You did really great with this story! I read it a while ago but cannot make comments on my workplace computer anymore, so I'm truly bummed! And you've been somewhere else since!!! Next stop Puerto Rico!
It's so hot I'm gonna walk around naked! Some interesting encounters there. As a man, I wouldn't dare asking a woman dressed in that fashion if I could see her face for a moment. Her husband would probably have to kill me and her afterwards ;) But yes, it is immensely frustrating to see Westerners blatantly disrespect the most basic local sensitivities in more conservative foreign countries. And doing it on purpose to advance feminism? Really? That's just the type of patronising behaviour that usually results in the opposite effect. Local men will have it reconfirmed that Western women must all be sluts, and they'd most likely tell their wives and sisters not to walk around like that.
Kid vacations nearby... I asked my daughter what her favorite vacations growing up were...and you can check all the trips from when we lived in Virginia...and she said that Disney World, the Canadian Maritime provinces (especially Prince Edward Island where Anne of Green Gables took place), and camping in northern Minnesota (and the cat hotel on the Mississippi River) were the best. But you can look at the variety we had and decide for yourself which your kids would like best.
One week you are in the Middle East and the next in Puerto Rico... and it was nice to finally meet your family! We took our kids to Puerto Rico and they also had a great time...I agree with your recommendation.
and now I'm broke... But really, if you have any other ideas for fun semi-close places for kids, tell me. They absolutely loved PR. I like to diversify though...
Haa haa...another great blog Anastasia... Funny isn't it, how we often tend to neglect the foreign destinations closest to our home countries. I have a friend in Fla who spends half the year on Puerto Rico and he loves it. It's a great place for growing palm trees apparently.....
Yet Another Great Blog I haven't commented on your blogs in a while, but I always read them and always! enjoy them. This one made me laugh, so I wanted to say thank you. I hope you have more great travels (vacations) to write about in the upcoming months.
Are you sure he wasn't selling pet rocks... some fads take awhile to get around the world! Thanks for the very personal story about missing your son. I wonder how he got those ideas about that he wants to be when he grows up...not the traditional fireman.
Great place, great story What an interesting way to present a story about one of the most fascinating places on earth. Thank you for bring back some fond memories.
Its a very good read its a very good read. your writing skill is very much entertaining also. like the way you have mentioned different incidents and the way you have shown respect to other religion. thank you again
Covering up... Nah, I think they should hang it all out and get massive sunburn in sensitive places - that would teach them the hard way and also please me immensely! I got taken to task (via a private message) for mentioning in my last blog that I was unimpressed with tourists who show too much flesh in conservative societies. It made me realise that contrary to my thinking that it was done through unawareness or pure self-absorption, apparently some women do it on purpose – a sort of statement of old school feminism...
Great comment! I'd like to think the men/women who do it on purpose are the minority. Now, maybe if I lived there and I was Muslim and decided to bare all, that would be making a feminist statement. But as a Westerner I do not feel that its my place to do so. Wearing a mini-skirt in Cairo isn't going to change anything socially. It will just bring you immense harassment and put a bad taste in their mouth for us. But what do I know?
cabochick
Andrea
You did really great with this story! I read it a while ago but cannot make comments on my workplace computer anymore, so I'm truly bummed! And you've been somewhere else since!!! Next stop Puerto Rico!