FAQ

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I'll be having dinner tonight with some American friends in Fulham, then tomorrow in Islington at an American-friendly British friend's house-warming party, then Saturday another dinner with a friend from home in Marylebone. How English do those neighbourhoods sound??

Anyway, I thought this Thanksgiving I'd offer a summary of the frequently asked questions that I get from people both here and back home. Not sure if you'll find this interesting at all, but hey - all my posts can't be winners.

#1 - Why did you move?
Obviously there'll be many reasons, but for me it was basically that I'd been living around NY for my whole life - never even did a study abroad thing - and wanted to see how I dealt with living somewhere else. I guess you could say I wondered if, with all the rain England gets, the grass was greener.

#2 - Do you prefer NY or London?
A tough one! Both cities are similar (big, lots of action, good culture). What I typically say is that a lot of my old friends and family are around NY, so I have a strong bond with that city, but being able to hop on a plane and be anywhere in Europe within 3 hours is really amazing. I think typically the restaurants are better in NY - at least when you consider value for money. I did see Vin Deiesel shortly after I moved, so felt like I was still in NY.

#3 - When are you moving back?
Dunno mate. There seems to be trouble where ever I live, so I guess I'll play it by ear.

#4 - Does it really rain all the time there?
Not really. My first two summers were great and then the other seasons didn't rain that much but you had to have your umbrella because there always the threat of rain. And it was usually pretty light rain. This year, though, it's rained a lot. It's pretty much been like you hear about - just today I heard people saying how surprising it was to see the sun.

#5 - Is it really expensive?
Yes. But I get paid in pounds, so that helps. I think I basically live about the same as I did in NY, but I've had to compromise a couple of things - I live further out and shop at the supermarket more. So that means less take away and eating out. Partly because of the cost, and partly because the city is so spread out that it's more of a trek to see my friends for dinner. But I do all my shopping in America. I never thought I'd consider clothes in NY cheap. On the other hand, the Euro has strengthened a lot as well, so if I go to Europe that's about as expensive as it was when I moved - but all of Europe is MUCH more expensive for Americans than it was.

#6 - Favorite place in Europe you've been since you moved?
Edinburgh. Particularly the Edinburgh Festival that I went to with my friend Emily and her family. Crazy thing looking back on my blog though - I never actually wrote about that!! I think that was a really busy / stressful time for me, and I just missed it out. Perhaps I'll try to do a retro-spective post (that's one with neon green text). But the festival is absolutely amazing. People from all over the world come to put on small plays, gigs, comedy shows, and just about any kind of performance you can imagine. And since the city is fantastic on it's own, it makes for a really amazing couple of days. But the great thing is that the festival lasts for the WHOLE month of August, so you can just pick a good weekend and go. Of course, other trips have also been wonderful (esp. Prague - where I've made 2 trips but only wrote about 1, Madrid, and Croatia), but since I have to pick I'm going with Edinburgh. Emily should be happy to hear that.

#7 - What's the deal with this blog?
Well, when I started the blog, I said "to keep people updated on what's happening with me". That's a sensible mission I think. Over time, it became less personal (because it's on the Internet), and more of a "travelog" because I think that's more interesting and also a big part of what I'll look back on and wish I had captured better. I'm also using it to try to develop my photography skills, which have a long way to go, but hopefully some of the snaps are interesting at least. I also have asked people to not share this or link to it much. This mostly keeps it off the search engines, allowing me to remain somewhat personal while still having my name on the site. I do know, of course, that it is public, so that's part of the bargain.


What else would you like to know?

Post it in Comments and I'll try to answer in an upcoming post.

Enjoy that turkey!

Cheers,
Dan

Dan's Travel Tip of the Day

Don't forget to check the expiry date on your visa when you travel to India. Apparently it's important.

So, despite claiming here and here and here that I'm verging on becoming a professional tourist, I still make some really dumb mistakes. The most recent of which was showing up at the BA check-in counter all set to fly to India for a week, and not thinking to check the expiry date on my Indian visa. Ouch.

To be fair - I did think the visa lasted for 1 year, and it turned out to be only for 6 months. I can't believe it was already 6 months since I was there last! Well actually, as the nice check-in man noted, it was about 6 months and 1 week. Ouch.

In all though, it turned out to me more embarrassing than anything. Since this was primarily a work trip, my firm counts on people having to move around their travel (though typically because they have important businessy things, not because of silly visa problems), so I had a flexible ticket. I've moved the trip to January now, which actually turns out to be a better time for the team as well. But I was reeeeeeeeaaaaally looking forward to the relaxing weekend on the beach I had planned in Goa. This is the really cool area on India's south west coast you may remember from the opening scene to the 2nd Bourne movie. Hopefully I'll still get to go there next trip.

If you fancy making me feel better, go ahead and post a travel story in the Comments section where you f*cked up as well. Getting it out there really helps the healing process...

But I don't have to wait long to be on a plane again! I'm off this Friday to enjoy the wedding of my friends Rob & Emily. Can't wait! My brother pointed out that I didn't give nearly enough attention in my last blog post to the beautiful wedding that he had last month. Sorry about that! It was wonderful, especially that really funny and touching co-best men speech. I guess I'm moving things on this blog to be more travel focused, and less "my personal life" focused. I imagine you all understand. And the travel is probably more interesting to read about anyway!

Cheers,
Dan

Philly - Not as Bad as You'd Think

After having a blast at my brother's wedding, I kicked around NYC for a bit and then headed to see my friend Jerre again in Philadelphia. As this is sort of a "travel blog", I think it's about time I include some travel in America...

Perhaps you were like me. You live in New York. You know Philly exists. You know it's pretty close to New York. You know you should go there and see it. But nothing really seems to pull you there. So you end up taking 5 trips to Boston, 2 to DC, 3 to Indiana, 1 to Long Island, 10 to New Paltz (well, that's just me), etc. Anywhere but Philadelphia.

Why? Maybe it's that people get shot there, right? Don't they? Isn't it the grey city where Rocky lived for 15 movies where people kept getting into fights? (maybe that was just Rocky) Or the place where the Fresh Prince was born and raised? On the playground was where he spent most of his days?

But mostly, for New Yorkers (and many Bostonians), the reason is simply that it's not New York. So why would you go?

Let's just say Philly has polished up it's old image...


That's the world-class art museum where Rocky ended his famous training run. When I went up the steps, there were no throngs of people cheering (except Jerre), but turning around, this is what you see...


Philly is nice! Huh. You can walk almost anywhere. It's got a real old town full of cool streets, a new city where lawyers slave away in well architected glass towers, a river where you can sit and enjoy a coffee (or a pint)...


And alllllll kinds of American history. Like a famous bell with a crack in it. The old Supreme Court (where we learned exactly what passing the bar meant). Lovely parks, bars, restaurants. And this guy! Who broke out into Freebird at our demand! (just kidding)


Anyway, you get the idea. It's not your momma's Philly anymore. The thing I think I liked most about it was that when you were there you didn't feel like it was trying to be NY. They don't want to be that crazy city. They like being Philly. I had a cheesesteak. It was good! And you can see it all on the Philadelphia Segway Tour! Cool!


Go check it out!

Oh, and in serious contrast again to Philly...I'm off to India again at the end of the week! Will keep you up to date...

Cheers,
Dan

Munich - Celebrating the Hof

At the beginning of September, I ducked out of the office a few minutes early for a quick Friday night flight down to Munich to see Jerre, an old college friend, and Mike, his friend from law school. As you can probably tell, I've been extremely busy these days - a full on dose of crunch time at work combined with a bit of personal "soul searching." I suppose all I've learned is that the work just keeps coming, and the soul searching often leaves you with more questions than answers (oooh.....sorry - not really "blog-worthy" stuff for me). So a weekend trip to Munich with an old buddy was a fantastic antidote for the grown-up life I've been living lately.


Munich is the capital of Bavaria - the southernmost state of Germany - and embodies the classic laid back southern German tradition that makes the region so distinct. Well known for Oktoberfest (where my brother Chris made me very jealous by attending this week), drinking beer and having fun is seriously important to Bavarians.

We witnessed this very quickly when we headed up to the famous beer garden by the Chinese tower in the English Gardens. The day was a bit chilly, but not too bad, so we celebrated the crack of noon with a stein of Hofbräu beer. After about 30 mins, the clouds rolled in and a bit of rain started to fall. In any other place, that would have sent the people scampering for cover like ants hiding from a kid with a magnifying glass. But not in Munich - instead, the Germans whipped out their umbrellas and just kept on drinking. Brilliant! As we crouched under the shelter of a roof of a nearby building, we were definitely impressed with their commitment.


And our Saturday in Munich just got better from there...

After a quick break to stroll back to the center of town, the rest of the day was spent at the amazing Hofbräuhaus. As you may remember from other travels, I have a strong affinity for tourist attractions that have evolved over the years and that you can join in on, rather than simply being a spectator. A great example of this is punting in Cambridge.

The Hofbräuhaus is one of the most innately social places I've ever been. I've heard people say it's too touristy, but I complete disagree. The huge wooden tables mean that if you are with a small group, there's always someone sitting at the table with you. And people come there to socialize, so you immediately have no qualms about sparking up a conversation with your neighbor.


We chatted with a German/Italian couple who guided us through the 45 types of sausages, a Junior national crew team from Berlin (probably too young to be in there, but hey, who's counting), some Swedish tourists (yikes!), a bachelor party of a bunch of crazy German bankers (exhibit A - above with Jerre), and I even spoke bad Spanish with a young guy and his parents from Madrid ("me gusto hablerieron lo espanol!").

