Destination: Asia
World Travel Watch: Safari Robbers in Tanzania, the ‘Real IRA’ in Belfast and More
by Larry Habegger | 12.09.09 | 9:33 PM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
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Yahoo! BuzzPhotos: The World’s Most Architecturally Interesting Subway Stations
by Michael Yessis | 12.09.09 | 11:02 AM ET
As compiled by designboom. The gallery includes shots from Stockholm, Bilbao, Shanghai and Munich (pictured), among others. (Via Coudal)
Labor Day (Japanese Style)
by Tom Swick | 12.09.09 | 9:02 AM ET
On an ethereal November day in Kyoto
The Minor Glories of Constant Motion
by Matt Gross | 12.03.09 | 9:55 AM ET
Photo by Matt Gross What do all the hiccups and surprises and kindnesses and connections of travel add up to? On a trip to the airport in Taipei, Matt Gross finds out.
Passports With Purpose is Back
by Eva Holland | 12.02.09 | 5:37 PM ET
And it’s bigger and bloggier than before. In its second year, the travel blogging/fundraising effort, co-founded by World Hum contributor Pam Mandel, is aimed at building a school in rural Cambodia. Here’s Pam on the inspiration behind the project:
For me, this is something of a selfish act. I have been—what is it? Haunted is too strong a word. Obsessed, perhaps, is closer to the truth. I have wanted so badly to do something, anything, to mend the heartbreak that Cambodia left me with. Passports with Purpose is going to help me answer that question of doing something, anything, to help.
A huge group of travel bloggers has signed on, and there are fabulous prizes—three nights in a Waikiki hotel, anyone?—up for grabs. Each $10 donation made towards the effort lands you a spot in the prize giveaway of your choice. You can find all the details here.
An Extra in Ubud: On the Set of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
by Liz Sinclair | 12.02.09 | 10:43 AM ET
iStockPhoto Liz Sinclair gets her Hollywood moment in Indonesia, but the job is far from glamorous
Video You Must See: Summiting Mount Everest
by Eva Holland | 11.30.09 | 2:18 PM ET
Video You Must See: Snow Sculptures in China
by Eva Holland | 11.25.09 | 11:09 AM ET
World Travel Watch: Robberies in the Bahamas, Kidnapping in Ecuador and More
by Larry Habegger | 11.25.09 | 10:48 AM ET
Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news
Photo You Must See: The Thin Yellow Line in Chongqing
by World Hum | 11.19.09 | 4:29 PM ET
REUTERS/Stringer Shanghai Yellow cabs line a viaduct in Chongqing, China, while waiting to get their tanks filled during a shortage.
Jan Morris Reveals her Favorite Cities
by Michael Yessis | 11.19.09 | 3:41 PM ET
She fields this question in the Guardian: What is her favorite of them all?
Dear God, what a question! To my mind cities are distillations of human life itself, in all its nuances, with all its contradictions and anomalies, changing from one year to another, changing with the weather, changing with history, changing with the state of the world, changing above all in one’s own personal responses. How can I have a favourite? Sometimes I prefer one city, sometimes another. Inconstancy governs my responses to cities—fidelity in personal matters, promiscuity in civic affairs.
Morris does have a ready answer, though, when asked about her least favorite city: Indianapolis. (Via @ben_coop)
Video You Must See: A 25-Second Sunrise
by Eva Holland | 11.19.09 | 2:07 PM ET
Paul Theroux’s New Novel: ‘A Dead Hand’
by Jim Benning | 11.18.09 | 1:50 PM ET
Paul Theroux’s new novel isn’t scheduled to be released in the U.S. until February 2010, but it’s already getting mixed reviews in the British press. It’s a mystery of sorts set in Calcutta and featuring a down-on-his-luck travel-writer-protagonist named Jerry Delfont.
Intriguingly, writes Doug Johnstone in The Independent:
Midway through the book, Delfont meets a fictional veteran US travel writer called Paul Theroux, a more successful and famous version of Delfont, whom he despises. The next 20 pages amount to a diatribe by Delfont about the act of travel writing, describing it as an emotionally stunted, puerile and selfish pastime, and brutally denouncing anyone who is stupid and arrogant enough to do it. This remarkable interlude is compelling, like rubbernecking a psychological car crash - but the rest of the novel is distinctly patchy, the bad points eventually outweighing the good.
Apparently the sex writing in the book leaves something to be desired. Once again, Theroux has been nominated for the Literary Review’s annual Bad Sex in Fiction award.
Photo You Must See: Snow-Frosted Forbidden City
by World Hum | 11.18.09 | 11:54 AM ET
REUTERS/Jason Lee A snowy scene in Beijing’s Forbidden City, photographed several days ago.
Photo You Must See: On the Mosque’s Threshold
by World Hum | 11.12.09 | 11:38 AM ET
REUTERS/Beawiharta Beawiharta A child steps inside a brightly lit mosque in Pelalawan, Indonesia.