Destination: Asia
Landmark Skydive Planned for Everest
by Eva Holland | 09.29.08 | 4:00 PM ET
If all goes according to plan, at least 34 skydivers will jump out of a plane and free-fall past the summit of Mount Everest Thursday. The jumps will be the first ever attempted at Everest. Remarked the jump’s organizer, “This will be the most important event in the Himalayan adventure since 1953.”
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Yahoo! BuzzVideos: Venice Gondoliers, Mariachis and Bollywood for Barack Obama
by World Hum | 09.26.08 | 2:03 PM ET
In that order. We looked for similar videos supporting John McCain and couldn’t find any; if you have any, we invite you to post links in the comments section. We’d love to see them.
Pakistan Grounds All Flights
by Eva Holland | 09.25.08 | 12:10 PM ET
The order comes in response to multiple bomb threats aimed at airports across the troubled country, the Telegraph reports. Benazir Bhutto International Airport has been evacuated, and the national civil aviation authority has declared a state of emergency.
In Mongolia, My Yurt is Your Yurt
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.25.08 | 11:50 AM ET
As a traveler, Tim Wu never liked communing with the locals—or, rather, the contrived experience of tourists “living” local culture. “The problem is that most events billed as a chance to ‘experience indigenous culture’ tend to range from the merely uncomfortable to the downright nauseating,” he writes in the latest installment of Slate’s Well-Traveled series.
‘The Golden Quadrilateral’: India’s New Superhighway
by Michael Yessis | 09.23.08 | 11:33 AM ET
It connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, and it’s “part crushed rock and asphalt, part yellow brick road,” writes Don Belt in National Geographic. The mag also has some terrific video and photos.
Related on World Hum:
* In Kolkata, the ‘Last Days of the Rickshaw’?
A Visit to India’s ‘Green’ Isle
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.22.08 | 10:41 AM ET
E Magazine travels to Bangaram, part of the Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea some 200 miles west of Kerala in southern India. It’s a small place—less than a square mile—and it was virtually uninhabited until CGH Earth Hotels opened an (apparently impressive) eco-resort there. Writer Jenny Fowler says the resort “has drawn a green line in the sand” and has taken pains to be sustainable: constructing cottages made of local, biodegradable materials; saving water during monsoons; and forbidding motor vehicles.
Photo binux by via Flickr (Creative Commons).
The Case of the Japanese Tourists and the Graffiti at the Duomo
by Michael Yessis | 09.19.08 | 7:11 AM ET
The Financial Times has a fascinating rundown of an incident earlier this year involving Japanese tourists in Florence, Italy. The visitors, who were mostly students, added their names to a marble wall at the Duomo, which “has become an accepted, if not necessarily desired, activity in Florence,” writes Lindsay Whipp.
Thailand Lifts State of Emergency, Hopes to Boost Tourism to ‘Land of Smiles’
by Valerie Conners | 09.15.08 | 3:24 PM ET
Thailand’s acting prime minister has lifted the country’s state of emergency, the New York Times has reported, declaring that current political conditions were, “frightening away tourists and tarnishing the country’s image as the ‘Land of Smiles.’”
Mapped: ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’
by Michael Yessis | 09.11.08 | 3:52 PM ET
Rachel Leow has put together an excellent Google Maps mashup based on the Yule-Cordier edition of The Travels of Marco Polo. (via Kottke)
Visit Myanmar—That’s an Order
by Stephen Brookes | 09.09.08 | 12:58 PM ET
Photo by Stephen Brookes Travel to Myanmar has slowed to a trickle. But a decade ago, with great fanfare, the government launched a new tourism campaign. Stephen Brookes, then Rangoon bureau chief for Asia Times, remembers its bizarre launch ceremony.
Falling Through Thin Air: Woman to Skydive Mount Everest
by Jim Benning | 09.04.08 | 10:42 AM ET
Armed with an oxygen mask and a particularly big parachute, a 29-year-old British woman plans to make the jump next month, leaping from a plane several hundred feet over the world’s tallest mountain, gliding past the peak and landing in a 12,000-foot meadow. “I’m excited, confident, scared, all in one,” she told Reuters. I would just be scared.
Foodies Still Bitter About Tokyo’s Michelin Honors
by Michael Yessis | 09.03.08 | 3:03 PM ET
Yeah, they’re still talking about this like it’s some sort of crime. More than nine months after Michelin debuted its Tokyo guide with 191 stars, foodies are still questioning whether Tokyo is indeed the premier city in the world for food.
Related on World Hum:
* Eating Japanese: The World’s ‘My Boom’ Food
Photo by yomi955, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Hooters in China: It’s About ‘Moral Righteousness’
by Eva Holland | 09.02.08 | 3:30 PM ET
I’ve always loved noting the subtle differences between the same big-name chain restaurants at home and abroad. According to this McClatchy-Tribune story, though, when Hooters opened in China there was nothing subtle about the changes the chain made. The “American Owl Restaurant,” as it’s apparently known there, has a totally different shtick in Beijing. Said one server: “It’s more sexy in the U.S. Here, it’s more about being healthy, friendly, cute and having moral righteousness.”
Related on World Hum:
* Las Vegas’ Hooters Hotel to go Boutique
Photo of Beijing Hooters by china_puwa via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Thai Government Declares State of Emergency in Bangkok
by Jim Benning | 09.02.08 | 3:05 PM ET
Given the spate of demonstrations and violence, is it safe to travel to Thailand? The Times of London offers its take. Short answer: Yes, but exercise caution. Still, while some nations merely advise their citizens to be careful, others are urging would-be travelers to stay away. World Hum contributor Newley Purnell, who lives in Bangkok, recently posted an audio slideshow with a look at demonstrations there.
Health Experts: Go Easy on the Incense
by Jim Benning | 08.26.08 | 12:54 PM ET
The use of incense dates back thousands of years, yet when it comes to incense in American cities these days, I associate it with Indian restaurants, yoga studios and head shops hawking bongs and tie-dye T-shirts. I also think of the glory days of the hippie trail, when young Western kids set off through Asia and, as Rory MacLean writes, “lit sticks of incense, strummed their guitars and read another chapter of Siddhartha, then stepped off the bus to help push the decrepit vehicle over the Hindu Kush.”