Hark! Hear ye these travel tips!

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Rolf Potts, writing at World Hum, adapts a Francis Bacon (1561-1626) essay for the modern era, and provides some “sizzling travel tips” along the way. Bacon’s essay, “Of Travel,” contains wisdom about everything from using a guidebook, to finding a travel partner, to returning home from a journey.

Bacon on Lonely Planet: “Let him carry with him also some card, or book, describing the country where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth, that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know.”

And some excellent advice to the traveler on returning home with humility: “In his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories: and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country. “

Hear ye these words of Bacon, and heed them.

Peruse the essay of that vagabond Potts here, or ye shall receive 30 lashes to-morrow.

Heath Ledger died today and I’m thinking of Brokeback Mountain and Wyoming

by Jamie Rhein on

Wow! I am truly in shock. I was writing up another post and swung over to The New York Times on line when I saw Heath Ledger was found dead today. How awful and how odd. I just saw him this weekend in the movie “I’m Not There” and earlier today, before I heard he had died, I thought, you know, when I think of Heath Ledger, he’s Ennis Del Mar working on a ranch in Wyoming. What is he doing playing an incarnation of Bob Dylan? Yes, yes, I know it’s acting, but there are some roles and some landscape vistas that go together so well that they play over and over in ones head as if there is a movie camera in there.

The summer after I saw “Brokeback Mountain” we drove through Wyoming on our way from Colorado to Montana and back through Wyoming again. I thought of Ennis and wondered how he was doing without Jack. Again, yes, yes, I know Ennis is a fictitious character created by Annie Proulx, but still, her short story and the movie captured a certain quality of Wyoming so perfectly. (Yes, I know that it was shot in Canada, but it looked like Wyoming.)

As I recently posted, John Ur is writing about movies that capture a sense of place. “Brokeback Mountain” is one that certainly does that. And without Heath Ledger, “Brokeback Mountain” wouldn’t have been the same kind of movie that made people look at Wyoming in a new, different way.

Oregon Truffle Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s something I didn’t know. Truffles are at the peak of their season this time of year in Oregon. Frankly, I didn’t know truffles grew in Oregon. The word truffles actually makes me think of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh. Didn’t Piglet search for truffles? Or is that something else?

Truffles do grow wild in Oregon in large amounts and for the third year, this mushroom delicacy is being celebrated by the Oregon Truffle Festival in and around Eugene. Here it is being honored by its presence as an ingredient in many culinary delights, among other things. There is a Grand Truffle dinner which is already sold out. Curious how much it costs? $150. Truffle growers are the main focus on Saturday, but on Sunday the general public has their truffle time.

The main open to the general public event is the Festival Market Place on Sunday, January 27 . It’s $15 to get in, or $20 and a wine glass if you want to add wine tasting. There is a mix of wineries, other gourmet food producers and truffles to savor. You can buy truffles, watch truffles being cooked, listen to talks about truffles and taste truffles. This looks like an event that is perfect for warming up a cold day. Quite lush and elegant, I’m sure. I’d bring a wine glass.

What the pho? Or, how to order beef noodle soup in Vietnam

by Catherine Bodry on

I’m generally pretty good with languages, and often have few problems communicating the basics in a new country after I’ve been there a few weeks. I thought this skill was relegated to the romance languages only, but when I traveled solo in China, necessity forced me to pick up a sizable chunk of Mandarin.

So when I left China for Vietnam, I was feeling fairly confident in my language abilities. And I was also hungry for some phô. For those of you who haven’t tasted this beefy delight, get thee to a phô shop immediately! (In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s a chain called “What the Phô.”) In this dish, beef is simmered in broth with cinnamon, star anise, rice noodles, and a bunch of other savory stuff, then served to you with a side of fresh sprouts and herbs. Fill your bowl with these, some chiles and fish sauce, and you’ve got the best bowl of soup you’ve ever had.

