According to the tags on ourmanwhere’s page, this photo was taken in Krakow, Poland during the Christmas season. I love the old-school feel of the shot, as though it were taken 60 year ago. The sun seems to hover over and beam magically from above the distant cathedral, as though the two were spiritually connected.
If you’ve got some great travel photos to share, upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool. We peruse the pool daily for cool shots for our Photo of the Day feature!
There’s The New York Times list of 53 places to go in 2008 (see post), the 40 travel tips and suggestions from London’s Times (see post )and now Concierge.com has an IT List of 10 more suggestions, all with sound reasoning behind each one.
The way a destination ends up on this list is that it’s had enough people show up to increase the odds that it has some sense of what travelers like, therefore it can deliver a vacation to write home about–or it’s a place people have gone to for years, but has something new to offer. In the case of this list, it’s luxury.
When I looked over the Concierge list, it occurred to me that there are places I’d like to go on a vacation if I had A LOT of money. Any place could be spiffy.
Oman, a place I never thought of going, but now that I’ve seen what it has to offer, I think it’s an option. For one thing, everyone I know who has gone to the United Arab Emirates talks about how expensive Dubai is. Oman, from Concierge’s description, seems to be a cheaper version of a place to travel in the Middle East that can provide some Western comfort, at least when it comes to lodging. Oman, like the UAE has luxurious hotels that I’d venture to guess are less expensive because a lot of people are not heading there yet.
The history of Oman is what attracts me the most.The 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta passed through here and from what I read, even though tourism is being developed, it’s possible to get a healthy dose of traditional culture.
If you’re looking for something tropical–like Bali, but not Bali since much of Bali has loads of tourists, one suggestion is Hainan Island, China. You can stay in luxury here too, but what caught my attention was the description of mountain villages. I’m not a more than a day or two beach person, but give me an afternoon of wandering through a village and I’m happy. Since I’ve been to several places in South East Asia, this would be a choice based on a place that would be different but familiar.
Mozambique is also on the list. I love the word Mozambique. Say it. Doesn’t that sound lovely? The trendy hotels and a beach scene are part of the draw, and the political stability has helped it excel. I’m intrigued by the Portuguese influence, plus the national parks and the music. I bet the traditional architecture is also fabulous. Besides that, I’d like to see how it compares to the other African countries I’ve been to.
Although I love Tuscany, Sicily, the Concierge.com’s suggestion of where to head in Italy this year, would be the place I’d pick to go if I could pick just one. The thing I like about this choice is that there is so much variety in not such a big place. I have a tendency to want to see everything. If there’s not so much ground to cover, it feels like the vacation can be interesting and restful.
After watching the Amazing Race teams navigate Croatia, Montenegro, a country that has been compared to it in looks and feel, seems as if it would be a fabulous choice. It’s also supposed to be cheaper than Italy and Croatia.
Paris, San Diego, Ecuador, St. Lucia, Puerto Escondido and the Oaxacan Coast are also on the list.
For some more details about what Ecuador offers, check out Aaron’s post on his trip there. For St. Lucia, check out Adrienne’s series St. Lucia There & Back. She has the ins and outs about all aspects of travel here. She did it all.
As for San Diego, Erik presented a list earlier in 2007 that tells you what to see there, a good place to start. He’s a guy who lived there, so he should know.
If you head to Paris, another possibility is a houseboat stay on the Seine, as Martha did with her mother.
As for the Oaxacan Coast, my dad, who has been to Mexico several times loves this section of Mexico. If I ever go to Mexico on an extended trip, Oaxaca is where I’m heading.
There are moments when you are traveling that you realize getting what you want just isn’t happening. This can even happen when you are living in the culture you were born into. It can certainly happen when you’re navigating life in another culture. In both situations, there are four reasons I can think of that getting what you want is not in your immediate future.
When living overseas I find the reasons most often at work that cause me to not get what I want are B and C. In my experience, D mostly happens with the people with whom we live. We call those people family. In the case of A, counseling helps.
My tendency in the cases of A or B or C, particularly when traveling or living overseas, is to pretend that what I am getting–even if it’s not what I wanted, is what I want. Perhaps, when I ordered, I really did want the fish balls in my soup even though I’ve never been able to figure out what they are exactly.
While living in Asia, I often found myself making do with what came my way, as to not burst out in tears in the middle of strangers, and to hold onto my “Isn’t life grand?” determination. Or should I say delusion?.
When I told a Singaporean friend about my experience of not getting a haircut one day because I didn’t want to embarrass the hairdresser or myself, she laughed and said I must have been Chinese in a past life. Chinese people will generally go to great lengths to make sure no one is embarrassed, particularly due to a misunderstanding. Sometimes it’s when you don’t know all the information. Unless you ask very specific direct questions, you may find yourself receiving minimal, sketchy answers.
For example, if you happen to be walking towards the edge of a cliff, but don’t know it, you more than likely will not be told. If you notice people looking at you a bit nervously, ask, “Excuse me? Is there a cliff here?” The answer will be “Yes.” You need to follow this with. “If I keep going in this direction, will I fall off the cliff?” You will be told, “Yes.”
However, if you don’t ask these questions, you will not be told what would be helpful to know. People will feel sorry that you fell off the cliff, but won’t tell you that danger is a drop off away in case you might feel bad that you could be so stupid as to walk towards the edge of a cliff and fall off.
This may sound like an exaggeration. Okay, it is an exaggeration, but the idea behind it is true. We discussed the notion of saving face and helping to make sure that others save face with our Chinese friends in Taiwan and they laughed and agreed that this was so.
