I resisted the idea of visiting the Cu Chi tunnels for ages, until I was promised the chance to shoot an AK47.
Well, what do we do about beggars? It’s a tough question, but the most common reactions are either “Just ignore her, they’re all professionals and you’ll only encourage them” or “How can you be so heartless?”. These opposing viewpoints (often within the same marriage) lead to lively debates on sidewalks all over the world, but don’t really help clarify the issue.
The Constant Companion and I are familiar with several countries which are supposedly communist, or previously communist…In some of them you’ll frequently find yourself ankle-deep in begging children…But during three weeks here in Cuba, we haven’t seen a single child begging.
Geoffrey Bawa was a genius. But even geniuses make mistakes…and Geoffrey overlooked the monkeys. These monkeys have no fear of people. Also, they quite like our stuff. If you venture outside, particularly onto the roof garden, they may leap onto you from behind just to see if they can shake something loose.
…and then there’s the whole new wave of heirloom this, and rare-breed that, and single-origin whatever, with menu notes to tell you where your pork chop went to school and what its grade-point average was.