Tag: dogs

Every Day Is A Dog’s Day

M's Adventures
At the super cute puppy stage. This one lives at the kayak club.

Türkiye is famous for the cats and dogs who live on the streets and “belong” to everyone. The dogs who have been fixed so they can no longer produce, have a tag on an ear. There are bowls of water and food in front of many shops and people generally take care of these animals, including grooming them.

This dog has a tag on the ear.

So if you don’t want to have your own pet, you can just get friendly with the ones on the streets. I am accustomed to the one dog who hangs out by the exit to the mall. And the other two who sleep on the steps. It just seems normal.

Dogs napping on the mall steps.

As for the kittens and puppies, watch out. You might end up adopting them.

Good Things About Living in Washington, DC

M's Adventures

As I did in Dhaka, Bogota, Lima, and Rome, I will write a couple of articles about the good and not so good things about living in the Washington, DC, area. First, some of the good things.

Free drinking water. You can drink the tap water.

High speed internet.

International cuisine. I will write more about this later, but in the DC area, one can get good Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Korean, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Salvadoran, Japanese… you get the idea.

International people. Many embassies are located here.

Public transportation. Between the train, bus, and light rail, you can get many places for 3-10 dollars.

Availability of things – Amazon is sometimes delivered the next day or faster, and some shops are open 24-7.

Free museums, free concerts, free meetings, and free libraries. The Smithsonian is a collection of 21 museums and almost all (I think only the one in New York charges an entrance fee) are free to enter.

National Airport (DCA). Having an airport on a metro line and within a mile of DC is gold. Dulles is also on the metro but 25 miles away.

People like dogs. Oh, wait, that’s not just here. But I still think it’s a good thing about being here.

Often the dog treats are free.

Bogota, D.C. is Dog City

M's Adventures

An older sign.
An older sign about collecting what your dog does.

The “district central” could stand for dog city. Here in Bogota, I see lots of Rottweilers, German Shepherds/Alsatians, Golden Retrievers, and Golden Labradors standing guard, walking with their guards, sniffing packages, sniffing cars, and spending much of their working lives not on a leash (okay, not the Rotties — they are always leashed and muzzled even though they are calm and well-behaved).

Another sign.
Another sign about cleaning up.

Lots of reading... about the law.
Lots of reading… it’s your responsibility… and the law.

While there are some street dogs around, the vast majority of dogs that I see are well-cared for and well groomed. The wealthy have their dogs picked up for doggy daycare every day, and every morning, I see dog walkers with up to ten dogs out for their first walk of the eight-hour doggy day. I’ve seen all shapes and sizes of dogs. (Recently, I got a dog kiss from a passing Retriever as he pulled his child along at the other end of the leash. So, although I wouldn’t approach strange dogs, they don’t seem to feel the same way about us humans.)

Here are some dogs patiently waiting for the next dog in their play group.
Here are some dogs patiently waiting for the next dog in their play group.

No pets allowed here.
No pets allowed here.

As Bogota is also a city of constant signage and cleaning, there are many signs about cleaning up after your dog. I’ve included some here.

It's branded by the city.
It’s branded by the city.

One Year of Madventures.me – Still Mad for Food and Adventure

M's Adventures

Madventures.me is one year old. One year ago, I started this blog in preparation for new adventures in food and travel. One year of great food and travel in Amman, Copenhagen, Dhaka, Doha, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Krabi, Luang Prabang, Mumbai, New Delhi, New England, Singapore, and many more.

I started this blog to share some of my adventures with family and friends. As I’ve blogged, my blog has evolved into a source for providing information on restaurants in Dhaka, shopping, and how much one can do in Bangladesh. As a blogger, I’ve been enormously happy when readers from all over the world visit my blog. Thank you for stopping by… from almost the entire world:

Map of visitors to madventures.me in the first 11 months.

As my readership expands beyond people I know, I’m curious about what leads readers to my blog. So here are the top search terms people have searched for in the past year:

Top search terms on madventures.me.

Loose Dogs in Istanbul

M's Adventures

The loose dogs of Istanbul are usually tagged (on the ear) and many wear collars or bandanas. They are so tame that you can feed them from a spoon. This one with the arctic eyes only liked the hotdog pieces (much like other dogs I’ve met).

Spoon feeding the dog.

 

Dogs of Dhaka

M's Adventures

Dhaka is famous for the number of people who live here. But, for every four people, there must be a dog… there are 15 million people in Dhaka. There is a thin, lanky, dun-colored dog “breed” that dominates the street scenes here. If you see a recognizable breed, then you will most likely see a dog walker attached to it. Every day I see dogs lying in the streets, lopping down the streets, using speed bumps as pillows, and reading canine news (sniffing). One night I saw a small white fluffy dog tiptoeing along beside a rickshaw… it was being walked from the rickshaw. So very Dhaka! Be warned, it is hard not to adopt a dog when you come here!

Puppy for sale.