dancing with knives

On January 4, 2012December 31, 2012 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

The kid was threatening …

… What was I suppose to do?

Click PLAY or watch the Yemen wedding video dance off on YouTube.

world’s biggest shopping malls

On January 4, 2012January 2, 2012 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

There are plenty of arguments.

Don’t you hate it when somebody claims piddly Mall of America (2.77 million sq ft) is biggest?

Eastwood Mall Complex (3.2 million sq ft) in Niles, Ohio is largest in the USA.

West Edmonton Mall (3.77 million sq ft) is largest in North America.

But if you like BIG MALLS, the place to go is Manila, Philippines:

SM Megamall(3.74 million sq ft)
SM Mall of Asia (4.20 million sq feet)
SM City North EDSA (5.20 million sq ft)

The only larger malls than EDSA in Manila are the Golden Resources Mall, Beijing (6.0 million sq ft) and the South China Mall (7.1 million sq ft).

Projected to be much larger, when finished, is the Abraj Al Bait Mall, Saudi Arabia. It’s being built directly across from the Holy sites in Mecca.

Other contenders are under construction in China and Thailand.

wikipedia – List of largest shopping malls in the world

Forbes – In Pictures: The World’s 10 Largest Shopping Malls

headed for London …

On January 3, 2012 By Rick McIn gymnastics, travelLeave a comment

Just confirmed. I’m soon off to the London Prepares Series Gymnastics Test Event at the same venue hosting the 2012 Olympics.

I’m NOT going to the Olympics themselves. This is the next best thing.

This competition is a run through for the Organizing Committee. Athletes will be qualifying in Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline gymnastics. It’s important.

I’ll be MEDIA covering the action for my Gymnastics blog.

… I’m still looking for inexpensive accommodation. Contact me if you know of any Couch Surfing or floors I can crash upon. I’ll have full camping gear.

Airport Security Theatre

On December 28, 2011December 25, 2011 By Rick McIn government, things getting worse, travelLeave a comment

I’ve four times crossed the Pacific this Fall. Air travel is horrible in 2011.

Departing Philippines, here are the line-ups I suffered.

1. Car entering the Airport was stopped. (1min)
2. Line-up and luggage x-ray entering building (15min)
3. Check-in and collecting boarding pass (20min)
4. Immigration (10min)
5. Security check-in (15min) … removing shoes
6. Boarding pass checked before entering the gangway (4min)

At each step it was clear to me that no real security inspection was underway. It was all theatre. Laughable.

The best article I’ve read yet on Security Theatre has been getting wide circulation online.

Charles C. Mann:

… To walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier is to see how much change a trillion dollars can wreak. So much inconvenience for so little benefit at such a staggering cost. …

Terrorists will try to hit the United States again, Schneier says. One has to assume this. Terrorists can so easily switch from target to target and weapon to weapon that focusing on preventing any one type of attack is foolish. Even if the T.S.A. were somehow to make airports impregnable, this would simply divert terrorists to other, less heavily defended targets—shopping malls, movie theaters, churches, stadiums, museums. The terrorist’s goal isn’t to attack an airplane specifically; it’s to sow terror generally. “You spend billions of dollars on the airports and force the terrorists to spend an extra $30 on gas to drive to a hotel or casino and attack it,” Schneier says.

… “We’re spending billions upon billions of dollars doing this—and it is almost entirely pointless. Not only is it not done right, but even if it was done right it would be the wrong thing to do.”

atop the Jeepney

On December 22, 2011 By Rick McIn health & fitness, travelLeave a comment

Jeepneys are the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. They were originally made from US military jeeps left over from World War II and are known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating. They have become a ubiquitous symbol of Philippine culture. …

I rode on top from Sagada to Banaue, Philippines. A crazy fun hour descending narrow mountain roads.

GREAT views of the famous mountain rice terraces!

Some of these are 2000-years old.

… Here’s the issue — should you tie yourself on to the roof rack? … Or take your chances jumping to safety just in case the Jeepney goes over the cliff?

I did tie myself on. But was ready at an instant to unclip in an emergency.

What’s the world record for most number of people in a Jeepney? … You don’t want to know. 🙂

More photos of my roof ride.

New Zealand #1

On December 19, 2011December 17, 2011 By Rick McIn friends, travelLeave a comment

Sounds like the Longs have enjoyed New Zealand best of all on their Round the World family holiday.

… We have been traveling and staying with the Closson family since we arrived. Clossons are our friends from Saskatoon, for those of you who do not know them. They are on an ambitious one year round the world tour. Kim lived here when he was younger and so still has many friends and connections. Fortunately for all of us, many of Kim’s friends have been very generous and allowed squatters in their “bach”.

A bach is typically a small holiday cottage, but our first “bach” was a luxury highrise at the beach with views of the ocean and harbor. Thanks Kim!! …

read more – New Zealand #1

more Sagada photos

On December 17, 2011 By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Sagada is charming. Especially compared with the rest of the tourist mountain towns in the north of Philippines.

There’s a big legacy from Christian missionaries. In 1909 local tribes were still hunting heads!

A voluntary 9pm curfew. How about that?

see more on flickr

Dengue fever

On December 17, 2011December 14, 2011 By Rick McIn health & fitness, travelLeave a comment

Dengue fever is bad. And getting worse.

… The incidence of dengue fever has increased dramatically since the 1960s, with around 50–100 million people infected yearly. …

About 40% of the world’s population is vulnerable.

Sisters, gymnasts from Manila, were just recovering from bouts of Dengue fever. The first people I’d ever met who had been afflicted.

In Philippines, 300 died from it in 2008.

Here it’s most prevalent in the big cities like Manila. That species of mosquito bites day and night.

… Happily I’ve seen very few bloodsuckers in December.

There are people working on a cure. Here’s one very optimistic scenario.

Infecting Mosquitoes With Bacteria To Keep Them From Infecting Us With Dengue Fever

That’s on Co.Exist, a site dedicated to WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AND INNOVATION.

sick in Sagada

On December 16, 2011December 20, 2011 By Rick McIn health & fitness, travel1 Comment

I had an upset stomach for a few days. (Not Dengue — rather traveler’s diarrhea.)

If you have to be sick, you might as well be sick in paradise.

This is Sagada. (pop. 10,930)

Boys playing basketball, girls volleyball. Christmas carols boom from the Church. A little girl plays with a kitten. Very domestic. Very rural.

In these limestone mountains almost anything will grow: cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes, carrots, beans, and other temperate products. Coffee. Citrus, mainly lemon, lime and Valencia oranges. Strawberries and apples.

This is the coldest place in the Philippines. But I’d still call it tropical. There are exotic flowers and flowering trees everywhere.

Formerly a hippie hangout, the tourists here right now are an older, savvy crowd. French, German, Polish, Australian. I met one other Canadian. There are a number of excellent restaurants, a legacy from the hippie days.