Smarter By Sharing

Traveling light

Preetam Rai — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:56:31 +0000

It is said that this is the week, when back in 1689, the poet Basho took to the Northern Road. To celebrate I am going to be sharing one of my travel ideas – traveling just with a small bag.

This is my sole traveling bag. All I carry with me are
1. One change of chothes
2. An iPad (the iPad has replaced the MacBook and Kindle)
3. iPad charger
4. A small notebook and a pen (useful to draw your own maps, writing down addresses and contact of people you meet)
5. Passport etc.
6. A tumbler

The spare clothes are a separate pack. I always keep a space pair ready. Some day when I feel like heading to some place, I just drop this pack in my bag.

It does not add much heft to the bag. And when you reach your destination, you can leave the smaller pack at the hotel and your bag is smaller again.

The camera is also specially chosen. It is Olympus XZ-1, takes great pictures, is inconspicuous and it charges via USB. I use the only charger i carry – theiPad charger to charge this camera. I also have an Eye-Fi card that helps me transfer photos to the IPad.

The small white bag has the iPad charger and cable. The iPad allows me to Skype, create quick tutorials, post photos, read and write stuff. I am happy to not carry a laptop anymore. My favorite online travel tools are Skyscanner (for flight research) and booking.com (for accommodation). I use Evernote to store my research and background material on the place I am going to. All these services have good iPad apps.

I spent a lot of time researching clothes.

I find UniQlo Cotton Linen shirts and trousers the best. They dry fast, are light and inexpensive.

In some countries, I buy the local data SIM but in Korea and Japan, it is hard or too expensive to do this. I subscribe to Boingo’s mobile plan.

Boingo helps me connect to wi-fi networks in many countries for monthly flat fee of about 8 USD. Boingo throws in VPN service for free, helps secure you when you are using open network.

Carrying less stuff means you can stay in inexpensive places and you are more mobile.

Oh yes, toiletries, I usually buy them at my destination. If I am in India or Indonesia I can stock up on shampoo sachets. I also tried these soap and detergent strips. They are compact but you have make sure that you do not expose them to moisture.

Jimbocho area of Tokyo for bookstores and mate tea

Preetam Rai — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:26:01 +0000

Today I’ll introduce you to the Jimbocho area of Tokyo. This area is known for bookshops. Let’s take a look at the map.

You get to this area by taking the Mita line subway. The bookshops are along the Yasukuni Dori eith side of the subway exit.

It is nice to see many people interested in old books – reminds me of Calcutta or Rangoon of old.

Most of the books here are in Japanese language, but one can find some English books too. Another attraction of this area are the many cafes. One place I would recommend visiting is the Sakura Cafe. They serve Thai and Indonesian curry here and you can try butter tea and masala tea.

I would recommend trying the South American drink Mate tea. You can buy Mate in vending machines in Japan but this is the only place I know of in Tokyo ( probably the whole of Asia) where they sever Mate the way it is supposed to be served – in a gourd.

Links

Sakura Cafe http://www.sakura-cafe.asia/jimbocho/english

Sakura Cafe is inside the Sakura Hotel. Sakura Hotel is a good staying option for budget travelers to Tokyo.

Information design for a hostel/hotel web

Preetam Rai — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:14:37 +0000

You know, it is easy to get the simple things wrong. You see so many hotels and hostel website with so little information on how to get there, what is around and general information for the traveler. It is a such a joy to see some one get it right. I was looking to find a place to stay in Jakarta and I found the Six Degrees Hostel. I was impressed by their website.

http://jakarta-backpackers-hostel.com/.

Here is a screen shot of the page that offers directions to the hotel. I like the way they have a downloadable PDF that one can print. The PDF file has instructions in local language for the taxi. http://jakarta-backpackers-hostel.com/getting

Here is another page with information for travellers. I like the part where they discuss things to see and do in the neighbourhood.

http://jakarta-backpackers-hostel.com/useful_info

Besides the website, the Six Degrees is a pleasant place to stay with friendly staff, good wi-fi and affordable price.

