Always eager to highlight lesser-known blogs by people who are actually out there seeing the world, I offer you this link to a blog called India 2006, by a guy name Sean from Washington DC. Seems Sean is back now from his trip and I suppose I’m bummed I missed out posting about him while he was on the road ,but there are still some very nice posts here that are worth reading ,especially if you have an interest in traveling to India. I for one feel that India is one of the greatest, most fascinating places to travel in the world, which is why I was drawn to Sean’s blog. He hit a few of the best known places in the country including Mumbai and Hyderabad and also managed to be there for two big events, Independence Day and now the Ganapati Festival. He was only there for a short period, so don’t expect serious revelations or in-depth knowledge, but it’s worth reading.
Asia
Travel through Asia by country:
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Travel through Asia by popular city:
Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo
Travel through Asia by popular things to do:
Travel through Asia with our writers:
Infiltrating North Korea, Keyhole Into Burma, Band on the Run ... in China, Chinese Buffet, A Canadian in Beijing, Volunteer Vacation: Tajikistan
Word for the Travel Wise (09/09/06)
Before we took off on our trip most of the group had planned on flying through Moscow into Dushanbe so they could get the right flights with Tajik Air and that is what they ended up doing. I decided to bypass all that because Tajik air tends to be a little fickle and didn’t want to chance getting in late. I went through Turkish Air which also meant I didn’t have to apply for a Russian visa. Thank goodness! I’ve heard some horror stories about getting visas for Russia, especially from our European team members. Just thought to share a piece of the tale for anyone going through the process right now.
Today’s word is a Russian word used in Russia:
tuhmohzhnyah – customs
Ready to learn Russian? Check out Master Russian first. They have numerous excellent sound files and the text is clear and easy to read. Learning also goes beyond your Russian A, B, C’s at their site as they have crosswords, literature, proverbs, folk music, and homework help. Other good sites include Learning Russian and this Ectaco Translation Dictionary. Click here for two language book rec’s on Amazon. BBC has the basics to download and hear audio, while Wiki provides the in depth Russian lang back history.
Past Russian words: , shakzochniy, paka, spasiba
Word for the Travel Wise (09/08/06)
Last November when Outside magazine featured Mark Jenkin’s piece on his travel through the Wakhan Corridor I had no clue I would be traveling through the region in less than a year. While my trip is very different than Mark’s the story and pictures fueled my imagination and here I am! Didn’t really plan it this way, but I’m hoping once I have the time to share my own tales they too will ignite someone to go the Wakhan or some place nearby.
Today’s word is a Wakhi word used in the Wakhan:
dishma – I don’t know.
Wakhi is an Iranian language, but from my Iranian studies I’m seeing many differences. (Not that I’m an expert, but you know.) It belongs to the Pamir language group. There are about 50,000 Wakhi Tajiks worldwide. Learning Wakhi will be hard online. If going to Tajikistan stick to either Tajik or Russian.
Tajik is the official language of the country and is closely related to the Persian (Farsi) language spoken in Iran. According to Wiki the most important Tajik-speaking cities of Central Asia are Samarkand and Bukhara which are located in present-day Uzbekistan. In addition to giving interested language learners a taste at some commonly used words and phrases, the Great Game Travel Company has excellent info and short trips for touring the city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Be sure to check out the list of words first. If you’re near the University of Washington look into their Near Eastern Language Programs. Lonely Planet has a pocket-sized phrasebook on Central Asian lingos worth packing along and several other book picks can be found by clicking here.
Past Tajik words: rohi safed, mailesh, rahmat / tashakkur, samolyot
Passport Rules Changing
Making my way to Canada this year to spend a week in the gloriously beautiful Canadian province of Newfoundland, I discovered a nasty little surprise. My wife and I got to the airport and discovered that Newfoundland requires Americans traveling there to bring a passport or birth certificate to enter by air from the United States. I had no idea. For years living in Seattle I came and went to Canada and needed only to show my drivers’ license. I was pretty damn upset because no one told us that the rules had changed, and so we had to go back and get our passports and needless to say, we missed our plane.
Well my hardies, the rules HAVE changed, although they have not taken effect Canada-wide quite yet, and when they do take effect, they will cover Mexico as well. Yes, visitors to the NAFTA states North and South will soon have to bring along passports to cross the country’s borders…well, the key is really getting back in. The rules take effect December 31 for air travelers to and from the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.
A year later, on Dec. 31, 2007, the requirement will be extended to all land-based border crossings as well.
Now, this could be either a good thing or a bad thing.
It’s certainly a bad thing in that it makes going to Mexico and Canada a bigger pain in the buttocks. I keep my passport in a safe, locked place in my home, and I am just not sure that if I decide suddenly to take a road trip to Montreal that I’m going to remember it. I suppose I’ll have to. It may also be bad in that it might discourage Americans who want to travel “abroad” from going because they either a) don’t have passports or b) forgot them.
But perhaps we should look on the bright side. Maybe the new rules will inspire people who don’t yet have a passport to go out and get one. Given the rather awful statistics that say only 20 percent of Americans carry a passport (thus speaking loudly and clearly to our deficiencies as an internationally-aware, culturally sensitive nation) putting them in more Americans’ hands could very possibly help improve our awareness of those “others”, AKA foreigners, on the other side of the border.
By the way, Lonely Planet has been pushing this whole idea for a whle, and ,in fact, THIS is National Passport Month. So how’s that for good timing?
Word for the Travel Wise (09/07/06)
Since I can probably take a good guess at how many people will travel to Afghanistan or least think about going sometime during their life span and seeing that number isn’t high I’m going to point everyone to this small online Kabul Museum. In March of 2001 the Taliban destroyed all pre-Islamic statues and objects in Afghanistan. The Kabul online museum is in place to allow people to enjoy the museums contents before the destruction. Although there isn’t much inside the three galleries by virtually traveling there we can all say we’ve seen a small part of history aside from the news we get on CNN.
Today’s word is a Pashto word used in Afghanistan:
mujasemy – statues
Pashto is spoken by 40-50 million speakers in Afghanistan, western Pakistan and northern India. It became an official language of Afghanistan in 1936. Persian or Dari is also an official language. Good example sentences, historical information and links are all found at Wikipedia. Pashto.org has video, music, downloadable dictionaries, software and book lists. Yorku.ca has a long list of words to start along your Pashto learning path for at least a few weeks. Visit the BBCPashto page if you already have some understanding of the language under your belt.