But, back to the Singapore haircut story. One day, feeling stressed out, thinking that I looked a bit shaggy at the edges, and knowing that getting a haircut is one way to relieve stress, I went to the hairdresser located in the apartment complex where we lived after I told my husband I was going out to get a haircut.
“That’s nice dear,” he said.
The Singaporean style of haircuts in a hair salon is simply divine. The hairdresser gives a head and neck massage as part of the haircut experience.
This day, the one I’m talking about, the hairdresser put the apron around my neck and said, “Shampoo and blow dry?”
“Oh, yes,” I gushed.
She put the shampoo in my hair and began to give me that wonderful massage. I could feel my blood pressure drop. Ahha.
Then she rinsed my hair.
So far so good.
Then she picked up the hairdryer.
Wait. I thought. Maybe she’ll cut my hair after she blows it dry. I didn’t want to ask her if this was the case in case it wasn’t the case at all. Since I had said “Yes” when she asked, “Wash and a blow dry?” and I hadn’t added more desires, it would have felt rude to say, “Excuse, me, but where’s my haircut? It’s what I came for.”
I hoped that perhaps there would be a turn of fate with each sweep of the warm air across my head and tug of the brush.
Nope, she continued to aim the blow dryer at my hair, that was still shaggily the same length, and expertly brushed it until it gleamed and was completely dry.
“There!” she said, holding up the mirror to show me just how the crown of my head caught the reflection of the florescent lights.
“Nice!” I said, running my hands over my hair, happy that it did feel much softer at least and that some of my stress was gone. That was part of why I came to the hairdresser anyway, and I could always come back in a couple of weeks when I could tell her very clearly that I wanted a haircut and also that I wanted it washed and blown dry, please. I assumed that when going to a hair salon, the basic purpose was a hair cut and the wash and blow dry was the extras. Nope. It’s important to be very specific.
Not only did I not want her to feel bad that she didn’t give me what I wanted, I also didn’t want her to feel bad that I didn’t know how to ask the right question. As soon as she picked up that blow dryer, we’d gone too far. Better to have kept going and talk myself into feeling swell later.
My husband did say, “Your hair looks good,” when I went back upstairs.
“Thanks,” I said. “I didn’t get it cut. I’ll do that in a week or two.”
“I thought you went to get it cut.”
“Yep.”
Since he was living in Singapore as well, he understood–kind of. He didn’t use to be Chinese in a past life and would have said something.
If you’re in Singapore and want to get a haircut, one place I did have luck was Holland Village. I’m not sure if the place in the photo was where I went. Here’s a link to a list of hair salons and their descriptions. You can get walk-in haircuts, but for some hair salons, you need an appointment.
The fact that I left Dubai and continually seem to be ranting about the city here might make you think I hate it. Truth is, I don’t. I’ve just had enough of it, and would never want to live there again. The city does have its own charm, something I will write about when I’m inspired to. However, the idea of building a mini-Lyon in Dubai isn’t part of it.
You would think that a city that is hardly 40-years old and has no money issues, would put in some effort to nurture and display to the world a culture it can call its own. But it always takes pride in doing the exact opposite.
Dubai is a strange, though fascinating, concoction of everything it isn’t but wants to be. This is why people like me who have spent a significant amount of time there often perceive its new ventures to keep the city in the world’s limelight as superficial ludicrousness.
The project to build a mini-Lyon in Dubai that will copy the city and even reconstruct the cafes, cinemas and schools, will be a €500 million project due to finish in 2012.
Why do you want a mini-Lyon in Dubai? It’s going to be “a small city with the accent on the best of French culture, and particularly Lyon culture.” Lyon is the 3rd largest metropolitan in France with a history that goes back to the 1st Century BC. This is impossible to imitate to any level of significance in 4 years.
Why doesn’t Dubai understand that copying cities and building “only-possible-in-Dubai” structures and islands, creates nothing but a confusion over the very word ‘culture’. I suppose in Dubai they would call it “redefining culture”.
When Dubai plans things like this, I think it just reinforces the cultural crisis it is in, but will never admit. It probably won’t affect its tourism industry, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Sigh.
In most Hispanic countries, the day the Three Wise Men visited Jesus (Epiphany) holds more significance than Christmas Day. On the night of January 5, children write to their favorite king (rather than to Santa) for what they want and leave their shoes outside, filled with straw for the Wise Men’s camels to eat; today is when they open their gifts.
Yesterday evening, the streets of Madrid’s center were packed with people waiting excitedly from 2pm to see the Parade of the Kings that began around 6pm. Today as families spend time together, there is a tradition of eating “Roscon of the Kings” which is a large loaf of bread in the shape of a king’s crown, coated with nuts and dried-fruit and filled with cream or chocolate. A gold coin is hidden inside, and it is believed that the person who gets it will have good luck throughout the year.
To reassert the importance of this day over December 25, recently in Madrid there was an anti-Santa campaign to spotlight the existing capitalism around the concept of Father Christmas. It highlighted his unacceptable behavior that included: doping his reindeer, racism, exploiting his elves, relations with the Romanian mafia and general susceptibility to commercialization. There was a demonstration outside the Finnish Embassy demanding the closure of Santa’s toy factory — a cause of contamination in the Scandinavian country.
Based in Madrid, a website has been created for the cause that includes an anti-Santa pro-Kings rap by campaigners dressed as the Three Kings which you can see here; it ends with a stage killing of Santa Claus.