Everyone was friendly (well, drunk) and we had a blast. Sadly, the only people we didn't like were an American couple from Minnesota who just didn't get it at all. They were acting like they were better than everyone, and pretty much got booed out of the bar. The guy told me that my accent sounded like I was trying to be European! I felt so betrayed.


But even some surly Americans weren't enough to ruin our happy Saturday in Munich. On Sunday, we hit up the Alte Pinakothek museum and the Residenz royal palace. Both were pretty impressive and an easy walk from the city center. At that, Jerre and I parted ways again and I was back in London. A pretty good way to spend a weekend, eh?


So I'm back to the warm NY weather again tomorrow to struggle through my co-best man speech at my brother Mike's wedding. Good luck Heather!!

Cheers,
Dan

London Slang -- Slag

Slag
n.

A woman (usually too young) who is not attractive but puts on lots of makeup and wears short skirts.

Editor's Note: Typically she speaks with a very heavy East End accent and says things like "Am I bovvered?"


Slag off
v.

When you are spreading bad rumours about someone, typically behind their back. This is something often done by a slag.

Editor's Note: Often people would accuse someone of this by saying "Are you slagging me off?" These are what is known in Texas as fightin' words.

triskaidekaphobia

Another post in light of no recent travels...

I've decided I don't have nearly enough phobias. I'm picking triskaidekaphobia. Who's with me?

I'm off to New York next week. Other than the brief stop over Christmas, I haven't been back in over a year! Hard to imagine. Boy I hope the weather is good because it's been miserable here. Absolutely no signs of global warming here.

Dan

Glory Days

In lieu of any trips more trips to places like Timbuktu, I've been having a bit of fun in London.

On Tuesday, I got to see fantastic indie artist called Bright Eyes, who I last saw in London during his electronic tour the week of the July 7 bombings. He's one of those a great performers I wish I could see every week.

Then on Wednesday, I continued my pursuit of craziness with a trip up to Camden to see my favorite punk band, Against Me! -- that my friend Bryan and I also saw last year. I've been to a bunch of their shows, and have been thinking that I'll look back on these days with a big smile on my face. The last show we were at was even released as a live album. Here's a couple of pics that give you just a taste of how crazy it was and how close we were (the Underworld is not a very big place):




Did you notice that crazy guy in the background? What's his deal?? I was definitely more scared of him than the little punk kid with the mohawk who was in front of me.

Anyway, my "misspent" youth (yes, I know I'm no longer 15) got me thinking about what other things I might fit into my glory days list. Here's one:


Go NHS!!

Cheers,
Dan

Expats Among Exiles

The other half of my India adventure involved a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. If you are curious, Delhi is the name of the whole city, while New Delhi is the new part of the city that the British built when they took over India. Funny though that so many of our Western maps just say New Delhi as if the rest of the city isn't particularly important.

Anyway, upon arrival in Delhi, I had arranged to meet my friend from home (Dana) and the our driver (Durga) from the drive north that I described in the last post. Dana is one of the few travelers I know who puts my journeys to shame as she was doing a 6 week tour around India! She kindly let me tag along for the weekend. I found it endlessly entertaining that the three of us met at the little domestic airport in Delhi from nearly opposite ends of India - me from Mumbai on the west coast, Dana from Calcutta on the east coast, and Durga from Dharamsala in the northern mountains - to then spend 11 hours together. The life of a professional tourist can be extremely random.

Our destination was Dharamsala. More specifically, a small town just up the mountain from there called McLeod Ganj, which my Lonely Planet India guidebook said contained "most of the Tibetan action." I was eager to find out first hand what that entailed. What I saw and learned there is something I expect will stay with me forever.


Before I begin, perhaps I should say that I have an interest in politics and certain views on the world, but prefer to express them in conversation and debate rather than rants on web sites. I think that makes me an atypical blogger, but then again I only post about once a month these days, so I'm a miserable blogger in many ways. I'll attempt to portray the story that I've gathered so far, but am keen to not stress that one way or another is correct - obviously in a situation this complex there are arguments on both sides and I'll let scholars, historians, and politicians decide what will happen next. Apologies if you feel strongly about this and think I'm copping out. Now that I've fully covered myself, I'll continue my story. Please remember to sign the waiver before leaving this page.

Before I left, I had the unusual foresight to pick up the excellent book The Story of Tibet, recommended by the owner of my local used book store. Though the book is obviously skewed towards supporting the plight of the Tibetan people, it gave me a background that made the trip significantly better. Yet another major world issue that I'd heard a bit about (thanks mostly to Perl Jam and my hippie friends), but never really had any understanding. "Free Tibet" rolls naturally off most American's tongues. But what does it actually mean?

