Check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cOkXIkVz1g for my LA vid. Also, don’t forget to thumb me and let me know if you’re the same kind of irrational that I am. Keep up to date: http://www.twitter.com/natalietran
Hope you’re all well and that you have great starts to the week
x
n
Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O2SYbgna-c for my Mexico Video. Also, just in case you were wondering, every time you watch one of my vids, you’re automatically watching P#@!. Yeah, hashtag and everything. Don’t forget to thumb me, let me know when you minimise and keep up to date: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/natalietran or facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/community-channel/6783117830
Hope you guys are well and that you have great weeks.
x
n
Natalie Tran, aka CommunityChannel on YouTube, was passing through LA. Always glad when she’s on our side of the globe, we met up to hang out and play a little game…
*Many apologies if Philip offended any Australians.*
Check out Natalie! She’s hilarious!
http://natalietran.me/
http://youtube.com/communitychannel
http://twitter.com/natalietran
Check out: http://natalietran.me/2011/02/28/week-14-mexico/ for my Mexico Vid. Also, don’t forget to thumb me and let me know how you deal with lost things- jokes included. Keep up to date: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/natalietran Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/communi… Hope you are all well and that you have great weeks.
x
n
Hola. I had a lot of fun this week travelling from Mexico City through to Cancún and one of the things that was the most fun was watching Mexicans getting confused a little whenever a tourist asked for nachos.
The best part of it was hearing them describe things that most of us would know as Mexican food as ‘TexMex’. You might manage to find the Taco Bell menu in tourist hotspots that cater to the international market but if someone asked for it, the usual response would be ‘que?’ Oh Western World, how you have lied to us.
Despite this earth-shattering discovery, I found Mexico to be one of the most beautiful countries I’ve visited so far (I would recommend you skip Cancún though). Sans Cancún, all the other Mexican destinations had central squares called zócalos where people would gather, market stalls would set up and bands would play. In Mérida, you could even come and charge your laptop if you felt like it.
I’ve got to be honest, I was a little hesitant to visit Mexico after seeing it in the ‘warning’ zone of countries to visit and watching news story after news story about gang violence but it offered nothing…except the depiction of a peaceful and very friendly country. According to my guides, crime here is about as common as nachos… but it’s the other way around – you usually find it away from tourists. Basically, stay away from gangs or dangerous areas, none of which I saw while travelling through. So, if you’re hesitant about traveling to Mexico, I urge you to reconsider. It’s a fantastic place!
Hola!
I had a lot of fun this week travelling from Mexico City through to Cancún and one of the things that was the most fun was watching Mexicans getting confused a little whenever a tourist asked for nachos. The best part of it was hearing them describe things that most of us would know as Mexican food as ‘TexMex’. You might manage to find the Taco Bell menu in tourist hotspots that cater to the international market but if someone asked for it, the usual response would be ‘que?’ Oh Western World, how you have lied to us.
Despite this earth-shattering discovery, I found Mexico to be one of the most beautiful countries I’ve visited so far (I would recommend you skip Cancún though). Sans Cancún, all the other Mexican destinations had central squares called zócalos where people would gather, market stalls would set up and bands would play. In Mérida, you could even come and charge your laptop if you felt like it.
I’ve got to be honest, I was a little hesitant to visit Mexico after seeing it in the ‘warning’ zone of countries to visit and watching news story after news story about gang violence but it offered nothing…except the depiction of a peaceful and very friendly country. According to my guides, crime here is about as common as nachos… but it’s the other way around – you usually find it away from tourists. Basically, stay away from gangs or dangerous areas, none of which I saw while travelling through. So, if you’re hesitant about traveling to Mexico, I urge you to reconsider. It’s a fantastic place!
Natalie xx
Check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li6w8o… for my NY vid! Also, let me know if you hate the bursting of the private space bubble, don’t forget to thumb me and enjoy your weeks!
Hope you’re all well
x
n
New York, New York. So important that they named it twice *drumroll *. Seriously though, New York often sells itself as the greatest city in the world and while I’d argue it has some good competition out there, it’s certainly busy.
I can’t think of another city that has so much going on 24/7. They really ought to call New York something like ‘The City That Never Sleeps’ rather than its current slogan – ‘The Late City’ or whatever it’s called.
Oh, fun story for you. I was waiting around to buy tickets to The Merchant of Venice and The Importance of Being Earnest when someone came up and offered free tickets to David Letterman. I wasn’t sure who this was but figured it was too cold to stand outside so I accepted. When I waited in the audience line, it was announced that Justin Bieber was going to be the guest star. Teen girls were screaming with cameras ready outside the door, paparazzi were armed with their SLRs and all I could think about was, ‘Oh man, is this the High School Musical kid?’ Turns out it wasn’t but they have the same hairstyle.
For the nerds out there, The Importance of Being Earnest was great! It’s my favourite play so it was amazing to finally see it on Broadway. Suprisingly, Al Pacino was in The Merchant of Venice. It was like watching The Al Pacino of Venice, if that makes sense to anybody.
Check out: http://natalietran.me/2011/02/13/week-12-caribbean-part-two/ for my new vid/pics/blog and don’t forget to thumb me! Happy V-day, hope you dream of me creepily covering you in rose petals. Keep up to date on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/natalietran and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/communi…
Hope you all had a great weekend and that you’re all well
x
n
Week 15: Mexico (part 2)
One of the great things about Mexico is its incredible history. This country is filled with remnants of the many civilisations that have called Mexico home at some stage.
For example, Mexico City was built on top of an Aztec city so if you scratch below the surface, you’ll find acres of Aztec ruins. There’s a great site in Mexico City where you can see where some of the ancient city has been excavated and one of the modern roads is still running across the ruins. I asked a local guide why they didn’t just dig up the Aztec city and they responded, ‘why dig up a city just to find ruins?’ My internal dialogue and inner geek cried out loud at the thought of all the amazing things under the pavement I was standing on.
As I mention in the video, the structures of ancient civilisations are absurdly complex and often cater to moments such as stars aligning or the position of the sun at a particular time. Unfortunately, they were also incredibly mindful of acoustics when building these sites so my cursing would echo around the ruins as the guides told me the purposes of some of the architectural features.
Many people mention Chichen Itza when they talk about ancient sites in Mexico, but the whole country is decorated in ruins that I recommend you take a detour to see if you visit the country.