The band you see above, founded by political exiles in 1979 in the heart of the Sahara, started playing on homemade instruments, fought in Mu’ammar Gadhafi’s guerilla army, slowly built up an international following making few concessions to outside audiences, and just recently won a Grammy. Actually, it’s hard to imagine any greater ballers of music than this legendary, long-running outfit, whose name simply means “Deserts” in the Tuareg language. Read the rest of this page »
I’ve said Georgia is the place for wine. The oldest evidence for wine-making has been found in Georgia, dating back to 8000 years ago, and wine has been in steady production there since then. Even their indigenous word for wine, ghvino, is thought to have influenced Indo-European languages – vinum (Latin), oinos (Greek), and, of course, vino (Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc). As of 6000 years ago, the people now called Georgians essentially created the method of winemaking that remains in use today. For those Georgians who make wine at home, they follow roughly the same procedure. Almost all commercial wine, however, has begun to be made using Western European methods, in an effort to appeal to a global palate. Appealing they are, some even excellent. Pheasant’s Tears has stuck to the ways of their distant ancestors, and their wines are nothing short of amazing.
So I’ve told you where to go and what to see, how about some more practical information? Transportation, costs, accommodations, food and drink…How to make the most of your time and money once you’re there.
Transportation: For far-flung trips to Kazbegi or Kakheti, or even further, it can be useful to rent a car – without doing so, getting to Davit Gareji would have been a huge pain in the ass, and all these stops after the jump, going to and from Kazbegi, would have been unlikely if not impossible without hiring a taxi at an exorbitant fee: Read the rest of this page »
Yes, Jvari is worth the short uphill climb from where the taxi lets you off
So you’ve decided that Georgia looks beautiful, the people sound lovely, and the food delicious. Right you are! Now you want to visit. Hurrah! Tourism is a quickly growing sector of the economy, and as I’ve said before, it’s definitely worth it.
Now then, you may ask : “where and when should I go, what is there to see, how do I get around, and what does it cost? And I have other questions too!” Today we focus on the where…obviously it’s biased towards where I went in the limited time I had, but having done my research, as a hard baller should, I determined that the following would be the highlights of the country, and I was right.
Hidden from whom, you may ask? Certainly for anyone with any background in the Eastern bloc, the Republic of Georgia is no secret; ask any Russian about khachapuri and expect drooling. But for the majority of us here in the West, the Middle East, or Asia, Georgia and the Caucasus in general remain largely unknown. At only 4 million people, it’s smaller than just the capital of American Georgia, and often the latter is what pops into people’s heads when they hear the unqualified name. At least Wikipedia takes you to a disambiguation page…
But I want to change that. Georgia is a lovely, remarkable country, with an ancient and distinctive history and culture, some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve set eyes on, and people that give even Arabs a run for the money in the hospitality department. Let’s not forget that the food and wine are brilliant and plentiful, too. Read the rest of this page »
Hammacher Schlemmer may be cheesy as all hell and otherwise never get a mention on WBH but LOOK AT THIS:
Yes, it’s basically the Tron motorcycle, and it is in fact a real motorbike that you can ride and buy for, gasp, $55,000. It may be insane to spend that on a bike, but really only one word can describe it: SIIIIIIICK!
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=11862 (click to see a video)
Gergeti Trinity Church
No, not where Outkast is from. The country, in the Caucasus. The Republic of Georgia, Sakartvelo. One of the most lovely places I’ve ever been, where at almost every head turn something gorgeous and unexpected pops into view, where the people shatter your notions of hospitality with their unending kindness and warmth, and where the food and wine are so good that “moderation” ceases to be in your vocabulary. Here are some photos for the time being:
Quick, can you name the current crop of luxury/performance sleek, swept-back, “4 door coupés,” as the industry likes to call them? They’ve been on the market for several years now:
What’s conspicuously missing? The Bavarians! It’s been along time in the making, but it’s finally here, the 2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, and boy do they have a knockout.
FUCK the Macbook Pro Retina. Fuck it.
I’ll come out and say it – I use a regular Macbook Pro and I own two iPhones (an older unlocked one for travel, and a 4S). I convinced my parents to switch from PC to Mac, and I think OS X is the best operating system ever made for normal people (normal people do not use Linux). Until Monday I thought Apple was awesome – far from perfect, but generally pretty sweet.
I’ve delayed writing this, but Ars Technica hammered the final nail in the coffin. The MBPR SUCKS. Sure, it’s sleek and pretty and has a sick display, but a) it’s more expensive than an Apple laptop has been in years (the baseline 15″ MBP has been $1800 for at least 4 years, possibly longer), and b) it is almost ENTIRELY un-upgradeable short of configuring it in the Apple Store for multiple hundreds of extra dollars off the bat. If you change your computer every year, great, but that means you’re not a hard baller but a superficial punk with money to burn. If you want a 15″, expensive-ass Macbook Air, great. Pose away. If you want something a lot more useful and practical, you got left with only a minor upgrade a couple days ago – to a computer with a 4 year old design.
Well done, Apple assholes.
Want all the outdoorsy fun of a rooftop but feeling lazy and want a seat? Then you want a beer garden. DC doesn’t have many, but the ones it has are all pretty good, summarized here by Serious Eats. My favorites are the Standard and Biergarten Haus. Standard has awesome barbecue, Mexican grilled corn, and freshly fried doughnuts in addition to a small but good selection of beer, but be warned: it’s crazy popular and thus very crowded. Go around happy hour to beat the crowds. Biergarten Haus is a more properly German kind of place and one of the best bars in the semi-hoody and often dubious (despite what the hipsters may say) H St NE – spacious, quite large list of German beers on tap, lots of German food on offer. No food after 11pm though, so bear that in mind.
Burrs n Nomz chez Standard. Photo from Serious Eats
Ever evolving reflections...
Conquering the world...one döner kebab at a time
Yangon Based Bon Vivant Eating Everywhere & Everything
We Ball Harder 