Destination: Asia
Baikonur, Kazakhstan
by World Hum | 03.24.09 | 1:26 PM ET
REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov The Soyuz spacecraft is transported to its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome.
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Yahoo! BuzzDhaka Outskirts, Bangladesh
by World Hum | 03.23.09 | 11:37 AM ET
REUTERS/Andrew Biraj A woman and her child carry drinking water back to their slum house in the outskirts of Dhaka.
Five Great Pod Hotels
by Jennifer Plum Auvil | 03.23.09 | 8:19 AM ET
Photo courtesy of The Pod Hotel Travelers can save big bucks at pocket-sized pod hotels. Jennifer Plum Auvil offers her top picks.
Fox Seeks Optimism in Bhutan
by Julia Ross | 03.20.09 | 12:30 PM ET
We haven’t seen much of Michael J. Fox on television in recent years, but now the former Spin City actor has surfaced—surprisingly—in Bhutan. Following in the footsteps of World Hum contributor Eric Weiner, Fox visited the Himalayan nation this month to investigate the country’s vaunted Gross National Happiness policy, as part of a television special on the nature of optimism, due to air in May.
I’m wondering what Fox uncovered given that Bhutan marks its one-year anniversary as a democracy this week. As we’ve seen elsewhere in the world, that transition can trigger a less-than-optimistic mood in the general populace. I haven’t seen much coverage of how things are going in Bhutan; perhaps it’s time for a Geography of Bliss sequel.
Six Great Women Travelers in Asia
by Julia Ross | 03.20.09 | 10:57 AM ET
March is Women’s History Month, so this seems a good moment to call out a few of history’s great women travelers. Because so many 19th- and early 20th-century adventurers found themselves drawn to Asia, I’ve narrowed this list to women who made their mark on that continent, fording the Indus River or crossing the Tibetan Plateau, in defiance of social norms and often at great risk. These are the women I wish I’d been in another life. Herewith, my top-six list of the most intrepid Western female travelers to take Asia by foot, camel or donkey.
An End for Kashmir’s ‘Mughal Palaces on Water’?
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.19.09 | 2:17 PM ET
The beautifully carved wooden houseboats, which are area icons, date to the 19th century, when they shielded British officials from the subcontinent’s penetrating summers. Today, tourists rent the houseboats on Dal Lake, which, though seemingly lovely, is actually a dumping ground for untreated sewage.
To combat the pollution, Kashmir’s provincial government has asked houseboat owners to install pricey sewage treatment on the vessels within 90 days or face a shutdown, The Guardian reports. But the houseboat owners, many of whom live below the poverty line, say they can’t afford the units. “The government should pay for the sewage treatment units, or it should put all the 850 houseboats together and blow them up with one big bomb,” lamented Mohammed Azam Tuman, president of the Houseboats and Shikara Owners Association.
The Great Everest Clean-Up
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.18.09 | 12:13 PM ET
The climate-change watchdog group Eco Everest hauled off 2,100 pounds of trash and human waste from Mount Everest last year and is now paying visitors $1.00 per pound for waste removed from the mountain, according to Outside and Rock and Ice magazine.
The Nepalese have recently tried to prevent dumping by withholding a $4,000 trash deposit from climbers who leave rubbish on the 29,028-foot peak. But there still a lot of waste up there from previous expeditions—enough to inspire a documentary and an artist who recycles discarded oxygen bottles into eco-provocative bowls, bells and ornaments.
Sonamura, India
by World Hum | 03.18.09 | 9:50 AM ET
REUTERS/Jayanta Dey A farmer works in a Paan or betel leaf garden in Sonamura village, south of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura.
Hangzhou, China
by World Hum | 03.17.09 | 1:33 PM ET
REUTERS/Steven Shi Students practice physical skills for Yueju opera at an art school in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province March.
Kim Jong-il’s Bizarre Pizza Quest
by Julia Ross | 03.17.09 | 12:02 PM ET
This just in from the parallel universe known as North Korea: the country’s first-ever pizzeria has opened in Pyongyang. The Guardian reports that Kim Jong-Il’s longtime obsession with pizza—and a decade-long campaign to train North Korean chefs in making the perfect pie—has culminated in the launch of a restaurant that flies in wheat flour, butter and cheese from Italy.
In any other country the opening of a pizza joint would be unremarkable, of course, but given that millions of North Koreans have died of famine since the mid-90s, the only word I can muster is: tragic.
