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- October 7th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
The Divine Madman’s phallus
WARNING: If you feel offended by the folkloristic depiction of male genitalia, do not continue reading this article and do not look at the pictures. Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the significance of th
- October 5th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Life is good for animals in Bhutan
Most Bhutanese are devout Buddhists. And one of the cornerstones of Buddhism is that it’s wrong to kill animals because they are part of the divine creation. The solution these clever Buddhists have come up with is simple – even though it might n
- September 30th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Hidden restaurants in Thimphu
There are a lot of good restaurants in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu. For non-locals, the question is just how to find them. At home in Europe, I’m used to most restaurants being on the ground floor, usually with an illuminated sign and a welcoming do
- September 29th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Blood, blood everywhere!
When you walk through downtown Thimphu, you’re liable to think that someone just got mugged on the street or lost his front teeth in a fight. Everywhere you go, you see red spots that look like blood. They’re on the streets and sidewalks, but als
- September 27th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
What can you see with your head in the clouds?
Our Bhutanese hosts wanted to take us to a mountain pass above the valley of Paro today. They said Chelela pass, at almost 4000 meters, was the highest pass in the whole country. This idea seemed pretty appealing to us, since Bhutan is smack in the m
- September 25th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Landing in the Himalayas
We flew into Paro, Bhutan this morning. Landing at this airport is extremely difficult because the pilots have to land in a very steep valley. They have to fly on sight, can’t rely on their instruments to bring them in for a safe landing. So wh
- September 21st, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Citizens defeat racists in Cologne
You won’t find me at a lot of political rallies. So when I got my ass up this weekend to go out and demonstrate, you know that it must have been a cause that was very important to me. This weekend, racists and neo-Nazis from all over Europe had pla
- September 10th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Bellydance for tolerance
The people of Cologne have a nice sense of humor. They’ll even turn political protest against Neo-Nazis into a carnival. Liberal groups in Cologne are calling on the people of the city to stage a mass bellydance on September 20th. They’re hoping
- August 20th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
There’s something embarrassing I have to tell you…
There’s a website called NiceCritic that lets you send “helpful messages” anonymously. For instance, if your boss has a serious case of body odor, but you don’t know how to pass a subtle hint, you can use this website and tell him anonymously
- August 6th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Welcome to the world
At Stockholm’s Vasamuseet, you can see a Swedish battleship that sank in 1628 and that was raised from the seabed in the 1960’s. But you can also see evidence of the end of the cold war and globalisation at this museum. Throughout the museum, you
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Internet censorship and muted athletes in China
China’s internet censorship caused a storm in international media in recent days. Foreign journalists in Beijing were livid that they didn’t have unhindered access to the internet. China had blocked critical websites like Amnesty International, R
- July 29th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Walking on cracked ice
In the past half year, four old friends ended their long-term relationships or marriages. Two of these couples had been together since the 1980’s, one relationship had been going on for almost twenty years, and the fourth couple had been togeth
- July 23rd, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Of singing flight attendants and such
My friend Sandro is a flight attendant. In his blog, he recently wrote about flying to Bangkok with a pilot who is about to retire. This flight was going to be one of the last ones for the pilot. When they arrived in Bangkok, the pilot invited the wh
- July 20th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
A day in medieval Mongolia
I always hoped that I’d never have to hear Baccara’s Sorry I’m a Lady again. The song is pure 1970’s Eurotrash. But here it was again, like a bad memory. It was playing in the beat up car that was taking us out of Ulan Bator and into the Mong
- July 18th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
My yurt is my castle
For the last thee days, a number of yurts have been on display on Ulan Bator’s central Sükhbaatar Square. They stand in stark contrast to the imposing glass-brass-and-marble State Palace on the north end of the square. Since I don’t speak Mon
- July 17th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Breakfast in the hall of mirrors
Two walls in the breakfast room in our hotel in Ulan Bator are completely covered with mirrors. The effect is that these walls of mirrors multiply the meagre offerings on the breakfast buffet to something that actually looks pretty impressive. In add
- July 16th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
German is good in Ulan Bator
Believe it or not, but you can see a lot of German influence in Mongolia’s capital Ulan Bator. Everywhere you go, you’ll come across advertisements for Khan Bräu, for instance. The Khan Bräu brewery has been around since 1996. It’s run jointl
- July 15th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Anywhere but Ulan Bator
Ulan Bator is a city that’s hard to love. The Mongolian capital has no charm, no elegance, no refined cuisine and hardly any sights that are worth visiting. Most tourists just use Ulan Bator as a point of departure to see the magnificent Mongolia
- July 14th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
What comes after the Olympic fever in China?
If you arrive at Beijing’s brand new Capital Airport these days, you’re immediately confronted with China’s enthusiasm about the Olympics. And that feeling of excitement is going to stay with you every step that you take in China. At th
- July 13th, 2008
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Sorry, we’re out of dog meat
There will be no dog meat in Beijing restaurants during the Olympics. According to this weekend’s edition of China Daily (the country’s English language newspaper), the city’s 112 officially designated Olympic restaurants have been banned from
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Floored in Beijing
Beijing is fascinating in a million ways. Aside from all the ancient sights, the shopping and the great dining, there’s one “little” thing that absolutely amazed me during this visit. It’s a gigantic video screen covering a do
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tocologne has posted a new entry on: out and about
Welcome to the Beijing Olympics – but not yet
The online weather forecast was for sun and blue skies in Beijing on Friday. But on the ground, things looked quite different. It was so hazy when our plane touched down that I thought we were still high up in the clouds. I could only see the ground