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Running from the Chinese Police
from Alone on the Great Wall, by William Lindesay, who spent 1986 & 1987 jogging its entire length. Late last night there were murmurings about the Gong An Ju, so I was up and away at dawn. Getting off the bed, my shins ached so much I almost...
There's so much to see, and eat, in China that it's a shame to waste too much time in big, fancy restaurants. The fawning wait-staff and death-sentenced fish in their tanks will take the edge off the keenest appetite. Instead, make yours a movable feast, on the snack streets running...
Lhoka: A Kinder, Gentler Tibet
Once you've seen the Potala and bought a thangka, Lhasa may soon grow tiresome. There is no capital today, however exotic-sounding to Westerners, that can resist the pressure to be another bland outpost of the WTO. No Starbucks or McDonald's in Lhasa, yet, but there are clones. Advanced...
We're a little past the due date for a New Year's horoscope, but the fireworks have finally died down long enough to concentrate.The year of the tiger is upon us, the metal tiger. Expect drama, change, and intensity. The last metal tiger, 1950, brought the Korean War, McCarthyism, and the...
Chinese Medicine: A Change of Heart
We don't just need health care reform. We need a whole new way of looking at health. The medical industry gives lip-service to the idea that positive emotions help healing and negativity slows it. But we're still too arrogantly materialistic to accept the larger truth: spirit determines matter. The thought...
From Socialism Is Great, A Worker's Memoir of the New China, by Zhang Lijia "The students have taken to the streets!" Life lit up Big Zhang's sleepy eyes as he walked into our workshop one morning in mid-December. Blazing with excitement, Zhang described the demonstrations that had spread to...
My Thai Friend
The Sunday Supplement-Cowboy Car Dealer
This week the Sunday supplement team spotted this sign near the entrance to a used car dealer in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Now given that many of my readers are not from the UK I perhaps should explain in what context that I have used the word "cowboy."Here's a quick...
Sex in Thailand-A Light Hearted Start to the Weekend.
Given that the international media will probably be focusing on events on the streets of Bangkok this weekend I thought I might point you towards a story, contained in that stalwart of the British gutter press, The Sun, about Thailand. Well its light hearted and about sex which is a...
Sugar Rationing in Thailand-is Honey Next?
Thailand is always awash with rumours, so its no real surprise to find that during a time when worldwide sugar supplies are at a low that there are strong rumours circulating in the country of impending sugar rationing. As a result of this speculation Thailand has implemented...
The Sunday Supplement-Thai Lawnmower
Welcome to the Sunday Supplement. A new feature on MTF, where I will feature a photograph I have snapped during the week before publication. Hopefully I can find a few light hearted images to bring a smile to your face over Sunday breakfast.Here is the first edition...
Broadly speaking there are three seasons in this part of Thailand. Cool, Wet and Hot. The cool season tends to be cooler and dryer than the other two seasons. While the hot and wet seasons can be very similar. November to February is usually considered the cool season, March...
Thailand Tourist Visa-Complete with Riot Insurance
Having recently announced that the "free" 60 day tourist visa to Thailand would cease on 5th March 2010, the Thai government yesterday announced that the scheme would be reintroduced from the 1st April this year and run until 31st March 2011.It also re published the little known...
Adventures with Yo and Mo
After the field season this summer and before returning stateside, the Mo and Yo sho made pilgrimage to a local theme park. We had visited this place before, back in 2004, when it first opened. We were curious to see what has changed at Mini Israel, an outdoor theme park...
Yo and Mo rejoined forces for a long weekend last week; Yo visited Mo in her fancy digs at the JIAAW, and then they traveled up the coast toward Maine. We had never been to New Hampshire or Maine before, and the weather couldn't have been more inviting. With...
Usually we don't have great excuses for our long silences in the blogosphere, but this week we actually do. In the next week we will move 4 times, in 3 different countries, so we won't be posting. After packing up our excavation and ourselves after three months away we leave...
Marj Rabba: End of Season Highlights
After five weeks of living in double-wide trailers, the small team working at Marj Rabba dispersed, some to continue work on the excavated material back in Jerusalem, some back to North America, some back to their homes in Sakhnin. Only a small area was exposed, but we consider it a...
Typically, closing down excavations at the end of season can be terribly hectic and even chaotic. The end of our season went was not nearly so frenetic as some, but then, we are a small excavation with great students and volunteers. Still, we have been very busy chasing after a...
We pick a place to dig based on survey, landscape and any information we have been given by local landowners, shepherds and archaeologists. In this area our colleague DS (Northern Chalcolithic expert) had identified the site as part of a survey in this region. Once we have the field cleared...