Dhani Tackles Poetry: ‘The Punch’
by Dhani Jones | 03.16.09 | 12:31 PM ET
Thom Stukas/Travel Channel, L.L.C. NFL linebacker and Renaissance man Dhani Jones hosts the new Travel Channel show, Dhani Tackles the Globe.
Like any good Renaissance man, he’ll be writing poems inspired by the travel experiences featured on each show.
The topic of tonight’s premiere: Muay Thai in Thailand.
The Punch
I begin with a journey a magnificent tourney around the globe to stop and see the sights ...
An inviting aroma of new things to discover a world to uncover never turning off the lights ...
It’s a challenge I tell you, to step
I beg you, into the ring I go, for the first not the last but the beginning it is for forty some odd days I will live ...
It’s the first some might say the last others might insist ...
It’s just that time ...
It’s that movement that caught you that spirit that bought you for me to unwind ...
Time and time again I just bob and weave, bob and weave and use what was given a chance to prove what was inside ...
Here’s a man
Here’s a man with the thoughts of a man that I am
Here’s a man living in a heartbeat of time trying to escape the breath and design
Up elbow, right elbow, left elbow, right kick ...
Down elbow, left kick, right punch, left hit ...
A plethora of ideas of power it takes, to control and direct to the right space it must not break ...
It must not disgrace, it must not let down for the eyes are watching me from all around ...
I’ve heard my name spoken not once not twice but the third time around ...
I heard my name ringing in my head when I looked around ...
I realized it was me repeating it time and time again ...
I realize it was me who was getting punched not them ...
On to the bell with great strides I took and put forth all the effort and with pride I was not shook ...
It was my time to use all that I was taught and leverage my voice and my mind for the ultimate thought ...
I must conquer ...
I must live ...
I must set forth to understand and give ...
Of myself and those around me ...
And if one punch I must take, I will take and not break but he who gives shall receive and with ease I decree that this moment ...
I will stand and deliver, bend not fold, yet tell the stories untold ...
I will finish what I started and finish I did ...
Budget Air Travel Goes Long-Haul
by Eva Holland | 03.16.09 | 12:25 PM ET
Last week marked the first long-haul flight by a low-cost carrier—99 pounds for a 13-hour flight from London to Kuala Lumpur, anyone?—and the Guardian went along for the inaugural ride. Maxton Walker sets the scene: “As we budget guinea-pigs join the queue at check-in, horror stories swirl about non-reclining seats and the lack of legroom. There’s even a suggestion that if you don’t book a meal in advance, you’ll just have to starve. I haven’t, needless to say, booked a meal in advance.” His full review of the Air Asia experience is heartening, and surprisingly entertaining.
Slumming It: Can Slum Tourism Be Done Right?
by Eric Weiner | 03.16.09 | 11:57 AM ET
REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe Global Positioning: On the intersection of place, politics and culture
Morning Links: Bible Park, Pizza Vending Machines and More
by Eva Holland | 03.16.09 | 9:03 AM ET
- The Wall Street Journal goes way beyond Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
- Planning for Lebanon, Tennessee’s Bible-themed amusement park, has been suspended indefinitely due to “political differences”; the park’s developers are eyeing Kentucky instead. (Via The Book Bench)
- Coney Island’s famed Totonno’s pizzeria has been devastated by a fire.
- The San Francisco Chronicle has the little-known story of Iceland’s pizza pioneer.
- And in more pie-related news, the New York Times dishes on Northern Italy’s pizza vending machines.
- World Hum contributor Jenna Schnuer gets the local scoop on Houston’s finest cuisine, culture and more.
- New York City’s High Line may not be quite ready for visitors, but it is in bloom.
- Audrey and Daniel from Uncornered Market have just headed out on the road again; they reflect on five things they’ll miss about America.
- In the Huffington Post, Alison Stein Wellner goes looking for Jewish Barbados.
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What We Loved This Week: Twitter, Portland’s Cheap Eats, ‘Before Sunrise’ and More
by World Hum | 03.13.09 | 2:18 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days:
Valerie Conners
Trip-planning via Twitter and the fabulous tweeps following @worldhum. I’m heading to Buenos Aires in April and have been posting questions out to our twitterverse of followers, looking for tips on sights, food, estancia tours and more—the response has been so warm and incredibly helpful. What an amazing resource. Some great ideas have crossed my path and are making their way into my itinerary.
Eva Holland
I watched one of my favorite travel movies, “Before Sunrise,” again for the first time in a couple of years and was thrilled to find that none of the crazy, spontaneous magic of Jesse and Celine’s one night in Vienna had worn off. Here’s a classic sequence: