Destination: Thailand
Morning Links: Sex and Romance in Rio, Chaos in Bangkok and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.28.09 | 8:50 AM ET
- Love this graphic of anatomical terms that most sound like exotic vacation destinations. I’m booked for the Fissure of Rolando.
- Cole Hamels loves Sydney.
- Giant waves battered cruise ships in the Bay of Biscay. Photos at the Daily Mail.
- GOOD rightfully thinks trains need some more support—and more money—on Capitol Hill.
- Inside the quest for alternative jet fuels. Black vomit nut, anyone?
- Another great Time Zones piece: “The Beautiful Chaos of Bangkok”
- Sex and Romance in Rio: Seth Kugel looks at the relationships between male tourists and female locals. Some background on the story.
- A Fugu mishap in Japan injures seven.
- Have you read “the world’s best passenger complaint letter”?
- An Alaskan entrepreneur wants a license to sell booze on his Fairbanks shuttle bus. His goal: To make enough money so he can hire another shuttle bus driver and join the mobile party. (via Fark)
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Yahoo! BuzzOn 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.
Morning Links: Warrior Monks, Sustainable Fuel, ‘The Big Belch’ and More
by Valerie Conners | 01.02.09 | 10:02 AM ET
How to Prevent a Monkey Attack
by Jason Daley | 12.30.08 | 10:25 AM ET
REUTERS Jason Daley explains how to avoid getting bitten, slapped or shoved by an ornery primate.
Morning Links: ‘Ugly American’ Ad, World’s Best Hotels and More
by Michael Yessis | 12.17.08 | 8:57 AM ET
- A Burger King ad featuring “Whopper Virgins,” aka “remote Chang Mai villagers,” is being called “‘corporate colonialism,’ ‘cultural bullying’ and the worst kind of Ugly Americanism.” Stacy Peralta, a legend of my childhood, directed the ad.
- A tower collapsed at Whistler-Blackcomb yesterday, injuring more than a dozen and “and trapping other skiers for hours in dangling cars during a cold snap.”
- Travel + Leisure released its annual list of the 500 best hotels in the world.
- The casinos are behind the new weekend express trains between New York City and Atlantic City.
- Why do physicians write so well? Among those cited: Sometime travel writer, the late Michael Crichton.
- Health Magazine lists America’s Healthiest Airports.
- TSA in 2008: Gadling chronicles a year of being dumb.
- It’s sad that this story—37% of Americans Unable to Locate America on Map of America—had to include a disclaimer: “This post is a satire.” Though after skimming through the dumb things the TSA did this year, perhaps I’m being a little too optimistic in my belief in the competence of my fellow Americans.
Bangkok’s Airport ‘Creaks Back to Life’
by Valerie Conners | 12.03.08 | 10:19 AM ET
The international airport here has slowly started the process of reopening, after anti-government protesters who had camped there for a week called off their demonstration following a court’s decision to ban the prime minister from politics and dissolve the governing party. Flights have begun to arrive at the airport, though authorities still estimate it will take days before some 230,000 stranded visitors will be able to leave the country.
Bangkok Airport Closed by Protests*
by Eva Holland | 11.25.08 | 4:36 PM ET
Thai authorities have canceled all flights at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport as riot police face down protesters inside the terminal, the New York Times reports. More than a few travelers are affected: Suvarnabhumi is the 18th busiest airport in the world.
* Update, 9:45 PT: According to Reuters, reports from various Bangkok media have been “confusing” but indicate as many as several bombs have exploded outside the airport, injuring up to a dozen people.
Thailand Lifts State of Emergency, Hopes to Boost Tourism to ‘Land of Smiles’
by Valerie Conners | 09.15.08 | 3:24 PM ET
Thailand’s acting prime minister has lifted the country’s state of emergency, the New York Times has reported, declaring that current political conditions were, “frightening away tourists and tarnishing the country’s image as the ‘Land of Smiles.’”
Thai Government Declares State of Emergency in Bangkok
by Jim Benning | 09.02.08 | 3:05 PM ET
Given the spate of demonstrations and violence, is it safe to travel to Thailand? The Times of London offers its take. Short answer: Yes, but exercise caution. Still, while some nations merely advise their citizens to be careful, others are urging would-be travelers to stay away. World Hum contributor Newley Purnell, who lives in Bangkok, recently posted an audio slideshow with a look at demonstrations there.
Cambodians Wary of Angkor Museum
by Julia Ross | 07.07.08 | 4:33 PM ET
A new Thai-backed museum/mall complex located a few miles from Angkor Wat is drawing fire from Cambodians skeptical of the enterprise’s motives. The New York Times reports that restoration specialists are unhappy with the Angkor National Museum’s “aesthetics” and lack of scholarly content, while others suspect that the Thais have designs on Cambodia’s architectural heritage. In fact, anti-Thai riots erupted in 2003 over the issue of Angkor’s provenance.
A Skeptic’s Journey to a Thai Monastery
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.08.08 | 9:02 AM ET
Interesting piece touching on spirituality and travel in the Chapel Hill-based magazine The Sun. Andrew Boyd, who has written a yet-to-be published book about his “spiritual misadventures traveling around the world,” goes to Doi Suthep monastery in Thailand to quiet the noise in his soul. He’s a skeptic in a world of faith, bound by his “monkey brain” instincts. He lusts after German tourists and apprentice nuns, and swaps drug stories with a former Chicago stockbroker turned monastery-philosopher-in-residence. Enlightenment, it seems, is kind of hard to come by.
Photo by Wandering Angel via Flickr (Creative Commons).
‘Long-Neck Women’ Fight Against Confinement in ‘Human Zoos’
by Michael Yessis | 04.22.08 | 11:20 AM ET
Marie Claire, The Age and the Times UK are among the publications with recent stories about the plight of the “long-neck women,” a group of Kayan refugees from Burma who are known for wearing brass coils around their necks. Tourists from around the world flock to Northern Thailand to see them, but many of the long-neck women have apparently had enough of living in a “human zoo.” Several of the women have removed their coils and are fighting to move to New Zealand and Finland, where they have been offered resettlement.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has taken up their cause, but so far no exit visas have materialized. The stories allege that the Thai government refuses to let the women leave, fearing that their departure will hurt tourism in the region.
Pondering ‘Tourism’s Withering Impact’ in Asia
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.08 | 3:39 PM ET
Denis D. Gray looks at the rise of travel to “places once isolated by conflicts, hostile regimes and ‘off-road’ geography to which only the more intrepid travelers had earlier ventured.”
Inside the Gridlock Capital of the World
by Michael Yessis | 03.21.08 | 9:33 AM ET
It’s Bangkok, according to Time. The story seems to offer support for both sides in a brewing debate in our comments section about whether it’s more difficult to cross the street in Rome or some cities in Southeast Asia. The chaos of Bangkok sounds crazier than Rome, but so does the gridlock. And if cars in Bangkok are perpetually stopped, isn’t that an argument that it should be easier to cross there than in Rome?
Related on World Hum:
* How to Cross the Street in Rome
The Road to Happiness
by World Hum | 01.29.08 | 11:41 AM ET
Frank Bures gets lost in Eric Weiner's "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World"