In a Saudi Desert, Thoughts Turn to Romance

The New York Times ran a story today that showed that love in Saudi Arabia is as arid and barren as the desert that surrounds the people there. Two cousins talk about romance in the safety of a remote desert outpost. Let's listen in.

“I am a romantic person,” he said. “There is no romance.”

What Nader meant was that Saudi traditions do not allow for romance between young, unmarried couples. There are many stories of young men and women secretly dating, falling in love, but being unable to tell their parents because they could never explain how they knew each other in the first place. One young couple said that after two years of secret dating they hired a matchmaker to arrange a phony introduction so their parents would think that was how they had met.

Now, in the desert, Nader’s candor set Enad off.

“He thinks that there is no romance. How is there no romance?” Enad said, his eyes bulging as he grew angry. “When you get married, be romantic with your wife. You want to meet a woman on the street so you can be romantic?”

Nader was intimidated, and frightened. “No, no,” he said.

“Convince me then that you’re right,” Enad shot back.

“I am saying there is no romance,” Nader said, trying to push back.

Enad did not relent, berating his cousin.

Under his breath, Nader said, “Enad knows everything.”

Then he folded. “Fine, there is romance,” he said, and got up and walked away, flushed and embarrassed.

A Final Thought About Sardinia's Kidnapping Biz

On our final day of this trip to Sardinia, we took advantage of a long layover to take a train into Rome, where we had pizzas at the Campo dei Fiori. It was lovely sitting under umbrellas eating margherita pizzas and not having any wine, since last week had been so full of fine wine--and how many days in a row can you gulp down wine at lunch and dinner? I had reached my limit and was happy to have a Coke with my anchovy pie.

Before I left for this trip, my wise old friend Ed told me over lunch that I should be careful...I was entering a wild land where kidnapping is common. He added that many of the criminals send pieces of victim's ears to reinforce their demands for ransoms. "I'm not kidding," he said, "It's real."

A woman we met from the Tourism board in Calgiari scoffed when I brought this up at dinner the first night. "That's like me being afraid to drive by a school in the US, because someone might shoot at me." she said there was nothing to fear.

Then as we drove in the bus toward a national park on the eastern side of the island called Supramonte, our guide pointed to a little town. "This is a wild place, the capital of kidnapping. There have been two kidnappings this year, but it's not as bad as they say."

So I had to give my old pal Ed credit, he was right, there are still kidnappings on this wild island. But I don't think they are targeting journalists or tour operators, so we've escaped unharmed and lived to tell the tale.

Moore's 'Sicko' Gently Shows Us a Better Way

I remember trying to rent Michael Moore's "Bowling for Colombine" at a video store here in Holyoke, and the clerk told us that they wouldn't carry the movie. It was censorship, and too bad for them, since they've gone out of business, like many other video stores.

Tonight through the magic of NetFlix, we rented his latest film, "Sicko" and it was poignant and very well crafted. I felt in the past with 'Bowling," and '9/11' that he is a snarky, knee-jerk kind of liberal who throws together lots of footage to try to hit you over the head to make his point.

But with this film, he simply shows the viewer what's out there, and contrasts it with our health care system. Seeing the ease with which patients get care in France, the UK, Canada and in Cuba makes me wonder...like many people I'm sure, what is wrong with us here?

I was actually jealous of the lives depicted in the movie, especially when he interviews a bunch of expats in a French cafe. Combine five to six weeks of paid vacation, free university, free medical care, unlimited sick days, and a longer life expectancy with the beauty and sensuality of France, and by God, it makes me wonder what I am doing here. Well at least I am going to France in a few weeks, if only for a week-long trip. But it seems that the French and many other people just have better priorities than we do. If that means fewer super-rich health executives and doctors, well that's good!

But the story of people who battle the HMOs and the bureaucrats were told simply, mostly in the sufferer's own words, and this made the film really work. And when Moore sends a check for $12,000 to help out a guy who runs an anti-Michael Moore website with his wife's medical bills, that made me realize that this guy is fighting for a just and right cause, and the bombastic approach of his other films has given way to a more human approach. And I hope that people see this film and like the French, make their voices heard.

What's The Best Thing About a Real Estate Recession?

While Kent enjoys dining beneath Frank Gehry-designed buildings in Dusseldorf, I am enjoying time at our comfy home in Holyoke. Here I got a chance to stay up a bit late reading a story in the WSJ about how the real estate drop is helping out conservation causes. It's the green lining of the sour real estate sector.

It turns out that many large developments that have been bitterly opposed by preservation groups are now becoming massive conservation schemes, since funding from banks is drying up. The photo in the paper showed an aerial shot of a gorgeous green and blue arc, the coast of Oahu's north shore, that was once the place where a massive resort was to be built.

