Carnival celebrations around the world

by Anna Brones on

Vibrant music, zesty dancing, bright colors and more fun and absurdity than a lot of people can handle. Carnival anyone? For the pre-Lent partying season our minds tend to automatically think of New Orleans and Rio, but the event is in fact celebrated around the world. A few places to spice up a dreary winter before Lent kicks in:

Dominica: A small and happy island almost hidden in the Lesser Antilles, Dominica is not to be forgotten during Carnival season. Here, the local Creole expression, More Fete Less Twaka (more party less talk), rings true. Soca competitions, a Carnival beer garden, some street jams and a Miss Dominica Pageant. What more could you want from an early winter Caribbean vacation?

Munich: The Munich Carnival, or “Fasching,” is often referred to as Germany’s “Fifth Season,” when the local population truly lets loose. People crowd the streets, pretzel vendors run abound and beer runs freely. Think Oktoberfest but with confetti, masquerade balls and elaborate parades.

Venice: This year’s theme, Sensation: 6 sensations for 6 neighborhoods, says it all. Venice has been enjoying its celebrations for centuries, and through the years it has evolved into a well-known time for wild festivities. The main feature: masks. If you don’t have your own, not to worry, there are plenty of mask makers throughout the city ready to take your order.

Rijeka: Croatia’s biggest carnival was once one of the most important in Europe. Around 150 carnival groups from a dozen different countries attract over 120,000 visitors. One of the days is designated as children’s carnival, attracting 6,000 little ones. And don’t forget to check out the Zvoncari groups: men dressed up in animal skins, complete with horned masks, frantically dancing to the eerie sound of clanging bells.

Goa: India might not be the first place you would expect to find Carnival, but introduced by the Portuguese who ruled Goa for over 500 years, the celebration is still enjoyed today. Although primarily a Christian event, the Goa Carnival has absorbed many Hindu traditions, making it an extravagant event a true sight for the eyes.


India’s Heritage on Wheels

by Abha Malpani on

You’ve probably heard of India’s famous Palace on Wheels train ride which takes you through main points of northwest India in a week. It’s been around for a while, has a minimum set course of 7-days, and is luxuriously out of reach for the average upper-middle class Indian which makes it more popular with tourists rather than locals.

A similar yet more down-to-earth 3-day journey available on India’s Heritage on Wheels is increasingly becoming popular amongst Indian families not wanting to spend so much for Palace on Wheels, yet want a cultural and comfortable train trip with family. It covers 3-cities in Rajasthan: Jaipur, Shekhawati and then Bikaner where you can visit the most famous sanctuaries, palaces, and forts of the state.

At US$150-300 per night, it is not cheap, but it costs less than half the day price of Palace on Wheels. The train is targeted to (rich) Indian families rather than international tourists, so perhaps it will give you a slightly more authentic experience of that part of India.

Mumbai “dabbawala” culture

by Abha Malpani on

I never thought I’d be sitting in Madrid, wishing that there was some “dabbawala” to bring me cheap, homemade, Indian food.

“Dabbawala” literally translates to “guy with box”; in this case the box is a tiffin full of food. In India, although fast food is popular, Indians always crave home cooked Indian food and often choose it over street food or McDonald’s. Hectic working schedules make this practically impossible if you don’t have someone cooking for you every morning. Even if you do, the food is cold by lunch time and it doesn’t taste the same when reheated.

The joy of getting hot, home cooked food delivered to you like you’ve specified, at exactly the time you want, is priceless. Mumbai’s dabbawalas make it happen for a fee as little as Rs.250 a month (just over US$6). The food is collected either from homes or from a catering service, then taken to a point where they are color-sorted (the guys are generally illiterate), grouped according to location, and then delivered by train.

More than 200,000 lunches are delivered by about 5000 dabbawalas everyday with an amazing accuracy of menu and time; a recent survey says that they only make one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries. There is no day off for the dabbawalas, they have never gone on strike and harsh weather conditions — especially monsoon season — have never stopped them from doing their job well.

What has been awed about the dabbawalas is how they function so accurately, without the use of any modern technology — only recently they have begun accepting orders via SMS. The success of their system has called much attention from business schools as well as tourists and now they have a “Day with the Dabbawalas” itinerary where you can spend a day in Mumbai helping them out — something Richard Branson did on one of his visits to India.

They have been in business for 125 years and it’s one of the systems that truly represents how efficient an Indian city can be, if it wants to.

Amazing Race winners: what to do with the money?

by Jamie Rhein on

This article contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the finale, please do not read this.

