Destination: Asia
World Hum’s Most Read: Feb. 14-20
by World Hum | 02.20.09 | 5:58 PM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling Our five most popular slideshows from the past week:
1) Dipping Into the Ex-Boyfriend Archives
2) My Travels, My Feet (pictured)
3) Inside Slum Tourism
4) Hawaii: Holoholo Wale
5) Return to Nepal
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Yahoo! Buzz2008 Travel Movie Awards
by Eva Holland | 02.20.09 | 4:27 PM ET
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist The Oscars are looming, and in keeping with the season I’m thrilled to announce my second annual Travel Movie Awards. As I noted last year, these picks rate high on the arbitrary scale and are not intended to be comprehensive: this is just a collection of movies (and movie moments) from the past year that got me thinking about travel, and about places new and familiar.
Most Adorable/Unusual Tale of Indie Love in New York
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
There is never any shortage of romantic comedies set in the Big Apple, but most directors opt to focus on the entanglements of young professionals (bewildered new-to-the-city female journalists, more often than not), and to set the action in or near Central Park. “Nick and Norah,” in contrast, follows a pair of suburban, straight-edge teenagers through the live music venues of lower Manhattan—and captures my heart in the process.
Slate’s Dana Stevens said it better than I can: “Some people really were made for each other ... and New York does look beautiful by night. You got a problem with that?”
Should I Give Money to Child Beggars?
by Rolf Potts | 02.20.09 | 9:01 AM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel and the world
The Cooler
by Karl Taro Greenfeld | 02.20.09 | 8:49 AM ET
iStockPhoto We romanticize the past and become nostalgic about our first time in a place. Karl Taro Greenfeld returns to Thailand -- to that place.
Taking Black History Month to ... India?
by Julia Ross | 02.19.09 | 2:24 PM ET
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is apparently making good use of cultural diplomacy early in her term. Before she departed on her current Asia tour, Clinton sent a delegation of U.S. congressional representatives, civil rights leaders and musicians, including Herbie Hancock and Chaka Khan, to India to commemorate U.S. Black History Month. The group includes Martin Luther King III, who is retracing a trip his parents, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, took 50 years ago to study Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.
Meanwhile, Hancock, Khan and jazz students from New Orleans will perform at concerts in Mumbai and New Delhi, then jam with students at the Ravi Shankar Institute of the Performing Arts. I’m pleased to see the group continue a long tradition of U.S. jazz ambassadorship abroad.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
by World Hum | 02.19.09 | 12:55 PM ET
REUTERS/Andrew Biraj Workers carry bricks in a brick field on the outskirt of Dhaka on Tuesday. About 45 workers are employed at the brick factory and most work 12 hours a day. The daily wage is 120 taka ($1.70) for men and 100 taka ($1.40) for women.
Sulawesi Sea, Malaysia
by World Hum | 02.18.09 | 10:26 AM ET
REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad Young sea gypsies sit on their boat outside of their family hut in their neighbourhood in Sulawesi Sea in Malaysia's state of Sabah on the Borneo island.
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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Wumen Gate, Forbidden City, China
by World Hum | 02.17.09 | 11:03 AM ET
REUTERS/Jason Lee Snow falls over the Wumen Gate of the Forbidden City at night in Beijing.
Morning Links: Holidays in Banda Aceh, ‘Slavery Theme Park’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.17.09 | 9:15 AM ET
- Passengers can no longer kiss at England’s Warrington Bank Quay Station.
- Is Marlon Jackson supporting a “slavery theme park” in Nigeria?
- The Mumbai attacks have apparently “put the brakes” on tourism in India.
- State and local governments to travel booking sites: Pay up!
- Daisann McLane: “Until I learn a place with my feet, I never really feel like I know it.”
- John Aglionby says Banda Aceh “has arguably become one of south-east Asia’s hidden holiday destinations.”
- Spud Hilton sifts through language-study options for travelers.
- In typo news: There’s one on the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse. It only took 82 years to discover it. Hooray!
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Indonesia Charts Own Territory
by Julia Ross | 02.16.09 | 1:38 PM ET
Good news for map lovers: Indonesia has released a national atlas for the first time in the country’s history. The Jakarta Post reports that Indonesians have relied, until now, on maps published in the 1938 Netherland Indies Atlas, drawn up when the country was still a Dutch colony. The new atlas—to be published in three volumes—provides a much needed catalogue of Indonesia’s current climatic, geological and cultural characteristics. Interestingly, the first volume includes photos and satellite images of the destruction wrought by the 2004 tsunami in Banda Aceh.
“I should say it’s about time we had an official atlas. We’re very late in achieving this compared to other nations,” said Indonesia’s Research and Technology Minister. This got me thinking: Maybe publication of a national atlas should be noted alongside maternal mortality and annual GDP as a marker for development. It’s an impressive achievement, by any measure.
For Americans, A Way to Game North Korea?
by Julia Ross | 02.16.09 | 11:07 AM ET
Though the North Korean government hasn’t officially announced it, it looks like the country will hold its renowned Mass Games from August through October this year, opening a window for American tourists to travel to the otherwise closed nation. The Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which handles travel for about half of all Westerners who visit North Korea yearly, is currently accepting applications from Americans interested in traveling during the Mass Games period, based on North Korea’s history of allowing Americans to visit during the event (as happened in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008).
Morning Links: The Belgian Flair for Comics, New Orleans Street Theater and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.16.09 | 8:46 AM ET
- The investigation of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 reveals sudden erratic movements 26 seconds before impact.
- The state of the Velib bike program in Paris isn’t good.
- The New Yorker’s Katherine Boo investigates a Mumbai slum located on land owned by the Airports Authority of India. (subscribers only)
- David Lyon looks at the comics-character murals of Brussels. He writes: “The Belgian flair for comics is as inescapable as Manneken Pis.”
- Nora Roberts’ Inn BoonsBoro—an inn in Boonsboro, Maryland, that features rooms named after literary couples—opens tomorrow.
- Wayne Curtis says “New Orleans knows how to do street theater like no other American city.”
- Benji Lanyado visits a pay-what-you-want bar in Berlin.
- Video: A woman goes wild after missing her plane in Hong Kong and becomes a YouTube hit.
- The Costa Brava is not the Bahamas—except in an ad for the Costa Brava. I’d say, “oops,” but it looks like the people behind the ad planned using the image of the Bahamas as a stand in for the Spanish coast. (via Shore Trips)
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Mumbai, India
by World Hum | 02.13.09 | 10:18 AM ET
REUTERS/Arko Datta Commuters travel in a suburban train in Mumbai.
One Traveling Man’s Weak-Dollar Dating Survival Kit
by Rolf Potts | 02.13.09 | 10:09 AM ET
With superior dentistry and monolingual charm, you too can pick up women overseas. Rolf Potts gets all Maxim magazine.