Word for the Travel Wise (08/30/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

So today I’m out and headed for Tajikistan by way of Istanbul. I can’t tell you how very excited I am after weeks of waiting. As always I will do my best to report from the road, but you can assure I’ll provide full detail afterwards. In the meantime I’m hoping to make good use of my long layover in Istanbul. Hmm, a hamam perhaps? Or maybe just a bite to eat somewhere… I’ll be sure to let you know.

Today’s word is a Turkish word used in Turkey:

lokanta – restaurant

Prepare ahead of time by visiting this Turkish Class site. Membership is free and you’ll get a lot more than some of the basics they already have listed. Online Turkish is good too, but you’ll have to register and pay to get anything more than hello, how are you and I love you. Stick to the first site and check out this Turkish vocabulary list of body parts. Wiki has an excellent starters piece on background, history and a short list of words. Scope out phrasebooks from Rough Guides, Lonely Planet or grab both.

Past Turkish words: merhaba, iyi volculuklar, sabirsiz

TT Writing Award

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s one I picked up from the good folks over at Written Road. Travelers’ Tales (whose books I adore) are launching a travel writing contest for the literary-inclined vagabond. They have started what they call the Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year. This will be an annual competition to discover the very best writing being done about the world today. If you win, you can walk away with $1000 smackers. Or, you can win a copy of The Best Travel Writing 2006 and The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2006.

As WW points, out, Solas is an Irish word for “light,” which means, um, make sure you write with your lamp on.

Word for the Travel Wise (08/28/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’m incredibly beat these days folks. Making sure all is intact before I fly out, getting malaria pills, paying bills, sending emails, etc., etc., etc. Any American who has left their world behind for a three week run knows the drill. I need a vacation before vacation, a vacation on vacation and a vacation after vacation. It seems I just need to be in a position where I can vacation whenever I want to vacation. Right now I just need rest and speaking of rest – this Thai tent resort doesn’t sound like a bad place to rest or vacation. A little out of my budget, but a girl can still dream.

Today’s word is a Thai word used in Thailand:

pák – rest

Learning Thai dot com is a great starting point for some basic Thai words and referrals to additional resources. For a brief history of the language, Thai alphabet, and pronunciation guide go to Omniglot. (A pretty clean and simple site with good details.) Another good source would be the Pimsleur language audio CD’s. I used these to prepare for my trip and they worked great! Before making the purchase look into your local library. There are several libraries carrying these audio CD’s and many more.

Past Thai words: hàat sai, wan sao, sawatdee khrab, dang

VR Mag

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve done enough posts here on panoramic photography that folks know I’m passionate about the stuff. Whenever I find a great new site dedicated to the form, I always try to post about it. Now, this is not a new site to me, I’ve been aware of it for a while, but I realized recently that I’ve never drawn your attention to it. Now is the time.

VR Magazine is a wonderful online resource dedicated to everything panoramic. The panoramic photographs here come from all over the world and are shot by a very wide array of terrifically talented folks. You can spend a great deal of time just poking around and finding superb work, but let me draw you attention to a few highlights.

First of all, for a great use of pano photography as documentary work, check out this full screen picture on AIDS in Mozambique. And this one of a demonstration on Cairo over the Lebanese conflict gives a very interesting, untraditional perspective you don’t get in normal pictures.

Then for tourist-related photography, take a look at this series on Chenonceau in France, as well as the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan (which I have visited). All great stuff amid tons of other pictures that are well worth some exploration click time.

Shanghai Neck-Licks

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’ve heard of French kissing and Kama Sutra, but the Shanghai neck-lick is new-new news to me and apparently to some of the residents in Shanghai as well. Now how’s that possible? The folks over at Shanghaiist discovered the maneuver and how it’s performed in a story from the LA Weekly about attending a punk rock show. Uh-huh. From what I gather Shanghai neck-licks involve a fair amount of groping and a massive amount of saliva across the neck all compliments of a drunken punk rocker.

Right— Shanghaiist was so intrigued by the use of this urban slang and phrase involving their city name they decided to take it a wee-bit further and created this nifty Shanghai language lesson. If you found the Shanghai neck-lick somewhat vulgar you may want to stop here. I repeat – you may wish to stop reading here, do not pass GO, and do not click on the language link. If you believe you can handle their list of very naughty Shanghaii terms like Shanghai Meat-bun, Shanghai Surprise and Shanghailarious; then proceed.