Let me start with a bit of background. Historical Tibet is the massive area of land that now makes up the western part of China. I've heard different definitions, but generally I think it is said to range between 2x the size of Texas and 2x the size of Texas and Alaska. There had been varying arrangements of government, but none that stayed strong for long enough that they defined the borders the way that let them fit nicely on a map. The Dalai Lama spiritual lineage had become the political and religious leadership of the region until 1950 when troops from China "liberated" the 6 million Tibetans and helped with the problem of defining the borders.

After much debate and many thousands of deaths, in 1959 the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama made his famous trek from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, across the world's highest terrain, to the border of India. The battered group arrived bewildered to the flashbulbs of Western journalists and were accepted by the Indian government to live in exile. He, and many of the Tibetans, settled in various parts of India, particularly the former British hill station of Dharamsala. Two generations of Tibetans have now grown up in exile.


This is roughly where Dan, Dana, and Durga come in. Arriving safely from our honk-filled journey, Dana and I checked into the Hotel Anand Palace, which I had arranged with much difficultly from London, for about $10 a night. Probably less than was spent on the phone calls to make the booking. We were mildly surprised to find on arrival that it was actually a Best Western.

The next morning, determined to make the most of my short 2 days there, we headed into town. Our first stop was the Tsuglagkhang Complex, the Dalai Lama's new temple. We were sad to hear that at the time of our visit, he was touring around America working tirelessly at his 50+ year mission to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. So we let him off this time.

The new temple is very simple compared to the elaborate and massive Potala Palace. In many ways, I expect this reflects the Buddhist philosophy of detachment better. The benefit for us of the Dalai Lama being out of town that the temple was much more accessible than it normally would have been. No big crowds or security to interrupt the tranquility.


For me, the highlight of the whole trip was the hour or so that Dana and I spent in the temple. We wandered through the main courtyard, where you can enjoy the sights and sounds of monks in active debate about the depths of Buddhist philosophy. The key source of entertainment for us being when one monk prepared to make a particularly strong point, he would wind up one arm as if throwing a fastball and bring it down on the other in a loud *clap*. For the rest of the trip, Dana and I picked up this fun habit and nearly achieve enlightenment through some lively debate of our own.


After settling in, we made our way up to the main part of the temple. There we found about 25 monks, young and old, chanting and meditating in the way I only expected to find on TV. An amazing, spiritual experience. They, gracefully, let you come in the temple and sit on the wooden floors in the back and meditate along with them. At this point, I was as far away from Connecticut as I had ever been - geographically, emotionally, and spiritually. We absorbed ourselves in the monks' chanting until my hips and knees began to ache.


After that we made a few of the traditional clockwise loops around the building, spun the beautiful prayer wheels (3rd pic above), and enjoyed the clapping arguments one more time. After that, we headed down the mountain to another monastery called Dip Tse-Chok Ling Gompa. It was built based on another monastery in Lhasa that was destroyed by the Chinese. Apparently only 4 of the monks from there were not killed or imprisoned during the conflict. Difficult to imagine as we strolled the grounds and admired the beautiful architecture.

This was particularly incredible because we literally had the place to ourselves except for the few monks who were going about their day to day life. We chatted for with one young monk who was folding robes. He was so pleasant and kind to us, answering all our silly questions with a smile. He even explained the process they use to make the stunning butter sculptures you see below.


The rest of the time around Dharamsala was spent enjoying the really cool local restaurants and hiking up mountains. The first hike was fairly short, but brought us up to an unbelievable little village that had magnificent views of the Himalayas. For the first time, we were greeted by local children not with a sad look and an outstretched hand, but instead with a smile and a request of "photo photo." The kids there just wanted us to take pictures of them so they could see themselves posing on the digital view screen. Three little girls, who had been playing hide and seek, though that Dana was fantastic. She was very sweet with them and I'm sure got a few classic pics!

The next day's hike up to Triund was a bit more serious. Ducking for cover along the way as a quick hailstorm threatened, we were entertained by several passing mountain goat herds. We also stopped at a small temple on the way up and got to play with a few more cool local kids.



I also got to slide down the permanent glacial snow with a bunch of pharmacy students from Bangalore. Though they were much more interested in Dana than anything I had to say. At the top, the mountains were mostly clouded over, so the view was a bit disappointing, but the hike was excellent. Amazing to be at 9500 feet and still see mountains touching the sky making your trek look like a mild stroll. Maybe someday I'll see the view from the top of one of them.


