Destination: Asia
Would You Like the Chicken, the Fish or the Dead Hamster?
by David Farley | 02.05.09 | 12:20 PM ET
Oh, airline food. Always getting the bad rap. We love to hate airline food. The hate brings us together. It’s airplane conversation starter. I might be one of the few people who doesn’t dislike airline food. Consider the context: you’re eating 30,000 feet above the earth. If I were sitting in a Michelin-starred restaurant, eating soggy croquettes out of a tin tray, I’d probably be a bit disappointed. But on a plane I’m captive. Which is why I watch (and actually enjoy) Drew Barrymore movies while I’m flying. I fork the rubbery chicken into my mouth and like it.
Then there’s this guy. The Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer who had had enough. Food, that is. He wrote a scathing—and humorous—letter to Sir Richard Branson, Virgin’s founder and CEO, about his latest meal on the London-to-Mumbai flight. An excerpt after the jump.
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Yahoo! BuzzDuhani, 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.
Touring Tokyo’s Underbelly
by Julia Ross | 02.04.09 | 2:17 PM ET
I’ve been a fan of MP3 audio tours since I discovered the transporting Soundwalk series several years ago. In fact, Soundwalk’s moody MP3 tour of New York’s Chinatown still reverberates in my ears every time I walk down Mott or Bayard Street in lower Manhattan. So I wish Tokyo Realtime’s new audio tour of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s red light district, had been available when I visited the city in 2007. From the preview posted on their site, the tour mixes just the right amount of music, political commentary and local history to make at least one corner of the overwhelming metropolis accessible. And god knows, anything that helps tourists cut Tokyo down to bite-size portions is helpful.
Those looking for the peep shows and brothels documented in the tour may be disappointed, however. The Guardian reports efforts are under way to clean up Kabukicho in line with the city’s short-listed bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
Fly the ‘Green’ Skies With Camelina (and Pond Scum)
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.04.09 | 10:41 AM ET
OK, OK ... it will be many, many years before camelina and algae replace petroleum in jet fuel, but I’m glad the aviation industry is at least exploring environmentally responsible options. Last week, Japan Airlines became the latest carrier to test biofuels on one of its jets, circling a Boeing 747 powered by mix of camelina, jatropha and algae oil over the Pacific Ocean.
By all accounts, the one-hour flight went smoothly, as did previous biofuel test flights by Virgin Atlantic (powered in part by coconut and babassu oil), Air New Zealand (jatropha oil) and Continental (jatropha and algae oil). Greenvolutionaries have been hating for years on traditional (read: fossil-fuel-based) jet fuel, a major contributor of greenhouse gases. So energy companies such as Arizona’s PetroSun and Montana’s Sustainable Oils are loving the good vibes and (so far) good results in developing clean, next-gen jet fuels.
The Finns have predicted that all planes will be running on biofuel by 2093. I know, that’s like 84 years away, but since oil reserves are only expected to last a few more decades, I really hope they’re right.
Sapporo, Japan
by World Hum | 02.04.09 | 10:15 AM ET
REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Workers give a last touch on a huge snow sculpture prior to the opening of the 60th Sapporo snow festival in Sapporo, northern island of Japan.
Morning Links: Australia’s Great Ocean Road, LEGO N.Y. and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.04.09 | 8:21 AM ET
- World Hum contributor Tony Perrottet drives Australia’s Great Ocean Road.
- Scott McCartney: “Perhaps no other consumer-service business is so rule-bound as the airline industry.”
- Travelers can now link Delta and Northwest frequent flier accounts.
- Arjun Basu meditates on the size of airports.
- Photos: The making of an Interstate highway (via Coudal)
- Slate calls Aung San Suu Kyi “the world’s most effectively sidelined leader.”
- These baggage handlers at Edinburgh Airport “played tig” while waiting for planes to land.
- I LEGO N.Y. is currently the most emailed story at the New York Times.
- Video: Did you know Steve Martin was on Flight 1549?
- I’m fantasizing about a future of travel that involves this.
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‘A Zen Level of Patience’: Matt Gross on Air Travel
by Rob Verger | 02.03.09 | 2:47 PM ET
When I fly, I follow a simple rule: I always ask for a window seat as far towards the front of the plane as possible. I love to stare out of the window, and I prefer the front of the plane because it’s a smoother ride (the tail bounces more) and, once the plane arrives, you get to deplane sooner.
But I was curious to find out what rules and feelings about flying another traveler might have, so I called up World Hum contributor Matt Gross, the man who writes the Frugal Traveler stories for the New York Times. We caught up while he was on assignment—on a train, to be precise—in Europe. He estimates that he’s been on about thirty flights in the past year, all of them in economy.
He told me he loved flying.
“How can you not love flying? You get on a plane somewhere. You sit down; you try and relax. I relax relatively easily. You know, four to twenty-four hours later, you’re somewhere else. It’s pretty cool. I like the anticipation of it as well. The trip has not yet been ruined,” he said, laughing. Gross laughs a lot, a good quality for a traveler to have. “Hopefully it hasn’t yet been ruined.”
“You’re about to go somewhere. You have all this time to gather your thoughts and emotions and everything and get ready for the adventure,” he added.
