A list of curious facts
One: Did you know that there’s an official Bhutan Baseball & Softball Association that promotes the sport in the country? And that’s even though many of the kids have never watched a pro game. The clubs have priceless names like Red Pandas, Paro Ravens, Wangdue Cranes, Phuentsholing Crocodiles, Gelephu Tuskers and Samtse Rhinos. You can see their logos below. FYI, the photo above went instantly viral when it was shared by the official handle of Major League Baseball. (MLB.com)
Two: Yeah, it is amazing that Bhutan loves baseball. But how about the fact that Morocco is insane about Bollywood? According to this excellent Open magazine piece:
Morocco has embraced Hindi cinema like no other country in Africa. The addiction of Moroccans to Bollywood is even greater than their loyalty to Egypt, the continent’s oldest centre for film, which allowed itself to be invaded by Indian cinema in the ’30s. While the number of Hindi movies on Egyptian screens has come down following laws to protect the domestic film industry, Morocco continues to screen a variety of Hindi movies.
But you know what’s much more fun to watch? This excellent Al Jazeera report on the Moroccan obsession with all things Bollywood.
Three: Ok, so there is such a thing as ‘Paris Syndrome’. This is when a place you’ve dreamt of visiting for so long that it turns out to be a bummer:
Imagine walking through Paris for the first time, admiring the City of Lights, thinking of croissants, crème brûlée, and Gene Kelly tap-tapping on the streets, only to find that sidewalks of Montmartre are covered in dog shit.
It could almost make a visitor faint with disappointment. Some tourists nearly do. The phenomenon is known as Paris Syndrome, and it is almost exclusively experienced by Japanese travellers who find themselves in a state of extreme culture shock when encountering the grittier realities of the French capital.
Apparently, it is called ‘Pari shōkōgun’ in Japanese. Our happy thought: No one feels like this about our beloved Taj, yes? No ‘Taj shōkōgun’ to worry about. Because it be so pretty and actually thriving due to climate change. Who knew? (Quartz)