French Sydneysider
Ouais je sais toujours la meme rengaine Alliagesque - d'ailleurs j'ai pas deja utilise ce titre pour une bafouille??C'est comment votre debut d'annee?? Le mien ca donne ca: je suis allee au cricket 2 fois - le 3 janvier pour la premiere journee du 2eme test match entre l'Australie et...
Certaines resolutions ne sont pas malheureusement pas faites pour qu'on s'y tienne et a mon grand regret j'en suis la preuve, puisque silence blog depuis debut decembre! C'est en grande partie la faute du boulot et notamment un audit interne et tout un tas de choses a regler avant le...
Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur moi sans jamais oser le demander
Tout est peut etre un bien grand mot.. on va dire 7 choses, dont une n'est meme pas vraie! Merci qui? Merci Dame Twin Peaks qui a eu la grandiose idee de me taguer, donc je m'incline:1. Je tape 78 mots a la minute2. Il y a quelques annees je...
La semaine n'a pas ete tres palpitante tant professionnellement que socialement, donc pas grand chose a raconter, alors pour varier les plaisirs: un peu de musique! Ca faisait longtemps ..Ecoutez un peu cette pepite..Moi je dis merci Air New Zealand, non seulement les victuailles servies a bord sont de grande...
Je vais peut etre me mettre mon lectorat europeen a dos, mais tant pis.. le weekend a ete chaud, tres chaud... scorchio, muy caliente los amigos!! Hier le thermometre chatouillait les 30 degres pour les depasser aujourd'hui et atteindre 40.Hier je me suis aventuree a Avalon avec le Caribou#2 et...
Cher Public,Je ne peux plus te negliger de la sorte sinon je vais te perdre a tout jamais! Ce n'est pas encore la saison mais j'ai pris une bonne resolution: blogger tous les 2-3 jours, pas des tartines mais une petite mise a jour histoire de vous tenir un peu...
Trailing Grouse
I decided recently to check my vaccination record, in part because I couldn’t remember the last time a needle was stuck into me that wasn’t drawing the red stuff. After fruitless days of searching for it, I decided just to go do the doctor and get the ball rolling. He ordered...
Not another post about the Olympics…
Well, only kind of. You see, I was terribly excited about the Vancouver Olympics. First because I’m half Canadian, second because I particularly love Vancouver, third because I was fairly recently over there and saw some of the pistes and fourth, because I love a good show! Mr S was...
I like dreams and I love to dream. I reached a point in studying Arabic when the hard confines and strict rules of its grammar gave way to some truly beautiful poetry (thank you Dr. Yaseen Noorani), which could never be as beautiful in translation. In my dreams, I open...
Image from www.nostalgiaholic.com It’s been one of those days. I went to the market. I asked for four of something. They told me the price was 12LE (ok, so let’s get clear we’re not talking squillions here!) for 4. I said, “Ok, I’ll have one.” They cut one off. I handed...
We just came back from a little sojourn in Alexandria. It is a wonderful city, with some classical art deco architecture and of course, the famous library. It is a shame that its beauty barely shines through the layers of peeling paint and ill-advised 1970’s monstrosities lining the Corniche. I’m...
I just came online to blog about something and discovered this had arrived a long time ago and I didn’t see it, so will start with this: Hi all, I am too in the same situation as Maria. I met a lovely egyptian man on the last day of my...
Northern Natterings
Sverre and I needed a break.So we headed down to Rome for five days. We walked, we ate, we toured antiquities, we ate, we toured churches with gaping jaws, we ate, we drank a lot of beer, we ate, we drank a lot of wine, and we ate.Some examples?...
Sverre and I watched The Butterfly Effect, and even if the story is weird it makes you think: What could have been?The first experience I had with "The Butterfly Effect" beyond "if a butterfly flaps its wings, blah blah blah," was in the military. The commander of the squadron...
Today I feel like being a bit random. Maybe because it's a Saturday, and I'm at loose ends for the moment.I went all-out yesterday at the book store. One of the local chains, Ark, has a permanent 3-for-2 offer for all books in English. I bought six yesterday....
I never get awards. I think I'm plugged into the wrong blogging circles...either that or lost in my own orbit of oddness. But I got one, I got one!Emma at Pink Bliss tagged me in an awards meme. What I have to do is list ten...
Dear Frances,You're gone now, and I think that may be a good thing. I think you have finally found peace, but I just wanted to write to you, and let others know, through this letter, how I feel about you.You were my grandmother. Not through any biological lines....
