By: Rabie - 3rd February 2003 at 13:04
RE: lonely planet
>Mark Thomas: weapons inspector was absolutely superb!
it was the dogs !!! very funny
UNTHOM !!!
rabie :9
By: wysiwyg - 3rd February 2003 at 08:38
RE: lonely planet
Mark Thomas: weapons inspector was absolutely superb!
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd February 2003 at 02:43
RE: lonely planet
“p.s. oh yeah, Garry, I have another taped programme to watch tonight, the irony of which I’m sure you’d appreciate: “Mark Thomas: Weapons Inspector”. “
Pot: “Hey Kettle!”
Kettle: “What?”
Pot: “You’re Black!”
}>
I haven’t seen the North Korean LP… must watch out for it.
Arthur
I think the locals that surrounded him were very eager to learn, it was probably costing them quite a bit of money to go to this private university and I guess the pressures on them were rather extreme.
Not conducive to good humour.
By: Arthur - 3rd February 2003 at 00:00
RE: lonely planet
I seem to remember sheeps testicals at some stage was on the menu…
They don’t taste that bad, actually. Taste-wise it’s somewhere in between hardboiled eggs (of course!) and liver, and texture-like they are somewhere between potato and (again) hardboiled egg. Definately better then Polish cow-intestines soup (Flaki) or any kind of cheese ;D
A friend of mine recently arrived back from working in a
university in china and unfortuntely he was given extra work
when he arrived due to a problem with another lecturer not
turning up as he wanted to spend some time traveling. With
this lack of time in mind he did not like it much because he
found those people he was working with lacked a sense of
humour. I mention the circumstances as he didn’t get much
time out of the capital due to the extra work he had to do
and this will have influenced the types of people he spent
his time with but he said they all took everything very
seriously which drove him nuts.
Beijing? So much fun! The people are very kind and direct, yet somewhat reserved (i know those two don’t really match, but somehow they manage). And you score massive points if you join the Chinese Huddle – no queing there 😀
By: Steve Touchdown - 2nd February 2003 at 16:47
RE: lonely planet
Can you say why secret cameras are used? Are they trying to stir up dirt or something?
Not so much that, Garry, was more in an attempt to get “ordinary” locals to open up a bit more in conversation without them realising they were being filmed. During their week-long stay in North Korea they never managed to lose their official “minders” for long enough to engage any Koreans in conversation though! I’ve still not yet seen part two but did hear from a friend that he commented how Cuba was the most open of the countries they visited.
None of the Iraqis they spoke to seemed that unhappy with their lot and were obviously more concerned with living day-to-day, playing football in every available open space and keeping up with news on Manchester United and David Beckham.
Some might say the latter two interests are reason enough to invade but I couldn’t possibly comment! }> }> }>
Best regards
Steve ~ Touchdown-News
p.s. oh yeah, Garry, I have another taped programme to watch tonight, the irony of which I’m sure you’d appreciate: “Mark Thomas: Weapons Inspector”. He’s attempting to gain access to UK and US facilities connected with WMD to ensure compliance with international law and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty! How do you think he got on!?! (The words “shrift” and “short” come to mind!)
By: Arabella-Cox - 2nd February 2003 at 11:16
RE: lonely planet
“His attitude is to act like foreign cultures are just some kind of game park thats been assembled for him. “
I don’t agree. I don’t think he makes fun of the locals in the places he goes, nor do I think he makes fun of their culture.
He tends to be hands on and has a go at things and has probably eaten things many tourists would refuse. (I seem to remember sheeps testicals at some stage was on the menu… I think in Mongolia).
I am sure a more serious presenter would have said how delapidated and dark and grey Russia was or how repressive the restrictions on tourists in Iran are, but he seemed to prefer to emphasis the positive aspects and only mention problems when he had a solution.
