So that’s why they hardly speak English in Spain!

by Abha Malpani on

It has always shocked me how little English people speak in Spain. Travel to big cities and generally you can communicate with the locals in English, but in Madrid (for example) you will be lucky to encounter a Madrileño to speak to in English. It’s embarrassing how here you can’t even order a coffee in English at Starbucks!

I think one of the main reasons for its lack of English-speaking capabilities is the fact that Spain is the only country in the world (according to a recent article in the English version of El Pais published by the IHT) that dubs everything. Everything!

The article (which unfortunately isn’t online) also says that Spain has 4,300 cinema screens, making it the country with the highest number of movie theaters per person in Europe. Although now there are a number of Version Original (VO) theaters in the country, they are visited mostly by tourists; Spaniards generally don’t want to read subtitles. When asked, although Spaniards said they prefer to watch films in VO, only 4% of them actually go to cinemas to watch them in VO.

To make a comparison of sorts: I have a lot of Swedish friends, both here and in Sweden. What always surprised me was how well they speak English and how perfectly American their accents are. When I asked them, they all unanimously said it’s because they have grown up watching English-language programs on television as nothing is dubbed. Sweden generally being a rich and cold country, most people have cable and I guess they stay in a lot!

Although English is taught in Spanish schools, it is not uncommon to find it being taught by teachers who can’t really speak English, but they know the grammar. On that note, it’s interesting to think that should Spain not have dubbed programs (initially done under the Franco regime), Spaniards would at least have had basic English communication skills.

The influence of media on the language capabilities of a country is quite fascinating, don’t you think!?

Infiltrating North Korea Part 4: The architecture of Pyongyang

by Neil Woodburn on

Pyongyang, for the most part, is surprisingly tasteful and impressive without being too ostentatious and grandiose.

This is because Kim Il Sung, like all megalomaniacs, built his capital to showcase the power and sophistication of his regime and to serve as a shining example of Socialism’s prowess.

Nonetheless, I had still expected a horribly dilapidated city much like the carcass of so many Eastern European towns I had seen shortly after the fall of communism. But I was wrong, for the most part. Yes, such visual horrors certainly existed: Beyond the city center, for example, we could clearly make out the concrete hell of socialism where rows of prefabricated housing blocks were pushed up against each other like tombstones in a graveyard.

But the center of town itself was a pleasant exception to this horrendous architecture. Pyongyang had been leveled during the war and the communist city planners had therefore been presented a tabula rasa on which to build the model socialist city. The result was a proud capital that boasted wide boulevards, tree lined sidewalks, numerous parks, and impressive architecture that could be at home even in Europe. Almost. Pyongyang also has its share of oddball structures and at least one failed skyscraper attempting to be the tallest in the world.

Arch of Triumph
Pyongyang’s Arch of Triumph is taken right out of the pages of Paris, France. Except, of course, it’s three meters taller.

The 60 meter tall (190 ft) structure was built in 1982 with 10,500 granite blocks and stands as a tribute to the liberation of Korea from the Japanese in 1945. Or, as recounted in my copy of Pyongyang Review, the arch “reflects our people’s ardent wish and steadfast resolve to glorify forever the immortal revolutionary exploits of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung who embarked on the road to revolution in his early years and led the 20-year long anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle to victory and returned home by accomplishing the cause of national liberation.”

Such praise is a very typical North Korean manner of exalting Kim Il Sung and inserting his “brilliance” and leadership into every single object–manmade or otherwise–the sun shines upon in North Korea.

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Ryugyong Hotel
The Ryugyong Hotel is undoubtedly the most flagrant symbol of North Korea’s failure as judged by the outside world.

At 330 meters (1,083 ft) tall and 105 floors, this mammoth structure dominates Pyongyang’s skyline. Originally scheduled to open in 1989, it would have been the world’s tallest hotel at the time and a cultural coup of one-upmanship for the North Korean government.

Things didn’t go as planned, however. Construction was halted in 1992, leaving Korea-watchers speculating on the many reasons for abandoning such a prestigious project that was heralded in the local press as the architectural equivalent of the second coming of God.

