TRAVEL TIPS: Something to turn you on

My girlfriends and I recently managed a monumental feat: We shorted the electricity out in a posh spa resort hotel room. Too many blow driers, curling irons and who knows what else going all at once! I now find myself staying with my boyfriend in a room his niece VERY GRACIOUSLY gave up for us during our Thanksgiving visit to Texas. Only, my hair drier/curling iron cords don't quite reach from the outlet to the mirror.

Solution? Next time I travel, I'll throw a power strip with a long cord in my bag. This will keep the lights on and allow maximum mobility when I'm getting ready. It won't take up a lot of room but it will make life easier on the road!

FRIDAY FEATURE: Pakistan

PLEASE NOTE: Friday Feature will spotlight a different place each week - sometimes a country in the news, sometimes somewhere I'm curious about. By all means, submit requests! I don't purport to be an expert. I'll just try to piece together the information out there in a way that makes sense. Your job will be to edit me and to feed the Friday Feature with firsthand accounts of the place.

Far and Near
Your heart will go on pounding.
My heart will pound
Though, far, far away.
This soil shall see joyous times come and go,
Far, far away.
Stars will go on shimmering,
Also far.
Every object will remain
Far,
But this passion, this desire for you,
This wild song
Will stay inside my heart
Forever
Near.
Translation by M.A.R. Habib from An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry

Do those sound like the words that would be spit from the lips of furious faces spewing anti-American vitriol or shouted from the mouths of suited lawyers battling the military in the streets?

Well, they could be. That is a poem in the Urdu style popular in India and Pakistan, a nation embroiled in a seemingly incomprehensible but certainly critical dispute. Several of you have asked me what the heck is going on over there. As best as I can tell, it boils down to this gross generalization: There is a power struggle under way between the military (played by Gen. Pervez Musharaff, who is also the president); the Islamic radicals (played by themselves, as well as the Taliban and al-Qaida); the opposition/secularists (played by the lawyers); and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned from exile (played by herself). The United States also has its hand in the mix, seeking to exploit its ally in the "War on Terror" for all it's worth, regardless of the impact inside Pakistan.

This U.S. involvement has had a destabilizing effect, angering the Islamists, who resent the U.S. influence on Pakistan and, in turn, Musharraf, who has allowed it. In a bid to maintain power, he has delayed elections, which riled the opposition/secularists, who have taken to the streets. The reason you see the lawyers out there protesting is because they believe Musharraf was elected illegally since he is also the head of the military - a duplicity they argue is illegal under the Constitution - and want free elections to be held, like, yesterday. All of this turmoil opened the door for the return of Bhutto, whose reputation has been clouded by allegations of corruption in Pakistan and Europe. She has sided with the opposition and seeks to annul a rule, put in place by Musharraf after her exile, forbidding prime ministers from holding office more than twice. She and Musharraf have worked together in the past and recently held talks about her role in the government.

So there you have it. Pakistan's very future is at stake in this struggle.

But what of Pakistan?

Well, it is a land with an ancient history. According to Lonely Planet, it has been inhabited since the Stone Age and ruled at times by Buddhists, Sikhs and Muslims. It was a crucial part of the Silk Route of trade between China, India and the Roman empire.

Eventually, at the turn of the 20th century, the British stuck their noses where they didn't belong and began colonization in the region. But the Muslims in British India got pissed and pushed for their own state. In the late 1940s, Pakistan, meaning 'Land of the Pure', came into existence. It was originally created in two parts cut in half by the bottom of India: West Pakistan (basically modern-day Pakistan, plus the disputed region of Kashmir) and East Pakistan (the modern-day Bangladesh). The West was predominately Muslim. The East was too, but also had a sizeable Hindu population. In the spasms of violence that led to Pakistan's birth, there were large migrations of people, which left scars of animosity and led to a civil war in which East Pakistan seceeded and became the nation of Bangladesh. It is said that these old rivalries persist in the relationship between Bhutto, a native Pakistani whose father also ruled, and Musharraf, whose roots lie to the East and in India.

