Archive for December, 2006
Tracing the steps of Abraham
The three major monotheistic religions that sprang from the Middle East – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have been at the source of much division and conflict in the world. What is sometimes forgotten, unfortunately, are the common roots of these three religions, such as their shared ancestry dating back to Abraham.
The author Bruce Feiler [...]
The lights of Paris
Most people know Paris as the City of Light. Most people don’t know, however, that the city government actually employs people who are solely responsible for designing and lighting Paris’ monuments, bridges and public buildings.
The NY Times recently ran a rather interesting profile of Francois Jousse, who is the “chief engineer for doctrine, expertise and technical control” for [...]
Cultural challenges to innovation in China
Business Week recently published an interesting column by Nandani Lynton in which she discussed some of the cultural challenges that face China in its efforts to build a more innovative economy.
Innovation is the buzzword in China these days. The mainland overtook Japan this year to become the world’s No. 2 investor in R&D after the [...]
Thoughts on travel from Pico Iyer
There was a wonderful in-depth interview recently on World Hum with the travel writer Pico Iyer. He is the author of Video Night in Kathmandu, Falling Off the Map, and a number of other titles. Some excerts from the interview:
How do you think travel writing has evolved over the past 20 or 30 years?
I think it’s [...]
Christmas around the world
Monday is Christmas and many people are getting ready to enjoy a long holiday weekend. So it seems like a good time to take a look at a few of the different Christmas traditions from around the world. These examples are excerpted from a wikipedia entry:
* Australia and New Zealand – In the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas occurs during the summer. [...]
Is Nicaragua the next Costa Rica?
Mention Nicaragua to most people and the first thoughts that will come to mind are the Sandinistas, a civil war, perhaps the Iran-contra scandal. But those events now belong to history and Nicaragua is slowly gaining cachet as a tourist destination. This article even described it as the “Next Costa Rica,” alluding to the popularity [...]
Words that shock in different cultures
We all know, of course, that people in various cultures can have vastly different ways of communicating. But different ways of swearing? Well, as this recent article from the Washington Post points out, when French-speaking Canadians get angry, they tend to spew religious words that could have been taken straight out of Catholic Church service.
“Oh, tabernacle!” The [...]
Japanese culture and U.S. baseball madness
Well, I wrote about a Japanese topic yesterday, but it’s hard not to post about the surge of interest in Daisuke Matsuzaka. In case you haven’t heard, this Japanese baseball star agreed to a contract yesterday with the Boston Red Sox and a recent search at Google News turned up nearly 2,000 media articles about the signing. This [...]
The fading of the Japanese kimono
For many people, there is no more potent symbol of Japanese culture than the kimono. It has been immortalized in the popular imagination, and in numerous movies and books, such as Memoirs of a Geisha. However, there is now a story in the Washington Post about the declining importance of the kimono in modern Japanese [...]
Destinations for 2007
The NY Times recently unveiled a list of 24 travel destinations for 2007. A few of the more intriguing include:
Albania – “Budget destination of the year” -
Not long ago, to suggest Albania as a destination of any kind, even a frugal one, would have been the height of chutzpah. … In the last several years, [...]
Confucius versus modernity in Chinese schools
As China’s economy globalizes and its educational system tries to prepare students for a more interconnected world, there is a simultaneous push in Chinese schools to introduce young people to the country’s ancient culture, including the teachings of Confucius. There is an interesting story in the Christian Science Monitor about these sometimes conflicting goals.
On a [...]
Borat and the real Kazakhstan
The movie Borat, about a fictionalized journalist from Kazakhstan on a journey through America, has been the source of much laughter in movie theaters in recent weeks. That is, when the same movie wasn’t causing horrified jaws to drop. It has also caused a surge in interest in the actual country of Kazakhstan.
USA Today recently ran a story about [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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