Nairobi, Kenya Getting off the plane in Nairobi (yes, I know, I’ll get to Tanzania in a bit) we were greeted with just perfect weather–Egypt and Jordan were too cold, Zanzibar was just a little too hot and humid, but the temperature in Nairobi was perfect. We had a very pleasant flight experience with Kenya […]
Treatment of Women Most of us have some idea though not a good understanding of the poor treatment of Muslim women in Muslim countries. That is a lengthy and complex topic and I could write about some of the rumors I’ve heard, but lacking concrete evidence I will not venture there. Instead, I will use […]
Hotel Voucher My flight schedule on Qatar Airways had me flying from Amman, Jordan to Doha, Qatar (Qatar Airways’ hub), a layover there for 13hours, and then on to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Having read online other people’s uncertainty as to their long layovers in Qatar, I called the Qatar Airways office in the US […]
History Tango originated in the brothels of the poor working class neighborhoods amongst the immigrants of Buenos Aires. According to Lonely Planet, “It was a strong blend of machismo, passion and longing, with an almost fighting edge to it, symbolic of the struggle for possession of a woman.” Perhaps that’s also what gives it the […]
Watch out, Italy, here she comes! But at least I know my roommate is smart enough to avoid this situation: Ms. Liu, who taught in Bulgaria, says she had no idea that the Chinese were considered loud until she and her colleagues drew disapproving looks at restaurants in Sofia. “Many of the shortcomings of our […]
This morning while at the airport, this was shouted about me. A woman standing about 10ft away kept saying to her son, ‘look, look! A foreigner, look. Say hello.’ I’m not a monkey in a cage! This is not the zoo. I’m not a spectacle! I can understand what you’re saying and find it degrading […]
In my job as a tour leader in China, I have developed a secondary purpose for myself. Beside fulfilling my role and duties as a tour leader, I’ve also started educating Chinese people as to Western standards of politeness, appropriateness, and generally just good behavior. Undoubtedly this sentence reads as very arrogant and culturally insensitive. […]
As a prepare to become a tour leader with Intrepid Travel and be based out of Beijing for the next 8 months, I believe its time for a reflection on life in Shanghai. When did all the white people move into my neighborhood? This last week I was wandering around my apartment complex eating dinner […]
Saturday marked the start of the Lunar New Year holiday as it was New Year’s Eve. Lunar New Year in China is like Christmas, New Years, and 4th of July all rolled into one massive holiday. Its a very important family time, religious time, and also a time for presents and celebration. On New Year’s […]
(Well here’s a very strange situation…I wrote this Sunday night. It got posted to my website and was even imported into Facebook. But when I looked at my website on Monday, it was gone! Either someone deleted my post or my content management system lost it. I have no idea how either could happen, but […]
Although Beijing is reputed to be a chatty city, I find that the Shanghainese like to talk a lot as well. The Chinese just like to talk…well as least my colleagues do. The Chinese leader does the talking in interviews, in meetings, and in sales meetings. I find this very counterintuitive to Western ideas. In […]
This interview by a China blogger with an—dare I say—expert on Chinese outbound tourism is quite interesting and very informative. Roy Graff’s business concept is brilliant, just wish I’d thought of that. Tourism is fundamentally a good thing and Chinese outbound tourism helps to reduce China’s astronomical trade surplus. And I’m all for speeding up […]
I’m so proud of myself in terms of my geographic knowledge and country knowledge. Even though it was not enough to let me pass the US Foreign Service exam it’s still far more than the average person and enough to impress others at cocktail parties. 🙂 When I was at the Interchamber Mixer on Wednesday […]
Having ridden the subway and buses over an extended period of time in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, I find that the preferred activities engaged in during time spent traveling vary a lot between countries. I’ve survived the super-packed morning rush hour in Madrid and Hong Kong and the potentially even […]