Destination: Asia
Kabul’s New Five-Star Hotel
by Jim Benning | 11.09.05 | 1:30 PM ET
We just noted the new luxury hotel planned for Baghdad. Not to be outdone, Kabul hosted the opening of a five-star hotel this week, complete with a swimming pool, health club and pastry shop. It’s apparently just the latest sign of progress in Afghanistan. An AP story about the hotel also notes the opening of a fancy Kabul shopping mall this year with the nation’s only escalators. Remarked Ahmad Jan, a 23-year-old tailor visiting from out of town, “I am amazed by these moving stairs.”
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Yahoo! BuzzJapan Unmasked
by Terry Ward | 11.07.05 | 7:47 AM ET
Karin Muller's "Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa" chronicles the author's time in the Land of the Rising Sun. Terry Ward writes that it offers insight into the famously closed culture -- and a dose of humor.
“Suicide Tourism” Web Sites Close
by Michael Yessis | 11.04.05 | 10:41 AM ET
Roger Graham’s Web sites offered to help people make arrangements to kill themselves in Cambodia, and the expat American shut them down voluntarily today in an effort to avoid a confrontation with local authorities. According to an AP report, one of the now-unavailable sites offered a rationale for suicide and links to purchase books on the subject. “You are going to die anyway,” Graham apparently wrote, “so why not in Cambodia?”
Visit Afghanistan: “Urban Attacks Are Infrequent”
by Jim Benning | 11.02.05 | 1:12 PM ET
That’s but one of Robert Young Pelton’s “once dangerous, now safe (sort of)” travel recommendations for 2006. Pelton’s picks, published in National Geographic Adventure, also include Colombia (“Yes, I did get kidnapped in Colombia”) and Sabah, which he calls, curiously, “Borneo for grown-ups.” Ever cautious, Pelton suggests avoiding central Iraq, delicately noting that “People are hunting you.”
I’m Planning to Travel in Southeast Asia for a Year. How Much Money Do I Need?
by Rolf Potts | 11.02.05 | 1:04 PM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel
Backpackers’ Killer Arrested in Cambodia
by Michael Yessis | 10.27.05 | 11:14 PM ET
Chhouk Rin, a former Khmer Rouge commander who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the 1994 murder of three backpackers, was arrested yesterday in Anlong Veng, Cambodia. Rin and his accomplices had abducted Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet from a Cambodian train traveling between Phnom Penh and the southern city of Sihanoukville, held the trio hostage for two months, then killed them. The travelers’ bodies were found in a shallow grave. Philip Gourevitch wrote about the events in the September 1995 issue of Outside magazine, and his story is still available online. It’s such a vivid piece of writing that when I read the news of Rin’s arrest today, Gourevitch’s story immediately came to mind, even though I read it 10 years ago.
Portrait of the Chinese Tourist
by Michael Yessis | 10.24.05 | 9:37 AM ET
Last month the World Tourism Organization reported that the number of Chinese tourists is growing at a record pace. An estimated 100 million of them will be traveling abroad by 2020. Impressive numbers, to be sure. But what are their travel habits? Wayne Arnold of the New York Times writes that the unflattering stereotypes emerging about Chinese travelers are part of a soundtrack we’ve all heard before.
Christopher Wakling: “Beneath the Diamond Sky”
by Frank Bures | 10.24.05 | 8:25 AM ET
A new travel novel tells the story of Western travelers taken hostage in Kashmir. Frank Bures asks the author about risky travel, and about how his own journey inspired the tale.
Avian Flu Begins to Affect Travel Plans
by Jim Benning | 10.13.05 | 5:35 PM ET
I’d been wondering when we’d start hearing about avian flu fears affecting travel. USA Today offers an account today, noting that some travelers are reconsidering visits to outdoor bazaars and rural areas of Southeast Asia. “It’s just not necessary for me to put myself in a possible situation with this illness,” said traveler Mark Fridkin, who now plans to skip a visit to the Thai countryside. There’s nothing earth-shaking in the story, just a post-SARS here-we-go-again feeling. Among other anecdotes: “The Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, Calif. has seen an uptick in requests for Tamiflu, which might be effective against the avian flu, from travelers bound for Southeast Asia.”
Chinese Noodles Predate Marco Polo
by Jim Benning | 10.13.05 | 12:23 PM ET
It’s not often that explorer (and travel writer) Marco Polo makes the news these days, so we couldn’t pass up the chance to mention it here. It seems that Mr. Polo was not responsible for introducing the noodle to China, as some historians have contended. In northwestern China, scientists have discovered a container with 4,000-year-old, delicate yellow noodles. (And you thought the leftover macaroni in your fridge was stale.)
Tracking Travel Inspired by Literature
by Michael Yessis | 10.12.05 | 12:58 PM ET
Commie Chic in China
by Jim Benning | 10.07.05 | 10:35 PM ET
PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is airing a seven-part series on the rise of China as an economic power, and Friday’s installment was terrific: an exploration of the cult of Mao that lives on in the country today. “How does the totalitarian communist icon fit with the capitalist wealth-fest that the People’s Republic of China has become?” correspondent Paul Solman asked. Looking for answers, he visited The Red Capital Club, a Beijing restaurant that recreates a 1950s Communist Party hangout, complete with a party limo parked in front.
Bali, Terrorism and the Economics of Fear
by Jim Benning | 10.03.05 | 11:23 AM ET
We recently pointed to a USA Today story noting that terrorist attacks don’t have the crippling economic effects they once did. So what will come of Saturday’s bombings in Bali, which killed 26 people? An article in Forbes online suggests tourism will rebound relatively quickly. “Although Saturday’s blasts will mean a sharp fall in Bali’s tourist arrivals, analysts said the experiences of other target cities suggest its beaches will be packed again within a year or two,” the article states. That’s good news for Bali and bad news for terrorists.
World Tourism Organization: 100 Million Chinese Travelers by 2020
by Michael Yessis | 09.27.05 | 4:54 AM ET
How significant is the number? Consider this: Chinese citizens were only freed by their government to travel for leisure in 1997, and last year only 29 million mainland Chinese citizens traveled abroad. Tom Miller of the China Economic Quarterly writes that the upcoming Chinese tourism boom is a mixed blessing for Europe’s tourism economy.
‘Mongolia Loves Puff Daddy’
by Michael Yessis | 09.27.05 | 4:30 AM ET
Michael Wolgelenter has a terrific, laugh-out-loud essay about music as a travel touchstone in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.