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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1556 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 13, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Matt Lakeman is a blogger who reads books about a country, visits that country, and synthesizes this experience into a single article. He also has some type of crossover with SSC which might explain why his posts are memoir sized. The most recent post-Taliban Afghanistan travel post where he visits each provincial capital in Afghanistan I thought was fun. Fair warning, In This House Long Form Means Long Form. It is over 45,000 words, so clear your Sunday afternoon.

Lakeman writes throughout about the overwhelming positive attention, hospitality, and friendliness he received from local Afghans. He relays he wasn't bothered by most Taliban members he interacts with -- mostly they are bored security guards -- although notes at least one scary character. Norms of politeness, friendliness, generosity, and "sovereignty" are mentioned throughout the memoir. As I understand, he means sovereignty as shorthand for the likelihood of an individual of a culture to value a stranger's personal space, which Afghans most certainly do not. A real quagmire for nerdy travel bloggers! The positive attention he received was so great that Lakeman has dubbed Afghanistan the friendliest place on earth-- a title won from previous champ, Iraq.

Is this fun? Unsure, but I'm deleting all the other jibber jabber I wrote about it. General travel thread... and/or travel blog thread.

P.S. If you do read it consider evaluating this claim. "I think there is something to the idea that being – by Western standards – overly friendly and hospitable to strangers is indicative of a collectivistic and tribalistic mentality that in extremis leads to terrible conflict, often intranationally"

P.P.S. Bonus internet throwback Off-Road Trip Through the Democratic Republic of Congo series of forum posts circa 2010 (also long) This one is definitely fun.

Matt Lakeman puts out incredible content. Also as somebody who's done a lot of wrestling and traveling in the Islamosphere I'm a huge fan of the hospitality and courtesy norms. It's just unfortunate it's just not a very good way to organize things at any macro level in the absence of a petrochemical lottery win.

I'm a huge fan of the hospitality and courtesy norms. It's just unfortunate it's just not a very good way to organize things at any macro level in the absence of a petrochemical lottery win.

I think we're being gracious by making sure no guest crosses the threshold without an offer of beverage. If I notice a confused looking tourist I'll try to make sure they're okay and know where to go. I feel good about myself when I do these things.

Here on the other side of the world dirt poor Afghans drop everything to treat a complete stranger to dinner, offer them a place to sleep, and make sure they have a ride to the other side of the country in the morning. They do all this even though they can't communicate with the stranger. It's a major reality check for any pride I have in so-called Southern hospitality. Maybe it's not a great way to organize society, but it's still impressive.

Matt sounds like a social masochist to me. He hates interacting with people, but then insists on traveling alone to interact with as many different people as possible. I still enjoy his travelogues a lot.

Hah! I haven't gotten the impression he hates interacting with locals. He has a strong mind for independence, is somewhat guarded, but he must have higher openness than most to want to do what he does. His own personal hell is probably traveling to Hawaii or Prague with 3 other couples to bicker about the daily itinerary. Now that'd be fun.

Yeah I wouldn't call myself an extrovert by any means but I enjoy solo travel reasonably off the beaten track. Albeit tiny baby steps compared to Matt but I've been to Stans and West China etcetera.

IMO talking to randoms as a traveler is oddly freeing. You don't really have to care about any sort of a longer term relationship, people are surprisingly forthcoming on macro-scale stuff if you just keep asking questions and any sort of moderate misunderstanding is easily waved off for being foreign. If you're on the spectrum having the 'this is the only white person I've seen this year' leeway is kinda liberating.

Lakeman and other travel authors like him is a primary reason why I have decided against "adventurous" traveling myself. Few times I have traveled outside comfortable business/touristy districts of first world cities (hardly counts as "travel"), I have been stressed, generally don't get along with people, and I have been too busy to read extensively on the history of the place, thus no remarkable insights either. Any distilled report of travel experiences by Mr Lakeman is far more interesting and informative than most of the genuine travel memories I possess.

I half-liked The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. A more "old-school" travelogue that focuses on the experiences and navel-gazing thoughts of the author, not the kind of critical deep dive to the local history combined with the straight reporting of events that Mr. Lakeman does. Coincidentally Mr. Theroux visited Afghanistan in the 1970s before the Soviet invasion. Apparently Kabul railway was popular with hippies traveling to India, and everyone's preconceptions of "Afghanistan" were quite different than today.

If someone can recommend other authors who focus on the "facts and events" style reporting, please do tell.

A Time of Gifts and its sequel by Patrick Leigh Fermor are very good. Author walks from Rotterdam to Istanbul in the 1930s.

I can recommend that. I recall thinking while I read it that, if my son could end up reading Fermor's books without having to stop and look up an historical reference every page or two, I'd consider him a cultured man. I'd also recommend Fitzroy MacLean's Eastern Approaches.

Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

Naipaul's "Among the Believers" is definitely a masterpiece of that genre. Also, definitely read the Congo forum posts series OP has linked. It is incredible, one of the most hilarious and captivating travel stories I have ever read. Took me many days to finish though.

In general I think international travel after smartphones+internet is an experience almost unrecognizably different than before. Even if you opt to somehow not use the support of these tools, entire human infrastructure and culture is structured around them in even the most backwards places imaginable so there is really no escape.

P.S. If you want something entirely different, but stil fascinating, check out "Africa Addio".

For me a lot of the historical reading about places is after I've visited, since it can serve to somewhat explain and ameliorate weird stuff or vibes I'd otherwise have been mystified by.

For anyone debating reading that off-road trip thread, do it. One of the best reading experienced I've had online.

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