Globe Corner Blogs

Lonely Planet Bangladesh

Late one night last fall, in a packed cab, I sat up in the front seat with the driver. I was the designated directions-giver. At a stoplight our driver sighed, setting his hand heavily on the CVS bags sitting between us.
“You look tired. Are you okay?” I asked, a bit concerned for him, a lot concerned for me and the other passengers.
“Yes, very,” he answered with a heavy accent. I guessed he was from somewhere in India. “My wife is pregnant.”
“Ooh.” I answered in some contrived, childless understanding.
He continued, seemingly eager to explain himself. Were other fares not as chatty as me? Didn’t he eat at diners and kvetch with the other cabbies like in Taxi Driver? “She is in Bangladesh. She’s due September 28th, and I leave to go there soon.”

This silenced the crowd. None of us knew what to say, especially when we learned his wife was just short of earning a degree there when she got pregnant and had to stop her studies. We listened only to air rushing through the windows for several blocks.
“If you turn right here you’ll bypass Davis. It’s a shortcut.”
I tried hard to remember where Bangladesh was in relation to India. East? I looked it up when I got home: east.

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Pint-Sized Ireland --by Evan McHugh

My telling green sweater and shamrock pendant will lead most to believe (correctly) that I have Irish in my blood. The people who (incorrectly) believe I want to be kissed because I’m Irish will be surprised to know that I scoff at most St. Patrick’s celebrations. Sure, I suppose it’s a great excuse to drink pint after pint of Guinness and wear bouncy green shamrock antenna things, but if you’re not really Irish, how can you know you’re doing it right?

For those who aren’t Irish (and I’m sorry about that) the best method for ensuring as traditional a St. Patty’s Day experience as possible is to do your homework. One may not be surprised to learn that there are many books about Ireland that center around drinking – both as an attraction for tourists and as a national past-time.

A Pint of Plain --by Bill Barich

A few suggestions one can find on the Globe Corner bookshelves include the newly released A Pint of Plain: Tradition, Change, and the Fate of the Irish Pub. When author Bill Barich moved to Dublin he wanted to find a real Irish pub of his own–an old watering hole where the barkeep knew how to pour a Guinness and musicians gathered to play traditional Irish music. Barich discovered finding this was a more difficult task than he imagined.

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Woodcarvings in Oaxaca--photo by Lisa

Of of the major reasons I went to Oaxaca in Southern Mexico was that I had heard so much about the amazing craft markets and the many surrounding villages that are dedicated to the production of handicrafts. Most tourist agencies and hotels offer day tours to visit weavers in Teotitlan del Valle, potters in San Bartolo Coyotepec, and wood carvers in San Martin Tilcajete. It is also possible to go to all of these towns on your own, which would have been preferable so I could have spent more time exploring the shops, but I don’t really drive and I was a bit too lazy to figure out how to do it by myself on public transportation.

Woodcarving in Oaxaca--photo by Lisa

Every village also has a market day, and I happened to go to the Friday Market in Ocotlan. The Friday Market is one of the larger ones in the area and is an endless maze of rows offering anything that you might want to acquire: mountains of chilis, live turkeys (who may have also been shopping as they were wandering around quite a bit), fresh produce, handicrafts for the gringos, medicinal herbs, and tons of household goods.

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The Burma Chronicles--by Guy Delisle

Having recently traded in the lush madness of Southeast Asia for the prim, snow-covered streets of Cambridge, I’ve been spending a lot of time in our Asia section–perusing the shelves for books and pictures chronicling others’ adventures through the region, gazing fondly at the photos of Wats and markets I’ve been to, and just generally daydreaming about lychee-flavored ice cream on hot green afternoons.

Recently, while lost in one of my Asian fantasies, I came across The Burma Chronicles, a bamboo-green covered book with a cartoon of the author pushing a stroller past two glaring soldiers with machine guns.  Naturally, I was intrigued. Continue Reading »

Mini Rough Guide New York City

I took a day trip to New York City this weekend for Monster Track–the alley cat bike race in which you ride to different checkpoints throughout the city and the first one to finish wins.  The race is easiest for those who live in New York and know the streets well, but my friend and I just went to experience the brutality of it all.  What is unique about this race is that it is on the streets in full traffic – there is no closed course – and the only rule is no brakes allowed.

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Playa Zicatela--photo by Lisa

Having endured several cold and harsh winters in Boston, I have begun to understand the appeal of heading south for the winter. After a particularly freezing walk home I booked my ticket to Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxaca is a beautiful city in the southern part of Mexico and I have always wanted to go there. It is a well known culinary capital and is also home to lots of folk artists. After researching more about the region I decided that I also wanted to go to the coast for a couple of days and Puerto Escondido seemed like the perfect destination to soak up the sun and get away from it all. Puerto Escondido means “hidden port” in Spanish. These days, though, it is becoming more of a destination even though it can be kind of treacherous to get there.

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Liberacion de Tortugas--photo by Lisa

While walking along the main drag in Puerto Escondido in Southern Mexico, I started to see notices in a lot of the hotel windows proclaiming “Ahora Liberación de tortugas 5:45″.  I am not a Spanish speaker, but after reading this my imagination started to run wild. I pictured poor little turtles being held against their will in shackles by evil tyrants. They are actually being “liberated” by an organization called Fundación Selva Negra that is dedicated to helping protect the survival of three types of turtles: Tortuga Golfina, Tortuga Laud, and Tortuga Prieta. Continue Reading »