The Noisy American

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving

Lonely Planet - Peru

Don't buy the Lonely Planet Guide to Peru.

I don't know what happened but I'm using the most recently updated version - January 2004, and it is way off on information about tours, and, especially prices.  I find it hard to believe that prices have doubled and trebled in only two years.  (When I was in Barcelona and had the same problem with LP it was understandable because Spain had just switched to the Euro, but in Peru...)  For example, every hotel that I checked in Aguas Caliente was, at least, double the price listed in the LP, some were triple.  The ticket bolleto needed for museums and archeological sites in Cuzco was double the price listed.  I understand that prices change, but in this case, I think that someone is just not doing their research.   In addition, their are plenty of train rides to Machu Picchu whereas the LP makes it seem as though there are very limited options. 

For valuable information on Peru, check out the Andean Travel Web.

To be fair, the Lonely planet guide to Ecuador seemed to be pretty much on the mark. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, again, and again

I feel very lucky this year.  I got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice, once with the Canadians and once with the Americans.  And now, I get to celebrate the New Year over and over.  I was in the UAE for the Western New Year, I'm in Malaysia/Singapore for the lead up to the Chinese New Year and then back in UAE for the Muslim New Year and should get a 3 - 4 day weekend.  Now, if I can just make the Thai New Year in April.  Is there one I'm missing?

Holiday

My holiday has finally arrived and not a day too soon.  I'm off to the Dubai Airport in about an hour.  I'll be in Bangkok for a week to get some dental work done (fun!) and then heading to Singapore, Kuala Lumpor and Malacca.  Postings might be somewhat infrequent, but I'm not going anywhere really remote, so shouldn't completely dry up.   

Oops!

Found this on Planet Dan.  Hilarious. 

Happy New Year

Well, it's 2006.  Whoopee!  (sounds of noisemakers, horns and champagne glasses clinking in the background) 

I'm a little late, due to my incredibly exciting round of soirees and holiday events (since it may be difficult to detect sarcasm when reading, I'll just give it away - I'm being sarcastic) and I know it's a bit trite to make end of the year lists, but here goes mine anyway. 

Personal Highlights of 2005:
Volunteering at Phaung Daw Oo.  It was really a fantastic experience and I wish that I could do it year round. 

Visiting Seattle.  It's been such a long time since I've seen my old friends and I actually felt like I could "go home" again.

Driving to Muscat.  The drive is beautiful and it was quite fun being behind the wheel again with the music cranked.

Quitting smoking.  How nice to wake up without the need for a fag.

Blogging. 

Low points:  

Crashing my car.  And it was totally my fault.  I actually anticipated having an accident at some time or another as the drivers here are completely mad, but I didn't expect it would be my fault.  Oh well, at least it was a small one.

Food poisoning at Pyin Oo Lwin.  It's such a beautiful little town in the mountains near Mandalay and I spent my three days there spewing out of both ends, while running a high fever.

Stomach problems.  I had quite a long run of stomach issues in the month before summer holidays and had three different doctors tell me three different things about the problem. 

Starting smoking, again.  Yep, my non-smoking phase lasted a total of about two months.  Still on the stick as I write this. 

My Favorites for 2005:  Not exactly a Best of list, just a personal favorites list.  It's not easy staying in the loop when you live in the UAE.  TV - every thing's syndicated, Movies - only Hollywood blockbusters, Music - well, try to find anything I list below in Virgin Music, it's not happening.  So, because of this, I'll be including anything that I've encountered this year, old and new.

Favorite novels:  War Trash by Ha Jin (The best novel I've read in quite a while, buy this.), Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mafouz

Least favorite new novel: (I can't believe I read the whole thing.) - Til We Meet Again by John Irving.

Favorite Nonfiction:  Baghdad Burning by Riverbend (my introduction to blogging and a must-read), After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order by Emmanuel Todd, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen and Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in a Burmese Teashop by Emma Larkin

Least Favorite Nonfiction:  Adobe Photoshop 7.0 User Guide.  Could they make computer books any less interesting?

Favorite CDs - Picturesque - The Decemberists, Extraordinary Machine - Fionna Apple, Illinois - Sufjan Stevens, The Mysterious Production of Eggs - Andrew Bird, Plans - Death Cab for Cutie and Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes

Favorite Songs (not on one of the aforementioned CDs):  Magnolia by Apollo Sunshine, Lately, it's so Quiet  by OK Go (a great song on an otherwise lame album), Later that Year by Straylight Run (ditto)

Favorite Movies:  Elling, Napoleon Dynamite, Team America, Grizzly Man, Mysterious Skin, Lord of War, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Bad Education

Least Favorite Movies:  The Corpse Bride and Domino

Favorite TV :  Family Guy (fantastic), Battlestar Galactica (usually I don't like Sci-fi that much, but this ones pretty interesting), Queer as Folk (a bit on the cheesy side, but I like it none the less), The Office and Extras (both created by and featuring Ricky Gervais, for any Americans out there who haven't seen the original Office - you should definitely watch it.  It's side-splittingly funny.)

Well, that's it, though I'm sure I must have left something out.  A years a long time to remember, after all.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a fantastic 2006.