Destination: China
Xining, China
by World Hum | 02.06.09 | 10:03 AM ET
REUTERS/Reinhard Krause Children dressed up as characters from the Chinese mythology are tied to a framework before being carried during the "Shehuo" festival in a village near Xining, Qinghai province.
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: Disney’s Small World, Travel Writers Worth Following and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.06.09 | 8:38 AM ET
- USA Today’s cover story focuses on the upside for hotel guests in a down economy.
- Video: Scenes from inside airport X-ray machines. (via Coudal)
- Inside the tunnels of Gaza.
- Brave New Traveler interviews Pauline Frommer.
- One person who isn’t getting that island dream job: Osama Bin Laden
- What humans can learn about traffic control from ants.
- The Wall Street Journal’s Book Lover included Redmond O’Hanlon and Tim Butcher among her “travel writers worth following.”
- Slideshow: Evan Osnos looks at “the economic, social, and religious life of African migrants in Guangzhou.”
- Disneyland’s Small World overhaul debuts today. The AP has video. Is the song stuck in your head yet?
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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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What We Loved This Week: Flip Video, Language Lessons, Pandora and More
by World Hum | 01.30.09 | 4:18 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Michael Yessis
I love this response to the news that Birmingham will do away with apostrophes on street signs: “If you don’t have apostrophes, is there any point in full stops, or semi-colons, or question marks? Is there any point in punctuation at all?” Indeed.
Sophia Dembling
I already love my Flip Video camera, a gift from Santahubby. And I love the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. Now I learn that the Hocking Hills Tourism Association is lending Flip Ultra cameras to visitors staying at an association member property, no cost. Double shot of love! (Triple, if you count Santahubby.)
Eva Holland
This might sound crazy considering the array of not-available-elsewhere experiences that New York City offers, but what I loved most about my first full week here was having access to Pandora again. The site, which helps listeners discover more music similar to their old favorites, cut off all non-U.S. users awhile back. Yesterday, I plugged in “Etta James,” and have been enjoying Candi Staton ever since:
Ni Hao from Down Under
by Julia Ross | 01.29.09 | 11:21 AM ET
I gave President Obama high marks last week for trying out his Indonesian while on a visit to the State Department. Well, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd does Obama one better. Here he is, wishing China a happy new year in perfectly fluent Mandarin, apparently the only world leader to record such a message.
Hoscar the Grouch
by Alexander Basek | 01.27.09 | 5:10 PM ET
It’s the Hoscars! No, it’s not an Oscar party with your friend from Rome, but rather Hostel World’s ranking of the top 10 hostels in the world, based on the opinions of some 800,000 hostel bookings in 20,000 different properties. We heard that backpackers the world over were scratching themselves with anticipation and/or scabies while waiting for the 2009 winners to be announced. The top dog: Travellers House in Lisbon, part of a clean sweep of the top three by Lisbon hostels.
Meanwhile, hostel fans on the other side of the Atlantic are out of luck, as no American—neither North nor South—properties made it on the list. It’s proof positive of something, probably the lure of Spectravision at a Motel 6. Even so, do take the list with a grain of salt, as even old travel writing greybeards like Leif Pettersen have yet to grace the sheets at any of the top 10.
Check out the top ten below.
Beijing, China
by World Hum | 01.27.09 | 12:40 PM ET
REUTERS/Reinhard Krause A performer wears traditional clothes during a temple fair today celebrating Chinese New Year in Beijing. Hundreds of millions of Chinese welcomed the Year of the Ox, packing temple fairs, setting off fireworks and firecrackers for the traditional holiday. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
Hong Kong, China
by World Hum | 01.26.09 | 1:34 PM ET
REUTERS/Garrige Ho Devotees offer their prayers at the Wong Tai Sin temple in Hong Kong shortly after midnight today to celebrate the Chinese New Year. REUTERS/Garrige Ho
Postcards From China
by Julia Ross | 01.26.09 | 1:03 PM ET
Journalist James Fallows, who has been writing from China for The Atlantic since 2006, is just out with a new book, Postcards from Tomorrow Square. It collects some of his best China essays, covering Chinese politics, technology and culture. In the introduction, Fallows says if there’ s one thing he’s learned in two years as a China correspondent, it’s this: “No one can sensibly try to present the ‘real story’ or the ‘overall picture’ of this country. It is simply too big and too contradictory.” Amen.
For more of Fallows’ thoughts on China, see this recent Q&A with the ChinaBeat blog, or visit Fallows’ own blog for The Atlantic.
‘Murderers in Mausoleums’: What Counts Is Your Blood
by Jason Daley | 01.26.09 | 11:00 AM ET
Jeffrey Tayler's latest book is a masterful guide to the divisions that define so much of human civilization. Jason Daley explains.
How to Ring In an Ox Year
by Julia Ross | 01.26.09 | 9:07 AM ET
Today, millions of Chinese usher in the Year of the Ox by lighting firecrackers, handing out cash-filled red envelopes, feasting on whole fish and texting friends, “Happy Niu Year,” a play on the Mandarin word for “ox,” pronounced “niu.” Me? I’m feeling nostalgic for my old flat in Taipei’s Muzha district, the sound of motor scooters buzzing until midnight, and the raucous atmosphere of Taiwan’s temples, where thousands will pray this week for an auspicious year ahead.
In mainland China, it’s a different story. The holiday period sees the world’s largest annual human migration, making travel a nightmare for those trying to negotiate packed trains and sold-out flights (in fact, most China-based expats leave the country this week). But there are plenty of parties to be had elsewhere, in Chinatowns across the world. So if you’re jonesing for a Chinese culture fix, check out CNN’s round-up of celebrations here.
Camels and Marines in Old China
by Julia Ross | 01.23.09 | 12:30 PM ET
Maybe because I was a history major in college, old newsreels fascinate me. I’ve just discovered a treasure trove of early 20th-century travel films at the Travel Film Archive and spent some time scrolling through several China entries. One 1931 film in particular—Ghosts of Empire-Peking—caught my attention for its unusual variety of street scenes. The film opens with a line of camels trooping through the city gates, then continues with clips of a boy barber at work, a close-up of a Chinese woman’s bound feet and a U.S. marine parade. Not your standard travel promo, but sure makes Beijing look like an interesting place to visit. (via quirkyBeijing)
On Asia: Points East
by Julia Ross | 01.22.09 | 1:56 PM ET
iStockPhoto If this is indeed the “Asian century,” count me as an early adopter. I’ve quit two full-time jobs to explore the world’s most diverse continent, and they were the two best decisions I’ve ever made. To an Asia hand, the lavender fields of Provence might be pleasant, but it’s the chanting of novice monks, the mystical tinkling of the gamelan, a bowl of spicy dan dan noodles that really get the blood pumping. I’m drawn back, again and again, and I don’t know if I’ll ever kick the habit.
My (unlikely) introduction to Asia began in arid, post-Soviet Uzbekistan in the late ‘90s. As soon as my conference in Tashkent wrapped up, I hopped a bus to the Silk Road city of Samarkand, where blue-tiled madrassas dazzled against an azure sky. They were like nothing I’d seen, a window into an ancient time when Tamerlane traipsed across the steppes.
Interview with Michael Buckley: Searching for Shangri-La
by Frank Bures | 01.15.09 | 9:09 AM ET
Frank Bures talks to the author of a guide to a place that may or may not exist