Destination: Afghanistan
Photo You Must See: A Girl and a Gun in Afghanistan
by World Hum | 10.06.09 | 5:15 PM ET
REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih An Afghan girl looks up at a U.S. Marine on patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
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Yahoo! BuzzAfghanistan: ‘It’s Always the Fixer Who Dies’
by Eva Holland | 09.14.09 | 9:47 AM ET
George Packer responds to last week’s rescue effort, which freed kidnapped New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell but left his Afghan fixer, Sultan Munadi, dead: “Somehow, it’s always the fixer who dies. Of course, this is a false statement of fact on its face—at the very least, an exaggeration. But it feels emotionally true.” It’s worth reading in full.
Rory Stewart on our ‘Dystopian Vision’ of Afghanistan
by Eva Holland | 07.20.09 | 11:25 AM ET
In a long piece on the future of Afghanistan, Rory Stewart makes a point about the country’s usual image in the media:
“We are accustomed to seeing Afghans through bars, or smeared windows, or the sight of a rifle: turbaned men carrying rockets, praying in unison, or lying in pools of blood; boys squabbling in an empty swimming-pool; women in burn wards, or begging in burqas,” he writes. “Kabul is a South Asian city of millions. Bollywood music blares out in its crowded spice markets and flower gardens, but it seems that images conveying colour and humour are reserved for Rajasthan.”
It’s not the first time the author of “The Places in Between” has spoken out on the subject. (Via Andrew Sullivan)
Kabul, Afghanistan
by World Hum | 05.15.09 | 9:42 AM ET
REUTERS/Ahmad Masood Boys fly a kite from a crumbling wall in Kabul
Morning Links: JetBlue Fare Refunds, America’s Emptiest Cities and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.18.09 | 8:31 AM ET
- It happened again: Another cruise ship ran aground in Antarctica.
- Las Vegas and Detroit finished 1-2 in a Forbes list of America’s emptiest cities.
- Inside the hardened, restless lives of business-travel nomads.
- Here’s a scathing takedown of the idea of Dubai. (via Kottke)
- Here’s another dancing guy. He doesn’t go around the world, though. Just to hallways and stairwells and such.
- Teresa Watanabe looks at African Americans who are being “called back to Africa by DNA.”
- JetBlue promises fare refunds if you lose your job—with some fine print.
- “Afghan Model” is coming to Emrooz TV.
- The Yankees are building a new vacation stadium in the Hamptons, complete with on-deck gazebos and yacht parking for the players. The Onion has exclusive video.
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What We Loved This Week: Disco Papa, Oregon Trail and ‘Ghost Wars’
by World Hum | 02.06.09 | 4:08 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Michael Yessis
A touching and hilarious story by Karen Russell, who took her 85-year-old grandfather—Disco Papa—to a cruise ship nightclub.
Rob Verger
I loved the snow in New York City on Tuesday. I watched it falling steadily from inside all day, and then late in the afternoon I stepped outside into next-door Sakura Park and snapped this picture:
Joanna Kakissis
I’m reading “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001” by Steve Coll. In addition to exploring foreign policy blunders (and the U.S. made many of them), the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book also offers rich portraits of Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries I’ve always wanted to experience.
Eva Holland
Last weekend I had the chance to watch the Chinese New Year parade in Manhattan’s Chinatown. I was a little surprised to see the number of insurance companies (and fast food chains) represented, but still loved
being there in the crowd, listening to the sounds of the parade going by and occasionally having glitter and silly string rain down on me.
Valerie Conners
Discovering the original, old-school version of Oregon Trail online. This has been the ultimate find, and is serving well as a procrastination tool for my Friday afternoon. It’s a trek back to 1985, my Apple IIC computer, the days of uber-pixelated screens and what was, perhaps, my very first yen for road tripping.
Jim Benning
Another great World Hum gathering in New York City. Lolita Bar’s basement was packed last night with readers, writers and travelers tossing back drinks and talking trips. It culminated in a late dinner, replete with duck tongue and rice porridge, at Congee Village. Thanks to all who came out.
