Interactive Map of Regional Foods: Where is Goetta?

by Jamie Rhein on

Almost every time I head to northern Kentucky to visit my aunts I swing by Kroger for oatmeal sausage. It’s one of my childhood favorite foods that my grandparents served. The quest for oatmeal sausage, also called goetta, has been a lifelong venture. When we used to live further away, I would freeze it and wrap it in newspaper to bring it home. When I lived in overseas, I’d bring packets of Skyline Cincinnati-style chili mix with me. To my delight, White Castle cheese burgers were sold at the American Club grocery store in New Delhi. We rarely bought them, maybe twice, but they were like an old friend to call on if need be. Then there’s Hatch green chile that is roasting in various spots of New Mexico this time of year. I used to buy a bunch and freeze it to use throughout the winter.

When going to Vietnam, one reason to head to Hoi An is the Cau Lau noodles. This particular style is only made here. In Taiwan, the town of Beipu has a tea that you grind up with seeds and nuts in a mortar and pestle. It’s the town’s signature beverage. No matter where you live there are regional dishes that you often can’t get elsewhere, and when you can, it feels as if home has followed you.

This month’s National Geographic magazine has an interactive map of the United States that you can click on to find out about regional favorites. In Ohio, it’s Buckeyes, a candy made with chocolate and peanut butter made to look like the state nut. Here’s a past post I wrote about them for Blogging Ohio. Sometimes the state’s entries have a story that goes with it. Click on New Mexico and you’ll find Elaine Thatcher’s chile verde story. Restaurants in New Mexico that sell Mexican and New Mexican food (there is a difference) have green chile and red chile options. Go for the green–or get both.

I’m sure you all are brighter than me, but to get the interactive map, you need to click on continue at the bottom of the page. Not all states have entries, but there is a new blog, Pop Omnivore at the bottom where people are adding stories about their regional favorites. Thanks, dear friend, Marilyn Terrell at Intelligent Traveler who sends us lovely tidbits to blog about. She sent this one our way.

What NOT to Wear on Halloween When Traveling

by Catherine Bodry on

Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday. I get so in to it, I win contests. (Seriously, I am the best Mary Katherine Gallagher you will ever meet. Maybe even better than Molly Shannon. See photo). So I’m not going to let traveling with a small pack keep me from creating a costume.

In 2004 I was in Vietnam over Halloween in the town of Nha Trang. The U.S. presidential elections were days away, and I often felt under attack from questions and accusations of other travelers about U.S. foreign policy. Needless to say, I did not meet one single traveler (except for one American) who supported Bush or the war in Iraq. So I thought it might be funny to poke a little fun at all the political tension surrounding the U.S.

I bought a plain white t-shirt and used my travel partner’s red and sliver sharpies to decorate what would be my costume: a Stupid American.In red block letters on the front we wrote “Proud to be an American” and decorated it with silver stars. But the back was the best. We giggled and hooted as we wrote “I heart oil,” I heart Big Macs,” and “I heart Texas.” We made circles with slashes through them for “Gay Rights,” and “Universal Health Care.” Inside big hearts we wrote “SUVs in L.A.,” “Britney Spears,” and “capital punishment.” We went on and on.

We thought we were clever and funny. We were wrong. I have never, ever felt so hated in my entire life as I did that night. I nearly got in a brawl with an Irish girl who told me that even if I thought I was joking, I was still 33% serious or some such nonsense. In a fit of desperation I pulled the “But I’m Canadian!” line, and people visibly relaxed and maybe even laughed a bit, until they realized I was lying. Apparently it’s okay to make fun of Americans if you’re not American — but if you are a U.S. citizen anything you say and do will be held against you. I learned the hard way.

I tried turning the shirt inside out, but the letters bled through. Eventually, a British guy suggested that if my guesthouse was close by, I should just go back and change. In tears, I did.

So, what’s the lesson to be learned here? First, I discovered just how much the rest of the world (at least Europe and Australia, which is where the bulk of the other travelers were from) really, really disagree with U.S. politics. Enough that they were willing to throw punches at me for what my citizenship represents — even though I didn’t vote for Bush nor do I support his policies. I don’t eat at McDonald’s and I don’t feel like I have a right (or a need) to drive a huge SUV. Second, I learned that no matter what my political leanings are, I’ve still got to answer for my country — and that’s no easy task. In the end, I really was a stupid American.

And finally, I learned that wearing kitty ears, which my friend Jen always travels with (see photo), is a much safer way to celebrate Halloween abroad.