Pakistan as we know it is cut in half by the Indus River from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea. Its climate and topography vary greatly. Geographia.com says, "Pakistan can be divided into three regions: the lowlands along the Indus in the south and east, the arid plateau of Baluchistan in the southwest, and the mountains of the north." Its people have a reputation among travelers (Western and otherwise) of being warm and hospitable. They love cricket and will co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The food is a mixture of Indian and Middle Eastern. Mmmmmm!! Sounds delish!

Interesting tidbits found on Wikipedia:
-- Pakistan has the world's sixth largest population, placing it higher than Russia, and lower than Brazil.
-- Pakistan sent 5,000 troops to the 1991 Gulf War as part of a US led coalition and specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.
-- Pakistan has accomplished many engineering feats such as construction of the world's largest earth filled dam Tarbela as well as, with collaboration with China, the world's highest international road: the Karakoram Highway.
-- Pakistani society is largely multilingual and predominantly Muslim, with high regard for traditional family values, although urban families have grown into a nuclear family system.
-- Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7,000 metres (22,970 ft), which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world.

Recommended reading:
-- Thorn Tree Forum: Pakistan
-- Pakistani Bloggers
-- New York Times: Sorting Out Pakistan’s Many Struggles
-- Behind the clichés, a modern Pakistan Letter from a frontline state
-- The US-Pakistan Roller Coaster Relationship
-- Lonely Planet's account of the nation's history

HEALTH: 'Black hairy tongue'

A few years ago on a trip to Singapore, I had packed Pepto tablets and took a couple each night before bed, as we'd been doing some adventurous eating. One morning, I woke up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, only to discover my tongue had turned black. The whole tongue. I put it back into my mouth. Shut my eyes. Was I dreaming? Eyes open. Tongue out. Still black. I ran out into the living room to show my friends. We quickly got on the Internet and, within moments, in a frenzy of hypochondria, we'd diagnosed me with a potentially lethal case of "black hairy tongue" (a distinctly non-lethal ailment caused by bacteria in the mouth that can result in discoloration and sometimes a thick coating on the tongue). Also, apprently, a band by the same name. Distressed, and imagining what lay in store for me once I was hospitalized in a foreign land with this exotic and certainly deadly disease, I went back to the bathroom and absent-mindedly picked up the Pepto bottle. I began reading the label, just to take my mind off my predicament, when I came across a side-effect warning that went something like this:

"In some patients bismuth subsalicylate may cause dark tongue and/or grayish black stools. This is only temporary and will go away when you stop taking this medicine."

I picked up my toothbrush and began to brush slowly. Then, more frantically. And, as I saw the black fade off my tongue, I began to laugh. I would live to see another day after all! Hooray!!! Oh, we had a good laugh over THAT one!

I hope this little story will save you the stress of thinking you've contracted a rare tropical disease if you should ever encounter this Pepto side effect. Incidentally, Pepto has a nice travel-advice page on their Web site .

GUEST TRAVELER: Israel

Join friends Cindy and Emily on their adventure in Israel on their blog, Unholy happenings from the Holy Land. Here are a couple excerpts to give you what Cindy might call the "flava" of their trip:

"Cats are EVERYWHERE. I can't deal with it. They're like squirrels. They're in the trees, in the dumpsters, in the shops, all over the streets ... Israel needs a Bob Barker; an advocate for the animals. "


"I had a really interesting convo with Yael on our way out of Tel Aviv. I noticed today that there is a huge absence of synagogues in and around Tel Aviv, and that just strikes me as odd. In our neck of the woods (Metro Detroit), there's like, 1 synagogue for every 9.5 Jews. Seriously. Her answer was pretty straight forward. You're either an Ultra-Jew and pray in an Orthodox temple, or you just don't pray. On high holidays, she told me, if you want to go to worship, look no further than a local gymnasium. Everyone who's not good enough to be in a synagogue will assemble and worship there. Freakin' what???"