A friend of mine recently arrived back from working in a university in china and unfortuntely he was given extra work when he arrived due to a problem with another lecturer not turning up as he wanted to spend some time traveling. With this lack of time in mind he did not like it much because he found those people he was working with lacked a sense of humour. I mention the circumstances as he didn’t get much time out of the capital due to the extra work he had to do and this will have influenced the types of people he spent his time with but he said they all took everything very seriously which drove him nuts.
By: Arthur - 2nd February 2003 at 09:36
RE: lonely planet
Mixtec,
Have you travelled around a bit? My personal experiences are that usually a tongue-in-cheek attitude and don’t-take-it-all-too-serious are the perfect way to avoid cultural problems during travelling. I found it a lot better to behave a little in the “Ian Wright”-way rather than just some superficial oh-i-am-so-interested-and-touched-by-your-culture-waaaaaw-amaaaazing-ooooh attitude. With the latter you aren’t likely to make any decent contact with the locals anyway since you’ll be looking in awe at everything they consider part of normal, boring, everyday life.
Even more so, if you act a bit silly, the embarrasment when you make a stupid cultural mistake is all on you. Try behaving like a perfectly serious traveller and then blow your nose in a Turkish long-distance bus, or do it when you goof around a bit. Chances are you’ll get a lot more positive response in the latter case.
By: mixtec - 2nd February 2003 at 00:32
RE: lonely planet
” thats a bit harsh, I think he is just trying to have a bit of fun. It is quite amusing when his sense of humour goes right over the heads of those he is making jokes with (at). Just shows that although laughter is universal, humour is not.”
Garry- Just for once Id like to see somebody be harsh with that guy, when he starts up his clown show, just have a group of people walk up to him and say buzz off…were not here to entertain you. I dont think his humor goes over anyones heads. People know millions of people watch his show and tourist dollars or culural relations value are too important to pass up. His attitude is to act like foreign cultures are just some kind of game park thats been assembled for him. This is the total opposite of what LP planet books do for people, they warn of all the problems and awkward things that can happen to a first time visitor so you dont waste time causing problems for youself or others. And they help you appreciate where people are at instead having to find this out by offending anyone.
By: Arabella-Cox - 1st February 2003 at 02:21
RE: lonely planet
Thanks for the heads up Steve… we get the BBC here (without the four months wait }> ) I’ll have a look.
Can you say why secret cameras are used? Are they trying to stir up dirt or something?
Mixtec… thats a bit harsh, I think he is just trying to have a bit of fun. It is quite amusing when his sense of humour goes right over the heads of those he is making jokes with (at). Just shows that although laughter is universal, humour is not.
The funniest incident I have seen was in Russia where they had obviously been trying to film him talking and crossing a rather large street in Moscow (at least 6 lanes each way). In the one cut they showed a Russian cop walked up to him and started shouting at him in Russian. He couldn’t understand a word and started apologising quickly and backing off. With the benefit of subtitles we could see the cop said something like “If you cross that bloody road again like that I’ll arrest you!”… Ian had no idea how close he came… 🙂
He seems to get on very well with children too… being rather youthful and enthusiastic himself.
Of course there is also something to be said for dry boring presenters that stick to the cue card…
By: mixtec - 31st January 2003 at 17:25
RE: lonely planet
As far as the LP tv show goes, I find that goofball british guy to be repulsive. I guess his dopey demeaner is supposed to be “cute” or something while amidst the exotic cultures. I simply cant watch it.
By: KabirT - 31st January 2003 at 16:13
RE: lonely planet
Yes its a awsome programme…love seeing it. The way Ian Write hosts it makes it more interesting.
By: Steve Touchdown - 31st January 2003 at 14:57
RE: lonely planet
There’s a very recent BBC TV programme that I watched this week called “Holidays in the Axis of Evil” that is well worth a look. I’ve only seen part one so far in which the journalist (Ben Anderson) visited Iraq and North Korea and filmed mostly with a hidden camera.
Part one is repeated tonight and they are showing part two immediately afterwards in which he visits Cuba, Syria, Iran and Libya.