Oslo Blog Gathering -- August 2010.
Hey guys, August 2010 is like, this year. And just eight (almost seven since this is the last part of January?) months away! Oslo Blog Gathering: August 18-22!RennyBA’s TerellaOfficial Program SiteTonight I met with Renny and many other Norwegian (and the Writer, our temporary Denmark expat) bloggers for...
Expat Chronicles
Contributed Story: Hangin’ Tough in La Candelaria
SUMMARY: Christopher K from Colombia gives his advice on how NOT to get robbed or bothered in La Candelaria section of Bogota, Colombia. I also stayed on the 3rd floor of Aragon and walked to the Platypus to use the internet. I made the Plat-to-Aragon walk at all hours: day, night,...
Contributed Story: La Candelaria Pickpocket FAIL
SUMMARY: Quick dittie on an attempted robbery in La Candelaria. This piece was contributed by Christopher K, who was the big Bogota blogger before getting locked up in a Brazilian penitentiary last year. Here's his story: Something's not right in front of the tienda bar. It's not too late at night and...
Limpiezas in Colombia: Social Cleansing
SUMMARY: I discuss social cleansing, which Wikipedia defines as "the elimination of 'undesirable' social elements, such as criminals, homosexuals, and the homeless." I believe the 7 de agosto neighborhood recently underwent a limpieza. I’d heard of police and military carrying out extrajudicial killings of thieves and indigentes. But only recently have...
Contributed Story: Revolution in China?
SUMMARY: An American expat in China discusses the political climate there and his opinion on the prospect of revolution. If Expat Chronicles wasn't censored in China before, it surely is now. And I could care less. You often hear in Western media that China’s government is immoral and oppressive, and you’re...
Security and Militarization in Colombia
SUMMARY: I discuss the security and militarization climate in Colombia. Public security precautions and militarization in the streets are something to get used to in Colombia. I haven’t seen anything like it in any other country I’ve visited. The security issues may be common across Latin America, but the militarization sets...
Sin Nombre: Relevant, Intense, Heart-Wrenching
SUMMARY: I review Sin Nombre, the best film I've seen in a long time about a Mexican gang member trying to escape his past and help an innocent Honduran girl safely enter the United States. Themes discussed include MS-13, immigration and human rights, love, and more. I wasn't going to include...
traversbelize.com
Fred Arbona is one of those kind of folks that make me want to learn a skill, just for the sake of saying I did it. His enthusiasm for fly fishing is borne out of years of experience and his expertise is widely acclaimed. We got to know Fred in...
We see lots of working fishing dugouts and converted canoes on our stretch of beach... they make great photos!We bought some great fresh snapper from the owner! ...
Currents of Belize is a beautifully done documentary about fishing in Belize. Specifically aimed at fly-fishing folks, and the elusive "grand slam" of permit, bonefish and tarpon. It really captures the spirit of "catch and release" and the work that fishing guides and others are doing to preserve Belize sport...
We get a fair number of requests for information from the "bird watchers." Recently I wrote about some resources available on the birds of Belize. I have just recently been made aware of another source of information specifically about the birds of the Placencia Peninsula... Ron Spilman's fantastic photos. Here...
Check out all the news and information on The Barefoot Beach Bar... which will be reopened in a new location. Great news for us all! Congratulations Bryce and Cassie! ...
Airports of Belize... Placencia
Continuing on the theme of "airports" it's clear to me that most folks have not had the delightful experience of arriving at a destination in a third world country aboard a Cessna Caravan 12 seat plane. Very quickly you realize that you are in the hands of an experienced "bush...
Life In Australia
For the past month or so, the weather has been lovely in Sydney, with sunshine most days. It’s still pretty cold in the mornings and evenings after it goes dark at about 5.30pm but, during the day, it can get pretty warm in the sunshine - up to 18 or...
At the moment, my daughter is on holiday (vacation) from school for two weeks. She has the following school holidays during the year: 2 weeks in April (this year it coincided with Easter) 2 weeks in July 2 weeks in October 6 weeks from mid-December until the end of January (the summer holidays during...
Photo Credit: ♦ Joe’s A couple of things in the last few weeks have made me wonder if I’m becoming an Aussie! A while ago, I had a craving for marmite on warm, buttered toast. I didn’t have any marmite but I did have a jar of vegemite that I had bought...
