Spotted a couple months ago while riding Bangkok’s BTS (skytrain). It took some time for this to percolate to YouTube but glad that it’s here…
Vogue’s new ads marking the magazine’s debut into Thailand … Eye catching.
Now that Vogue is here, the launch video is equally well produced.
As always, leave your comments below.
I’m paranoid. I cover the pin-pad when entering my code at the ATM. I look over my shoulder when I’m signing into websites in public locations and promptly change passwords thereafter. I only use public washrooms… if there’s nobody else inside.
Recently facebook launched a code generator to complement their SMS code verification system.
What? Oh ya … In English.
If you opt in, facebook has a feature where, if you sign in from an unknown computer, phone, tablet or whatever, they’ll send an SMS to your verified mobile phone number that you must enter in tandem with your username and password.
It’s a great security tool for those that may inadvertently disclose their password to someone … or a phishing site — without the code, your password is useless.
Unless, of course, they have your phone … (but that’s a different story)
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Update 12/28/2012 – On a recent trip aboard Emirates’ A380 to Hong Kong, I came across some additional tips which I’ve cited at the end of this article. Enjoy!
You’re a globetrotter. One day it’s breakfast in Prague and then on to lunch in London. You hop timezones, Tokyo, Toronto and back to Timbuktu in a matter of days.
Now if only you could lay the smackdown on that pesky Jet Lag.
Fear not, single serving friend! Follow my tips (below) and you’ll be on the ground, up and running, with no downtime.
As a world traveller, I find myself hopping large distances and needing to be switched on upon arrival. I practice yoga wherever I am as part of my daily regimen, which, for me, helps.
Here’s a few rules to follow that’ll help you never have to refer the words ‘Jet Lag’ ever again:
1) be fit wherever you go – break a sweat every day, your body will thank you
I’m a hot yoga fan. It’s pretty easy in most cities around the world to go out, stretch and break a sweat. This is way better than sitting idle in your hotel room watching whatever programming they have in store.
2) when you get on a plane, set your watch for your destination
You are now living the date and time of where you’re going, not where you left.
3) do not eat your meals at the plane-prescribed times – eat for your destination
Airlines are notorious for giving people meals based on departure. What’s worse is they feed you an insane amount of carbs, too! Yes, people get hungry and irritable if they’re not fed carbs but you are the exception.
More tips, after the jump …
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First thought… you gotta be kidding me… Hit rewind, it’s April, I’m sitting on the patio of Q Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11 in Bangkok and one of the Canadian expats sitting next to me says, hey.. they have Poutine here.
What’s Poutine, you ask?
Alright – for those who haven’t caught onto the sensation yet, Poutine is a Canadian dish which I would probably vote as our National dish, given the opportunity – french fries, topped with cheese curds and gravy, making for a cheesy, gravy-drenched delight – it’s absolutely delicious. So delicious that it’s even starting to catch on down the West Coast. Poutine is available everywhere in Canada has been gaining acclaim down the West Coast of the US in Portland, Seattle and even Los Angeles.
Dunn's Famous - a Montreal-based smoked meat sandwich chain holds an annual Poutine festival where you can try all six of their Poutine varieties at once
If you really want to find out more about Poutine, try Wikipedia, HERE, or maybe this guy’s site, HERE.
So back to Bangkok – I was literally astonished to hear that they’ve got Poutine here – I absolutely HAD to have some.
Think … the owners of one of the most popular and respected nightclubs in Bangkok, Andrew and David, sourced out gravy from Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert in Montreal and created their own Poutine. That’s kinda nuts, no? And not to be outdone, they added a Thai twist to the dish by adding Sai Oooah (Northern Thai) Sausage as a topping.
Voila! Poutine in Thailand!
… it was delectable to say the least. Well balanced and a great combination. If you’re ever in Thailand, do not pass go, don’t collect $200 … go straight to Q Bar and check it out.
Interesting tidbit: St. Hubert’s gravy is regarded as being vegetarian. Although it hasn’t been confirmed if the gravy is vegetarian or vegan, minus the sausage, a great number of vegetarian-minded folks could enjoy this dish. Happy dining!
Facebook is always full of little localization/location-sensitive tricks. I started to take notice a few years ago on a trip to Mexico when I was asked if I’d like to change my language to Spanish. At the time, it appeared that facebook used Geotargeting to figure out where in the world you were. They still do this and also have an arsenal of methodologies they test to make it easier for people to connect to you.
One of the languages I’ve put on my facebook profile is Nihongo, or Japanese. This prompted facebook to ask me if I had a Japanese name, which undoubtedly would make it easier for Japanese users to connect with me on facebook, if I were of Japanese descent.
On a recent trip to Japan, I noticed several things popped up in the sidebar while communicating on facebook. One of the things that stuck out was a one-time QR code that allowed me to log in on my Japanese mobile phone
On that same recent trip, after changing my current home location to Tokyo, Japan, facebook asked what train station was closest to me.
Facebook is also curious about where you live. Especially for serving up ads. Again, while traveling, I noted that facebook asked me where I lived in order for them to serve up ads relevant to me. ‘Have you moved to Singapore?’ is what came up last time I opened up facebook in China – I was using a proxy server in Singapore to bypass the Great Firewall of China.
So why is this all important? facebook is already looking to the future – where the bulk of Internet users will not be in North America and likely won’t even speak English. As it stands, more that 75% of users are outside the United States.
Find out more on facebook’s own statistics page, HERE.
I frequently travel through Hong Kong and use it as a hub when visiting other Asian countries. One of the things that I like about Hong Kong International Airport is that they offer free WiFi and they also have a Caviar House & Prunier that I frequent during stopovers.
