Destination: Indonesia
The Worst Hotel in the World
by Frank Bures | 10.02.09 | 10:47 AM ET
Frank Bures reflects on the hotels we love to hate -- and the book celebrating one of them
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Yahoo! BuzzPhoto We Love: The Scarves of South Sulawesi
by World Hum | 09.14.09 | 12:36 PM ET
REUTERS/Stringer Indonesia A woman tries on a headscarf at a market in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Bombs Hit Two Jakarta Hotels
by Eva Holland | 07.17.09 | 10:38 AM ET
Grim news from the Indonesian capital, where a pair of apparent suicide bombers attacked the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels last night. According to the BBC, nine people are confirmed dead, and around 50 injured.
It’s a Reality TV World, After All
by Julia Ross | 05.26.09 | 12:49 PM ET
Is reality television a viable conduit for cross-cultural understanding? It’s an interesting question now that the world has gone reality TV-mad. Global versions of “Big Brother” have sparked discussions on everything from racism to AIDS, and wacky game shows continue to fascinate foreigners trying to understand Japan.
Magelang, Indonesia
by World Hum | 05.07.09 | 12:20 PM ET
REUTERS/Dwi Oblo Indonesian Buddhist monks collect holy water ahead of a Vesak Day procession in Magelang, central Java. Vesak Day honors the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha more than 2,000 years ago.
Eight Great Stories on the Travel Writing Life
by World Hum | 04.30.09 | 4:01 PM ET
To mark our eighth anniversary, we've collected eight favorite stories from our archives that explore the wanderlust-inspired literary life
Eight Great Stories of Beaches, Islands, Travel and the Tropics
by World Hum | 04.30.09 | 10:31 AM ET
To mark our eighth anniversary, we've collected eight favorite stories from our archives that celebrate and explore travel at land's end
Eight Great Road Trip Stories
by World Hum | 04.29.09 | 10:21 AM ET
To mark World Hum's eighth anniversary, we've collected from our archives eight favorite travel stories that heed the call of the open road
Jakarta, Indonesia
by World Hum | 04.22.09 | 10:30 AM ET
REUTERS/Dadang Tri Workers plant mangrove trees at a conservation garden in Jakarta to mark Earth Day
What Fatwa? Bali’s Yoga Tourists Follow Their Bliss.
by Julia Ross | 03.11.09 | 10:58 AM ET
Hundreds of yoga tourists in Bali have now joined author Salman Rushdie in an exclusive club: those who have defied a fatwa. This week’s International Bali-India Yoga Festival—which drew participants from the U.S., Germany, Sweden and Japan—proceeded as planned despite a recent edict by Indonesia’s Ulema Council banning the practice of yoga for all Indonesian Muslims.
The New York Times reports that festival organizers initially conceived the event to boost spiritual tourism on the island and decided to go forward with it as a public show of force against the fatwa. Bali’s governor, no doubt aware of the island’s growing yoga tourism potential, has said he will not enforce the ruling.
Who knew sun salutations could be this fraught?
Asia’s Disaster Tourism Over the Line?
by Julia Ross | 03.05.09 | 5:27 PM ET
As we noted yesterday, two new disaster-themed tourist sites are set to open in Asia this month: a museum to commemorate the 2004 tsunami that leveled Indonesia’s Aceh province, and previously off-limits ruins and a museum related to the May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province. We can debate the pros (local economic development) and cons (unwelcome voyeurism) of disaster tourism, but the descriptions of these two new sites seem to me to cross a line.
Of the tsunami museum, the BBC reports, “Inside, visitors enter through a dark, narrow corridor between two high walls of water—meant to recreate the noise and panic of the tsunami itself.”
At the Sichuan earthquake sites, AFP reports, “Tour groups will be able to go boating on a ‘quake lake’ and visit a museum featuring an ‘earthquake simulation.’”
There’s a fun house aspect to this that I don’t like at all. It’s one thing to establish a museum to educate the public on a disaster’s impact and pay homage to lives lost, but to make the experience entertaining? It’s just plain inappropriate.