Duhani, Afghanistan
by World Hum | 02.05.09 | 11:16 AM ET
REUTERS/Oleg Popov Afghan students sit on the ground during a lesson at the secondary school in the village of Duhani, Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan.
An Invitation Aboard the Magic Bus
by Rory MacLean | 02.02.09 | 8:42 AM ET
REUTERS/Ahmad Masood In an excerpt from his new book on the hippie trail, Rory MacLean hops a ride in Afghanistan
Interview With Rory MacLean: ‘Magic Bus’ on the Hippie Trail
by Frank Bures | 01.30.09 | 10:28 AM ET
Frank Bures asks him about the classic journey from Istanbul's pudding shop to Kathmandu
Morning Links: Stilwell Road, the Delta Queen and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.05.09 | 8:14 AM ET
Photo by David Raterman - The amazing story of Stilwell Road— written by an anonymous Los Angeles Times writer.
- Robert Reid offers some suggestions for helping struggling travelers’ destinations. Among them: An alphabet throwing contest in Rila, Bulgaria.
- Passengers “run amok” on flight from England to Cuba.
- Christopher Elliott finds seven videos the airlines don’t want you to see.
- Gawker compiles video from a month of cruise ship disasters.
- P. J. O’Rourke on Disney’s “Innoventions Dream Home,” aka the House of the Future II.
- The Delta Queen: A new endangered historic site?
- Student abroad and accused murderer Amanda Knox was voted woman of the year in an Italian poll. Her trial begins later this month.
- The Cranky Flier remembers the airlines we lost in 2008.
- The New York Times discovers buzkashi in Afghanistan. We covered it in Tajikistan in 2002 and spelled it buskaschee. What is buzkashi/buskaschee? Goat-carcass polo.
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Welcome to Global Positioning
by Eric Weiner | 12.22.08 | 10:47 AM ET
On the intersection of place, politics and culture
What do Afghanistan, Cuba, Liberia and Sudan All Have in Common?
by Eva Holland | 11.25.08 | 8:27 AM ET
They’re the four countries deemed so dangerous that they’re excluded from the holiday coverage offered by a major UK insurer, Direct Travel. As Simon Calder notes in this sarcasm-laden response, the news that Cuba is as risky as Kandahar or Darfur may come as a surprise to the 2 million tourists who visited the island this year.
Trekking on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border
by Eva Holland | 07.31.08 | 2:24 PM ET
This week, the Observer’s Howard Marks is the latest travel writer to brave a trip to Afghanistan, for a trek along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier. The most striking thing about his return to the country, 20 years after his last visit? The nonchalance of locals. “There have been great changes since your last visit,” one old acquaintance told him. “So, would you like to buy a gun?”
In Kabul, Watching ‘the Drama of Ordinary Lives’
by Michael Yessis | 07.22.08 | 10:31 AM ET
Don’t let all the buzz about David Carr’s heartbreaking book excerpt in the latest New York Times Magazine distract you from another terrific story in the same issue, Kristin Ohlson’s Lives piece Watching TV in Kabul. Ohlson, co-author of “Kabul Beauty School,” reveals a slice of life in a Kabul kebab shop, a scene that reveals “the drama of ordinary lives that rocks households but doesn’t blow buildings or buses apart.”
Blogging in Afghanistan: Getting Online, Off the Grid
by Eva Holland | 07.14.08 | 10:34 AM ET
I’d never really thought about the logistics of blogging in a quasi-war zone until I read this Slate piece about one of Afghanistan’s most high-profile bloggers, Nasim Fekrat. The article shows a Kabul that has been simultaneously thrown back in time by war and launched forward by technology: Fekrat blogs from a laptop powered by a car battery, while teenagers download the latest videos on their cell phones even when all the lights are off.
Photo by TKnoxB via Flickr (Creative Commons)