Destination: India
Does the Taj Mahal Need a Ferris Wheel?
by Eva Holland | 08.05.09 | 10:43 AM ET
The Telegraph’s Michael Kerr doesn’t think so. Kerr is unimpressed by the news that the Agra Development Authority is contemplating the addition of ropewalks, cable cars and a Ferris Wheel at the most famous mausoleum in the world, all in the name of “enhancing the visitor experience.” He writes: “The Taj Mahal, has, of course, long been a tourist trap, one of those sights that we can take in only as part of a swarm of camera-clicking visitors. Nearly three million people a year are drawn to visit it. Somehow, 360 years on, it is still surviving the swarm. The threat to it now has less to do with improvement than with greed, a greed that infantilises rather than enhances experience.”
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Yahoo! Buzz‘The Hangover’ Gets Bollywoodized
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 4:18 PM ET
Publicity still via IGN Here’s an unexpected bit of cross-cultural synergy. This summer’s funniest travel movie involving a Vegas bachelor party, Mike Tyson, and a tiger—OK, OK, this summer’s only travel movie involving all of the above—is getting its very own Bollywood remake.
After he had time to think it over, Get the Big Picture’s Colin Boyd decided he approves. “You’ve seen ‘The Hangover,’ right? It’s full of non sequiturs from Mike Tyson to the chicken to the tiger in the bathroom to the baby to the missing tooth,” he writes. “And where better to find humorous non sequiturs than Bollywood?”
Photo We Love: Unruly Umbrella in Mumbai
by World Hum | 07.29.09 | 11:25 AM ET
REUTERS/Arko Datta
A woman tries to control her umbrella along a stormy seafront in Mumbai, India.
Love and Marriage on the Shatabdi Express
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 11:19 AM ET
iStockPhoto Eva Holland hoped for a romantic boy-meets-girl story from the woman on the Indian train. She didn't get one.
Parking Fees Around the World
by Jim Benning | 07.16.09 | 3:22 PM ET
The Economist has a great chart on parking fees around the globe. Among the highlights from its report: “European cities have some of the highest daily parking rates, with Amsterdam and London coming out on top. Tokyo is the most expensive place to leave your car outside Europe.”
Cheap travel tip: You’ll find great rates in Chennai, India. Um, road trip!
(Via the Idea of the Day blog)
R.I.P. Ali Akbar Khan, Indian Musician
by Jim Benning | 06.25.09 | 1:31 PM ET
REUTERS/Adam Tanner The Bengali-born musician, who died last week at the age of 87, was regarded by many as a genius who helped popularize Indian classical music around the globe. He played the 25-string sarod.
When he arrived in the U.S. half a century ago, many he encountered were confounded by his origins.
He told Asia Week:
“When I came in ’55, because I was in Indian dress, people on the street in New York came out of the bars and shops and followed us. They asked me, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ When I said, ‘India,’ some of them didn’t even know where it was. Or others who knew I was a musician asked funny questions like, ‘How can you play music in India with all the tigers and snakes and monkeys you have to fight off?’”
Here he performs via YouTube:
Jammu, India
by World Hum | 06.09.09 | 9:54 AM ET
A boy and buffalo cool themselves in the Tawi river on a hot summer's day in Jammu.
Seven Images to Inspire Wanderlust: From Nicaragua to New Delhi
by World Hum | 06.05.09 | 9:26 AM ET
REUTERS Indulge your armchair traveler with seven wanderlust-inspiring travel photos from around the world
See the full photo slideshow »
Danny Boyle Can’t Quit You, Mumbai
by Eva Holland | 06.04.09 | 3:27 PM ET
Yup, the Indian city has its hooks in the Oscar-winning director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” and it isn’t letting go. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Boyle has bought the film rights to Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta’s Pulitzer-nominated travelogue about Mumbai’s seedy, sometimes-violent subcultures: dirty cops, exotic dancers, religious hitmen and more.
The Heat Seeker: Spicier, Please!
by Alison Stein Wellner | 05.13.09 | 10:34 AM ET
iStockphoto Alison Stein Wellner likes her food hot and spicy. To find out how hot and spicy, she searched the world for heat. Part three of five: Into Kumarakom.
The Heat Seeker: ‘This Raita Will Be Your Savior’
by Alison Stein Wellner | 05.12.09 | 10:46 AM ET
Alison Stein Wellner likes her food hot and spicy. To find out how hot and spicy, she searched the world for heat. Part two of five: Getting Hot in Mumbai.
Video: Alison Stein Wellner: The Heat Seeker
by World Hum | 05.11.09 | 11:16 AM ET
Alison Stein Wellner traveled around the world to eat the hottest food she could handle, a quest she chronicled for World Hum
Don’t Forget to Splurge!
by Eva Holland | 05.05.09 | 2:33 PM ET
For me, part of the fun of budget travel is the chance to loosen the purse strings once in a while and drop some cash on a worthwhile splurge.
Whether that means a night in a plush hotel room after weeks of hosteling, a spa day, or a way-out-of-my-price-range meal, I generally find some way to treat myself once during any budget-conscious trip—and, I figure, I appreciate my reward that much more than if I’d been pampering myself all along. It doesn’t have to be about spending a lot of money, either. My favorite travel splurge of all time cost just $15.
Mathura, India
by World Hum | 04.17.09 | 10:58 AM ET
REUTERS/K.K. Arora A rickshaw driver rides in the rain as he transports school children in the northern Indian city of Mathura.
Odd Jobs: Interview With the Pigeon Chaser
by David Farley | 04.15.09 | 10:09 AM ET
Photo by David Farley David Farley meets the man behind a hotel's pigeon-free zone in Jaipur, India