Destination: Asia
French Train Clocks In At 357.2 MPH*
by Michael Yessis | 04.04.07 | 8:20 AM ET
That’s 547.8 kph, and it’s a record speed for rail travel. (A Japanese “non-conventional magnetically levitated” train hit 361 mph in 2003.) Ingrid Rousseau was on the 25,000-horsepower V150 in France yesterday, and she filed a report about the speed trial.
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Yahoo! BuzzIndia’s ‘Spiritual Backbone’: Two End-to-End Explorations Down the Ganges River
by Michael Yessis | 04.02.07 | 7:34 AM ET
National Public Radio’s Morning Edition begins a five-part series about the Ganges River today, following its 1,550-mile length to explore India’s past and future. “The Ganges provides sustenance to more people than the population of the United States,” says Philip Reeves, NPR’s India correspondent. “She passes through India’s most populous state, its most lawless state, its holiest city and Calcutta, the country’s cultural capital and latest aspiring technology hub.”
Think Twice Before Flying An Indonesian Airline
by Jim Benning | 03.29.07 | 1:30 PM ET
Including Garuda. But don’t take our word for it. An audit by Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry has found that “none of 20 major Indonesian passenger and cargo airlines fully met national safety regulations,” the Los Angeles Times reports. The audit follows two fatal crashes this year alone. Australian officials have warned citizens to consider the findings when planning trips.
Why Did David Sedaris Just Spend Three Months in Tokyo?
by Jim Benning | 03.29.07 | 1:20 PM ET
Largely because the author and NPR contributor wanted to quit smoking. “You can’t walk on the street and smoke there,” he told Newsday. “You have to stand by a special ashtray.” Sedaris also responded to charges that he sometimes fabricates stories.
A Shrinking Planet Moment in Kerala
by Jim Benning | 03.28.07 | 11:36 AM ET
The first time he heard it, San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn thought he recognized something distinct about Krishna Praveen’s voice. As he explains in a column Sunday, Flinn met Krishna and his new wife on a canal in Kerala, India. They just happened to be staying on houseboats tied up next to one another. Then, as the two men chatted, Flinn discovered why Krishna’s diction sounded so familiar. We won’t give it all away, but let’s just say Flinn vowed never to curse on the phone when he calls tech support with a problem.
Welcome to Naypyidaw: Burma Unveils New Capital City
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.07 | 7:49 AM ET
International media have been invited by Burma’s military rulers to visit Naypyidaw, the country’s new capital city. Like North Korea’s recent decision to allow U.S. citizens to visit, Burma’s move revolves around a huge, state-sanctioned event. In Burma’s case, it’s the country’s Armed Forces Day parade. According to the BBC’s Jonathan Head, it’s the first time outsiders have been allowed to see Naypyidaw since Burma made the confounding decision in 2005 to move the capital from Rangoon.
U.S. Sees Drop in Travelers from Germany, Japan, France and United Kingdom
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.07 | 6:30 AM ET
Commerce Department figures reveal a five-percent drop from those four countries in 2006, which has alarmed an already concerned U.S. tourism industry. Germany, Japan, France and the United Kingdom “typically supply almost half of all the foreign tourists visiting the USA,” writes USA Today’s Barbara De Lollis, and it’s the first decline in any of those core countries since 2003. Some say it’s because the U.S. has become one of the least friendly countries for travelers.
Enough With the Superjumbo Jets. How About a Superjumbo Bus?
by Jim Benning | 03.19.07 | 2:25 PM ET
By now, we’ve heard all about the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jet. It takes off. It crosses oceans. It even lands. It’s a very big, functional plane. It’s cool. It’s “super.” We get it. Now put the thing in commercial circulation and let’s move on to the next travel marvel, right? Are you with me? Good, because we’ve got the next big travel thing for your consideration: the world’s largest superjumbo passenger bus. It carries a whopping 300 passengers. It was just unveiled in Shanghai and will be used on the streets of Beijing and Hangzhou. You go, China.
Japan Unveils Plan for ‘Sushi Police’
by Michael Yessis | 03.19.07 | 7:26 AM ET
Japan’s agricultural ministry will fight the “gastronomic indignities” of bad sushi, but to the relief of some, surprise raids won’t be part of the plan. Instead, restaurants around the world will be able to request an authenticity test of their menu. “The test would centre on food staples, such as miso soybean paste and rice, cooking techniques and seasoning,” according to a Reuters report. Restaurants that pass the test will get official government recommendation. Japan, as we’ve noted, takes the creeping bastardization of its cuisine seriously.