World Blog Surf Day #2 - Sample Food from all over the World in Sydney
Today, I am participating in the second World Blog Surf Day, a virtual world tour of expat blogs on the wonderful theme of food. World Blog Surf Day has been organised by Czech Off the Beaten Track as a cool way of traveling the world at no cost and seeing it through...
Calling all Expat Bloggers: Join World Blog Surf Day #2!
If you are an expat blogger, writing about your experiences of living in a country outside your home country, why not join in the second World Blog Surf Day, to be held on 13th June 2009? The theme of the second World Blog Surf Day is food. That’s a subject that...
National Walk Safely to School Day
Source: National Walk Safely to School Day Website Friday, 15th May 2009 was National Walk Safely to School Day in Australia. Some of its main aims were: To help develop vital road crossing skills (the children who normally go to school by car do not have much opportunity to develop these skills) To promote the benefits of...
calledmadeleine: live the questions, now.
These are incredibly, utterly belated, but after speaking to my cousin Julie about blogging (hi, Julie!), I got perusing through old entries, I realized I had an edit of pictures from our December jaunt to Singapore just sitting around, begging to be posted.This was our first trip back to Singapore,...
I'm about 27 weeks pregnant, now - give or take a few days - and in the past week a quiet, creeping worry has snuck up on me. It has taken the form of terrible dreams, dull throbbing headaches, and long stints of being unnecessarily moody at my dear...
For those of my family members not on Facebook
I give you: my ever-expanding belly. See how it grows...Week 19:Week 22:Week 23:Week 24:...
Not sure if I have any blog readers anymore, as I haven't posted in, like, forever.Normally during one of these dry spells, I'd say something about promising to post something marvelous soon, and how guilty I feel, etc etc.But as I've had this blog longer than I've been an adult,...
I was stopped short by this gorgeous photo exhibition, called “Please step quietly, everyone can hear you,” by Magnum photographer Trent Parke, while out for a jog past the Opera House on my lunch break today.It's a lovely Alice-in-Wonderland view of the Opera House: tiny doors, strange statues, otherwordly lighting....
Forget about developing a spare tire, barfing in the bathroom at work, or having gas worse than a certain lactose intolerant dog we know, the absolute hardest thing about being pregnant so far, is being unable to eat lots of the food I love.See, the Australian government is quite strict...
Taiwaneers
We do miss things by living far away from home. My littlest sister is becoming a woman and Emily’s littlest brother is becoming a man; all the while we are over here, thousands of miles away. Skype, facebook, email, and summers spent back home make it way easier but there...
A lot of people wonder how we go about living in a foreign country without knowing the language. I have to admit I can understand where this incredulity from our fellow Americans comes from. We (as in Americans) think of that once-in-a-lifetime trip we took to Mexico for a week...
Tonight is a perfect example of the random wonderfulness that is the “expat-lifestyle.” One of our roommates, Phil, recently went to Hong Kong on a visa run. While there he met a Hong Kongese dude named Jacky. Jacky showed Phil a good time and took him around and stuff. Earlier this...
PingXi Lantern Festival or How We Avoided Death by Trampling
We’ve known about the PingXi Lantern Festival since our first year in Taiwan. However, we’ve never attended before. Last night we seized the opportunity and, with some friends, took the train to experience this end-of-the-Chinese-New-Year-Celebration event. The crowds were incredible. We arrived just before it started to get dark and as...
So much has happened since my last post. My problem has been that since so much was happening I kept on meaning to post but then I would be overwhelmed by how much there was to talk about so I would put it off only to be faced with a...
Happy Adventures
So...I met the moms from Sierra's class. They served caviar, smoked salmon, special cheeses, Green Tea from Japan, and champagne. It was served to us on a fully set dining room table under a huge chandelier. The house was a mansion, I had to be "buzzed" in....
- Michaela checked out FIVE books at the school library today. I figure I just saved $50.00 by not having to buy and import them.- I made banana bread to take to meet some moms tomorrow. Sierra laughs and says I'm trying to make friends. I say,...
Pay for Car Wash or Just Buy a New Car?
I saw this... and it made me think of something that happened over the weekend...During my final hours in Denmark I got a car wash for the Loving Volvo. Guess how much it cost at the drive through gas station car wash.Keep in mind the Super Deluxe Wash...
Michaela has returned!! She had a great time on her trip to England (of course), and I was happy to get her home... especially after a big snow storm delayed their Friday evening flight home by an entire day causing all of them to SUFFER through a...
Walking home from school! Andrea's favorite part of the day is going to get Sierra. :) Here is Michaela on her way to England!!! Scotty in the school cafeteria. I found my friend the Pillsbury DoughBoy! He's been hiding in Germany!! This is how you turn...