The shows start on BBC4 (cable/satellite) at 22:50 GMT. It would be worth checking BBC World schedules for those of you reading this from elsewhere but you may be able to get BBC4 as it is anyway. It’s on Sky channel 161 if this helps.
Best regards
Steve ~ Touchdown-News
By: Arthur - 31st January 2003 at 10:41
RE: lonely planet TV
Agree with you Garry – the episodes hosted by Ian Wright are definately worth looking. I also like the ones with Justine Shapiro, she doesn’t have the sense of irony as Wright (nor does she visit the cool places Wright does) but she also appears to look a little beyond than the first-hand superficial features of a country. Something which i can’t say about that blonde chick who always gives me the impression to be a perfectly off-rippable dumb tourist:
“You! Shtraf! 10.000 dollars!”
“Okay.”
Eric,
From what my friends told me, security in RoK wasn’t as much of an issue as they had thought. They were seen plenty of times, including by Korean military personell, but they seemed to understand what they were doing. I have to say they did hold up to some basic courtesy standards: not parking your car in front of a crashgate, no obvious infrastructure photography… (one of the guys was also on one of my under-arrest Russia-trips, and also did spot some aircraft in Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan) nevertheless, they compared it to a country like Taiwan where planespotting is not really banned. Sometimes they’ll ask you what you’re doing and occasionally you’re followed, but that’s it. The only jumpy guards they’ve met were the Americans though. I do hope that the tensions settle down a bit before the next batch of spotters is going (they are also a bit more persuasive…).
By: Arabella-Cox - 31st January 2003 at 10:27
RE: lonely planet
Oops, I was going to reply that I thought Ian Wright was a cheeky little so and so and the main reason I watch Lonely Planet but you guys seem tobe talking about books.
Regarding the TV program Lonely Planet there have been many wonderful programs about places like Iran and Russia, that show many preconceived ideas to be totally wrong.
As an example the program on Iran Ian Wright mentions that as long as you obey basic cultural customs like not walk around in shorts or with your shirt off the locals are very friendly and helpful and he seemed to really enjoy the place… Hardly a spoke in the wheel of evil.
By: ELP - 31st January 2003 at 05:14
RE: lonely planet
Korea is easy to get around in Arthur. Just if a soldier of the ROK or ROKAF security tells to to halt while you are taking a photo, that means FREEZE. Don’t reach for anything, don’t turn etc. A nice place but when it comes to security and knowing the places you wedge yourself into, maybe not as enjoyable as your Russian visits. }>
By: Snapper - 30th January 2003 at 20:42
RE: lonely planet
I use them all the time. Frequently wrong / out of date, but more frequently right and bags of use. Very readable (same passage twenty times, with buses, trains etc). Use them as my sole travel guide. Many countries have been gone through with just them. Top marks.
By: Arthur - 30th January 2003 at 20:23
RE: lonely planet
They’re good. Unfortunately, the bulk of the backpackers are hardly more curious and tended to do some research themselves (Thailand, India…) so they’ll stick to the LP to the letter. Which is kind of ironic, yet can get very annoying. You don’t want to see signs of disbelief when you’re telling about a site not mentioned in LP… Their quality has given them an almost mythical status, and some people do treat it as a bible. Unfortunately.
But they are excellent country-guides, i immediately admit. And a lot of them make fun reading too when you’d otherwise be booooored in a train/bus/hotel… Good thing is that they are almost as useful as a local version of the yellow pages (now THOSE are useful. Does anyone have a link to the South Korean yellowpages, btw? It’s to help a few friends finding a car rental without paying Hertz or Avis-prices).
By: frankvw - 30th January 2003 at 18:21
RE: lonely planet
Very interesting guides, but of course, yon don’t have to follow everything… A bit adventure can also be nice.
A must have!
By: serendib - 30th January 2003 at 18:16
RE: lonely planet
Absolutely. I have found Lonely Planet to be a great source of information. Definitely for the budget traveller.
I visited Egypt, Cambodia, and Laos using nothing more than Lonely Planet guides.
Sam.
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January 30, 2003 at 5:18 pm