Cheers,
Dan

Blow Horn

The main thing I learned on my recent trip to India is that people, no matter what they are going through, figure out a way to make things work. It may not be the ideal solution, but we always seem to come up with something. As I was heading north from Delhi to Dharamsala, this really sunk in. I found myself looking over the shoulder of our driver (Durga) in amazement. The usual rules of driving - staying to one side, not overtaking on corners, using headlights - simply didn't apply. From what I can tell, there is only one rule in most parts of India: honk.

Our driver must have honked his horn every 30 seconds for the entire 250 mile, 11 hr journey. In the beginning I just thought he was a bit strange (I was getting used to not understanding quite what was going on there), but I began to realize that that was literally their way of controlling traffic. If you came to a corner, it was not uncommon to have a man and his wife in her sari on a motorbike zooming passing a massive pickup truck. And the way you avoided this catastrophe was by honking just before you came to that corner. Turns out it works like a charm. Clearly it helps that the roads don't let you go particularly fast either -- do the math on our average speed for that trip.

So what have Indians done? Paint on as many cars, trucks, and auto-rickshaws as they can "Blow Horn" and "Please Honk" with some flowers and pretty colors to soften the message. At that point, I began to realized how much I was going to like India.


Of course, there are many, many problems there that haven't been solved in such a cute way. The level of poverty for so much of the population is beyond anything I've ever imagined. My heart sank having to turn down one deathly looking child after another for fear that if I gave to one, then I would get mobbed by the rest. Don't get me wrong, you definitely do not see that everywhere you go, but it's not hard to find. So I didn't end up taking a single picture like the ones you see in the newspaper - it's just impossible to bring yourself to (1) take out your camera at those times and (2) not offer all the money you have when you do. I, clearly not very bravely, chose to just keep walking.

Amongst all this chaos, you start to settle into the flow of the city where you are. I started my journey in Mumbai -, which used to be called Bombay. I prefer Bombay because many locals still use it sort of as slang. A bit like saying NYC instead of the official New York City. All in all, I spent 5 days working there, 4 days traveling, and a day seeing the city. Much too quick to take in such a large country, but I did my best to see all I could. Dharamsala by itself will be at least one blog post, so I'll focus on the city for now.

Mumbai is growing fast. The team I work with is one of thousands of technology companies looking for less expensive, but still talented, employees. For us, another main driver is that they cover a time of the day when we don't have people in either our Hong Kong or London offices. So we can literally get things done 24 hours a day. Along with Bangalore and one or two other locations, Mumbai is a key part of this. So right along side the poverty I described above, there is a huge amount of success. I'm really hoping that this prosperity will be better distributed amongst the population, but right now it is simply a tragedy.

Back on the happier side of the city, I was thrilled to spend time watching people enjoying the cooler temps at sunset on Juhu and Chowpatty beaches - a favorite pastime for many locals. Here they are walking on the sidewalk of Marine Drive....




That community feeling is very strong there. For an outsider, it was nice to get a glimpse of how that feels for them. In fact, it is so important, that it was described to me as one of the things that makes people the most happy in their work - when they really feel included in the broader team. Perhaps Indian's aren't so different from the rest of us, eh?

Ok so sorry that's all I can write for now - early shift tomorrow. Gotta make sure that 24 hour system coverage goes smoothly. I'll leave you with one more iconic pic from Bombay...


Cheers! More soon! Happy Father's Day!!

Dan

Looking for Lev in All the Wrong Places

Continuing my late winter of exotic travel.....I joined a collection of acquaintances and strangers for a week in Bulgaria. It was organized by the University of Texas expat group who I've been kicking around with since I moved here.

I have to start with a mind boggling strange culture story provided by our British chalet host. This will give you a window into a bit of life in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is conveniently just north of Greece with only some small mountains in between. But Bulgaria has it's own interesting language (sorta like Russian) and expressions. For example, the Bulgarian word for no is pronounced "ne." And the gesture is a nod of the head up and down. However, just to the south, the Greek word for yes is "ne," and the gesture for no is a shake of the head right and left. So that means that the same word and gesture that in Bulgaria means no -- in Greece means yes. Imagine how many people fights have started when someone shook their head and said "ne" in response to "You lookin at my wife?"

After learning that fun fact on the four hour bus trip to our chalet, I was ready to experience everything Bulgaria had to offer. Turns out that's not much. At least of the types of "activities" I'm looking for. But what is there is lovely.

Bansko, the mountain town we stayed in, appears to be one of the fastest growing places in the world. From a place that looked basically like what you see above plus a few broken frames of houses, it is now a mountain uber-village with fancy Doppelmayer ski lifts and bars with 5-7pm happy hours.

And all this in just two years. How is this amazing post-communism recovery happening? Bulgaria joined the EU.

This trip was my first introduction to what the expansion of the EU to the Eastern European countries is really doing. The "net debtor" countries (like Bulgaria and Italy) get LOTS of money for building infrastructure projects (roads, houses, strip clubs, etc) from the "net contributor" countries like Britain and Germany. Just like in America where California pays a lot of federal taxes, but a larger proportion of the big federal pool ends up helping fishermen in Louisiana and farmers in Indiana.

