McDonald’s: A Hamburger by Any Other Name?

by Jamie Rhein on

Over coffee with Tom Barlow, former fellow blogger from my Blogging Ohio days, the subject of McDonald’s came up. He mentioned that he came across a McDonald’s menu from India when he was doing a blog for his new digs at Blogging Stocks. That caught my attention.

I’ve been to McDonald’s in India, Taiwan and Singapore. Not one for American fast food eating as a rule, there is something comforting about going to a place that looks familiar when one is living or traveling overseas. However, despite the fact that McDonald’s may look the same, what each serves up is quite different than the U.S. version when you consider that it’s the hamburger that put McDonald’s at the top of America’s fast food nation pile. In Asia, if there are hamburgers, sometimes it’s a special style sauce or some McDonald’s don’t serve hamburgers at all.

In India, for example, you’ll be hard pressed to find a McDonald’s that serves hamburgers. I don’t think any of them do. In Singapore hamburgers may or may not be on the menu depending where in the city the restaurant is located. There are chicken burgers galore however. The special sauces appeal to the palates of the people who mostly live in that particular country. In Taiwan, it’s possible to get corn soup as a side order. If you want to get the one menu item that tastes like it’s been cooked up in the U.S., French fries are universal. The largest McDonald’s I was ever in was in Bejing, China. When traveling, besides the French fries, you can count on McDonald’s for a clean toilet. At least, that’s been my experience. Thanks to Eric Deamer on Flickr for his shot of a McDonald’s menu in Taiwan.

Bubble Tea: So Many Flavors, so Little Time

by Jamie Rhein on

Each country I’ve lived in has some food or drink item I came to crave. So, when I think of that food or drink I think of that country. Like how eating Creamsicles and pork rinds reminds me of my childhood. (Okay, I have some southern roots and I can not recall the last time either passed my lips.) Bubble tea reminds me of Taiwan. When I left there I was sure that was the end of my bubble tea drinking days, since I hadn’t seen it before I moved to Hsinchu. As it turns out, bubble tea made it out of Asia and it seems it’s the latest creation to rival Baskin and Robbins ice-cream in the number of flavors possible. In Columbus, Ohio there are at least three places I know if that serve bubble tea-two of the businesses revolve around it. One, Bubbles Tea & Juice Company, is at the North Market, a swank boutique like eatery that stalls with various offerings ranging from organic meats to high end baked goods to ethnic foods and the other is near The Ohio State University campus.

The bubbles in bubble tea aren’t really bubbles at all but tapioca balls that are so sticky if you shoot them out of a straw at a window, they’ll stick. I have never done this but I know someone else who has. The balls are black and settle to the bottom of the glass, which in true Taiwan fashion is usually not glass but plastic. The tea is served either with milk or without and comes in different flavors: red bean, litchi, green tea melon, strawberry, you name it, someone is making it somewhere. In Taiwan you can get it cold or hot. I prefer hot myself. In the U.S., cold seems to be the temperature of choice.

Here are links to blogs and articles about Bubble Tea spots in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Houston. Read them for flavor suggestions. Where do you go for your bubble tea and which flavor do you recommend? Here’s a link to a company, Boba.us where you can buy supplies to make your own.

Soak Your Way to Romance with a Hot Tub Spa Experience

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s something about a hot tub spa experience that makes a person feel warm. Add another person in the equation and you have the perfect Valentine outing. You can steam up some romance while basking in the steam-or if you haven’t had much time to talk lately. This is a terrific way to float stress away while muscles relax and you bask in uninterrupted time.

Here are three places I’ve been myself, and darn, I wish I lived closer to at least one of them. Our bathtub isn’t big enough for two.

Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe, New Mexico offers private hot tubs set out in the woods among the pinion trees. Everything is provided from plush robes to lotions to hair dryers after you soak for 55 minutes. Turn up the luxury factor by adding a massage or a spa treatment. You also can stay here. Not only are there Japanese style baths, but there are Japanese style accommodations.

At the Spring City Resort in Peitou near Taipei, you can rent a private spa room by the hour. The hotel website doesn’t list the hot tub only rooms, but I know they are available. I’ve been there. I’ve been in the hot tubs. Articles about spas in Peitou, a premier hot spring area of Taiwan, also list Spring City Resort as having hot tubs so I know this is something I didn’t imagine way back when. The mineral hot spring tub experience can be coupled with a feast afterwards. The buffet at the resort’s hotel is superb. I remember the eating part as much as I remember the soaking.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs’s Day Spa mineral baths aren’t exactly private. You sit in your private bath while your honey (or friend) sits in another and other people soak in theirs. Even so, the romance can build because this is a destination place where you can swim in the pool, get a massage or some other spa treatment, slather mud on each other, rinse off and then soak some more. Named oof the top “25 spas in North America” by the National Geographic Traveler Magazine, this place is located in Corona, California , a doable easy drive from Los Angeles. Glen Ivy has other locations as well.

Seat Belts Not Necessary: Five Videos of Terrifying Traffic

by Justin Glow on

I’m in a video mood today. I spent the last hour or so going through YouTube and rounding up some of the best videos of bizarre traffic situations from around the world. And YouTube has a ton, let me tell you. Many of the clips brought back teeth-rattling memories from my recent trip to India, and I found myself flashing back to those times I traveled by rickshaw, unsure of whether or not I would arrive to my destination in one piece. I did, luckily, but not without some mental scarring.

With that, I give you the five fabulous videos, in no particular order:


Here’s a good night shot of Cairo traffic. No sort of rules — just use the horn as much as possible. I like it.

For the rest, please …

This one from Taipei isn’t that impressive in terms of traffic, but the guy holding the camera is a hoot! “Look at those crazy scooters, man! They’re nuts! Your scooters are crazy!”

Watch these people negotiate their way through Saigon traffic on foot. Amazing.

This one is especially great, and if you’ve been to India, you’ll know why. Even when things appear to be calm — if only for a few seconds — there’s always bound to be a few cars blowing their horns and coming within inches of running you over. I miss that place.

And finally, a short one from Cambodia. Poor dude on a trike gets hassled by a cop — it’s a good thing he can reverse in that thing!

Working Abroad or Trying…

by Adrienne Wilson on

I don’t know what I was looking for when I
clicked on the work abroad link over at Road Junky. I’m certainly
not searching for work internationally, not now at least. And I confess there have been times where I looked and
applied to teach English in China or Korea without even thinking twice. Strangely enough I didn’t made it too far with
the process considering I never obtained a TEFL to actually make it happen, but
I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one whose applied on a whim.

What I did find were a couple people’s
tales of their failed attempts in landing work overseas. One gentleman calls himself the "Worst Businessman in the World" as he shares the sad
details of his attempts in the export biz in India and blames his failures on the country as a whole. However, the
reality of his poor, comical situation was he didn’t do the market research. Another traveler in Nicaragua tries to find bar work, but ends up being the
stereotypical drunk at the bar spilling his sick, sad, sob stories to the bartender and anyone else who will hear them.
Lastly in one other tale a traveler scores the opportunity to teach English in Taiwan only to find he couldn’t face the
frightening 4 year-olds on a day-to-day basis.

Check out all
three in full for a good laugh or share your own failed job stories right here.