Recently, while exiting the plane, I encountered an error while trying to connect to the free wireless sytem at the airport. It didn’t become apparent that this was an issue with my iPhone 4 running iOS5 until I later opened my laptop and was able to connect.
At Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) you can connect to either to the #HKAirport Free… the PCCW or the PCCW1x (using username: pccw and password:pccw) access points for free access.
The error I encountered was:
Sysetm is busy. Please try to restart your browser and try again.
[Page Not Found - /MsgPage/error.htmlerror id=119134].
I later realized that the issue dealt with my iPhone’s ability to accept cookies, thus resolving the issue. Read more about how to fix this issue, after the jump.
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Okay. We got bike lanes. We got chicken coops. Now, with Vancouver’s City Council’s help, organized labour can prevail over the evil ruling overlords.
”We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.” –Adolf Hitler
I’m talking about Rocky Mountaineer Railtours (RMR) here. It’s a small, 100 man operation that is one of the gems of BC’s Tourism Sector. In February, the on-board attendants changed their union from the Canadian Auto Workers’ Union to the Teamsters (Local 13 – sidenote: anyone find Jimmy Hoffa yet?), which was mostly seen as a move to muscle more out of RMR for the workers (yay).
That’s fine and said but then fast forward to June, a couple weeks after RMR’s owner, Peter Armstrong, announced that he was going to Chair Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association (NPA), things really went haywire.
First Teamsters Local 13 advised RMR of their intent to strike (uh oh!). Then RMR locked them out and hired replacement workers (double uh oh!).
Apparently by all reports, things are going alright onboard RMR’s trips right now. Customers are satisfied and RMR is having an okay high season minus the slanderous remarks and fake reviews being posted online regarding the company.
Anyhow, that’s not where things get weird. This is:
(click the image or the link HERE to view the original letter in full or keep reading)
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It’s interesting to travel and use facebook from foreign places. In China and Vietnam, for example, in most cases you’ll be blocked by the Government’s firewall and then you’ll be subjected to use a VPN or some other access technique to get onto facebook. In other places, facebook delivers localized tools or design.
On a recent trip to Vietnam, I was forced to use a VPN that I set up in Singapore. It was interesting to see that facebook asked me (in the sidebar) straight up if I was in Singapore, if I was visiting Singapore or a permanent resident.
On my most recent trip to Japan, more neatness. Facebook makes it easy for Japanese users to log into their site with a disposable autologin QR code as seen below.
Use Facebook on your mobile phone
We’ve been working hard to make Facebook Mobile usable in Japan. There is still a long way to go but most of the basic functionality is there. Please check it out and let us know what you think.
Facebook Mobile is helpful for keeping up with your friends when you’re on the go.
Read the “auto .ogin QR code” with your mobile phone.
Do not share this QR code with anyone else – it is personalized to log you in automatically. For your protection, the QR code can be used only once and expires after 24 hours.
Click the image (above) for the fullsize screenshot.
Actually, well, more like iDTGV hates us and by us, I mean Canadians.
For those that don’t know, iDTGV (not affiliated with TGV) is a train service in France that I keep calling iDTVG for some reason. Seriously, though, iDTGV is an interesting train service because it caters to my demographic – you know, the one that doesn’t appreciate screaming freaking kids running amok while you’re trying to enjoy some quiet time, a baguette and maybe a bottle of wine en route to Nice from Paris. They have train cars that cater to a number of needs – iDzen for the traveller who may want to chill out or sleep, iDzap which has a jovial and engaging atmosphere, a bar that feels more like a real bar / cafe and iDNiGHT which is the overnight dance party train with DJ and liquor service.
Pretty cool huh?
Sadly, on a recent trip to France, I wasn’t able to actually experience iDTGV. You see, despite booking some reasonable tickets online and being assured everything is copasetic, hours later, the system would tell me that my credit card has been refused. After what seemed like hours on the phone to my credit card company, they noted that no authorization was attempted, so I was like WTF?!
After trying to reach the company, pacing around, trying every credit card in my arsenal, losing my reservation and the likes, I took it upon myself to visit a train station that purports to have an iDTGV booth. Guess what…. it was a freaking Internet kiosk with no people in sight! After making several enquiries, I was told that in most cases, there are no iDTGV staff at train stations except to manage departures. GREAT!
BTW – while I was out on my escapade, and thanks to SFR’s 3G+ internet service, I received the following reply from iDTGV:
From: Service Clients iDTGV [mailto:reclamation@idtgv.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 5:51 AM
To: Rajesh Taneja
Subject: <Ref3688321> Question sur le paiementDear Sir Taneja,
We acknowledge receipt of your message on the payment of your order.
Please note that for security reasons you can only pay by credit card French, European or American.
We remain at your disposal for any additional information you consider useful.
Best regards
Nadège
Service Clients
Une question sur iDTGV ? Consultez la rubrique « Besoin d’aide » de notre site !
www.idtgv.com
Du lundi au vendredi
de 09H00 à 18h00
(sauf jours fériés)
<rant>So what? In France, Canadians are chopped liver? What about Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach, Operation Overlord and the Battle of Normandy? Haven’t we paid our dues? If it weren’t for the Canadians’ presence in France, I suspect that Nadège might’ve been Wilhelm and French would be an elective in secondary school.</rant>
After the whole excercise, we wound up at the SNCF booth and booked to be on a TGV train to Cannes the following day, screaming children in tow *sigh*.
During my trip to Calgary for the Stampede, my friends and I chanced upon some fire spinning taking place on the corner of 17th Avenue SW and 8th Street in Mount Royal. Here’s some cool fire spinning photos:
Makes me want to head to burning man or something like that!