Consolidated Visa Guide for your Hard to Reach Neighbors

by Grant Martin on

Like many other travelers, I usually don’t spring for the easy-to-reach canonical tourist destinations. It’s not that I feel that I’m better than Cancun or a Royal Caribbean cruise around the Dominican Republic, it’s just that I feel like I should go to the difficult places while I still have the energy and wanderlust to get there.

Many of these places, though, have stringent visa requirements. And let’s get something straight before I continue: you need a visa for any foreign country that you visit — it’s just that most places you can get a stamp at the border or can get waved through without stamps or papers. Trust me, when your 90 day tourist visa is up you’ll still be in trouble, regardless of the country you’re in.

But to go places like China or Russia it’s necessary to apply and get a visa before you leave the country — often times several months before you leave. This can be as simple as sending your passport into your local consulate or as difficult as paying some draconian service to take your passport into the embassy, fill out the forms and charge you a hundred bucks for their “service.” Luckily, CNN has compiled a comprehensive list of countries in which you’ll need visas in advance and procedures to get them.

My advice: plan ahead and go to the consulate in advance yourself. You may have to jump through a few extra ridiculous hoops to get your visa, but that’s more time that your passport is in your hands and not in the hands of a middleman who could potentially lose the most important document that you own.

Dangerous Roads: The Ones Where You Wreck

by Jamie Rhein on

In an article published this past April on the Web site now public: crowd-powered media, John Carrey presents startling facts about China’s roads and the number of people who wreck when navigating them. One statistic he cites is that 45,000 people are hurt every year. India’s traffic accidents are not as numerous as China’s, but the numbers are increasing.

As more and more people get disposable income, I can see how the statistics might get worse before they get better. Sure, curvey roads that hug the side of mountains are horrific (see post) but driving where more and more people have quickly acquired motorbikes, motorcycles and cars because more people can afford them, adds to the mayhem.

The first time we went to Vietnam, Hanoi was a fairly relaxed place for meandering. Taking cyclos was common. This was back in 1994. When we returned in 1998 and again in 2001, motorcycles buzzed everywhere, including the narrow streets of the Old Quarter where people jockeyed for room to walk. Then by December 2003, when we were there again, I noticed how the number of cars had increased. On one hand, this shows that the economy is perhaps looking up. On the other, this is a place where many people didn’t grow up with cars or motorcyles being part of their daily life so there isn’t as much practice with rules of the road. (See description of Vietnam’s transportation situation.)

Likewise, India is also getting more busy with motorized traffic. You can be driving along any road, and then there’s a cow. Once, while going home after a New Delhi outing, my husband grazed the side of one at the outskirts of the city. The cow wasn’t hurt, but after it took out the driver’s side mirror with its backside, my husband did say, “He must have been in a reflective mood.” At night once, we almost drove into an elephant–and that was in the city.

To increase our odds at traveling on roads safely, we’ve tended to hire drivers since a seasoned driver knows what to look for. The one time we decided to forgo the driver for our trip to Bharatupur Bird Sanctuary, a tractor crossed the highway and we hit it. There wasn’t any indication there was an intersection coming up. After that big bang, enough to make the car undrivable, we decided it was better to hire a driver since seasoned drivers tended to know the roads and are much better at predicting where road hazards might appear. Here’s a Web site for a car rental company in India that also has drivers for hire. This is just to give an idea of what is available. Shop around.

The photo by Michal Zacharzewski is posted on stock.xchng.

Unicycle Tour of Vietnam

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was a kid, I thought it would be swell to learn to ride a unicycle. There’s something magical about a unicycle –something circus-like. Here’s a tour of Vietnam that might give the people who live there the impression that the circus has come to town, and it’s a happening you can join.

If you do know how to ride a unicycle, or think you maybe could master it before March of 2008, you can hook up with Grasshopper Adventures’ unicycle tour of Vietnam. Starting in Hanoi, a group of 24 unicyclists will travel through Hue, Hoi An (my absolutely most favorite town), Quy Nhong, Nha Trang and end up in Ho Chi Minh City. So far, 20 unicyclists from various parts of the world have signed up. As of August 27, there were four slots left. If you want to see who you will travel with, check out the riders page. The youngest person is 18, and the oldest is 51.

Since the tour is mostly along the coast, this will make for a gorgeous ride. I’ve been to Vietnam 5 times and have traveled on the same road in a car. That was an adventure of another kind. Not once did I see a unicycle.