You’d think I could master the simple phrase “phô bo” (beef noodle soup) — pronounced in English as “fuh buh.” I had a month in Vietnam to perfect it, and I ordered the soup daily, yet I could never get it right. Vietnamese has 6 tones that go up,down and around — as far as I could tell — and every time I ordered pho bo (with different tones each time) I was met with confused looks. I tried rising, then falling: “Fu-UH BU-uh” Nope. Short, then long: “Fuh Buuuuuuuuh.” Huh-uh. Even though I was at a noodle shop that served only pho, even though I was getting all the consonants right, they still had no clue what I was saying. Thankfully, most of the vendors seemed to understand “beef noodle soup.”

And that’s about as far as I got with Vietnamese.

Amazing Race withdrawl: A way to while away some time while you cope

by Jamie Rhein on

As a friend of mine and I were making plans for next Sunday night, she said, “And, you’ll get home in time for Amazing Race.”

“Oh, no. That’s over. The laid back team won. I wrote the last recap,” I said. This conversation reminded me a bit of the end of the movie The Truman Show when Truman (Jim Carey) decided he didn’t want to remain on TV nationwide and flew the coop. The channel went to fuzz and once the TV land audience got over cheering him out of their TV screen, they changed the channel. Next Sunday night a friend of mine is giving a poetry reading and I’m glad I’m not wrestling with a conflict. (Yes, yes, I know there’s such a thing as TiVo, but basic, basic cable has already created havoc and mayhem in my family’s life. We are TiVoing NOTHING)

Still, when people are in our living rooms for weeks on end, it’s odd to not have them there anymore. Here’s a way to bring them back just a little. Besides, if you felt that the teams whizzed through certain parts of the countries they visited and you wanted more–particularly a landmark they visited, it’s attainable. I discovered the Amazing Race 12 videos on the Amazing Race Web site the night Survivor China took its place and found myself clicking on one after another. Maybe I needed to clean house or something and this was a dodge, but they are informative and entertaining.

One thing I found out is that when the teams are eliminated they don’t go home to pine away. In this season, those who pooped out early spent two weeks or so in Portugal at a villa having a fine time bonding with each other and taking in the scenery. There’s one video, “Racers Going Out on the Town” where everyone took in a winery and a bicycle ride. For losers, that sure isn’t shabby. Kynt and Vyxsin didn’t get eliminated quickly enough to make it to Portugal. Either did Nate and Jennifer. So, if you’re going to get eliminated early in this game, don’t despair. You may spend some time in paradise.

Also, there are videos that show some down time when the team members still in the race could enjoy the country they were in, such as the dip in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia before the leg to Italy. Those videos are under Web Clips. Each episode has several videos. These are the behind the scenes stories–the stuff that was edited out.

The videos from Phil’s Diary give more insight into each country’s culture and particular sites, such as the pit stops. Phil’s an engaging guy so it’s clear why he has a traveler’s dream job of a lifetime. Also, these are great for anyone interested in how shows are put together. So if you’re feeling as if you need a bit more of Amazing Race 12, turn up your speaker volume and enjoy. None of the videos aren’t long, all around five minutes.

If you wondered if Nate and Jen just couldn’t stand each other, think again. In the Elimination Station video, “The Great White North” she’s sitting on his lap. For a look at what happened at the finish from the other racers perspective, check out Reunited. You’ll see Don cry, hear about Ron crying and then feel like smacking a couple of the racers upside the head. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “I could have been a contender!” you’ll know what I mean.

From my perspective, these guys all made it onto a reality television show, they are celebrities in their town, they were lifted out of the day to day lives that most of us lead figuring out how to find a travel bargain so we may get a neat vacation once in awhile, and they had the chance to bond with people they would have never met otherwise. Big deal that they didn’t win a million dollars. It’s poor form to whine. But, then again, it’s probably natural to do the shoulda, coulda, woulda kvetching for a little while, particularly when someone has a camera in your face and prompting, I can imagine, “So, how do you feel that you didn’t win a million dollars?”