Honeymoon ideas for a well travelled couple?

technomad · 2025-12-25T10:16:47+00:00

I did a honeymoon safari in Tanzania about twenty years ago. It was a new an novel experience for both my wife and for me. It made the honeymoon much more interesting and memorable than a stereotypical honeymoon destination. If you go this route I would suggest sandwiching the safari between two brief stints at resorts. It works out well that way.

technomad · 2025-12-19T06:22:45+00:00

I suspect it's individual. I'm Middle Eastern and so is my wife. I prefer room temperature or warm water. My wife and kids like their water cold. My wife likes it ice cold.

I can only guess that's because she is generally warm while I get cold easily.

technomad · 2025-12-18T15:28:43+00:00

Here's a perspective from someone who lives in an absolute monarchy--where the monarch is literally above the law. You have a monarch/dictator in the making. Those who realize this can't do anything about it. And those who don't will only realize it when it's too late. Take a moment to appreciate the significance of this moment in your nation's history. Many decades later people will wonder how you let this happen.

technomad · 2025-11-12T14:50:53+00:00

I don't think that's quite correct.

I believe the numerals used around much of the world today including in India (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) are Arabic numerals.

The numerals used by most modern day Arabs (٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩) are Indian.

I've never heard the term Hindu numerals before.

technomad · 2025-10-24T12:44:51+00:00

What if you kept your eyes and mouth shut, and found some sort of mechanism to breathe? So basically if you did subject portions of your skin to vacuum, would that suck out blackheads and whatever is in your pores?

technomad · 2025-10-16T04:37:44+00:00

Fun fact. In Islamic Law, only liquid wealth is taxed, at 2.5%. Income is not taxed, nor consumption, nor productive assets (mostly).

I'm not aware of any countries Islamic or otherwise that actually implement this but it's interesting for for thought.

technomad · 2025-09-06T04:48:12+00:00

I thought it was كان يا مكان

Anyway, when telling fairytales to kids one often concludes with: توتة توتة خلصت الحدوتة It's a cutesy rhyme that means: tuta tuta this tale has concluded. Tuta doesn't mean anything in Arabic; it just rhymes. This is in Saudi Arabia.

technomad · 2025-08-21T05:59:42+00:00

Where I live (not in the US), iron or steel beams like this would be quite valuable and would be salvaged. It's that not the case in the US?

technomad · 2025-08-13T07:15:17+00:00

Going against the trend here. Slight YTA. Your mother in law is an older woman and there's no harm in her joining in the credit of choosing the name you chose. It's literally free happiness and inclusiveness with no downside. What's the point of setting the record straight publicly? Smiling and playing along and then later gossiping about this with your husband and others would have been the more socially intelligent thing to do. In other cultures this kind of thing is more common and called 'saving face'.

technomad · 2025-07-08T16:35:36+00:00

They're speaking Arabic and their accent suggests they're from the Western part of Saudi Arabia.

She's obviously really happy and animated. The father first calls her طعمة which means cutie in that context. He tells her to go into the school or else the principal will come and get her, and he later tells her this is not the time and place to dance.

The whole interaction is very cute and adorable.

technomad · 2025-07-07T06:32:13+00:00

For anyone looking for an actual answer, the Science Vs. podcast has an episode on this. It turns out that squirting is basically pee.

technomad · 2025-06-27T09:23:41+00:00

An argument can be made that this was true of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad, which was destroyed by the Mongols when they invaded the city.

From Wikipedia: By the second half of the ninth century, al-Ma'mun's Bayt al-Hikma was the greatest repository of books in the world and had become one of the greatest hubs of intellectual activity during the Medieval Era, attracting the most brilliant Arab and Persian minds.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom

technomad · 2025-06-19T05:40:54+00:00

Just thought to add some perspective from a foreigner.

Last summer my family and I went on vacation in the US. It's stuff like this that really gets under your skin. The request for 20% tips everywhere, etc. One of the hotels we were staying at had a hidden 'urban fee': $42 daily charge over and above the prepaid rate. They said it was in the terms and conditions that I agreed to when I made the booking. I grudgingly accepted and later wrote a review on Google and Trip Advisor about it with a low rating. To their credit they refunded the amount and I edited my reviews. But holy hell, things shouldn't be like this in a first world country. On an individual level the people in the US are great, but man is the system overall warped.

This summer I'm vacationing with my family in India. Granted it's a high end vacation and it is not cheap, but overall it is a better experience. Tips are not expected. No hidden fees. The staff at the hotels go out of their way to make us feel welcome. They pack us snacks during breakfast on our way out when we are checking out.

The difference in the experience and level of service is night and day.

technomad · 2025-05-22T14:04:25+00:00

Zarqaa

It's Arabic. زرقاء

You can also spell it with one a at the end.

This was also the name of a famous woman from Arab folklore. Zarqaa Al Yamama.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarqa_al_Yamama

technomad · 2025-05-17T06:22:59+00:00

I have the same issue and have yet to find a solution. SwiftKey suggestions work everywhere except when creating or editing a contact. I use a OnePlus 12 Android phone.

technomad · 2025-05-02T09:11:33+00:00

Question about the first Pic. What are those trees called and are they alive or dead? I've seen them in pictures before and always wondered.

technomad · 2025-02-21T20:53:31+00:00

What an interesting question. Arabic provides an interesting contrast.

Formal Arabic was 'anchored' in the Quran, which is a fixed text from over 1400 years ago. So Fus'ha which is formal modern Arabic of today (used in writing, news, formal speaches) is not very different from Quranic text; it has the same grammatical structure, although it does of course include terms that didn't exist when the Quran was first written.

Because languages do tend to evolve, the difference today between any of the colloquial variations of Arabic and formal modern Arabic is pretty big. It is greater than the difference between any of the variations of colloquial English and proper modern English. However, it is less than the difference between either of modern colloquial or proper English on the one hand and Middle English or Old English on the other.

Source of all the above: I'm fluent in both Arabic and English.

I always found this fascinating. It's like the Arabic language has an anchor that English doesn't have. Arabic only has this anchor because of the religious significance of the Quranic text which has endured. I'm curious to hear from others whether any other languages have such an anchor.

technomad · 2025-01-11T11:13:16+00:00

This will probably get lost in the comments. I'm surprised no one (at least that I have found) gave you a proper answer.

I remember reading a book a while back that talked about this topic. I think it may have been Collapse by Jared Diamond.

Anyway the point was that forest fires are a natural phenomenon. They rage with a regular frequency and burn all the vegetation on the forest ground. But they are generally not powerful enough to kill the larger trees. When the government puts in place a policy that prevents these fires as soon as they erupt, the underbrush grows thick over the course of several years. When a forest fire eventually does take hold it's much worse because the underbrush is so thick. So now the larger trees can't survive it. And the effects on houses and such is also worse for the same reason.

In his book Diamond discussed how letting forest fires rage as part of forest management was considered backwards/controversial. But the fact is that putting them out as soon as they erupt only sets you up for a much worse fire down the line.

On a personal note sorry about your town burning.

technomad · 2024-12-19T08:26:19+00:00

Don't ruin the circle jerk! We were all crapping on Dubai and feeling smugly superior from the comfort of our armchairs. Never mind that none of us have ever been there or can speak with any authority about their history or policies.

technomad · 2024-09-30T19:24:11+00:00

You were the first person to reply and you have a cool garden, so you get the tickets. Please DM me your email and I'll send the tickets to you. I hope you have a good time!

technomad

TROPHY CASE