"The flights were easy, they served free German beer, and although we slept through one meal, we have to say we were impressed by the two others we did get to eat. Shocking! International flights are great! If you ever have the chance to fly Lufthansa, do it."

"(Some customs of Orthodox Jews:) Women are not allowed to worship with the men. There are serious restrictions on interaction. No eye contact or hand-shakes. No hellos or thank yous to strangers."

Another interesting factoid: The dots next to the Hebrew characters are vowels. However, in Israel, signs in Hebrew are written without the vowels.

WORLD VIEW: A visitor from Jordan

During the past three weeks, we hosted a visiting Jordanian journalist in our home and at our work, The Detroit News. Mr. Basil Okoor was an ideal guest, whose jovial sense of humor, candor, intelligence, energy and joie de vivre quickly made him a good friend too.

Basil was participating in an International Center for Journalists program for journalists who want to get professional experience in the United States. He and a partner run the independent news site ammannews.net (here's the translated version). Though his native language is Arabic and he insisted his English was not good, he was able to eloquently tell us about his life in Jordan and state his observations on the United States. I'd like to share some of what we learned with you.

JORDAN
- One of the more moderate Middle Eastern nations, Jordan is ruled by a king who appoints a Cabinet. The people elect a parliament, which is basically responsible for carrying out the king's orders. Frustrations are expressed toward these appointees rather than the king. Governing is a more fluid process than in the United States; officials can be ousted between elections if the king or the people are not happy with their performance.
- As a broadcast journalist, Basil was kicked off the air for his reporting. His Web site has been shut down twice by the government for reporting on the government. However, it is growing in popularity as people have a thirst for truth. Basil is a passionate believer that a free press is crucial to preserving the rights and freedoms of the people.
- Jordan has serious refugee issues. A January 2007 report in The Guardian stated, "There are thought to be 700,000 Iraqis now living in Jordan." That's in addition to the more than 1 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan as of June 2007 (Source: International Herald Tribune).
- Jordan is surrounded by Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, with Egypt just a stone's throw away. I am fascinated by what it must be like to live in a place where so many conflicts are boiling on (coming over) your borders, even as you try to maintain peace within and not get sucked into regional/global disputes.
- The most popular dish is made and eaten this way: Meat is cooked slowly in a yogurt sauce. Then, the pieces of meat are placed on top of a large platter of rice, which is set in the middle of the table, and the yogurt sauce is drizzled over top. Everyone eats from the same platter and uses their hands and pieces of bread. If you start to eat a piece of bread, you should finish it.
- Jordan does not have the oil wealth of neighboring Saudi Arabia.
- Family and education are very important. Families take pride in the number of children they have.
- Jordan is home to Petra, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and borders the Dead Sea.
- Falafel is a popular food option among poorer people.

UNITED STATES
- Basil praised the journalists he met at the Washington Post, inspired by their passion and loyalty. However, at other papers, he found the people to be nice, but lacking passion for their craft.
- Things in the United States are very organized.
- Americans work a lot and do not have enough time to spend with their families and friends.
- The culture is very violent - from TV's gore and emphasis on war and scary movies to football's gladiator mentality. He observed that every statue he'd seen was related to the military.
- Health care (or lack thereof) and homelessness were shocking. He was surprised that the society as a whole did not have the heart to make the well-being of its members a top priority.
- The level of poverty and deterioration in Detroit amazed him. He referred to it as a "ghost town" and a "dying city" and repeated, "something is wrong here," while shaking his head.
- The lack of mass transportation and the spread-out nature of Detroit vexed him.

Let's talk. I'd love to hear your comments and questions.

We miss Basil already and can't wait to go visit him in Jordan where we can see the sites and meet the family!