Prefer your lucky rat deep-fried or grilled?

by Iva Skoch on

To welcome the Year of the Rat, some people in rural Taiwan and China have increased their rat consumption accordingly. Reuters reports that a rural eatery at Taiwan’s Chiayi county, serves 10 rat-themed dishes, including rat soup, black pepper-dipped and deep-fried rat. The diner goes through around 18 kg (40 lb) of rat meat per day.

Here is the “Rat-at-Chewy” video by Reuters, depicting the way rats are prepared and eaten. I wouldn’t suggest watching it before lunch.

Rat meat apparently became popular in rural Taiwan in the 1940s and 1950s among people who could not afford chicken or pork. At least we know that if the sub-prime mortgage crisis gets any worse, there are enough rats in New York to fill every American man, woman and child.

Chinese New Year: Sing like you’re there

by Jamie Rhein on

There is a Chinese New Year song my daughter learned when we lived in Taiwan that we used to wheedle her into singing for guests when she was younger. Eventually, we had to promise to never make her sing it again.

While I was looking for a YouTube video of the song, I came across several professionally made music videos of other Chinese New Year songs. This one has Chinese New Year decorations that capture the flavor of the holiday and a celebratory mood. I sure feel Chinese New Year-like after watching several of them. This is a catchy tune, so perhaps you can sing along.

Photo of the Day (1/23/08)

by Jamie Rhein on

This shot by Kevinlin034 brought to mind a few of my encounters with children when I’ve traveled. Doesn’t this child’s face make you want to make the same face back? Watching kids haul stools and serve food is quite common in family run businesses in Asia. I don’t know if this is a young child who is pulling up a stool for himself, or if he’s been put to work. Someone has just finished lunch. Considering this was taken in Taiwan, I bet it was delicious.

One of the composition qualities I like here is the repetition of red. Notice the line that goes from the stacked stools in the back to the red of the stool in the foreground. The adults in the background aren’t even noticing this scene.

To show off your own composition wonders, load up your photos on Gadling’s Flickr Photo Pool.

How to live like Matthew McConaughey

by Jamie Rhein on

Living like Matthew McConaughey may involve taking your shirt off, as Matt Damon says in his hilarious impression of the often shirtless star while Damon was a guest on David Letterman. (Here is the YouTube video. It explains why I chose the photo I did.)

Another way that is less dramatic, perhaps, is by living with a family overseas. McConaughey was an exchange student to Australia in 1988 and lived with a family who he still visits. (YouTube video)

When I was in college, I was an exchange student and lived with a family in Denmark who I am still in touch with and plan to visit again on my next trip to Europe. I have visited two times already. My Danish sisters have also visited me and my family in the U.S.

When you live with a family there is an impression about a country you can get that’s much richer from traveling there. Although Abha found Copenhagen not worth traveling back to, which I can see if I didn’t know it better, I found the Danish culture a fascinating place to hang out for awhile. When you live with a family, you get to know more about the values and psychology of a place.

I also learned how to make a deep connection with someone who didn’t share my language and I didn’t share his. My Danish father didn’t know any English and I didn’t really learn any more Danish than to say “Thank you for the meal,” “Are you cold?” and “peacock.” I also know how to make a Danish lunch.

For anyone visiting the U.S., living with an American family is a way to understand more about the complexities of American life. We’ve had Japanese exchange teachers live with us on a couple of occasions. Both times it was only for a couple of weeks, but we took them to visit my husband’s parents and each were here for Halloween.

As an adult, there are still ways you can live with a family if your exchange student days are over, although many masters’ degree programs also have programs in other countries that involve staying with families. One of my close friends studied in Taiwan and lived with a family for the summer as part of his program through the University of Southern California. The first time I went to Taiwan, I visited him. Since he was studying urban planning seeing Taipei through his lens was a bonus.

Another way is to search out home stay options. There are organizations that link visitors to families, even for short visits. Here’s one for Nepal that I found, for example.

You can also possibly hook up with an impromptu stay. When we lived in Singapore, we had a few travelers stay with us who we met while we were traveling somewhere else. When they were passing through Singapore, we invited them to stay with us. Be friendly, open, and charming as hell, and you might get lucky.

When I was in the Peace Corps some travelers wandered into my village and guess who the villagers thought they should stay with because they might be more comfortable? Here’s an account of someone who finagled a stay with a nomad family in Mongolia. This stay involved learning a bit about sheep shearing. My Peace Corps visitors ended up going with me to a naming ceremony that involved drumming and dancing. By the way, they were Italian. One of them didn’t know English.

When picking a place for your next vacation, consider staying with a family in order to learn the language better. For that purpose, here’s one in Ecuador through the Cristóbal Colón Spanish school.

Here is a link to the Danish International Student program (DIS) that gives tips on staying with a family. They are worth a look at no matter which family you may stay with, even if it’s for a night or two.

Brain feeling blah? Exercise it.

by Jamie Rhein on

On New Year’s Eve I spent an hour or so engaged in the board game Battle of the Sexes with friends. I think that was the name of it. We were on vacation at their house in Ottawa, Ohio. A few hours before the game, the female half of this couple took me on a drive through town to show me where the water line was when the town flooded this summer. Their basement family room was royally trashed by water.

Thanksgiving weekend, I spent an hour or so playing some other brain engaging activity with my husband’s family in Hinckley, Ohio (It’s where the buzzards come to roost each spring.) It was a short vacation; we didn’t stay overnight, but the trip involved 5 hours of driving, so I call that getting away. I can’t remember the name of Thanksgiving’s game, but I do remember it involved drawing, acting and trivia.

According to a post at Intelligent Traveler, this game playing is part of a travel trend. Wow! I would have done a better job and won if I knew I was cutting edge. Since playing games gives your brain a workout AND helps you relax, people in the hotel business are wooing guests by providing game playing and brain exercise options.

Some, like Hyatt Resorts are providing board games for guests to use. Seminars, workshops and classes on how to get your brain on fire with vim and vigor while you’re on break from the rest of your life are also in the mix. Westin Hotels have brain exercises they hand out to their guests.

When I stayed at the Westin in Taipei, I was so thrilled with the bedding and the bathtub since it was such a contrast to the funky, odd, kind of uncomfortable apartment we lived in Hsinchu with its hard as a rock mattress, tub that you really couldn’t sit in, and hot water that barely lasted through one shower , much less two, that brain food would have been a distraction from the luxury.

After reading about this game trend, it occurred to me that southeastern Kentucky is way ahead. One of the regular activities at the Buckhorn Lake State Park resort is playing Bingo. That’s a game I can win. The last time I stayed there, I left with a ceramic mug.