Cut to the Quick
by Alexander Basek | 02.03.09 | 11:34 AM ET
Where’s my cheap rate? Price cuts at hotels are not as common as you’d think these days. Many properties are afraid that when the economy bounces back, they won’t be able to raise their rates to pre-econopocalypse levels. So, the savings come in the form of add-ins: hello, bottle of cheap champagne that’s a “$30 value”! Hotels in warm destinations—where they count on Northeast winters slowly driving locals insane—are notorious for this little game.
The flip side is the rate cuts are plentiful in destinations that aren’t typical winter holiday hot spots. Take Bangkok, where prices were falling last year thanks to a low-level hum of bad news and unrest at the airport. Couple that with the economic downturn and voila! Specials like the COMO Metropolitan Bangkok is offering: a $260 a night room for $99. Similarly, rooms at the LeBua at State Tower, another luxury property with great views of Bangkok (and balconies!) prices out to $140 a night over a weekend in March with a 30 percent discount offer. Even the Four Seasons is $200 a night with a system-wide third-night-free deal. Yes, there are cheaper hotels in Bangkok, but the value for these prices is staggering. When I stayed at the LeBua last fall, the staff was so eager to please they would have wheeled me to my room on a hand truck if I had let them.
Of course, Bangkok is a tougher weekend getaway than St. Croix, but what’s the matter with a little jetlag on vacation?
Beijing, China
by World Hum | 02.03.09 | 10:40 AM ET
REUTERS/David Gray A farmer and his wife collect firewood along a road on the outskirts of Beijing.
Morning Links: Weird Hotels, Flight 1549: The Game and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.03.09 | 8:24 AM ET
- Marketplace looks at U.S. efforts to lure Chinese travelers.
- More than one million people have already played Flight 1549: The online game.
- Flight 1549 pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III won’t have to pay fees on the library book that’s still in the plane’s cargo hold.
- At the Window Seat, World Hum contributor Rolf Potts recommends five travel experiences in his home state, Kansas.
- AP Travel Editor Beth Harpaz has a new book out about parenting teenagers, 13 Is the New 18.
- Now we know what the penalty is for smoking on a no smoking flight in Saudi Arabia: 30 lashes.
- Rome’s traditional delis are facing extinction.
- More and more, Mexican singers of narco corridos are becoming victims of the drug-related violence that’s the subject of their songs.
- The Telegraph’s slideshow of the world’s weirdest hotels includes Idaho’s Dog Bark Park Inn.
- It’s the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, and fans are paying tribute in Holly’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas and elsewhere. Eva
will havehas more in her blog. - Video: Overzealous Amtrak police arrested a man for taking pictures of trains for an Amtrak photography contest. Stephen Colbert has the hilarious story.
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Troubles at Tsukiji
by Julia Ross | 02.02.09 | 3:17 PM ET
Tokyo’s fabled Tsukiji Fish Market is attracting its share of controversy these days. First, the market temporarily banned tourists from its early morning tuna auctions after a drunk British tourist was (bizarrely) caught licking the head of a frozen tuna. Now, Tokyo’s governor has announced the city will move forward with plans to relocate the market to a site once occupied by Tokyo Gas Company. Some of the market’s fishmongers oppose the move, slated for 2014, based on studies that have found benzene and petrochemicals in the soil at the new site.
The move—to reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay—would also make for a longer trek for tourists, 500 of whom visit the market daily. It seems the fishmongers wouldn’t mind fewer tourists. If the government can guarantee a clean-up, the relocation just might work out in merchants’ favor.
Mumbai’s Man in the Kitchen
by David Farley | 02.02.09 | 11:32 AM ET
Photo by David Farley Chef Hemant Oberoi wants to introduce you to Indian cuisine. Not the curry-laden stuff simmering in a chaffing dish at your local Indian buffet. Oberoi, the head chef for the international Taj Hotels, is on a mission to introduce the world to the vast array of relatively unknown Indian dishes. And he’ll be coming to a city near you. His Bombay Brasserie is a hit in London and he’s finalizing plans on a Boston eatery. I caught up with him at his home base, the Taj Palace & Tower in Mumbai, which made international headlines in November when the hotel was attacked by terrorists. Read the interview after the jump.
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
Morning Links: Flushing the French Quarter, Car-Rental Madness and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.09 | 8:30 AM ET
- Kurt Andersen talked to Pico Iyer about his life as an “outside man” in Japan. There’s also video.
- Spud Hilton calls place-dropping a “a subtle and often unnoticed art form.”
- Goodbye, street-flushing in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Hello, toxic stench?
- Travel with Spirit, a new magazine for “focusing exclusively on Christian travel,” debuted last week.
- Arthur Frommer has an idea to stimulate the U.S. economy: Induce more foreign tourists to visit.
- Dan Bilefsky investigates the battle for the Czech Republic’s Kingdom of Wallachia.
- The outlook for mobile-ticketing—using your cell phone as a boarding pass—is strong. (via Tripso)
- One upside of the down economy for travelers: Unexpected hotel room upgrades.
- Video: This guy was pushed a little too far at the car-rental counter.
- This is kind of creepy: Plane-crash simulation as team-building exercise.
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Pico Iyer in Japan
by World Hum | 02.02.09 | 8:14 AM ET
Kurt Andersen spoke with the writer about Buddhism and his life as an "outside man"