In the case of Bulgaria, they looked at where they might get outside money to come into the country, and the obvious choice was the super cheap ski destination of Bansko. And - poof! - instant ski resort. Rumor has it that the mafia helps with security and making sure there are no strikes, while charging huge sums for cement. (sound familiar?)

Either way, a nice ski resort has appeared and I had a great time kicking around with my friends for a week. Our chalet was built by hand by our fantastic British hosts Matt and Jenny. The mountain was pretty small, so it didn't take long to cover it, but that left plenty of time for lessons, beers, and massages. Don't worry, there was plenty of skiing too. Only problem is that all of Europe seems to be getting warmer, so it seems likely that in 10 years all this ski resort will be having trouble because there will be no snow! Don't tell all the Brits and Germans buying "investment" properties like it's going out of style.

Anyway, I love skiing. It's great. Here's some pics:

Towards the end of our trip, my friend Jon and I were sitting at a cool bar in the main square in town and an older couple came over and asked to sit with us because the rest of the tables were full. The sun was shining strong into the late afternoon so it was a great time to be out in the historic square. The Bulgaria couple were thrilled to hear we were from America and living in the UK. Turns out he was a doctor up on the mountain and had done some training outside of London.

During our conversation, the lady brings out a few small red and white pieces of cloth and gives them to us as gifts. They are called martinitsi bracelets and are a Bulgarian tradition in Spring. Women can only give them to men, and everyone is supposed to wear them until they see a stork! Then when they do, tie them to a tree for luck. How cool.

This lady tells the story better than me...

http://www.ducts.org/06_06/html/columns/fortin.html

So I've just returned from a fantastic trip in India. Will write all about it soon!

Cheers,
Dan

P.S. The title "Looking for Lev in All the Wrong Places" is a bad joke -- the Bulgarian currency is called the Lev.

Morocco #2 !!

Hmm, on second though I'm not sure I can do a lamp. How about a metal plate??

So in addition to our time in Marrakesh, we also took a 4 hour bus to Essaouira (pronounced essa-where-a) on the coast. It's a stunning little fishing town with similar rambling small streets and a much more laid back approach to selling than in Marrakesh. There are tons of tiny shops mostly selling carved wood stuff. The people there were happy to just chat with you - at a much smaller cost than in Marrakesh.

But like everywhere else in Morocco, bargaining was part of the fun. In general I am not a huge fan of bargaining. I know that in places like this they are ripping you off anyway, but I still feel like the 43 cents we are arguing over will go a lot further for him than me.

But in Morocco, everyone does it with a smile on their face! It's totally a game, and if you play by the rules, you can end up doing quite well. I bought a leather shoulder bag for about 20% of the asking price - but I had to walk out the door and down the street 3 times to get him down to that level. And in the end the guy was still very happy and I felt like we'd bonded the way you do with a tough competitor on the football pitch. You know what I mean?

But the best part was just wandering around, seeing the boats, the people and the birds. So many birds!

Then after taking the bus back, we were walking along the streets of Marrakesh on my last day and ended up walking through a part of town where we hadn't been before. There were tons of shops with counters selling mostly meet, fish, and produce. It seemed to be mostly locals poking around getting their Sunday groceries. Clearly not the same type of Sunday shopping we did in Connecticut.

As we were going along, I stopped and watched this guy for a few seconds. Basically what he does is takes one of the chickens behind him, puts it through the machine in front of him, and serves what comes out on the counter in front of you. Amazing! Shocking! I had to have a picture. So I raised my camera - a bit shy because lots of people there don't like having their picture taken - and he put his hand up towards me. I'm thinking he's telling me to bugger off. But actually he was waving to the camera! Maybe I'm not the only tourist horrified to see this going on right on the street?

Here's a bunch more pics, too many good ones to miss out!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZMnLlm1atGWU&notag=1

Next blog stop - last week was skiing in Bulgaria! Oh! And my dates for India are settled - first week of May!

Cheers!

Dan!

P.S. The top two pics were taken by Dave with his fancy camera. Man he's good!

Morocco!

So I headed down to Marrakesh, Morocco. Amazingly it's only a 3 hour flight from London. What a world away though! Definitely the most exotic place I've ever been. Want a lamp?



It's just one big crazy jumble of motorbikes, donkeys, monkeys, tourists, poor locals, rich locals, the occasional snake, and about a million people doing their best to get whatever change happens to be in your pocket - with you knowing it or without.

For example, there are "expert" local guides nearly on every street corner. They just come up to you and all the sudden they are at your hip trying to find out where you are going, what you are looking for, and then kindly take you the fastest possible route there. Occasionally it's necessary because you are simply so lost in the small windy streets that you think you'll never get out.

