China’s Taj Mahal?

by Jerry Guo on

Here’s a love story to tide you over the weekend. Recently climbers in southwestern China discovered 6,000 steps carved into the side of a mountain. Turns out they were built over the course of fifty years, by a love-struck couple who eloped–and never came back.

The man was 19 years old when he fell in love with a 29 year old widow. Back then, when China was in its infancy (as the People’s Republic of China), the age difference was a social taboo. So they ran off into the mountains, and lived there ever since, unbeknownst to even the locals.

There’s some nice pictures and even a video on this site. Be warned there’s a somewhat sad ending to this tale: the man died last week.

Speed-dating at 35,000 feet in Europe

by Abha Malpani on

Catherine recently talked about finding love at the airport and the popularity of online social networking to meet someone while hauled-up at the airport.

But, if you want to skip the whole courage building process to approach the hottie you saw whilst boarding, or want immediate interaction with not one, but plenty of singles looking for in-flight spice, Central Europe’s low-budget airline Sky Europe will organize a speed-dating session for you mid-air. “Come with a bright smile and look forward to a great trip”, I had to laugh when I read that in its list of guidelines.

So far the Sky Dating service has been offered on Sky Europe flights to Italy, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. It works like any other speed-dating service: you get 5-minutes with every person signed up and results are emailed 3 days post event. Unfortunately, you can’t sign-up for it on a spontaneous whim, you have to register for it in advance.

If you want to travel especially to meet someone, you can get the Sky Date package to a European capital. Trips are normally 1-3 days, your accommodation is taken care of and city tours will be organized, all with the idea of getting you hooked to someone on the trip. According to a recent article on MSNBC: on the last Sky Date flight – which combined speed-dating with overnight hotel stay and guided city tour, three couples were formed by the end of the trip.

Hmmm. Excuses for being single are running out way too fast! :)

Looking for love? Try the airport

by Catherine Bodry on

Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington, believes that a busy airport is a prime meeting place for singles looking for love or just a little conversation. And to meet that special someone, you won’t need to make eyes above your newspaper, or ask the ticket agent to seat you next to a single male ala the movie “Singles.” Instead, Schwartz advocates either the direct approach (“Hi! You’re the most handsome man in the airport and I thought I’d come over and say hello.”) or the subtle approach (sit next to the person and make small talk). And now there’s another way to meet folks at the airport: online.

With online social networking becoming more and more popular, it’s no surprise that there’s a site dedicated to airport interactions. Peter Shankman founded AirTroductions.com, a site that was originally intended for business travelers to register itineraries and information about themselves so that they might take advantage of layover time for professional networking. But the site naturally evolved into a meeting place for “folks seeking personal connections.” AirTroductions will be relaunched as Triplife.com this December, but you can always try other travel-related social networking sites such as Dopplr to meet like-minded travelers looking for a little love.

As with any situation where you might approach a stranger, remember your manners and be aware of their personal space. Just because you can barely keep your mitts off the handsome hottie next to you in the waiting area doesn’t mean that said hottie necessarily wants to be fondled.

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The Thai Women’s Guide to Scoring a Foreign Man

by Martha Edwards on

I love Thailand. It’s a great place to travel to and is brimming with gracious people, good food, rich history and amazing scenery. But one of the most disturbing things about Thailand is the sex trade, which is literally everywhere. Beautiful Thai women (and ladyboys) crawl over one another for the chance to ‘entertain’ fat, balding foreign men (or women!) who they believe can be their passport to a better life. It’s really heartbreaking.

A new book is coming out aimed at Thai women, which gives them step-by-step instructions on how to get — and keep — a foreign husband. The book, called “Foreign Boyfriend, Foreign Husband”, paints a romantic vision of Western men, claiming they are respectful and kind, unlike Thai men. Um, right. The point of the book seems to be this: Old, Western men might not be handsome but they’re loaded.

This is a tricky issue — on one hand, I think it’s appalling that women would be encouraged to marry for money and a passport. But at the same time, I’ve never known the desperation of poverty, and as a Canadian, I’ve always enjoyed all the benefits of a first-world passport. Is marrying for love a luxury that people in poorer countries can’t afford? Call me a romantic but I sure hope not.