Poor quality concrete is the most commonly suspected reason, although funding probably played a major role as well. Experts estimated the project cost $750 million dollars and tragically consumed far too many resources during a time of horrific famine in North Korea.

Today, the hotel has become a white elephant which no one, including our guides, would speak about. All references have been stripped from the North Korean mass media, including my copy of Pyongyang Review which features all the other architectural landmarks of the city. Stamps bearing its image have been recalled and even state photographs of the city are now taken in a manner that excludes this monstrous carcass. This 1,000 foot pyramid of concrete simply no longer exists.

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Pyongyang Metro
The Pyongyang Metro is something else that doesn’t really exist. Or does it?

Every visitor to Pyongyang is given a tour of the metro. But, unlike the Moscow Metro in which tourists could travel at will even during the height of the Cold War, tourists in Pyongyang can only travel between Puhung Station and Yongwang Station–coincidently, the last two stations on the line.

No one seems to know why the other stations are off limits but there is plenty of speculation. Some believe that these are the only two stations in the system and that the commuters we saw riding the train were merely there for show. The more likely reason, however, is that the remainder of the network may be broken, or simply shut down to save energy–although this most certainly doesn’t impact the rumored secret lines that connect government buildings.

The Pyongyang Metro was opened in 1973 and built in the same grandiose style as the Moscow Metro; each station a miniature palace covered in marble, mosaics, statuary, chandeliers, artwork, and, of course, propaganda. According to the 1994 English version of The Pyongyang Metro, North Korea’s subway “is not only the traffic means but also the place for ideological education. Its inside decoration is depicted artistically so as to convey to posterity the glorious revolutionary history and the leadership exploits of the great leader President Kim Il Sung.”

And, indeed, the two stations we visited were impressively decked out with mosaics that ran the entire length of the tunnel, and included themes that, according to The Pyongyang Metro book “represent the appearance of the country which is prospering day by day and the happiness of the working people who enjoy the equitable and worthwhile creative life to their hearts’ content thanks to the popular policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

Despite living up to their promise of underground museums, the stations were still a little dark and gloomy–something which even Korean elevator music piped in over the Metro’s loudspeakers failed to alleviate. This is a serious psychological design flaw considering that the stations–some of the deepest in the world–were also designed to double as bomb shelters. I can’t imagine being trapped down there for more than a few hours.

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Yesterday: The Enigma of Pyongyang
Tomorrow: The Sexy Traffic Girls of Pyongyang

Rocks that are more than rocks: Must see destinations

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was in 8th grade, my school bus went past a house with an enormous multicolored map of the United States painted on an even more enormous flat rock in the front yard. Each state was a different color than the ones surrounding it. My bus driver thought it was the coolest artwork ever. She pointed it out each time we passed. My dad has two huge rocks in his front yard. One is as tall as the house. He lives in a region of New York where glaciers left huge boulders and crevices in their wake.

Those rocks have nothing on this collection of mega boulders posted on deputydog. From Japan to Peru, and even Kansas, the boulders have become destinations that tourists go to see. Some are left alone in their natural state. Others have been altered to direct people’s interactions.

The Kaiktiyo Pagoda in Myanmar has certainly one-upped the people who turned their front yard boulder into a map of the the U.S. A pagoda was built on top of it, and both bolder and pagoda were then gilded in gold leaf. To me, the result looks like it’s related to the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz–except it’s gold. Can’t you just imagine someone putting a face on it? I do think it’s wonderful, even though as a female, according to the description, I’m not supposed to touch it. It just reminds me of the Tin Man. I can’t help it.

Along with the spectacular photos deputydog includes a description about the significance of each spot. Quite an interesting read and wonderful idea for a collection. This could be a coffee table book in the making.

One of my favorite boulders, not in this collection, is the one in Copenhagan, Denmark where the statue of the Little Mermaid sits in Hans Christian Anderson Harbor. It’s not that the boulder is all that special, but without it, the mermaid would sink. Do you have any favorite boulders in your life? [This shot of the the pagoda was taken by Yetun and posted on Flickr. Yetun has several kudos on the photo. Great job!]

