Area Name Up & N: Fill & Download for Free

A lot of country names are exonyms.An interesting illustration how such things come about can be found with the American tribes.The Sioux for example gained their moniker because other tribes talked about them with the French and as a result what those tribes called the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota became the name the Europeans used instead of what they called themselves.Native Tribes never became states, but we had for a time the “Sioux Nation” (I think we still do?!).It is similar with the “Germani”. The Romans had no interest in anthropological studies and so they simply named all the tribes east of the Rhine by referring to earlier sources which might have made the name up or used the name of one specific tribe. It only gets more convoluted from there. The tribal names became area names and the area names bled back into what the political entities founded on them were named.Britain takes its name from a from extinct tribe, France its from a tribe originating in Germany and spreading far beyond the borders of France. Etc. Etc.TL;DR : EXONYMS.

Yes, a few times. I felt totally helpless.I have been learning Mandarin the past few months, but nowhere near conversing ability. Reading skills are far more basic for me.The first time was in Shenzhen when I went out to walk to find toys for my son. I walked a few kilometers and found a great place for toys. On the way back, I missed one turn. It turned downhill quickly. No one understood the area name or hotel name I spoke. Google maps didn’t work neither did my VPN. I used Microsoft translate a bit to ask people for directions and eventually my mobile got switched off.After a few kilometers of walking in rain and darkness, found a metro station and I was very comfortable with metro routes. Eventually was able to get back. The next morning I found that I was just two streets off and lost in one of the back alleys behind my hotel.The second was in Beijing, where my AirBnb hostess totally screwed up. I took a long taxi from Beijing railway station to get to that resort far outside the city. And she didn’t pick up the phone. The locals there didn’t understand what I spoke and didn’t even have apps [like they do in the cities] to convey translate what they said.After keeping my taxi waiting for 90 minutes, my hostess called me up saying her landlord didn’t permit renting out that apartment. I was quite tired, but had no option but to take the taxi and asked him to drop by Badaling, the most famed spot of the Great Wall of China. Lugged my luggage around, but still had a great day.In my next trip hopefully there will be lesser problems as I can read close to 300 popular characters now and that can get me with basic board signs.

I had visited the Pink City, Jaipur on 23rd January this year. Prior to my visit, I had booked a hotel near Bani park area named, ‘Hotel The Orion’ and I had opted for the Half Board meal plan. Besides lodging, the plan comes with complimentary breakfast and dinner. The room price for three nights was coming for Rs 3,500 in total but since I had opted for Half Board, the revised price was Rs 5,000.I checked-in at the hotel at 9.30 PM that day and politely enquired about the dinner and breakfast timings, adding that I have Half Board included in my booking. But the receptionist straightaway denied such a thing in my booking. I showed the gentleman my booking confirmation which clearly mentions that breakfast and dinner were included in my booking but he refused to agree to it.It was 10 PM in the night by now and being all alone in an unknown city, I didn’t have the heart to roam outside in search of another hotel; plus I had already paid the money and tired from my journey anyway. The receptionist said he will check with the manager and confirm while I checked-in to my room to freshen up. I called up the reception after 15 minutes to enquire about it and they still denied it. I requested to talk to the manager but he refused to provide the number.Seeing no way out, I accepted my fate and was forced to order via Swiggy. While going downstairs to the reception to collect my order, I again showed him the booking confirmation on my mobile but he remained unmoved as a stone and denied having any such meal plans under my booking.Something that I learnt from this was to call up the hotel prior to my arrival and confirm my booking itinerary. But this has to be my worst hotel experience ever!