Using Sex To Sell Israel

by Brett Atkinson on

A few days back I blogged about Tourism New Zealand’s innovative approach to internet marketing. Israel is another country that’s been harnessing the power of the interweb to push their claim as a great place to visit.

Unlike New Zealand, Israel can’t offer alpine lakes and adventure sports on every street corner, so they’ve decided humour and sex is the best way to lure visitors to the Holy Land. (Read that last sentence back for the true meaning of irony).

Who knew Israel was the Mediterranean’s answer to Brazil?

Just Maybe The World’s Most Surprising Beerfest

by Brett Atkinson on

We seem to spend an inordinate time here at Gadling writing about beer, especially when it rolls around to Oktoberfest season. Click here for Justin’s post about the best beer tents in Munich, and here for his video insight into the most exciting funfair rides on offer after a few foaming steins.

My own hazy memories of September in Munich include enduring the “Drei Loopen” roller coaster after a lunch of Lowenbrau and pretzels.

A quieter and altogether suprising alternative to the Oktoberfest is the small scale beerfest that recently took place in the Palestinian town of Taybeh. Brewer Nadim Khoury is a Christian, but out of respect for his Muslim neighbours actually brought forward the start date to avoid clashing with Ramadan.

A range of brews were available for ten shekels (around $1.60) and festivities included the Palestinian rap group DAM and local hip hop crews Boikutt and G-Town. Sounds like a cool place to be.

Click here for an excellent article on the challenges of being a brewer on the West Bank.

Story and pic via the BBC.

Short and Sweet Travel Advice for the World’s Top Tech Cities

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’re in the tech industry these days, your travel has become increasingly more widespread in the last five years as international competition has started challenging Silicon Valley as the sole place to do business.

With this in mind, Business 2.0 has published a handy little guide in this month’s issue: The Road Warrior’s Guide to Travel.

The guide, which is available online here, or as a pull-out in the print edition, breaks out the travel basics for the planet’s hottest tech cities: Bangalore, Barcelona, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

Each city section addresses the same six questions; How to get around, where to find free Wi-Fi, where to get a trim, best place to get down to business, best place to celebrate closing the deal, and what you might not know.

Better get a print copy soon, however. I just learned that Business 2.0 (one of my favorite magazines) is going belly-up–perhaps yet another sign that the tech world is migrating out of America?

Before Rough Guides and Lonely Planet

by Brett Atkinson on

Thanks to everyone who commented on my recent post about how to deal with old guidebooks. I’ve decided to keep only the most recent edition of any particular country. It may sound like a big deal but I’ve actually ending ditching a grand total of two books. Hey, it’s a start.

In moving my office back home I’ve just rediscovered one book which I definitely won’t be ditching. Before Lonely Planet and before Rough Guides, the Commercial Press of Jerusalem was publishing the “Path-Finder Guide to Palestine, Transjordan and Syria”.

The slim volume was produced in 1941 for Australian and New Zealand troops based in Egypt before they moved on to battle in North Africa in World War 2. I picked up my copy at a garage sale in Auckland.

The focus is firmly on the sights, and while there are no reveiws of hotels or restaurants an ad for the “Piccadilly!!! Cafe” offers “Good Food!! Good Drinks!! Dancing!! Orchestra!! Prompt Service!!” – (almost…) everything an ANZAC soldier could want on his R & R.

Apparently there was no shortage of exclamation marks back then.

For such a modest little book, it’s a poignant read as it covers places like the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek, Beirut, Nablus and Damascus – all map references with very different historical resonance almost seventy years after it was first published. in 1941.

Dead Sea Scrolls make Journey to San Diego

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s a rare opportunity when one of the world’s greatest treasures leaves home and comes to visit you. It’s even rarer when that treasure is the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are comprised of nearly 800 documents hand written on dried animal skin that were hidden in caves near the Dead Sea (naturally) and discovered between 1947 and 1956. The manuscripts date back to 250 B.C. to 65 A.D. and are the oldest known copies of the bible.

To view such historical manuscripts, one must normally travel to Jerusalem where they are stored. Starting the end of this month on June 29, however, history lovers need only trek down to the San Diego Natural History Museum where 24 of the parchments will be on display until December 31.

Wow, that sure is a lot easier for me than visting the Shrine of the Book in Isreal where they are normally displayed.