Andrea helping me unpack. :)Our house in Denmark... all boxed up.Confused cat. Tired little girl... ...who was not in the mood to move.I usually take pictures with my good camera... but for taking pictures of the condition of the houses we are arriving into and leaving, I'm using my...
Still Life in Southeast Asia
Photos of Wat Pho (a temple) in Bangkok, Thailand, known for housing one of the world’s largest Buddhas. See more photos of the wat here. Posted in Thailand ...
I apologize to the readers whose RSS informed them of a new post and then did not find it when they visited. I didn’t like the post I had scheduled, so I took it down. The post was about the boring topic of paring down one’s wardrobe when traveling. I realized that...
A wat is a Buddhist temple. You may have heard of the famous Cambodian Angkor Wat. Wat Pho is known in Bangkok for housing the reclining Buddha–one of the largest Buddhas in the world. A tranquil temple seemed like a reasonable place to find a lot of tranquil cats. The cats...
First Impressions: Bangkok, Thailand
In his collection of essays entitled The Nasty Bits, Anthony Bourdain discussed his Platonic ideal of fast food–his preference over the Chicken McNuggets and Whoppers that most Americans turn to when they want dinner fast. To him, fast food is street food served by vendors around the world. Walking the streets of...
Still Life Year in Review – 2009
I started this blog in February 2008 in order to journal our travels to South America and keep in touch with family. I had never considered blogging before, but it seemed like the right circumstance to start. In December 2008, we left Buenos Aires for a new excursion, one that...
Photo Credit: Tambako the Jaguar As for many people, December was a month of family obligations, catching up with old friends, and last minute shopping excursions. I spent the month in the United States–the Midwest–a short respite before our next journey. While home, I drove for the first time in a year....
An Expat Life in Nicaragua
US$ 1 Billion to be Invested in Nicaragua
“PRONicaragua, the official investment promotion agency of Nicaragua, recently reported that nearly US$1 billion are expected to flow into the country in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the next couple of years as a result of numerous FDI projects soon to be developed in different economic sectors. 2010 is rapidly...
Reality TV Show Puts Nicaragua in Spotlight
Did I forget to mention that the Italian version of Survivor was filming on and near the Corn Islands during our visit? For details, read Tim Rogers article from the Nica Times: Italian reality show invades Caribbean islands. ...
Justin and I just spent a glorious 6 days in the Corn Islands on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. A few details and then I’ll let the photos paint the picture: WHERE TO STAY: Big Corn Island: Casa Canada Little Corn Island: Little Corn Beach and Bungalow How to get there: La Costeña Airlines...
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Back in September, Justin and I took this fantastic trip to the northern part of Nicaragua with our friends, Sarah and Baldo. The four of us had been planning this trip for close to a year before we were finally able to take it. It was well worth the wait....
Last weekend, our good friend, Gladis, invited us to spend a weekend at Jicaro Island Ecolodge. As we both work in the hospitality business, it is helpful to explore how other hotels, inns, and resorts operate. It keeps us on our toes and constantly thinking about new ideas. Although, it...
Life with our Lads
Danny knows a few words now and he loves to look at picture books. He follows me around waving a book saying "book" and sometimes getting really upset if I don't oblige immediately. He also insists on reading the same book several times over. Today, between Craig and I, we...
Mothers Day in England is this Sunday, March 14th. Mothers Day in America is May 9th. This causes much confusion for me every year. It means I have to be organized enough in May to buy Mothers Day & Nana cards for the following March. I actually remembered one year and...
Today we started the bathroom project, which is the last room in the house to renovate. The decor is so fantastically bad that it is worth a mention: blue tile floor, pink & black tile, green fern wallpaper and lavender painted walls. The vanity is cream splashed with gold, like...
Books & Stuff I Like This Month
I've read 3 books recently. Firstly, a book written by Titanic survivors that I bought at the Titanic Exhibit at COSI in Columbus a few years ago and it's coming back in March! Yea! It's a wonderful wonderful exhibit and I can't wait to go again. I have to leave...
I have been trying to start a PhD project now for six years. During that time I've had students pass me by. Young bright things that I've helped along and took classes with and felt, though not exactly more intelligent than them, certainly older than them. These young people have...
At the drive-through Starbucks this lunchtime my barista (posh word for waiter) was trying to mimic my English accent and when I drove away he shouted "cheerio old chap!" Which actually means "goodbye old man" and I'll tell him so next time I go, cheeky bugger. I'm glad I didn't...