Travel Blog
Meet Li Yang, ‘China’s Elvis of English’
by Michael Yessis | 04.23.08 | 9:51 AM ET
Terrific story in the New Yorker about the Beijing man behind “Li Yang Crazy English,” whose slogans include “Conquer English to Make China Stronger!” Evan Osnos writes that Li is “the world’s only language teacher known to bring students to tears of excitement.” Officials in Beijing have turned to him to teach English to his compatriots before the Olympic Games this summer, but as Osnos writes—and that slogan hints at—it’s about more than language.
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Yahoo! BuzzNew Orleans Tourism Almost Doubled in 2007
by Michael Yessis | 04.22.08 | 3:29 PM ET
New Orleans welcomed 7.1 million visitors last year, compared to 3.7 million in 2006. Both figures fall short of pre-Katrina levels—10.1 million people traveled to the Crescent City in 2004—but the growth is a great sign for one of the most interesting and historic cities in the U.S. Travelers are returning despite, as the AP puts it, “concerns about violent crime, misgivings about having a good time when people are still rebuilding their lives, and misperceptions that parts of the city are still under water.”
Related on World Hum:
* Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?
* In New Orleans, A Streetcar Returns
Photo by Michael Yessis.
Paul Theroux on Why He Likes Obama
by Jim Benning | 04.22.08 | 2:04 PM ET
I just stumbled across this recent interview the travel writer and novelist gave in Bangkok on YouTube:
‘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.
Pico Iyer on ‘The Quiet American’: It’s ‘a Private Bible’
by Jim Benning | 04.22.08 | 11:00 AM ET
The seemingly omnipresent Pico Iyer popped up on NPR yesterday with a You Must Read This essay on “The Quiet American.” Why does he always pack the Graham Greene novel in his carry-on? “The novel asks every one of us what we want from a foreign place, and what we are planning to do with it,” he says. “It points out that innocence and idealism can claim as many lives as the opposite, fearful cynicism. And it reminds me that the world is much larger than our ideas of it, and how the Vietnamese woman at the book’s center, Phuong, will always remain outside a foreigner’s grasp. It even brings all the pieces of my own background—Asian, English, American—into the same puzzle.” Iyer recently spoke with World Hum about Tibet and the Dalai Lama.
The Poetry of Walking
by Jim Benning | 04.22.08 | 10:33 AM ET
“Wandering, reading, writing—these three activities are for me intimately linked,” writes Edward Hirsch in an essay in Sunday’s Washington Post.
Be a World Hum Intern
by World Hum | 04.22.08 | 10:31 AM ET
We have a great opportunity in the Washington, D.C., area for an aspiring travel writer or editor. Internship responsibilities include:
Tax Rebate Tourism
by Jim Benning | 04.21.08 | 2:31 PM ET
According to one study, 10 percent of Americans plan to use their stimulus-package tax rebate checks on travel. If that includes you, the San Francisco Chronicle has some ideas about where to go.
Where the Minister of Tourism is King
by Eva Holland | 04.21.08 | 2:00 PM ET
Photo by garybembridge via Flickr (Creative Commons)
I came downstairs the other morning and picked up the local paper, the Barbados Advocate. The top headline, in bold two-inch font, was: “Balance Needed.” Most places in the world, I’d expect the story that followed to be about deficit spending—but here in Barbados, the lead story was about striking the right balance between condo-style visitor accommodations and traditional hotels. Almost every morning, in fact, the latest pronouncements from the minister of tourism—whether on the growth of condo-style tourist digs or the need to seize a share of the “health and wellness” tourism market—take top billing.
Haiti for Lifestyle Magazines
by Jim Benning | 04.21.08 | 1:00 PM ET
Jason Wilson reconsiders a magazine story he wrote a decade ago about Haiti, in which he predicted Haitian-grown gourmet coffee offered the struggling country hope. “Ten years later, I now freely admit that this was typical lifestyle-magazine hyperbole,” he writes in The Smart Set. “My excuse? I wanted badly to write a positive story about Haiti, quite possibly the only positive story about Haiti that would appear in the American press that year, or in any year. Looking back on my visit now, I realize how misguided my plans turned out to be.”
Related on World Hum:
* Q&A with Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named ‘Jason’
‘Peter Fonda is an Upgrade Junkie’
by Jim Benning | 04.21.08 | 11:20 AM ET
Can you believe it? Shocking! Sunday’s Los Angeles Times published a run-of-the-mill overview of various issues surrounding frequent-flier miles—yes, some airlines make using miles a major pain. But at the end of the piece, a consultant offered inside info on the frequent-flier-redeeming habits of the stars. Hey, inquiring minds gotta know. Quincy Jones apparently applies his miles toward tickets for friends. Meanwhile, the consultant says, “Peter Fonda is an upgrade junkie. He uses all his miles for upgrades because he never wants to fly coach.” Yes, a true Easy Flier.
Pakistan’s New Multiplex: ‘A Slice of America with Bollywood Flavoring’
by Michael Yessis | 04.21.08 | 10:23 AM ET
Great piece in the Washington Post about a new multiplex theater opening in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The country lifted a longtime ban on screening Indian movies in February, and now the country is poised for a movie—and cross-cultural—boom.
World Hum’s Most Read: April 12-18
by World Hum | 04.18.08 | 4:47 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) Thomas Kohnstamm’s Lonely Planet: The Firestorm Around ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
2) A Clash of Civilizations Over Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’
3) How to: Wear a Sari in India
4) Why the World is Avoiding America (pictured)
5) How to: Use a Squat Toilet
What We Loved This Week: Black Cab Sessions, Travel Poetry and Hamburg Airport Food
by Michael Yessis | 04.18.08 | 4:43 PM ET
Michael Yessis
I’ve been fixed on cab culture, with the Black Cab Sessions becoming a minor obsession. The project consists of songs sung and filmed in the back seat of a hired car, then posted online. According to the website, performances “just have to be superb. And alive.” Here’s one that meets the standard: A Big Star cover by Okkervil River’s Will Sheff.
New Travel Book: ‘Panther Soup’
by Frank Bures | 04.18.08 | 12:57 PM ET
Full Title: “Panther Soup: A European Journey in War and Peace”
Author: John Gimlette
Released: April 1, 2008
Travel genre: Blitzkrieg tourism
Territory covered: France, Germany, Austria