But I found the most amazing thing was their insistence on being paid for any sort of interaction. You could say to them, "I like this weather." And it would be fine. But if you said, "Is this normal weather for this time of year?" Then you are caught.

Because when they answer you with "yes" they have now provided you something that you didn't have before - and it costs money. And it's usually more than you'd expect. A demand for 10-20 dirhams...about a dollar or two...is not unheard of for someone to take you a few blocks down the street!

You may ask WHY you'd pay this crazy amount when your whole dinner was only about 100 dirhams? It's because otherwise you will NEVER get rid of them. And they pick up a crew as you go along! So by the end of it you'd have 10 kids around all demanding you pay them money! 50 cents is worth it just to get them to go away! And don't they know it.

(picture taken by Bruce in Fez - I missed that part because I had to work!)

It's hard to say what made the most lasting impression on me. I've never been to a Muslim country before, though anyone who's spent time in London can say certain neighborhoods can definitely feel that way. Morocco is 99% Muslim and for many people this seems to be the largest part of their lives. Like many other Muslim countries, you hear the calls to prayer 5 times a day - including a shocking 4am. Here's the famous minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque:


In general, I found the people to be extremely friendly. Morocco, and Marrakesh in particular, has a strong reputation of people being very pushy for you to buy things. Other than the guides I described above (not all kids, that's just the best pic we got), in general we were able to get away from people when we really wanted to. And that's all I really ask.

The most interesting interaction was with a guy in this bar in the new town of Marrakesh. Most bars in Morocco are filled with just men (as with many Muslim countries, I hear). This place in particular was listed as an "institution" in my guide book (Lonely Planet - good stuff). I guess that means it's old and filled with smoke?

Anyway, we were sitting around drinking Casablanca beer watching women's track & field with everyone else and we end up striking up a conversation with this guy. His English is very good and he's quite friendly telling us that he works in Marrakesh's growing film industry - a Moroccan key grip maybe? I had read a lot about the impressive growth of filming in Marrakesh, so it was cool to meet someone who was part of it.

After a while of sharing lewd comments about the high jump women, he asks us where we are from. When I tell him New York, he shakes his head and says, "It's horrible that anyone would do anything to harm that great city."

Huh?!? It was amazing for me to hear that from him in a place where I worried about just being American. I sincerely applaud that man. His name, of course, was Mohammed (and he was a bit drunk):


Many more Morocco stories and pics to come! My friend Dave has a fancy digital SLR camera, so we let him get most of the really impressive shots. Hope to get those out soon.

Cheers!
Dan

Do you want to see the world?

In a series of unusual events, it looks like I'll be ticking two continents off my "to do" list in the next month. On Friday I fly down to Marrakesh, Morocco, with two friends to do a long weekend of exploring. We kind of put this trip together short notice, but it's looking like it will be really interesting! My parents seem very nervous, but these days I feel like London may not be the safest place either...

Have you heard about these crazy letter bombs that have been terrorizing my fair city these days? Seems people connected with the contentious Congestion Charge are being targeted. It's just a tax for entering the city - also known as a toll, but without the ease of bridges. Doesn't seem that unreasonable to me!?!? The mystery bombers are branching out too. Very strange.

Anyway, so that would be Africa. And in other exciting news, it looks like the small team we are putting together in Mumbai, India, is going to report into me. So in March I think I'll make a trip out there. That would be Asia. And, yes, I know these are MASSIVE continents and there are many many more places to see, but cool that I'll at least be able to get started!

Only major place left is Austrailia (other than Antarctica, of course). Perhaps I'll head to Perth. Check out this amazing photo! My Aussie friend forwarded this to me. Sadly, neither of us was the photographer, but he did summarize the scene for us...


"Fireworks, Lightning, Sunset, a Comet, and the greatest of Aussie icons, the Beach all in one image. In addition to the obvious features in the photo, look between the two displays of lighting up the sky to see the third - McNaught's Comet. The photo was taken just north of Hillary's Marina in Perth, which you can see the harbour wall on the left with fireworks being launched."

Cheers!
Dan

Sooo + World Cup

Howdy. Part of my delay recently has been the overwhelming fact that I want to write about everything that happened in the last 6 months, but don't want to actually write that much. I've toyed with the idea of just skipping those times out of laziness and staying current (as with the Madrid post below). But on second thought, some really fantastic things happened and it would make me really sad to not share them. Plus, this site is really becoming a journal that I'm already looking back on to remember stuff that happened when I first moved. (I can't believe we are coming up on two years since the London bombings).

So what I think I'll try to do is a splattering of events from the past 6 months that you might be interested in. Chances are I'll be very opinionated now that I have the benefit of hindsight. So.....let's get started, eh?