It's nearly all green and undeveloped, and by God, now it will stay that way, since Oaktree Capital Management has thrown in the towel on their plan to build a mega-resort with five new hotels and condos. It was bitterly opposed by Hawaiians for years, and, after they missed a $687,000 payment, they've taken up the governor's offer to preserve the land. That's what I call progress!

It's also happening in Oregon, and Groton, MA, and in many other states. In Oregon, a 27-acre parcel was added to an existing park for a 20% lower price. And in Massachusetts a developer abandoned plans to develop a 360-acre farm, and the town will now keep the land as open space.

Stephan Neveleff, who had planned to build on an oceanfront parcel in New Smyrna, FL in 2005 was happy to get in touch with the Trust for Public Land. His plan to build 23 condos was scuttled and now the land will become a park at a loss of between $300 and $400,00. "It's just time to move on to something else," he said

Sometimes Writing Is Easy...and Fun

Last night I had a lot of fun writing my article about Huntington Beach--Surf City USA. That surprised me, because as any of the many writers who read this blog know, writing is not usually fun. It's a chore, it's a pain, and it's something we keep saying we'll get around to and some times turns into an obligation that hangs around your neck like a millstone.

But last night was different. I was researching Dean Torrance, of Jan & Dean, learning about the 20 million records they sold, and the way he helped Brian Wilson improve the lyrics of his greatest hit, "Surf City USA." My trip there was brief but it made an interesting story, with my surfing lesson and my long lunch with Dean. The city sparkles with that California sunlight, and the beaches are wide and out on the break, the surfers wait with bobbing dolphins.

Today I'll finish this up, and email a link to Wendy Haase, who set up the visit for me. It will be a great relief to see that story posted on our front page, with a little surfing photo as a 'thumbnail'. Now I've only got one more due, about Melbourne, which will no doubt be finished soon, if I can manage to enjoy writing it as much as this story.

Want a Slightly Wet, New Mazda? Tough Luck

A few months ago I read a fascinating article in Wired about the Cougar Ace, a freighter that was disabled and sank two years ago with nearly 5000 new Mazda automobiles inside. The story focused on the team of rugged salvagers who managed to refloat the vessel and save it.

But what happened to those cars? On Neatorama, I found out the answer, from an article in the WSJ on April 29. Despite pleas from movie makers who wanted to blow them up, schools who wanted to use the cars for shop classes and other people who just wanted a really cheap new car, they decided to crush all 4703 of them in Portland Oregon recently.

They blew up all of the airbags with detonators and drained, gutted squished and shredded each shiny new Mazda 3 that came up from the airtight hull of the Cougar Ace. It turned out that fears of being sued trumped any good will gestures they might have considered in disposing of the cars.

Ford, Mazda's parent company, "also worried that scammers might find a way to spirit the cars abroad to sell as new. That happened to thousands of so-called "Katrina cars" salvaged from New Orleans' flooding three years ago. Those cars -- their electronics gone haywire and sand in the engines -- were given a paint job and unloaded in Latin America on unsuspecting buyers, damaging auto makers' reputations."

The company did manage to salvage the valuable catalytic converters but they punctured all of the new tires, and sliced the alloy rims in two, to make sure nobody tried to resell them. The rest of the vehicles become pieces of metal no bigger than an ashtray, headed back to Asia where they will be remade--into new cars.

An Awful Bite of Lamprey, or Gamey Brown Bear

We were excited the other day when we got an email from a producer of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods". He asked us about Ethiopian cuisine, since they were doing research for an upcoming show.

Since we had just published a wonderful article by Matthew Keady about a bike trip through the country, we replied with some links and our friend Marie Javins also got in touch with them about her experiences a few years back eating in Ethiopia.

Tonight I watched the show's host Andrew Zimmern dig into a small piece of marinated lamprey eel, while in St. Petersburg Russia. After a small nibble, he described the fish as 'really bad, with an ammonia after taste.' It was refreshing to see this big barrel chested guy actually admit that something was awful.

Then he was served a patty made of brown bear, which is a common menu item all over this city. Funny, thinking of these huge carnivores as a common food. They make it like meatloaf and it has this sort of mineral type of aftertaste that the host said was 'common in large animals.'

To drink on the street, St Petersburg residents like to drink very weak beer,from a portable keg that vendors pour drinks out of, charging just 25 cents a glass. It's 1-2 percent alcohol, they call it 'children's beer.'

We hope that this Travel Channel producer deems our advice on Ethiopia worthy of mention, either in the credits or on their website. It's always fun to hear from television shows, who seem to find us the way many others do...on Google searches.