blogs about wtf

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Abu Dhabi

jani — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:35:11 -0800

Abu Dhabi is not one of the world's great airports by any measure, but its quirky terminal seemed downright snazzy after the swirling chaos of DEL. Midnight is rush hour at AUH, but I had no problems snagging a seat from where I could contemplate the utterly bizarre mushroom-shaped spout of lime green and blue tiling that dominates the terminal, although any notions of Zen serenity were blasted out of the water by the endless loop of really, really loud trilingual announcements about vol eh-ygrec trois-trois-cinq a Casablanca or whereever.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Riyadh

jani — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:24:20 -0800

CO-ORDINATES: (0,1) ALLEGIANCE: Independent TYPE: Isolationist Religious Enclave GOVERNMENT: Religious Dictatorship MAJOR IMPORTS: None MAJOR EXPORTS: None ILLEGAL GOODS: Animal Meat, Liquor, Narcotics, Animal Skins, Live Animals, Slaves, Luxury Goods, Hand Weapons, Battle Weapons, Nerve Gas, Robots, Radioactives

[fi] Jakarrrrrrta

jani — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:31:45 -0800

Naputeltu jo jokunen vuosi sitten suomalaista lehteä varten, muttei koskaan julkaistu, joten laitetaan sitten tänne.

"Welcome to Jakarrrrrrta", hehkuttaa singaporelaisen lentoyhtiön nukenkasvoiseksi meikattu ja kehoa hyväilevään kebayaan valettu lentoemo. Koneen ovella ilma iskee kasvoihin kuin märkä rätti: kuumaa kosteutta, neilikkatupakkaa, palavia riisipeltoja, avoviemäreitä. Harpon kireäkasvoisten salkkumiesten kanssa kohti Imigrasin tiskejä, sillä ehtimällä perille ennen muita voi leikata odotusajastaan tunnin ellei kaksikin.

Unexpectedly Arabic: al-Episode ﺏ

jani — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:58:40 -0700

This was my first trip to the Gulf in living memory, and Abu Dhabi turned out to be even weirder than I expected.

Unexpectedly Arabic: al-Episode أ

jani — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:10:34 -0700

Ending up in Greece in the first place was a bit of a surprise to say the least, but consulting threw me another curveball at 8:30 on Wednesday morning. As I'd already finished what I set out to do, how about going to Abu Dhabi instead -- today? Well, umm, err, why not?

Soi Ari -- A Visit to Millionaire's Lane

jani — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:14:28 -0700

Most Bangkok visitors heading north on the Skytrain make a beeline for the Weekend Market at the end of the line, but next time, stop two stations before at Ari. Also known by the Thais as "Millionaire's Lane", the sois of this quiet residential district hide some of the most opulent mansions in the capital -- and some of the quirkiest hotels, restaurants and boutiques in town.

Reviews of a Gourmet Snob: Weird Food Compendium

jani — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 07:07:49 -0800

In the course of writing a previous entry I realized that I've never actually written up a master list of all the weird food I've eaten, so here's a first stab at it.

Politically correct note: "weirdness" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm obviously writing this from a Western perspective. It's instructive to remember that a Chinese colleague of mine still finds cheese of any type to be tough going, and considers the very idea of intentionally moldy (blue) cheese to be utterly disgusting. Without further ado...