I spent some time at the Bokoel Koffie near this hostel. This cafe has convinced me to move my weekend headquarters from Saigon to Jakarta. The other reason being Indonesian visa takes only half a page compared to Vietnamese visa thus reducing my passport renewal trips.

Taking the bus to the city from Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta Airport

Preetam Rai — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:35:27 +0000

Sometimes when you land at Jakarta, it is easier to take a bus. It is certainly cheaper than taxi and the queue for the taxi can be very long. When you exit the terminal, look for the DAMRI sign. This is the bus service that can drop you to various points in the city for a flat fee of 20,000 Rupiah. And once you are in the part of the city near your destination, you can then take a taxi. If you prefer to take the taxi, try to find one that is run by the Bluebird company.

Don’t be scared of the large number of people here. There are many busses heading out from here. Each bus displays its destination. There is also a friendly information counter here where they might be able to direct you to the bus route that is in the general direction of your final destination.

You buy the ticket inside the bus.

If you are on a short visit, I will recommend simPati’s data SIM card. It costs 50,000 rupiah for the SIM and you can buy credits for each day. One day ~~unlimited Internet~~ access will cost you 5,000 rupiah. (Update: the Internet failed on day 2. Seems it was not unlimited after all, I ran out of data. Ended up getting another package from XL and this too had limited data. On the brighter side almost every cafe or fast food chain offers free wi-fi.) You can buy these at the airport and they can cut the SIM to fit the iPhone.

Also get the Foursquare app to get access to many tips that locals have posted.

There is not much difference in the exchange rates in the city and the airport. You can exchange money at the airport.

Things they make in China – an iPhone case that doubles as a dual SIM phone

Preetam Rai — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:06:26 +0000

People carry multiple SIM cards in China. And they also love their iPhones.

It is always a hassle to carry multiple phones (carrying the power adapters for the phones – a bigger hassle). IPPeel has a smart solution. Build an iPhone case that doubles as a dual SIM phone.

It does add some heft to the phone but the whole package is still comfortable and pocketable. The iPPeel phone sports the Apple dock connector so you can charge via the iPhone charger.

The iPPeel phone. Note the hole for the iPhone camera.

Plastic Fantastic

Preetam Rai — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:37:00 +0000

What is the point of making such fancy phones if all I get to try at the shop is a plastic dummy.

The dummies were good in the days when all that a mobile phone did was make a call.

How can I see the unrivalled brilliance in a dummy. Isn’t this one of the biggest mobile phone maker? Can’t they afford to let the customers play with a real device?

And here is someone who gets it.

They have a real device and it is populated with photos and events that the customer can go through.

Meeting People While Traveling

Preetam Rai — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:19:24 +0000

In one of my podcast recordings, Cookie mentioned how she likes meeting people while traveling. For me also travel is first about the people and then about the tourist attractions in that city. I once went to Xian and never went to see the terracotta warriors. I spent most of my time in the Muslim quarter talking to the people there.

How do I find interesting people and how do I connect with them?
I look for local meet up groups. Meetup.com is a social network that helps people in a city connect with each other based on their common interests.

You can use Meetup.com on the web or via its iPhone and Android App.

Here with a Korean Language and Culture enthusiast group in Malaysia. Korean food is my favourite and I was happy to find this group on one of my visits to Malaysia.

Facebook events are the other place I look for when I am in a new city.

Cookie on Traveling in India and Traveling Solo

Preetam Rai — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:38:07 +0000

I recently invited Cookie to talk about her latest trip at a travel event that I run. Cookie travels more to meet people than to see the tourist attractions. Cookie talks about her recent travels to Rajasthan. We also discuss why traveling solo is more fun. Towards the end we talk about lesser visited places in Thailand.

Download link:
Cookie on Traveling in India and Traveling Solo

Cookie’s favorite city Udaipur – http://wikitravel.org/en/Udaipur

Buying a SIM card in India (scroll to the middle of that post)

Thailand Mae Hong San – http://wikitravel.org/en/Mae_Hong_Son

The music featured at the beginning and the end is a song by Kesarbai Kerkar called “Jaat Kahan Ho” – a song about solo traveler which was part of a compilation of music and other media from Earth sent out along with the Voyager spacecrafts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

The image was taken at Singapore’s Pigeonhole cafe

Students on their mobiles? Trying out Edmodo for mobile activities

Preetam Rai — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:58:42 +0000

Workshop Participants on Mobile Phones

These days I find many participants in my workshops bring their phones or iPads to the class. Here is an idea on how to use edmodo ( http://edmodo.com ) for class engagement.

