Lebanoff

This week I was talking to a man from Lebanon. To be honest (and to understate), he was a complete jerk. Now I don't assume jerks are any more common in Lebanon than anywhere else in the world (they could be, or they could be rarer). But this guy was a piece of work.

One of his least jerk-y moments, though, was when he asserted that Lebanon was the best country in the world in various areas, including its natural beauty and standard of living. As to the natural beauty, he supported his claim with, "ask all of the Germans that come."

When I was younger, I lived in a very beautiful part of the US. But I remember thinking to myself how much more beautiful the area must be, compared to the rest of the world, if so many tourists came all the way from Germany to visit. I mean, if the place I lived were not amazingly beautiful, why would anyone really come from so far away to see it?!

How much difference 15 years and few hundred thousand miles make in my evaluation of that sort of argument.

What I realize now is that Germans (Australians, Swedes, Japanese, and lots of other people) travel lots of places outside of their countries (to be fair to early teenage Uncle Mattie, Germans travel internationally much more frequently than most Americans and Lebanese do--hence my thinking that a trip to my state was some monumental event for them). The fact that thousands of Germans or Australians pass through your town might say something about Germans or Australians, but it really doesn't mean much about your town--except, in this case, that it's probably sunnier, warmer and cheaper than Germany at some point in the year.

I went to Malaysia, but forgot my Camera

It was a good weekend escape. Maybe I can just steal some photos from friends or off facebook.

Gotta go?

In Singapore (and Malaysia for that matter), it is customary to refer to WC's as "the gents" or the ladies", e.g.:
"where's the gents?" or "I must find the ladies"

The first time you hear this it is easy enough to process, but definitely sounds foreign, the same way that "having here, takeaway?" instead of "to stay or to go" sounds a bit odd at first.

But, for the avoidance of future confusion when you've gotta go, here is one useful resource: http://www.wackyarchives.com/featured/toilet-signs-across-the-world.html

Chairman Wow

I found out how much my chair cost today. Wow. Of course, it's a fraction of my rent here--but, then again, more than the rent at my previous abode.

Firefly.

If there is justice in the world--and there isn't--joe burton will be a household name. Instead, we are afflicted with idols.

Given the name of the blog. . .

I've been thinking about the future, and places to go. So here are some lists.

The Next 5 Countries I will visit (in no specific order)
1. Malaysia
2. Indonesia
3. Viet Nam
4. New Zealand
5. Australia

The 5 Trips I most want to make in the next decade (in no specific order and excluding the above list)
1. Spain/Morocco +/- Portugal (to be honest, I think I'll do Spain in two trips, with Portugal on the second and Morocco on the first)
2. Iceland +/- Greenland
3. Greece/Turkey
4. Brazil
5. South Africa

The 5 Treks I want to make before I die:
1. A Silk Road Trip--basically overland from China to the Mediterranean
2. US Coast-to-Coast (missed a few chances for this one already)
3. A Lehi Trip--more of less, Jerusalem to the Indian Ocean and back around the Gulf.
4. The perimeter of the Black Sea
5. The Americas Tip-to-tip