The answer to “Now what?” of TK Eriwn and Rachel Rosale’s Amazing Race million dollar win is travel first. Rachel is taking some time off and they are hitting the road with a hefty sum even though savings is part of their idea as well. I’ve done some imagining to see how the dollar amounts might work out. Each won $500,000. Let’s say taxes take $200,000–maybe less, but for these purposes, let’s work with $300,000 remaining. With $300,000 for each person what would you do? Both Rachel & TK did say they are going to travel. Since they are getting along so famously, they’re going to travel together. Rachel also said she is going to do some work on her house, buy a few new outfits and save the rest for later. TK already got a haircut.

Let’s say Rachel decided to save $100,000 in some sort of aggressive funds. She’s young so she can do that. Risk taking is on her side. In 8 years or so, she’ll have $200,000. In 16 years, $300,000. In 24 years, at age 46, she’ll have $600,000, and by the time she’s 52, if all goes well, she’ll have over $1,200.00. By 60, over two million. That’s if she doesn’t touch that $100,000. That strategy could give her a very sweet deal for later travel. But, that’s later; this is now.

Let’s talk about the remaining $200,000. Even if they each spent $50,000 on travel over the course of a few years, providing she rents out her house so someone else is paying the mortgage, what a great time they could have.

As a budget traveler, I’ve tended to stay in two-star hotels unless at a conference where the conference hotel has a terrific deal and my employer has helped pay. We did spring for the Westin in Taipei once. This is a honey of a hotel and well worth the money for a treat, but in general, we don’t stay in our rooms much when we’re traveling, so paying for elegance is wasted on us, but in some places elegance does come cheap. In India, even if one stays in a former Raj palace, such as a Grand Heritage Hotel, something I highly recommend, the chances of spending over $100 for a wonderful room is not going to happen. I should amend that this is funky, historical, artsy wonderful–not plush linen, a bed fit for a king, and fine china wonderful. I went to Neemrana twice.

Besides staying in a Raj style hotel, here are three other suggestions for Rachel and TK based on my most deluxe trips.

Pack mule trip to Ladakh: The most expensive trip I ever took was a pack mule trip to Ladakh where each grouping of people had their private guide who made sure stragglers didn’t wander off into the hills, or if blisters were too unbearable, he had the means for doing some doctoring. The mules carried our stuff and there were cooks along to prepare wonderful vegetarian meals three times a day. They also made tea and gave us snacks. I’d suggest a trip like this one to TK & Rachel. They could do a private trip with two mules and one guide and a cook. Don’t give up the cook and don’t give up the guide. What’s the point of all that money if you’re on a mountain in Ladakh trying to breath and cook dinner? Better let someone else whip up a delicious dahl and rice dish. The guide is a necessity because this is a place of trails that head off in every direction without destination makers pointing the way. (Here’s a detailed account of someone else’s trip published in The Seattle Times three years ago. I bet the prices are not that much more.)

Cycling in Western Australia: Another wonderful trip I took was an everything included cycling trip in Western Australia. That lasted for 9 days, but didn’t cost me a cent. I went along as a chaperone for high schoolers–mostly 9th grade boys. Let’s just say, I more than paid my way fair and square. If anything, I wouldn’t have minded if someone had slipped me a $20 for my efforts of staying cheerful and upbeat. For Rachel and TK, they’ll have the added bonus of being able to buy beer in one of the many pubs in Freemantle. Chaperones weren’t allowed to drink, so I only gazed into the pubs with small whimpers of I can’t believe I’m in Freemantle with all these great pubs and a slew of adolescent males. (Here’s a previous post. There are links to companies that do such trips.)

Antique Rice Barge Cruise in Thailand: If TK and Rachel have a feel for romance, they should take a rice barge cruise in Thailand. The one I took with my husband, dad and daughter (our theme was not romance) was one night complete with gourmet meals, tropical drinks and a full moon. The trip went from outside of Bangkok, including Ayuthaya and traveled along the river back into the city. Watching life awaken along the river as the sun came up was quite special. A warning though. The trip included a visit to a temple where we gave gifts to a monk who sprinkled water on us. It was part of a holy day. I got very unexpectedly pregnant right after. Perhaps there’s no correlation, I’m just saying. Okay, maybe there was some romance.

What advice do you have for TK and Rachel for how to use their travel money wisely, but with style?

World GDPs compared to those of US states

by Aaron Hotfelder on

This fascinating map shows how the Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) of some countries compare to the GDPs of the US states. The numbers may be slightly outdated– go here for the exact numbers from 2005– but the map is interesting nonetheless. California has the largest economy of any state in the US, and it would rank in the top ten worldwide if it were its own country (which it kind of is).

A country’s GDP is the value of all the goods and services it has produced in a given time span. The GDP of the US for 2007 was roughly $13.22 trillion, still far ahead of its nearest competitors despite the notoriously weak US dollar. Predictions of GDP for 2007 and 2008 show, however, that countries like China and India are catching up.

Link via Strange Maps.