The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Archive for the 'Business' Category

Fortunes won and lost below the streets of Taipei

One of the hottest commercial scenes going on in Taipei happens every night at the underground transit mall running between Taipei’s train and bus, and MRT Metro stations, right under Zhongxiao Road. Known in English as the Station Front Metro Mall, some of the best action here seems to occur between the Z4 and Z6 […]

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5 necessary basics to driving successfully while touring Taiwan

Particularly in eastern and southern Taiwan, driving your own car is a wonderful expeience. Three great drives, with wonderful ocean vistas, include: Northeast Coast National Scenic Area  East Coast National Scenic Area Kending National Forest Recreation Area and Hengchung Peninsula In other posts relating to driving a car in Taiwan as a visitor, WoWasis has […]

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Sculptural furniture from Taiwan that’s standing Asia on its ear

Here at WoWasis, we’ve found great art in so many far-flung areas of the globe that seemingly nothing surprises us anymore. Artists and artisans can’t create without that secret sauce called “artistic temperament,” so they live where they want and damn all converntions. Which brings us to Kan Hsin-Yi of Taiwan. He lives in a […]

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Pa Farang on taxi scams in Bangkok

The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: My taxi driver refuses to turn meter on: taxi scams in Bangkok Dear Pa Farang,  What gives withBangkok taxis?  Half the time the driver refuses to turn the meter on, and quotes me a rediculous price.  Am I being taken to the […]

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WoWasis sex book review: Lujo Bassermann’s ‘History of Prostitution’

We here at WoWasis were skeptical at first: would this be just another titillating tome, or would there be real substance here?  We were thrilled, because Lujo Bassermann’s The Oldest Profession: A History of Prostitution (1967, ISBN 0-88029-248-2) is scholarly, well-written, and readable. And it’s not a history of prostitution so much as it is […]

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Is it time for a website to archive NGO abuses in Cambodia?

The most controversial and commentaried post we’ve ever published at WoWasis is NGO Pedophilia controversy heats up in Cambodia. Everyone has a strong opinion on the subject of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and how they’re dealing with the issue of pedophilia in Cambodia. Several respondents mentioned they had archival documents that pointed to NGOs as having […]

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WoWasis book review: Leon Wolff’s ‘Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippines’

There are two very good reasons Leon Wolff won the Parkman Prize for history literature for his landmark book Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippine Islands at the Century’s Turn (1960, ISBN 1-58288-209-6). First of all, it’s a compelling book. And second, there remains a dearth of literature pertaining […]

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WoWasis travel field test review: the incredible Plantronics .Audio 480 USB headset

Here at WoWasis, we tend to use stereo headphones a lot, for either Skype calls from around the globe, or listening to language instruction CDs. And you know how much we love miniaturization. We want everything small, durable, and light. That’s why we fell in love with our (soon to be discontinued) Plantronics .Audio 480 […]

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WoWasis travel field test review: Defcon netbook & laptop computer cable lock

Here at WoWasis, we’re writing our travel stories pretty much non-stop, especially while we’re on the go. Our trusty netbook computer is always in our hotel room, and the first thing we do is lock it to some unmovable structure with our Targus Defcon computer cable lock. One day, our hotel room was burgled, and […]

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WoWasis field test review: the world’s greatest travel pen, Sharbo Zebra SBA1 pen/pencil

As travel writers, we here at WoWasis have some pretty heady requirements for a writing instrument. We need a reliable pen, but also need a pencil to write notes in the back pages of books we’re reviewing. It’s got to be small, in order to fit in any pocket (we carry it everywhere, all the […]

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