This.  It’s perfect for all of those adventurous expats in your life…

springwise:

Lightweight bag enables washing on the go

Considering the long journeys many people in areas with poor access to water have to undergo every day, making the washing process easier could make a world of difference. The GiraDora is one recent innovation that has aimed take the pain out of non-electric washing, and now the Scrubba is an ultra-portable device that can clean clothes with minimal amounts of water. READ MORE…

vanityfair:

The Passport to Prove It | A Stamped History of Marie Colvin’s Career

From the Colvin Family.

There is just something about flipping through the pages of this passport and looking at the stamps.  There is something very personal about being able to look through all of the dates and locations.  I realize millions and millions of people pass through the same airports that I do, but it’s still strangely exciting to see the same stamps and think of the places.  

I wasn’t familar with Marie Colvin’s work, but as I sit here in Cairo, I can’t help but look into it…

The Tonle Sap flows through the city like a freshwater sea. Not far from this wide, sinister, and beautiful river stands the Hotel Le Royal. Opened in 1929, the Royal was built by the French architect and town planner Ernest Hébrard, (via Lawrence Osborne Reflects on Phnom Penh, Cambodia - The Daily Beast)

I need to go here!  I was short on time and skipped it when I wandered through Siem Reap.  

Ditto.

wearethedigitalkids:

“Travel keeps you young. It does this simply by putting you in situations that make you feel like a child again. Magically lost in a moment of discovery.” 

I so, so believe this.

My half-Turkish friend read my coffee cup before I left Cairo.  (She likes to say that since she’s only half-Turkish, you can only expect her to be half-right about your fortune.)  She saw one of those dragons in my cup.  

It was just Chinese New Year…  

These dragons are all over Singapore…

Coincidence? 

That is the bike I rode for 4km into Wadi Degla.  Then, the chain broke.  No one had any extra bike supplies and the few wrenches and bike pump M. brought along were not going to fix it.  M., being the only Egyptian between the 3 of us automatically felt like his hospitality had failed him.  What to do?  I just ran/pushed the bike the 9 or so km until the end.  

Then, came the part M. forgot to mention:  the flat bottom of the canyon came to an end.  We had to carry/push/pull our 3 bikes up the side of the canyon to get to the highway (to go home).  We pulled and lifted the 3 bikes up 50ft, Shoots and Ladders style.  Climb up a few feet to a ledge, pass the bike up to the next person.  

The other part of the trip M. couldn’t control:  the taxi he arranged didn’t show up.  So…we got a truck with a flatbed to pull over and hitched a ride into Maadi.  The truck driver tried to apply the American tactic of speaking foreign languages:  just speak your own language really loudly.  In the end, we caught a cab.  All was fine.  

Next time, I’m skipping the bike.  I’ll just run through Wadi Degla.  Much less hassle and equipment.

I stayed mostly in Central and Causeway Bay this weekend.  Just slightly bummed I didn’t make it over to Macau…again.  I have been to Hong Kong at least a dozen times and I still haven’t managed to take the stupid ferry across to Macau.  Next time, I guess.  

Empty bookshelves next to the plaque in the ground;  in remembrance of the books burned by the Nazis on that spot.

Berlin, Germany

I want to do this!!!  Next time I’m in T3 at Changi, I am so doing this.

One of the places I was in the past few weeks…

Halong Bay, Vietnam.  

theeconomist:

B.R., a reader in Washington, DC who has just returned from a trip to Vietnam, sent us this image with a single line of explanation: “An unregulated telecoms infrastructure”.

I have this same picture.  Insane.