Clothing

Urban Style Challenge: Bishkek vs Vancouver

This is the first post of a new series called Urban Style Challenge. Every week, we will compare the fashion trends of two cities in a playful manner. Join me, Ana, on this fascinating journey around the world of street fashion and style that will put a smile on your face and get you ready to face the week ahead.

Our contributors Nargiza and Kelly kicked it off by writing about Bishkek City (Kyrgyzstan) and Vancouver (Canada), respectively.

(more…)

School Days Around the World

Recently on PocketCultures, we have featured collaborative posts to reflect the varying experiences of our contributors in different countries. These include Superstitions around the world and one of our most popular posts, Kiss, hug or shake hands?

This month, we asked our contributors from around the world to tell us about a typical school day in their country.

United Kingdom

Photo credit: shaindlin

Lucy Chatburn wrote:

Children in the UK usually start going to school just before their fifth birthday. They attend primary school until the age of eleven, and then secondary school until the age of sixteen or eighteen. At primary school the typical day is from 9am to 3.15pm, with slightly longer days in secondary school.

(more…)

Traditions full of colour and energy

They say Maramures people are “Romania’s Celts”.

Lately, they have almost “invaded” Bucharest; there is no week without a fair where they are invited.

And they impress us with their beautifully handmade traditional costumes. And their particular type of dance, resembling a little with the Irish one. So full of colour and energy.

(more…)

The Chitenge – A Zambian fashion essential

When I lived in the more rural area of Eastern Province in Zambia there was a nearby hospital that regularly had volunteers from abroad. We would often see them walking down the road, enjoying the sunshine in their shorts or mini-skirts.

One day a Zambian colleague came and asked why so many white women he saw would cover the top parts of their body but would show their legs and thighs in short skirts. This was not an unreasonable query for someone who comes from a culture where breastfeeding openly is not an issue but where if you are female you must keep everything covered from your midriff down to below your thighs. In Zambia this area of the body is seen as the erotic area and shouldn’t be shown, not even in trousers.

Ladies of the village sporting their chitenges

(more…)

The Argentinean Gaucho

Deserters from the troops deployed at the outposts of the Spanish Empire? Spanish émigrés? Moorish refugees fleeing from the Inquisition? Nobody knows for certain. The origins of the Gaucho remain shrouded in mystery.

(more…)

The best of Thailand at Pattaya Floating Market

Ask any tourists what image they have of Pattaya and you’ll be met with something along the line of cheap beers and girls. And the city knows it. That’s why over the recent years Chonburi City (which Pattaya is a part of) has come up with a variety of attractions that you don’t need neon lights to enjoy. However, the newly built mega-malls, wax museum, ocean-view movie theater and theme park hotels are no match to what Pattaya’s Floating Market has to offer.

Floating markets are common in Thailand. Think Venice, but instead of the canals full of leisure gondolas, the Thai version is filled with wooden boats that double as floating shophouses, selling everything from a bowl of noodles to Thai desserts and souvenirs.

But what makes Pattaya’s one so special is that, despite being very commercialized where vendors are paid tenants and not your neighborhood cooking mamas, it does make a refreshing sight in this party beach town with its traditional Thai-style architecture, old-school waterside coffee shops, Thailand’s famous spicy boat noodles and rows of shacks offering snacks and gifts for locals and curious tourists.

The full name is Four Region Floating Market, which reflects the concept of bringing things from all corners of Thailand to one spot. Here you can try Northern spicy sausage from Chiang Mai, favorite som tum papaya salad from Northeast Isaan, arrays of curries from the South, and Central’s signature wicker handicrafts and funky hippie fashions.

Besides the goodies, there are also elephant shows, traditional performances, boat rides along its makeshift canals, and even a little extreme adventure on its rope obstacle course over the water.

The place is huge, you can easily waste away your afternoon, and money, here. And unlike other tourist attractions in Pattaya that aim to drain your wallet even before you set foot inside, the entrance to the floating market is absolutely free.

Pattaya Four Region Floating Market

451/304 Moo 12, Sukhumvit-Pattaya Road

Tel: (+66) 3870 6340

www.pattayafloatingmarket.com

Read more:
The Real Phad Thai: where (not) to find it
Remixing Thai folk music: Morlam DJ