Around the world in 60 pubs: month-long party or month-long hangover?

by Catherine Bodry on

As a traveler who — nonchalantly, with no prior intention! — tends to end up in heated dance-offs and other bizarre late-night situations, I’m not sure that a tour centered on drinking would be good for me. I tend to stumble upon party places without even trying. But if you’re the type of traveler who prefers pub crawls to walking tours and local beer to local cuisine, and you have an indestructible liver, an Australian tour operator has created what may be the perfect trip for you. The Around the World in 60 Pubs trip is a month-long, alcohol-drenched tour of the world’s hottest party places. Destinations include Munich, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; the Thai island of Phuket; and Cancun, Mexico.

The tour’s operator, Thirsty Swagman, specializes in “thirsty tours;” besides the round-the-world venture, the company also offers a 10-day “Euro Hard ‘n’ Fast” power pub crawl as well as one Australian trip named the “Slammer.”

Although the website claims the “Around the World in 60 Pubs” is “one tour you’ll never forget,” I have a suspicion that it might be one that many of its participants barely remember.

Dumpling Redux – From Shanghai to Queens

by Kelly Amabile on

It’s midnight and my mouth is watering for some soupy dumplings. World Hum points me to Disanne McLane’s search for the best dumpling in Shanghai. Which takes me back to my own encounters with the darling dumplings of Shanghai — I ate at two of the places McLane reviews in her quest for the perfect soup dumpling, and agree with her that Din Tai Fung’s are the best tasting, although the atmosphere at Nanxiang suited me better and felt more “authentic” — catering to tourists, the pace is faster and the decor not as pretty, but the dumpling sure do hit the spot.

Since my return from China I’ve yet to seek out similar soupy goodness on the streets of New York. When time allows, I’ll do some research and head straight to Chinatown in search of some Shanghainese authenticity in the heart of Manhattan. But Gothamist alerted me today that a detour to Flushing may be in order. Seems there is a Nanxiang noodle house in Queens with a reputation for serving up delicious dumplings. They go so far as to label them “the best in the city.” Seems worth a trip to me…

How to tell the Chinese and Japanese apart

by Jerry Guo on

Sometime all you need is a picture (or two in this case). James Fallows, a correspondent for The Atlantic based out of China right now, has posted a great observation about the difference between the Chinese and Japanese. He looked at a simple case of how workers refuel a jet. When it comes to the Japanese, they’re fastidious, orthodox, and dressed to match. With the Chinese, well … anything goes.

I’ll leave it to him to fully explain; don’t want to ruin the delightful juxtaposition of the two photos. I think he really hit something here with the observation that China is all about “finding a way to do things” while Japan is all about “the way of doing things.” It’s a succinct but thoughtful way of looking at things. Though I would caution, as someone very familiar with Chinese culture, that the country’s moving away from this wild wild west image. Or at least they want to. I feel they’ll be more like Japan in 5, 10, 20 years. Or maybe even by next summer’s Beijing Olympics. They’ll be on their best behavior I suspect.

By the way, Fallows has a wonderful blog about China on which he files pretty in-depth posts. He also had a short piece in this month’s Atlantic on tourism to Wolong Panda Reserve that’s worth checking out.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE Week of 11-30

by Catherine Bodry on

Topics this week have run the gamut here at Gadling. In the news of the wild we’ve confronted a stuffed alligator on a flight, learned how we can rent a Spider Monkey in Japan, and found out what the heck tigers are doing in Africa. Here’s what else has been going on:

That’s the summary, but by no means the whole story! Have a look around, check out the archives, and tell us how you like our new comment feature.

Happy Friday!

Indian airlines to pay passengers for “mental agony” of flight delays

by Catherine Bodry on

Here’s some good news for travelers: an Indian consumer court ruled that all airlines in India must compensate passengers for sudden cancellations or long delays that cause “mental agony and harassment.” (Delays from bad weather are exempt.) The ruling came after passengers complained and demonstrated.

Although the article from the AP doesn’t detail what counts as “agony,” I can certainly think of a few situations: missing a connecting flight, missing a connecting flight and then your $2500 cruise, missing a connecting flight and subsequently your sister’s wedding — you get the point.

I’m glad to see that that someone is setting a precedence, even if it’s overseas. Anyone up for a protest at JFK?

Thanks to jyang825 on Flickr for the photo of the Bangalore airport.