June 2006 - World Cup


The World Cup was a phenomenal event in England. The blind support is beyond what I could have imagined. I say blind because England has some serious history of messing things up in the World Cup. But every year the English come up with some crazy new theme song and they cheer their hearts out. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for this to be the year they win, but somehow the just never do.

And it's not just that they don't win, it's really that they get all they way to shoot-outs and THEN lose. Sooo many times. 3 out of the last 5 times!! That's truly painful. Check it out.

Despite all that, the English stop all socio-familial-religiosio-economicio commitments and go to the pub to cheer on their country. As close to the American-style flag waving that I've seen here. It's fantastic. And the amazing thing is there's not a particular pub to be in. You can be in ANY bar with a TV and it's rammed with England supporters. The ones that don't have the game on actually advertise that!

The other side of that, of course, is the good old USA.


There's no doubt we've been coming up in the world of the footie. But we still aren't there yet. I really did think this year we'd make our first great showing, but alas, no such luck. Many people point out that we were the only team to not lose to the eventual champion (tie, duh). And I'll admit that game the Americans did very well, but our performance in several of the other games was not quite the stuff of champions. I do think, however, that now we've got David Beckham showing our kids how to get things done, we might have a chance!

Cheers!
daN

London Slang -- Pete Tong

Pete Tong
adj.

Rhyming slang for 'wrong'.

Editor's Note: This is the first Cockney rhyming slang I've posted. I kinda shied away from it because it is sorta too easy and I wanted to put up stuff people actually used. Rarely does someone working in the City say, "Go up the apples and pairs and pick up the dog and bone." However, I do here Pete Tong sometimes and it makes me happy.

For those not in 'the scene,' Pete Tong is a very famous British DJ who works for the BBC radio station Radio 1. Apparently there was a movie that helped push this phrase into common usage -- "It's all gone Pete Tong."

Feliz 2007 from Madrid!

Last weekend Justin and I made the brave trip to Madrid for New Year's. Absolutely fantastic! It is such an incredible city and the people there have so much fun. It's interesting though because everyone says the rest of Spain overshadows Madrid, but I think that gives it some charm. My first time to Spain...and it was quite an experience.

After getting off the plane, the first thing we noticed was the smell. Not an ordinary smell, sort of a drilling into metal smell. I saw some construction looking tape and lots of bags lying around in a fairly organized fashion, so just assumed the brand new airport was getting more construction done. Oh was I wrong. The Basque separatist group ETA decided to end the nine-month cease-fire by exploding a huge car bomb in the parking garage of the terminal where I was going to land 9 hours later. Read about it here. I don't want to call this sort of thing a tradition for me. At least an unfortunate coincidence. Luckily, once again, I was pretty far away when it actually happened.

The strange thing was that they didn't tell us anything about it. So we carried on thinking it was construction until the next morning when we picked up the paper. I did have suspicions, though, when they put us on some random bus to another terminal and I could see smoke coming from our terminal. Crazy.

After that, we knew this trip would be an experience. It didn't let us down. The tapas style of going out basically resulted in five days of bar hopping for us. We'd have a little bite and a drink somewhere, and then head out to see what looked good down the street. And then stumble home between 4-6 in the morning!

So the night starts out like this:


And ends like this:


New Year's Eve was pretty crazy too. We bought tickets to a really cool club called Palacio de Gaviria which is right by Madrid's Time Square, Puerta Del Sol. So we thought we'd grab a bite to eat, head down to Sol, and then over to our club. Unfortunately, the tradition in Madrid is to eat dinner with your family till about 1am, and then go out to the clubs. So there was almost NO bars or restaurants open. Hard to imagine. In one of the most vibrant cities in the world, we walked around from 10-11:30 looking for a restaurant. We found a couple but they had been booked for ages. So what does any respectable 20-something in a suit do at a time like this? We went to the kabob shop, met a crazy french guy who promptly fell in love with Justin (much to his dismay), and then headed to Sol.

Last year we were near Time's Square so there were lots of comparisons. The most incredible difference was that there were almost NO police anywhere. People were generally cool and just happy, but some were climbing up and dancing on store signs and newspaper booths. No problem. So we bought 12 grapes each (one for each bell chime at midnight), a cheap bottle of champagne, and joined in the revelry.


The Palacio was magnificent! It is actually a former palace. Two main dance floors, one had huge ceilings and played techno and Spanish music. The other was mostly pop and American music, so we kinda went back and forth between trips to the side rooms to relax. Here's me ruining another good picture:


Did you notice I got glasses?!? How sad!! Ok well lots more to tell, but I'll save that for some other time. I wish everyone a wonderful and healthy 2007. Come visit this year if you haven't! And if you have, come again!!

Cheers,
Dan