When I visited New York’s Ground Zero about four months after 9/11, I found staring into the gaping hole in lower Manhattan unforgettable enough. No simulations needed.
Morning Links: Best Job in the World Finalists, ‘Narco-Tours’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.04.09 | 8:18 AM ET
- The 50-person short list for Tourism Queensland’s “best job in the world” includes a man who staged a musical on an Ontario street and Geek Brief’s Cali Lewis.
- The Tsunami Museum commemorating the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami is open in Indonesia.
- China plans to open its earthquake ruins to tourists.
- Interesting essay by Alexei Tsvetkov on leaving Prague: “In the end some people here will probably miss me, but not many, not too much, and not for long.” (via The Rumpus)
- Ryan Adams: Travel writer? BlackBook has his take on Hollywood. Here are his musical takes on New York and Jacksonville.
- “Narco-tours” are on the rise in Mexico.
- Independent Traveler lists 10 reasons you should travel now.
- Esquire lists the 59 best breakfast places in America.
- Are you an, uh, anal traveler? (via BootsnAll Today)
- How great is this: John Wray will be giving a reading from his new book Lowboy while traveling on a Brooklyn-bound L train next week. Details in this video.
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Newspapers: Still Big in Japan
by Julia Ross | 02.24.09 | 5:45 PM ET
From the front page of today's Asahi Shimbun. As many of us await the impending death of U.S. newspapers, it’s helpful to remember that the paper-and-ink medium thrives in other parts of the world, where Internet penetration remains relatively low. Such is the case in much of Asia, Time reports this week. India alone reported 11.5 million new newspaper readers in 2008, spread among a whopping 65,000 newspapers across the country, and Indonesia’s market has grown from a few dozen papers in 1998 to about 800. The Japanese, despite widespread online access, are still the world’s most dedicated newspaper readers, subscribing to more than one paper per household, on average.
So, how does this tie into travel? After reading the Time piece, it occurred to me that in a couple years, spying newspaper readers in subways or cafes—or being able to get one’s hands on an actual newspaper itself—may become as novel as slicing into a durian fruit for Western travelers visiting Asia. Imagine picking up the latest Asahi Shimbun as a souvenir on your way out of Narita. With kimono weavers on the way out, printing presses could be the next big thing in niche tourism.
Morning Links: Holidays in Banda Aceh, ‘Slavery Theme Park’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.17.09 | 9:15 AM ET
- Passengers can no longer kiss at England’s Warrington Bank Quay Station.
- Is Marlon Jackson supporting a “slavery theme park” in Nigeria?
- The Mumbai attacks have apparently “put the brakes” on tourism in India.
- State and local governments to travel booking sites: Pay up!
- Daisann McLane: “Until I learn a place with my feet, I never really feel like I know it.”
- John Aglionby says Banda Aceh “has arguably become one of south-east Asia’s hidden holiday destinations.”
- Spud Hilton sifts through language-study options for travelers.
- In typo news: There’s one on the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse. It only took 82 years to discover it. Hooray!
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Indonesia Charts Own Territory
by Julia Ross | 02.16.09 | 1:38 PM ET
Good news for map lovers: Indonesia has released a national atlas for the first time in the country’s history. The Jakarta Post reports that Indonesians have relied, until now, on maps published in the 1938 Netherland Indies Atlas, drawn up when the country was still a Dutch colony. The new atlas—to be published in three volumes—provides a much needed catalogue of Indonesia’s current climatic, geological and cultural characteristics. Interestingly, the first volume includes photos and satellite images of the destruction wrought by the 2004 tsunami in Banda Aceh.
“I should say it’s about time we had an official atlas. We’re very late in achieving this compared to other nations,” said Indonesia’s Research and Technology Minister. This got me thinking: Maybe publication of a national atlas should be noted alongside maternal mortality and annual GDP as a marker for development. It’s an impressive achievement, by any measure.
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