by Umair Hassan

Created on: October 13, 2009

For all those people who want to melt in the undeniable beauty of the ecological treasures, and the emerald green lagoon, then New Caledonia is the place to be!

It is the third largest island in the Pacific Region, and is located in southern Melanesia, around a 1500 km from Australia and 10,000 km from the West Coast of the USA.

The brilliant blue skies, the swaying palms trees, the pure white sand beaches and the moderately windy tropical nights makes Caledonia popular amongst tourists. The feeling of walking barefoot along the island shore, with fine white sand rubbing against your toes, the fresh smell of tropical flowers relaxing your mind and the warm feel of the surrounding turquoise water, gives one an exotic feeling.

It's like visiting Heaven.

* Culture

The official language of New Caledonia is French, however it is estimated that 27 Kanak languages coexist in the place. The traditional staples are coconut, fish, banana and sweet potato. Also many love lobster and conconut crab.

New Caledonia is a rich multi-cultural society as Melanesian population has proud heritage and culture, and thus throughout the place a strong Melanesian influence can be seen in architecture, art and crafts and even in hospitality. The Melanesian influence is superbly and in its most unique way blended with French influence, and also other smaller influence like Polynesian and Asian can also be noted.

The culture of New Caledonia is also expressed in its art. The traditional pilou dance by the Kanaks (Melanesians), expresses stories of births, marriages, battles and even cyclones. The place has traditional music to its name, which involves instruments like conch shells, rhythm instruments and bamboo flutes

* Restaurants

New Caledonia suits all sorts of taste buds. The major restaurants are around Noumea, but for those enthusiastic souls, who prefer to make their holiday meals by their very own hands, hotels like, la Promenade, have special kitchen facilities for them.

Some of the famous restaurants include, The Ouen Toro at l' Escapade Island Resort (Noumea). It has three dining rooms, and can host dinner to 200 people. One can tell the staff to set up tables near the swimming pool area and then enjoy a romantic dinner of French cuisines.

The Parc Restaurant is another one, which offers irresistible French cuisines. One can either dine in one of the two dining halls or on the terrace by the lagoon swimming pool.

Also, many, for its French foods and irresistible French

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