Dubai shuts down for Bush visit

by Abha Malpani on

It has been declared a public holiday in Dubai tomorrow because of Bush’s visit. The notice people get? Not even 24-hours. All private and public sectors will be closed, and so will all the main roads. In other words, doing anything tomorrow will either be painful, or impossible.

Dubai abruptly declared dysfunctional like this for a day, is an example of how your life can be thrown into unpredictable pandemonium if you live in the city.

I can imagine the situation in my office had I still been working there: some people rejoicing as others curse their way out of frustration. All major events or even personal plans for tomorrow need to be canceled immediately and rearranged: conferences, meetings, press-events, lunch at Gran’s, a visit to the zoo. You really learn to “go with the flow” in Dubai where you have no other option.

Can you imagine this in any other country? I think not. Sure, it’s Dubai’s way of maximizing security for a presidential visit, but Bush’s visit has been in the schedule for a while and I don’t understand why the city couldn’t have pre-planned this. French President Sarkozy is supposed to visit Dubai on Tuesday; will that mean another public holiday? I think Dubai should have just declared the entire week off. Easier for everyone, don’t you think?

The Onion AV Club interviews Anthony Bourdain

by Aaron Hotfelder on

I recently touted— and fawned over– Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show No Reservations. Now, that barometer of all things culturally significant– The Onion AV Club— has just published a lengthy interview with Bourdain. The interview touches on everything from his love of the Ramones, to his “Namibian warthog experience” to why he hasn’t yet “sold out.” A couple highlights:

“The show is really popular in Southeast Asia, so every time I go out there, they see me eating crazy shit, and people will always say, “Oh, you’ve tried durian? Have you tried this? It’s even stinkier.” So I’ve pretty much covered the waterfront in that regard. And it’s not a focus of the show, but when you’re a guest of honor in certain parts of the world-and with a track record like mine-people want to give you stuff that will make you throw up.”

“It helps, also, being a chef, so I can always reach out to the local chef. It’s like calling up the local capo. ‘You know me, you know what I like. I’m looking for the best dive bar in town. Can you take me there? You don’t mind if my crew shoots while we’re out there, do you?’ So it’s as un-artificial as a travel show can be. What we desperately want to avoid is footage of me taking one bite of everything and saying, ‘Ooh, that’s delicious.’ I have the luxury of being able to look at the camera and say, ‘This fucking sucks.'”

For more, check out Gadling’s July interview with Bourdain.

India: $2500 car, boon or bane?

by Abha Malpani on

For a measly US$2,500, Tata Motors has launched “Nano”– the world’s cheapest car — making the 4-wheel mode of transport less of a luxury and more of an affordable means of transport for millions of Indians. The car is said to meet all safety norms and apparently emits less pollution than a two-wheeler. With India’s huge lower / middle class population that depends on its two-wheelers, a reliable car at this price would encourage the shift and begin a revolution in transport in the country.

Well, that’s what they are saying.

In India, other than the the issue of affordability, the reason why many people opt for a scooter or a motorcycle, is because of the ghastly state of traffic and driving in the country. I strongly believe that if you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world. It probably has the most undisciplined road traffic on the planet (absolutely out-of-control, actually!), and surely ranks high in the list of world’s worst roads; the most convenient way to get anywhere quickly is therefore a two-wheeler.

An Indian’s skill set to maneuver a motorbike around others, bulls, cars, bicycles, people and potholes is truly fascinating and practicality issues make me wonder whether the scooter-driving target audience will want to switch. When I lived in India, if four of us were to go out, we would always opt to go on our automatic scooters rather than AC cars. As for the Nano being a transport solution for young families, it’s not uncommon to see a nuclear family travel on a scooter — something they are so used to, it doesn’t have the word dangerous associated to it anymore. Also, I don’t think Indian roads can handle more cars! I don’t think the Nano can substitute two-wheelers in India and they will remain the fastest and cheapest mode of transport.

So, although I’m proud that India beat China in this endeavor, I wonder if it was really worth it.

Boy Scout thwarts attempted assassination of Maldives’ president

by Aaron Hotfelder on

On Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy from the Maldives prevented a would-be assassin from stabbing the country’s president during a stop in the north of the archipelago. The boy, Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim, dressed in full Boy Scout uniform, was waiting to shake the hand of the president, Maumoon Gayoom, as he greeted a crowd.

Suddenly an attacker with a knife wrapped in the Maldivian flag shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) before lunging at the president. The Boy Scout saw what was happening, and reached out to stop the attacker when his hand was injured by the knife. In doing this, the boy saved the president’s life, but did manage to splatter some blood on the president’s shirt. The boy has promised to pay for the dry cleaning. (Only kidding.)

Newspapers throughout the country praised the boy’s courage and heroism. One paper had the headline: “Jaisham our national hero saves the president.”

That is going to be one bad-ass merit badge.

More coverage here and here.

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Eight mice found – dead and alive – on United Airlines flight

by Catherine Bodry on

If something runs over your foot on your next flight, beware: it might not be the beverage cart.

In a reversal of roles, the United States nearly imported its own tainted goods to China on a United Airlines flight recently. While en route to China, United employees discovered a total of eight mice — some dead, some alive — hidden in pillows throughout the cabin. On arrival, Chinese officials greeted the plane with rat poison and mouse traps.

The story was printed in newspapers yesterday, along with lists of viruses mice can carry. The articles also probably incited panic when they wrote of the potentially fatal damage mice could do by chewing through wires on aircraft.

Could these tiny creatures be more dangerous than the terrorists?

Think that’s bad? Check out some other unpleasant flight experiences. How rotten would it be flying…

[Thanks to Joshua Davis (articnomad) for the great shot of a plane.]