To write or not to write?

Once again, it’s about 11 p.m., and I’m mulling whether to post a blog entry or continue studying Spanish until about midnight or 12:30 p.m., when I usually drag my keister to bed.  Lately I’ve decided to forego blogging in the interest of learning Spanish, an endeavor I am thoroughly enjoying.  Tonight I decided to take a break and blog for a change.  So what should I write about tonight?  What could I write that would be remotely interesting that I haven’t written about in the past?  Would you care, Dear Reader?  Another blogger I knew in Seoul mentioned that she doesn’t blog unless she has something noteworthy to share.  More recently, I met a colleague here in Virginia who told me that he once had a blog but quit because he didn’t have time to maintain it.

 

Many bloggers face an ongoing dilemma, particularly those who are busy and/or have been writing their blogs for a long time.  Blogging requires updates, and good blogging means that you should write something your audience actually wants to read.  I’ve struggled with this dilemma lately, because I’ve been writing World Adventurers for almost 2.5 years and haven’t had much time to blog.  I come up with new blog topics almost daily, but I forget to recall them when it comes time to blog.  I suppose that lately I’ve decided not to blog because I did not want to force myself to come up with something less than riveting to share.  Tonight I decided to share this dilemma on the off chance that you would curious as to why I haven’t written much lately.  There are many things I would like to share, deeper thoughts about life, love, happiness, and a bunch of topics related to technology, investing, and travel, among others.  Unfortunately, I never have more than about half an hour to spew forth these thoughts on this blog.  I thought that four months in the U.S. would give me a reprieve from the treadmill of life, but language study has sopped up most of my downtime.  I’ll continue to write as much as I can and choose topics that I can turn into condensd soundbites and infomercials.

Inside North Korea

My eyes and ears still perk up whenever I see or hear something about the Koreas.  This video clip showing footage of life inside North Korea produced by National Geographic is absolutely heartbreaking.  No explanation needed.  Watch it for yourself before it’s yanked off YouTube for copyright violation or another reason.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTNvaZu30UQ

 

Life never seems so bad whenever I watch video footage or see photos from North Korea.

Do they ever get out of Davos?

On March 1 the World Economic Forum (WEF) based in Davos, Switzerland announced its inaugural survey on worldwide travel and competitiveness.  Not surprisingly, European countries dominate the list of twenty most competitive nations when it comes to travel and tourism.  I would venture to guess that the Swiss-based WEF was a bit biased when it ranked Switzerland at the top of the list.  If you’ve ever traveled in Switzerland on a limited budget, you’ll probably remember a few moments when you told yourself, "Why is it so expensive here?" or wonder why it feels so darn sterile.  I’m also surprised that the WEF considers the United States the fifth most competitive nation.  Considering the U.S.’s size, diversity, and the fact that it beat out usual suspects Sweden, Holland, France, Germany, Italy, among others, the United States could quite possibly be the world’s most competitive nation in terms of travel and tourism if geographic factors are taken into consideration.  If you’ve ever stayed in Europe at a budget motel with chipped marble, aged Renaissance-era, faux-baroque furnishings, and corroded pipes, you’ll understand why the average U.S. hotel beats a European hotel any day.

 

This survey piqued my interest because I wondered where our past destination, Korea, and our future destination, Paraguay, ranked in this survey.  They were listed as #42 and #111, respectively.  In East Asia, Korea is less competitive than #25 Japan and #30 Taiwan, R.O.C., but it is more competitive than #72 China.  The Korea Tourism Organization might agree, because it is constantly wondering how to get more tourists to pay attention to Korea.  Surprisingly, China is less competitive than #65 India, which I find hard to believe given India’s infrastructure woes and inadequate lodging options. 

 

In South America, Paraguay finished last in terms of competitiveness in travel and tourism.  This is not surprising until one considers that Bolivia (#109) and Guyana (#100) finished ahead of Paraguay.  Guyana?  In addition, the WEF ranked Tajikistan just ahead of Paraguay (#110).  When one considers that the U.S. Department of State’s hardship differential for Paraguay is 10% and 35% for Tajikistan and that Tajikistan’s increased from 25% to 35% in 2006, one must conclude that the WEF’s survey results are inconclusive or that they only apply to short-term tour and travel (hardship differential represents the perceived hardship of a locale relative to life in the United States).  Fortunately, the WEF had the common sense not to rank Chad (#124) higher than dead last on its list…at least this year.