Edmodo

Edmodo is a free online service that allows an educator to set up a class group. The educator can then invite students to join this group and run discussions, quiz and polls. The students can also submit their assignments via edmodo’s web or the mobile app.

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Signing up to edmodo

As an educator, you first sign up at edmodo.com. Click on the i’m a Teacher tab.

Creating a group for your students

The first thing you do is create a group.

Filling in the Group Details

Just fill in the group details

Getting your Group Code

Edmodo will give you the group code. Note this down. Your students will need this code to join in the group.

Posting discussions for your group

Click on the Note (1 in the image below) to create a note. This note can be a question, a discussion point or a remark. Next select the group you want to send this question to (2). Later on when the students join in, they will use the Reply button (3) to reply to the post.

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Getting students to sign up

Now get your students to sign up. Send them to edmodo.com. Also give them the Group Code that we saw earler.

Student signing up to edmodo

Here a student is typing her details. She types the group code. She picks a user name, a password. The email field is optional.

Student view

Here the student is signed in. She can see the question you posted and she can participate in the activities.

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Edmodo Mobile App

She can also go to the iPhone App Store or Android market and download the free Edmodo app.

Signing in via the App

Once the app is installed, she can log in.

Browsing the activities

She can then take view the posts

Participating in the activities

And she can type in her replies.

The lightweight learning management system

The mobile app works for the educator too. Head outside the school to fun place – like this lovely lake in Dalat city (Why this lake? half the lake has wi-fi), and you can monitor what your students are posting.

Using Flubaroo to Create and Grade a Quiz

Preetam Rai — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:37:41 +0000

I often create short quiz for people to take before and after my workshop. I want to be able to quickly give them their score. Flubaroo is a script that runs on Google spreadsheet that simplifies the task of auto marking multiple choice quiz.
Here are the steps that will help you create your own Flubaroo powered quiz.

Step 1: Create a Google form

Create a Google Form. You can do it from docs.google.com

Step 2: Create the individual items in your form

Your form will have some identifying fields. Name, Email etc. You will also have the questions that you want to ask. Multiple choice works best.

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Step 3: Add multiple choice questions

You can keep adding more questions via the “Add Item” button above.

Step 4: Find the URL for your quiz.

You can find the Quiz URL at the bottom. Click on this URL to see the live quiz.

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Step 5: Indicate the correct answers

We will fill in the correct answers here and submit.

Step 6: Attach a script

Go back to your form and select Script gallery from the Tools option on top.

Step 7: Install Flubaroo

Search for Flubaroo. Once you find Flubaroo, click on Install.

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Step 8: Make sure that Flubaroo is installed

Once installed Flubaroo shows up on the menu

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Step 9: Send the quiz to your students

Now you can give the URL of your quiz to your students. My suggestion is to use Bit.ly or Goo.gl to shorten the URL of the quiz. Here is a screen shot of a student taking the test. As they keep submitting the test, their reponse populates your spreadsheet.

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Step 10: Permit Flubaroo to run

A permission screen will pop up. Give it permission to run and click on the OK button at the bottom.

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Step 11: Run Flubaroo

Click on the Flubaroo menu again.

Step 12: Grading options

This time Flubaroo menu will open up. Select the grading option. On this screen you will specify which fields contain identifying informaion and which fields are graded.

Step 13: Indicate the correct answer set

Also, you select the response that contains all the right answers. It is usually the first response because that is where we posted the correct answers. Flubaroo will compare this set with other resposes and grade the respondents according to this set.

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Step 14: Email grades to students

Flubaroo can also email the students with their scores.

Step 15: Indicate the email field and email options

Just specifiy wich field contains the email address.

Step 16: Congrats. Flubaroo is setup.

This is how the email looks like to your students.