Good Books, Travel List - And ITS HOT!
OK, I'm in Pasadena...its like 95 degrees (thats somewhere in the 30s or something for you metric people) and I'm toasting! Fortunately I have been hopping from coffee shop to coffee shop getting hopped up on ice coffee ALL DAY. My folks just left for Japan so I'm housesitting and watching over their anti-social cat for the next couple of weeks before I head to the great midwest and peru. Time flies whilst you're having fun, hey? Only two agenda items right now:
Great Books
1) Karen Armstrong, "The Great Transformation". This book ROCKED. Its a history of religion and philosophy across four cultures (Greece, Israel, India, China) over the same time period, from like 2000BC to 100 AD I think. Its really amazing and informative. HIGHLY recommended!
2) Piers Anthony "The Incarnations of Immortality". OK, I'm a dork and these are books that I read back in High School, but I picked some of them up again and they are really clever! I like them much more than the standard sci-fi/fantasy stuff because there are elements of humor in these.
Book Thoughts
Has anyone read these books or has any thoughts on them?
I. Claudius
A Random Walk Down Wallstreet
Stocks in the Long Run
Any other book recommendations?
OK, so now that I'm in a writing mood and my plane is finally descending, I'm thinking of which places were my favorites and why.So anyway, here is my roundup of "Top 3" for each city, and I'm not going to say FOOD as a category because that would get way way carried away. So here are some thoughts:
Best Airport:
Hong Kong
Singapore
Madrid
Worst Airport:
Selcuk (Izmir) - Whats up with the bus that takes us to the terminal 30 feet away?
Bodrum - Two terminals? Whats up with that?
Prague - Ever hear of a line?
Easiest Transport to/from Airport:
Hong Kong
London
Beijing (because the cab is only US$8.50)
Hottest Women:
Madrid
Rome
Prague
Worst Women:
Selcuk - Women? We like to hide them or make them work in the field while we sit around drinking tea and playing dominos
Shanxi Province - Women? What are those? We just have coal...sigh...
Ice Cream / Gelato:
Buenos Aires - Dulce de leche anything...mmmm
Rome - Moorish rice...who knew?
Prague - Tiramisu with chunks of cake inside...mmmm
Best Knockoff Designer Crap:
Beijing (cheap and convincing!)
Rome (convincing, but not so cheap)
Bali (cheap but you have to deal with the aggressive hawkers)
Worst Smelling:
Shanxi Province - Smells my burning! Now my throat and eyes hurt!
Hong Kong - A nice combination of broth, seawater and trash
Penang - Its ok to love durian...just don't loooove durian....
Worst Local Liquor:
Bai Jiu (China) - Tastes like burning!
Plum Brandy (Prague) - I'm sure after only a few months I might get used to it....
Unicum (Budapest) - Zwack is wack!
Hottest Accent:
Italy - Oh! Mi scusi!
Argentina - Es muy lindo!
Spain - Como se dice "HOT"?
Heinous Accent:
Singapore - Apparently they have it in both chinese AND english la!
New Zealand - Sounds a lot like "bahhhh bahhh bahhh", or perhaps I was talking to a sheep? EIther way I couldn't understand a damn word they was sayin!
Beijing - WANR, liao tiANR, fu wu yuANR (anr pronounced "arrrhhh" like a pirate. I love it, but it takes some getting used to!)
Best Complimentary Breakfast
Beijing - Can't beat warm milk and fried stuff!
Turkey - Yogurt, cucumber, tomato, fresh bread, nutella, EVERY DAY BABY
Bali - Pan fried egg noodles or fried rice along with freshly squeezed pappaya juice? I'LL TAKE IT!
Lamest Tourist Attraction
Buda Castle Labyrinth - Terrible use of an awesome venue to showcase RETARDED art. Pretentious much?
Kai Feng "Historical City" - Like a cross between Midieval Times and Disneyland, with puppets, acrobats, and LOTS of souvenir stands
Ephesus - What a piece of crap. JUST KIDDING! Ephesus was AWESOME! AWWWWWSOME!
Places to Go when you only have a few days
Dubrovnik - Perfect for a week or a weekend getaway
Penang - Go for the food, stay for the KING COBRAS
Prague - Yes its beautiful, but how many breathtaking rivers, castles, monestaries, and shops can you look at?
Places to go for a month and still feel like you haven't seen even a small fraction of everything
China
Argentina
Australia
Turkey
