Destination: Asia
Hope and Squalor at Chungking Mansion
by Karl Taro Greenfeld | 08.13.07 | 11:24 AM ET
Photos via Wikipedia. Karl Taro Greenfeld explores Hong Kong's notorious black-market bazaar and budget accommodations, and one possible over-populated, multi-ethnic future for us all
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Yahoo! BuzzThe World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Less Money, More Adventure
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 2:54 PM ET
Lisbon, Portugal (pictured) and the rest of Europe are top of mind this week—particularly Europe on the cheap. The Big Apple, the debut of Virgin America and the Island of Tiki round out the Zeitgiest. Have a look.
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Lisbon, Portugal
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
* We’ve unearthed some fine tips, too.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Beautiful Places with Tony Farley
* This week: North Dome
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
James Teitelbaum: Escape to the Isle of Tiki
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
New York Shopping: The Best of the Big Apple
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Virgin America Returns the Frills to Flying
Colby Buzzell in Shenzhen: ‘The Id of the Chinese Economy’
by Michael Yessis | 08.07.07 | 11:09 AM ET
Skate punk turned U.S. Army infantryman turned war-zone blogger turned best-selling author Colby Buzzell recently traveled to Shenzhen, the center of China’s economic boom. It’s “a city of eleven million that did not exist twenty years ago,” Buzzell writes in the August issue of Esquire. Now it’s home to 11 million people with “hundreds of construction cranes stalking the landscape like dinosaurs.” Buzzell spends his time in Shenzhen wandering around, meeting random people and walking into situations that reveal a bit of the darker side of the new China.
Vietnam’s New ‘Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail’
by Jim Benning | 08.06.07 | 3:51 PM ET
How times have changed. According to the press release at hochiminhgolftrail.com, this route being marketed from Saigon to the Red River Delta pairs “first-class clubs and resorts with some of the most remarkable, luxury accommodations in world golf.” Cracks the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn: “Just stay out of the bunkers.”
U.S. State Department’s New Cultural Ambassadors: Ozomatli
by Jim Benning | 08.02.07 | 2:05 PM ET
Heading…
How to Sing Karaoke in Japan
by Karin Ling | 08.02.07 | 10:15 AM ET
The Land of the Rising Sun gave the world the late-night sing-along. But in its birthplace, there's more to karaoke than butchering anime theme songs in crowded bars. Karin Ling explains.
The Critics: ‘China Road’
by Michael Yessis | 08.01.07 | 7:23 AM ET
A new book by NPR's Rob Gifford chronicles a trip along the "Route 66 of China." Michael Yessis distills what reviewers -- and Jon Stewart -- are saying about it.
R.I.P. Clem Lindenmayer, Travel Writer
by Jim Benning | 07.30.07 | 1:34 PM ET
We’d been following the search for Clem Lindenmayer since early June, when news spread that the Australian travel writer disappeared while hiking near Minya Konka in western China. Now, news media are reporting that the 47-year-old died on the mountain. His body was discovered by villagers July 19, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Few other details are available.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From the Fringe of Edinburgh
by Michael Yessis | 07.27.07 | 2:58 PM ET
The Scottish capital made a move toward the top of travelers’ minds this week—the famed Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival begin soon—along with China, the Sierra Nevada and some purveyors of hotel porn. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Edinburgh Travel Guide
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Not the Hamptons. Yet.
* 36 Hours in Edinburgh also makes the most e-mailed list, currently at No. 3.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Got a Free Weekend? Escape to the Sierra Nevada
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
Ask Rolf: I’m in my Mid-40s. Am I Too Old to Stay in Hostels?
* It’s all about spirit, says Rolf.
Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Marriott Blasted for Hotel Porn
* Morality in Media is making a stir, and Kitty Bean Yancey’s Hotel Hotsheet blog has a raucous discussion going on.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
‘Into the Wild’: Sean Penn Adapts Jon Krakauer’s Book for the Big Screen
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
Beautiful Chinese Travel and Vacation
Smoker’s International Airways: From Germany to Japan in a Carcinogenic Haze
by Michael Yessis | 07.26.07 | 11:47 AM ET
Sounds like hell to me. Or an Onion story. However, German entrepreneur Alexander W. Schoppmann (pictured) says he’s bringing glamour back to air travel with Smoker’s International Airways, aka Smintair, a start-up airline that plans to cater to smokers.
Turkmenistan to World: Welcome Tourists!
by Michael Yessis | 07.25.07 | 10:27 AM ET
After approximately two decades under the bizarre and repressive rule of the late Saparmurat Niyazov—among other things, he famously had a golden statue of himself built that followed the sun—Turkmenistan announced this week that it wants to become a player in global tourism. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said his government will spend $1 billion on a Caspian Sea resort “with dozens of hotels, spas, seaside restaurants and glimmering spaceship-like skyscrapers,” according to the BBC’s Natalia Antelava.
Confucius: More Popular Than Harry Potter?
by Michael Yessis | 07.24.07 | 12:55 PM ET
Looks like he is in China, and it’s not because the country somehow missed the boy wizard’s bandwagon. We posted recently that a self-help book based on the teachings of Confucius, “Notes on Reading the Analects” by Yu Dan, topped the nation’s best-seller list. Today the Washington Post weighs in with a wider-ranging story about the popularity of Confucianism in China, which notes that “Analects” sold more than double the copies of the country’s next best-selling book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
China’s Air Pollution Goes Global
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 2:50 PM ET
Talk about a shrinking planet. “On some days,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “almost a third of the air over Los Angeles and San Francisco can be traced directly to Asia.”
Burj Dubai Soars Past Taipei 101
by Julia Ross | 07.23.07 | 1:46 PM ET
From the rooftop of my apartment building in Taiwan, Taipei 101 (pictured) blinks reassuringly in the distance, hovering just above the hills. Some nights it glows blue and gold in its upper reaches; other nights it’s green and purple. I’ve whiled away hours on the building’s fourth floor, home to the city’s best English bookstore, and spent New Year’s Eve watching fireworks explode around the skyscraper’s edges. The spectacle is guaranteed to net Taiwan much-coveted global exposure on CNN. The world’s tallest building is always within sight, but I didn’t realize I held such affection for the place until I read Saturday that the Burj Dubai had unofficially stolen Taipei 101’s towering thunder. Taiwanese have long known the day would come; still, I felt my stomach drop.
The Man Who Cast Starbucks from the Forbidden City
by Jim Benning | 07.19.07 | 10:06 AM ET
Why did Starbucks close its outlet in Beijing’s Forbidden City? In part, because of the campaign launched by a popular Chinese TV news anchor on his blog. His name is Rui Chenggang. He travels the globe and speaks near perfect English, according a terrific profile in the Los Angeles Times. Seven months ago, Rui wrote that the Starbucks outlet “undermined the Forbidden City’s solemnity and trampled over Chinese culture.” His post prompted a widespread response. Interestingly, he said he still drinks Starbucks coffee—there are well over 200 outlets in China—he just doesn’t think the chain should be hawking lattes in such a sacred Chinese site.