 

We will be on tour in Paraguay, albeit for two years.  I was disappointed to see it ranked so low.  I feel defensive when it comes to Paraguay, and I’ve never been there.  It really can’t be that bad, can it?  Sometimes–not always–a tourist destination is what you make it.  You can have a good trip or a bad trip depending on your own attitude.  Sure, Paraguay might not be on the top of my list of must-see tourist havens, but then again, neither are many of the countries listed ahead of Paraguay.  Regardless of what the prognosticators in Davos think as they analyze the world from their ivory towers, sipping their glasses of 1993 Bordeaux Château d’Eau Contraire as they listen to the sounds of yodeling emanating from their sauve Alpine valleys, I’m planning to enjoy the country as much as I possibly can.

 

For more information on the results of this survey, visit:  

 

http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20Press%20Releases/Tourismpressrelease.

 

	Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index
Rank	Country/economy	Score
1	Switzerland	5.66
2	Austria	5.54
3	Germany	5.48
4	Iceland	5.45
5	United States	5.43
6	Hong Kong SAR	5.33
7	Canada	5.31
8	Singapore	5.31
9	Luxembourg	5.31
10	United Kingdom	5.28
11	Denmark	5.27
12	France	5.23
13	Australia	5.21
14	New Zealand	5.20
15	Spain	5.18
16	Finland	5.16
17	Sweden	5.13
18	United Arab Emirates	5.09
19	Netherlands	5.08
20	Cyprus	5.07
21	Belgium	5.07
22	Portugal	5.05
23	Norway	5.04
24	Greece	4.99
25	Japan	4.99
26	Malta	4.96
27	Ireland	4.93
28	Estonia	4.90
29	Barbados	4.86
30	Taiwan, China	4.82
31	Malaysia	4.80
32	Israel	4.80
33	Italy	4.78
34	Tunisia	4.75
35	Czech Republic	4.75
36	Qatar	4.71
37	Slovak Republic	4.68
38	Croatia	4.66
39	Mauritius	4.63
40	Hungary	4.61
41	Costa Rica	4.60
42	Korea, Rep.	4.58
43	Thailand	4.58
44	Slovenia	4.58
45	Chile	4.58
46	Jordan	4.52
47	Bahrain	4.45
48	Jamaica	4.41
49	Mexico	4.38
50	Dominican Republic	4.35
51	Lithuania	4.34
52	Turkey	4.31
53	Latvia	4.31
54	Bulgaria	4.31
55	Panama	4.28
56	Uruguay	4.28
57	Morocco	4.27
58	Egypt	4.24
59	Brazil	4.20
60	Indonesia	4.20
61	Serbia and Montenegro	4.18
62	South Africa	4.18
63	Poland	4.18
64	Argentina	4.18
65	India	4.14
66	Georgia	4.13
67	Kuwait	4.08
68	Russian Federation	4.03
69	Guatemala	4.00
70	Botswana	3.99
71	China	3.97
72	Colombia	3.96
73	Namibia	3.95
74	Armenia	3.93
75	Azerbaijan	3.92
76	Romania	3.91
77	El Salvador	3.90
78	Ukraine	3.89
79	Sri Lanka	3.89
80	Tanzania	3.86
81	Peru	3.86
82	Kazakhstan	3.81
83	Macedonia, FYR	3.81
84	Gambia	3.81
85	Trinidad and Tobago	3.79
86	Philippines	3.79
87	Honduras	3.78
88	Vietnam	3.78
89	Nicaragua	3.76
90	Albania	3.75
91	Mongolia	3.72
92	Mauritania	3.71
93	Algeria	3.67
94	Zambia	3.66
95	Moldova	3.65
96	Cambodia	3.64
97	Ecuador	3.64
98	Kenya	3.62
99	Venezuela	3.62
100	Guyana	3.56
101	Uganda	3.56
102	Kyrgyz Republic	3.54
103	Pakistan	3.52
104	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3.51
105	Mali	3.50
106	Nepal	3.49
107	Zimbabwe	3.48
108	Suriname	3.47
109	Bolivia	3.46
110	Tajikistan	3.46
111	Paraguay	3.44
112	Madagascar	3.44
113	Burkina Faso	3.41
114	Malawi	3.31
115	Nigeria	3.30
116	Benin	3.28
117	Ethiopia	3.26
118	Cameroon	3.25
119	Mozambique	3.23
120	Bangladesh	3.21
121	Lesotho	3.12
122	Angola	2.89
123	Burundi	2.88
124	Chad	2.68