What We Loved This Week: Beijing Street Food, a Cupcake’s Journey and More

Travel Blog  •  World Hum  •  04.10.09 | 3:34 PM ET

Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days:

Terry Ward
Snacking my way through my last day in Beijing with my friend Lilian Chou, a former food editor for Gourmet magazine. Everywhere we saw a line at a restaurant or food stall, we filed in and ordered whatever the locals were queuing up for, which included some surprising “Chinese” fare—custard tarts similar to pasteis de nata (Portugal’s mark on China), little glass jars of creamy yogurt and sweet potatoes roasted on a brazier streetside. “We need two stomachs” was Lilian’s passionate refrain as we carried on noshing, day into night.

Frank Bures
I loved this study proving what we already know: Investing in experiences makes you happier than buying a bunch of crap. More evidence here and here.

 

Pam Mandel
Escape from drudgery, an epic journey, a love affair with an exotic foreigner, a spirit changed and lessons taken home ... it’s perfect, maybe more so, because the main character is a cupcake. You read that right, a cupcake. I laughed, I cried, I’m not joking. (via Brave New Traveler)

Eva Holland
I made it back to Halifax, Nova Scotia—my undergraduate stomping grounds—for the first time in a couple of years, and loved walking around in the rain, counting all the changes since I left. (I’ll admit it: I also loved that Starbucks has finally arrived in town.)

Joanna Kakissis
Someone at the Laughing Goat cafe in Boulder was brilliant enough to crank up The Police’s “Synchronicity” album. During what was supposed to be primo study time,  “Synchronicity II” turned the place into a chair-dancing, air-drumming, lip-syncing wave of coolsters summoning that surreal cottage on a dark Scottish lake, many miles away.

Michael Yessis
I loved Their Circular Life, a project that presents 24-hour periods in five Italian locations through audio and video. The genius is in the old-school iPod-style scroll wheel control: You can speed through the images and sounds, or just settle on one shot and linger.

Jim Benning
All the talk of loosening restrictions on Cuba travel for all Americans. It feels like it just might be within reach.

Rob Verger
I loved that spring has finally arrived in New York City. Except for a random and brief snow squall on Wednesday morning, we’ve had lots of sunshine to bring people out of the woodwork. Here’s a shot I took at Columbia University, where I teach, on Sunday.

Tags: Shameless Self-Promotion, What We Loved This Week, News and Briefs


1 Comment for What We Loved This Week: Beijing Street Food, a Cupcake’s Journey and More

Grizzly Bear Mom 04.16.09 | 1:09 PM ET

I am shocked my your movie of a bi-sexual cupcake.  Mineral-vegetable sex is just unnatural!  (However Cuppie did develop new skills essential to the survival of his civiliazation.)

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