Travel Blog
An Official Press Tour in Tibet: ‘Far From the Ideal Way to Gather News’
by Eva Holland | 06.27.08 | 10:31 AM ET
As we noted yesterday, Tibet has just been reopened to foreign visitors for the first time since March. The Globe and Mail’s Beijing bureau chief, Geoffrey York, was one of a select group of journalists invited to the region during the lockdown, and in this grimly humorous blog post he recalls the “unsolicited wake-up calls,” “official minders” and the dreaded “man with the megaphone” who made his official press tour not-so-pleasurable.
Photo by mckaysavage via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Related on World Hum:
* Travel Junkets: On the Way Out or More Popular Than Ever?
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Yahoo! BuzzJapanese Athletes Train Their Taste Buds at Pre-Olympics ‘Food Camp’
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.27.08 | 10:07 AM ET
The Games are all about cultures coming together, but unity’s hard to come by when it comes to food. Especially when you’re from Michelin-starred Japan, home to some of the choosiest eaters in the world. To prepare for three weeks of food in Beijing, Japanese Olympians are attending food training programs to get used to eating Chinese staples like cold spring rolls, fried catfish and noodles—and not with chopsticks but with the plastic cutlery that will be available at the Olympic village, Reuters reports.
Euro 2008: Germany, Turkey and a Conflict of Loyalties
by Elyse Franko | 06.26.08 | 4:41 PM ET
I spent the latter half of yesterday afternoon watching the Germany-Turkey Euro 2008 match in a Washington, D.C., bar with a bunch of Turks while maintaining a text message conversation with a German friend. It was an odd situation for me. I’m neither Turkish nor German, but I’m a self-proclaimed Turkophile with deep-seated connections to Germany. Being that I’ve spent two years out of the last five living in Germany and only five months in Istanbul, it would seem my loyalties should be painted black, red and gold. But it wasn’t so clear cut.
The Field-Tested Books Project
by Michael Yessis | 06.26.08 | 2:51 PM ET
Great concept: A collection of short essays about how “our perception of a book is affected by the place where we read it. Or maybe the other way around.” Dozens of writers were asked to chime in for the 2008 edition, including Andrei Codrescu (he read “Under the Volcano” by Malcolm Lowry, in Oaxaca, Mexico), Lauren Groff (“Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo, in Notre Dame des Landes, France) and Kevin Guilfoile (“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, on U.S. Highways I-79, I-77 and I-95). (via Jaunted)
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Literary History is Pretty Much One Disgruntled Traveler After Another’
‘Tibet Reopens to Foreign Tourism’
by Michael Yessis | 06.26.08 | 1:50 PM ET
That’s the headline on the BBC story. The AP goes with China Reopens Tibet to Foreign Tourists. And China Daily goes with a little something extra: Tibet Greets First Foreign Tourists After Riot.
Related on World Hum:
* China Blocks Travel to Ethnic Tibetan Regions
When Microbes Attack… World Landmarks
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.26.08 | 12:37 PM ET
Photo by gbaku via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Historical sites from the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia to the Parthenon in Athens are under siege from bacteria, which are blackening, cracking and defacing monuments, The New York Times reports. Can scientists stop them? Many are optimistic, others not so much. “We have to accept that at some moment [the monuments] will disappear,” said Thomas Warscheid, a geomicrobiologist based in Germany. “But we know a lot about how to conserve them for the next 20, 30 years.”
Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: PCs
by Eva Holland | 06.26.08 | 12:04 PM ET
“The number of personal computers in use worldwide has surpassed one billion,” CBC News reports, “with strong growth in developing regions expected to push that total to two billion by 2014.” Unsurprisingly, most of the growth is expected to come from “emerging markets” China and India.
Rome Braces for the ‘Dan Brown Effect’
by Michael Yessis | 06.26.08 | 12:03 PM ET
What does it mean when a world-class city like Rome looks to a big budget movie with a big American star to boost tourism? And what if that movie, “Angels and Demons,” the prequel to “The Da Vinci Code,” allegedly undermines the Roman Catholic Church? As Tom Hanks and company finish filming the movie based on Dan Brown’s book, those questions are being debated in Rome—and in the pages of the New York Times.
More Ways to Green Your Travels
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.26.08 | 11:13 AM ET
Forgoing a car or taxi (and its fumes) in favor of public transportation, walking or biking is one way you can green your vacation, says Grist magazine. Other tips include going on service-oriented vacations to work on an environmental project, buying locally-made goods (do those Greek warrior booties say “Made in China”?) and exploring an area near your hometown rather than on the other side of the world.
Travel with Kids: How to Face the Museum in Summer
by Eva Holland | 06.26.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Emily Bazelon admits that she’s not one for exposing her kids to heavy cultural programming on vacation—most of the time. But, she writes in Slate’s summer vacation special issue, “on this particular Sunday, I was also feeling the prick of inadvertent peer pressure: a friend’s offhand comment that her kids had been to the FDR Memorial more times than she could count. Whereas mine had been there never.” The resulting field trip has mixed results—and Bazelon shares some lessons learned in her essay.
First Moving Skyscraper to be Built in Dubai
by Jim Benning | 06.25.08 | 1:55 PM ET
Eighty ever-shifting floors? Oh, Dubai, you just give and give and give.
‘66 Drives’ in Southern California
by Michael Yessis | 06.25.08 | 1:33 PM ET
I didn’t think I’d ever truly get nostalgic for Southern California traffic, but Andrew Bush’s 66 Drives has made it happen. Bush attached a camera to his car and snapped images of fellow drivers while he was traveling around the area from 1989 to 1997. All 66 images from his book are online, and, as a whole, they capture the feeling of driving Southern California roads. Here’s my favorite. (via Boing Boing)
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* New Travel Book: ‘Are We There Yet?’
* Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: Cars
England to World: We’re Funny!
by Michael Yessis | 06.25.08 | 12:22 PM ET
It’s true. Even the country’s latest motto is funny (“No Motto Please, We’re British.”). So it makes sense the country is turning to its most comedic citizens and “funny spots” to promote travel.
Should We Blame the Government for Our Poor Air Travel System?
by Michael Yessis | 06.25.08 | 12:19 PM ET
David Ignatius says yes. “We speak of the airline industry as a market failure, but in a deeper sense, it’s a political failure,” he writes in the Washington Post. “The next time you’re stressing in an airport, ask yourself why government doesn’t start helping to fix this mess.”
See the World Through the Eyes of Indie Musicians
by Ben Keene | 06.25.08 | 11:23 AM ET
Some good news for travelers who have ever found the nightlife section of a guidebook lacking: Rockbuch will release an inventive compilation of the collective travel wisdom of more than 30 popular bands. Somewhat disappointingly, the “Indie Travel Guide” dedicates its coverage almost exclusively to the U.S., Canada, Scandinavia and the U.K., but it should offer readers an interesting way to experience quite a few cities nonetheless. Having once spent a couple of days wandering around Bergen, Norway, in search of a decent record shop, I, for one, am curious to know what Sondre Lerche would recommend. The book will be released in Europe first, followed by North America.
