipmunk: there's a bad storm comin! narrator: the internet of everything is changing how energy works. is your network ready?"
8:37 pm
8:38 pm
sad to say, i think it's unlikely that 50 years from now, anyone but the extraordinarily fortunate, the extraordinarily connected, and the extraordinarily rich will be able to even look at a vista like this. that is my personal theory. look, here i am. fully aware of the irony of the situation. it's like the whole preservation thing, preserved for who? save the reef, for who? save the beach, for whom? not you. probably. ♪
8:39 pm
later that evening, blackwell invited know his private bar just down the cliff from fleming's old villa. there are very few pieces of land anywhere on earth like this, especially with this kind of legendary status. >> legendary status, yes, bond's best space. >> chris blackwell is the founder of island recorders. he's credited with discover, bob marley and spreading the gospel of reggae in the mainstream all across the world. to the extent that one person can sort of be responsible for the sound track of your life, you are responsible for much of the soundtrack of my life. he signed brian both -- >> yes.
8:40 pm
>> did you have any idea signing bob marley, the extent to which his image alone would blow up to, you know, the level? >> bob somehow managed to touch people in every corner of the world in different cultures, different societies. no, i never could have imagined. i don't think anybody could have imagined, it's so unbelievable. >> having sold island recorders for some rumored to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, blackwell spends his time, well, doing whatever he wants. you have a number of hotel properties, rum business -- >> uh-huh. >> what's the master plan? or are you just having fun?
8:41 pm
>> always is to have fun. that's part of the master plan. i only live one time. i'm very excited about here. what i'm doing here. i'm trying to break a little resort town into something that filters into the town, filters into the parish, filters into the country. >> lately the project at hand is the fish sanctuary, set up to protect the local fish habitat and breeding grounds. the noble cause, but one that has put blackwell squarely at odds with some of his neighbors. it seems to me that most people who come to jamaica pretty much stay within the compound of, you know, sandals or whatever, and don't really get out there much. >> it's a business model, and that business model works well for people. ♪ the market that i'm going for
8:42 pm
are the ones on the high level, in terms of high cost level. >> is it inevitability that all of the caribbean will end up as a service economy? >> yes, i think, yes, i think mainly so. and then it's based on tourism. it's based on people -- >> tough balance. the engine that's going to preserve or safe is depended on who's coming to look and what they're willing to pay to come and look. >> uh-huh. >> can there be a balance do you think? can a place this beautiful be unspoiled? forever. >> i think it could be a couple hundred places like this in jamaica. as long as there are people who can go and spend some money in communities, go to little restaurant, go to a little bar, go to, you know, shopping. that's essential for jamaica to really thrive. >> if life were a bond film, who would you be in a bond film? >> well, there's only one hero
8:43 pm
in the bond film. >> you'd be the hero? >> i'd have to be, yeah. >> i don't know that i'd be the villain, i'd be like number 17. >> he doesn't have a happy end, and his end is kept short. >> yeah. one: verizon's the larg, most reliable 4g lte network in the country. that's right america. with xlte in over 400 markets. two: and here's something for families to get excited about. our best pricing ever! get 2 lines with an incredible 10gb of data to share for the low price of $110! or just $140 for a family of 4! and three: get $150 credit for every line you switch. the more you switch, the more you get. verizon.
8:44 pm
it's more than the car.er. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge is the cloud. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. this is the microsoft cloud.
8:47 pm
8:48 pm
>> this is aki, jamaica favorite dish. typically in jamaica, we use it as a breakfast. >> cynthia and dennis run this place and come highly recommended. i'm told this is the spot for the got to have it or you ain't been to jamaica aki and saw fish. rehydrated and cooked, it happens to be toxic if you don't handle it right. now they say the best -- >> in jamaica. >> anywhere. >> and yeah, also some banana. that is delicious. cynthia's friends joy and margerie have restaurants on the beach, here too it's in danger of redevelopment.