Related on World Hum:
* Hide the California Rolls! Here Comes Japan’s ‘Sushi Police’
* Update: Japan’s ‘Sushi Police’
Photo by rubyran, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Moonwalkers, Stardust and the End of the Earth
by Michael Yessis | 03.16.07 | 8:02 AM ET
We’ve done the math: This week, travelers have professed their interest in the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, India, Venice, Antarctica and hotels with a certain “je ne sais quoi de geek.” Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Best Geek Hotels in the World
* Yes, that’s an equation-covered bed cover at Boston’s Hotel @ MIT.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Hey, Sin City Top This: Grand Canyon West’s New Skywalk
* Moonwalker Buzz Aldren will take the ceremonial first walk Monday. We still ask: What Would Edward Abbey Think?
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
Getting It Om In India
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Stardust Blown to Dust
* Of course there’s video.
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Making a Pilgrimage to Cathedrals of Commerce
* It’s all about the 19th-century shopping arcades of Paris.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Miss Manners’ Venice: In a Word, Civilized
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
Antarctica: The Crystal Desert
* More on Antarctica: A Brief and Awkward Tour of the End of the Earth
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Stephanie Elizondo Griest: ‘100 Places Every Woman Should Go’
Japan’s Big Fat Sumo Controversy
by Jim Benning | 03.15.07 | 3:48 PM ET
Is Japan’s beloved sport of sumo wrestling scripted and fake? A weekly Japanese magazine recently published allegations that the sport’s champion wrestler from Mongolia, Asashoryu, has won so many tournaments lately because he has bribed other wrestlers, according to a story in today’s Los Angeles Times. While plenty of fans apparently don’t buy the allegations, the charges have rocked the sumo world and raised eyebrows at a big tournament now underway in Osaka. Reports the Times, “Many are on the lookout for signs of choreography.” Say it ain’t so.
I Don’t Want to Travel with a Guidebook. What Do You Think About Traveling With an Atlas?
by Rolf Potts | 03.15.07 | 7:39 AM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel
Dictatorship Tourism: North Korea Opens (Briefly) to U.S. Citizens
by Jim Benning | 03.14.07 | 4:01 PM ET
Yes, in its infinite wisdom, Kim Jong-Il’s regime has generously decided to allow U.S. citizens to visit the Orwellian nation this year—during two stadium festivals, one taking place this spring and the other in the fall. According to Elisabeth Eaves’s story in Forbes, the president of Asia Pacific Travel, based in Illinois, “received an e-mail from the North Korean tourism authority saying it was appointing his company the sole travel agent it would deal with for the U.S. market.” Nice work if you can get it. I exchanged e-mails with Eaves today. She wasn’t too surprised that North Korea has opened, if only briefly, to Americans. The country needs the money, she wrote, and “it’s the foreigners who can afford the priciest festival seating.” (Festival seats go for up to $300.) But what about the ethics of visiting North Korea?
Peace Deal Helps Lure Travelers Back to Nepal
by Michael Yessis | 03.08.07 | 8:42 AM ET
Photo of Nepal by Hugh Gage (Via Flickr, Creative Commons).
Adventure travel companies that had discontinued trips to Nepal in recent years are planning to resume their operations soon, according to a New York Times report. Conflict between the Nepalese government and Maoist rebels had caused outfitters to stop running trips, but a peace deal signed in November changed their outlook.
The Critics: Tom Bissell’s ‘The Father of All Things’
by Jim Benning | 03.05.07 | 1:58 PM ET
New York Times and Los Angeles Times critics raved Sunday about Tom Bissell’s new book, The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam. The book explores the journey Bissell took to Vietnam with his father, John, a veteran of the war. (Bissell initially wrote about the trip for Harper’s.) Bissell’s book, its publisher notes, “is the first major book about the war by an author who grew up after the fall of Saigon.” The war has had profound effect on his generation, and particularly, Bissell writes, on the sons and daughters of veterans: “At every meal Vietnam sat down, invisibly, with our families.”