SEE/HEAR/DO
Seabourn suggests how to spend your down time.
IT’S ALL CHINESE TO ME BY PIERRE OSTROWSKI AND MATTHEW CHRISTENSEN
From the invention of the magnetic compass to current crazes like the Didi Chuxing ride-sharing app, this book introduces Westerners to China’s culture. It’s far from dry, with Ryan Robbins’ comic-style artwork illustrating concepts like guangxi (all-important “personal connections”) or the faux pas of using too many hand gestures when speaking. It also covers history, food and general etiquette in a way that’s relevant not only to people visiting the Middle Kingdom, but also anyone who enjoys a good dim sum restaurant or the latest Asian cinema.
DUOLOGUE BY ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ AND PEDRITO MARTINEZ
The rhythms of the Caribbean have roots in the African coast, and that poly-rhymic heritage shines through on this Quincy Jones-produced Cuban collaboration. It’s tempting to label this album Latin jazz, but pianist Alfredo Rodríguez and percussionist/vocalist Pedrito Martinez go beyond genre with tracks like “Thriller” – a surprisingly fusion-infused Michael Jackson cover – and, of all things, a salsa take on video game soundtracks with “Super Mario Bros 3.” Whatever you want to call it, it’s fun, engaging to the ear and, if you’re so inclined, to the hips as well.
THE WALLED TOWN OF AL ZUBARAH, QATAR
Merchants from Kuwait founded this fortified city as a trading center, and the local pearl trade kept it thriving for centuries. Today, shifting desert sands have preserved the mosques and palaces, the canals and courtyard houses, and even palm-leaf fishermen’s huts. UNESCO inscribed the abandoned city on the World Heritage List as an outstanding example of a traditional settlement and a reminder of a bygone way of life, connecting the desert to the sea.