Chinatowns of the World

by Kelly Amabile on

Travelers create all sorts of interesting themed trips these days, but I don’t recall hearing about a tour that visits all the world’s Chinatowns just yet. Have I missed it? Well, if it hasn’t been done yet, someone will get around to planning such an adventure eventually, I’m sure. In the meantime, a new exhibit that opens in New York this week offers a nice overview that can help with itinerary planning — if you’re up to the challenge of visiting the more than 300 Chinatowns that exist around the world today!

In association with New York’s Chinatown Film Festival, the Storefront for Art and Architecture is hosting Chinatowns, a collection of over 1,000 images taken by almost as many photographers. This global tour spans over 100 cities on four continents: “It is a visual tribute to the diversities and idiosyncrasies, as much as the similarities, that unite these urban communities scattered all over the world.”

The exhibit opens on Tuesday, December 11 and will run through December 22, 2007.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 3: The enigma of Pyongyang

by Neil Woodburn on


I was quite pleased to discover that Pyongyang does not suffer from the typical communist infatuation with soulless concrete and is, instead, a rather pleasant city blessed with wide boulevards, spacious squares, picturesque parks, tree-lined sidewalks, traditional architecture and modern buildings.

What truly separates it from other parts of Asia, however, are its many communist accoutrements.

Propaganda comes in all shapes and sizes in Pyongyang and it’s simply impossible to avoid. The city is flush with politically charged statues, mosaics, posters, and monuments–which will be discussed later–as well as bright red flags festooned with the North Korean hammer, sickle and brush (paying tribute to the worker, peasant and intellectual).

Despite the negative association of the hammer and sickle in the Western world, these flags are actually quite festive and lend a welcome splash of color to the city. They’re also enjoyably anachronistic, making it seem as though I had traveled back in time to 1950s Moscow all proudly awash in communist red.
So, this is what it was like in the Soviet Bloc before the Wall came down and capitalism rushed in with its neon signs, billboards, and McDonald’s. I thought at first it would feel like being on a movie set where everything feels slightly fake and manufactured. But the red flags and banners just felt right, like they belonged–this was, after all, the real thing.
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The most pleasant discovery of Pyongyang, however, was that it was not the polluted wasteland of acidic air and soot stained masonry so commonly found in other communist capitals. This struck me the moment I stepped on to the tarmac of the Pyongyang airport. I had flown in from China, one of the most polluted countries on this planet, and was quite taken back by the sudden shock of fresh air when we landed. This is because the North Korean capital relies mostly on hydroelectric energy instead of the cheaply burning lignite coal more commonly used throughout Eastern Europe.

The air is kept even cleaner by the fact that there were almost no cars on the streets–the place was an automotive ghost town. Pyongyang and the rest of North Korea, as it turns out, operates almost entirely on foot and bike power. Pedestrians and bicyclists were everywhere. They weren’t bunched up and crowding the sidewalks and street corners, however. Pyongyang is sparsely populated and its mobile citizens were always strung out and scattered with yards of separation between them. It was a lonely, spacious form of transportation indicative of the country itself.


The exception was the always overcrowded city busses. Commuters on street corners throughout the capital waited in very long lines for these busses, lines that were freakishly orderly as though as though anyone who stepped out of place would be punished in some manner or another.
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This sense of order permeates the city. This is because only the most privileged of North Koreans (i.e. the party faithful) are allowed to live in Pyongyang. This means that all three million of them are constantly on their best behavior for fear of getting kicked off the “island” and banished to some provincial North Korean backwater. This is my theory, at least. And, I don’t think it’s too far from the truth. This explains why the bus lines are so orderly, the residents are constantly doffed up in their finest suits, there is absolutely no crime, and not a spot of litter to be seen anywhere–although with the dearth of consumer disposables and lack of fast food containers, there really isn’t too much to actually litter with. This passion for keeping things clean and orderly even extends to the most remote areas of North Korea where women can be seen sweeping the highway in the middle of nowhere without a village for miles.

Of course, being a good socialist means taking care of yourself and your society, so a healthy dose of communist rhetoric coupled with some good old fashioned totalitarian fear has gone a long way in keeping the capital squeaky clean and orderly–albeit cursed with somewhat of a stilted atmosphere.

Yesterday: The Challenges of Being a Tourist
Tomorrow: The Architecture of Pyongyang