8:49 pm
and all this might disappear into the everchurning wheel of, well -- ♪ >> it is a public beach. it has been one of the best beach in jamaica. the beach was left to give the poor people of jamaica. >> so the government takes it over, supposedly to make it a public space, but they want to sell it to, what a hotel group? >> yeah, they want to make like a resort. >> there were a lot of islands on the caribbean where you're not allowed to own a beach. meaning all beaches are public.
8:50 pm
even if it's an exclusive hotel, at least theoretically, anybody can go. >> right. >> here it's different. here if you can buy a house and the beach, if you, you're a hotel, you can make it a private beach. meaning, they don't let the locals or venders. they can keep people out. >> right. >> how many public access beaches are there in this area? >> just one. >> one. >> this one. no more. no more. no more beach. >> we have other beaches around, you know, we have like blue lagoon which is a private beach. and this is the only public one. you know. >> yeah, what happens if, i
8:51 pm
mean, that would be sort of ridiculous if jamaicans can't go to the beach in jamaica. >> what do you think your chances are, do you thing they're good? you will win? >> i have been fighting over 7 years. i say i am going to fight until i reach the top when i reach the top and lose i feel better. when i'm not giving up. >> let's face it there are only so many beaches in this world. only fewer unspoiled beaches and even fewer beaches like this. >> that's one of the thing that's nice about this area, it is not a big resort area like some of the other parts. and the food is amazing.
8:52 pm
>> yeah, yeah. nice food. >> you can't get this at the hotel. >> not likely. >> so fresh. >> ready, really, really tasty. y i am going to- have to come bac here tomorrow. >> whenever people come here and they has problem they go to the sea and they look over there in the ocean. and when they are finished, they never have a problem again. go right in the water and down. and i hope that the world can see what is going on at the beach and that they can come out and enjoy the beauty of the beach, the nature of the beach, the people and the love of the beach. off awe right. >> right. ♪
8:53 pm
8:55 pm
we're a force of nature, too. you that straight from the only florigrove taste...an bring because florida's natural is the only major orange juice brand that's owned by growers and never imported. we bring that "straight from the grove" taste from us, the orange juice growers... mornin' ma'am. ...to you, the orange juice lovers. and you can taste it in every glass. florida's natural. great taste. naturally!
8:56 pm
8:57 pm
oh, yeah. ♪ hi. wow. what a spread. i'm not going hungry today. beautiful. thank you. i'm so excited. mm. that is actually quite delicious. you're not missing out on starches. you get yam, plantain, bread fruit, peas, corn, carrots, dumpling, festival. like the man said, eat dessert first. life is uncertain. mm. it's good. i knew i was coming back here.
8:58 pm
it was a smart move to come back here. these ladies can cook. point being, the way the world turns, the inevitable grind of history seems to indicate that places like this and people like this get plowed under, pushed aside, paved over. who owns paradise after all? who in the end gets to own paradise, use paradise or even visit it? that's probably a question worth paying attention to before there's none left at all. ♪ how do you do this and be a good
8:59 pm
person? i don't think you can. like if you wanted to do this regularly for the rest of your life? i'd like to spend three months out of the year in a hammock, looking out at the caribbean in a secluded beach like this. you'd have to do bad things to do this, right? james bond doesn't get this. james bond's a hustler. he gets this for a few days before he moves on to the next location. the guy who lives here is the bond villain. not james bond. ian fleming was much closer to blowfeld or hugo drax, you know, sitting around in hammocks, trying to figure out how to [ bleep ] the world. a lot of down time in world domination. bond was a working class [ bleep ]. that's what i've been missing. all right. summon the ruba caranas. where's my cocktail?
9:00 pm
this is where i bought my first bag of heroin. it was 1980, i was 24 years old. but in a lot of ways, my whole life up to that point was leading to this address. western massachusetts, the unlikely new frontier of america's war on drugs where heroin has become an exploding problem that's begun to touch nearly every family. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪
97 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on