Travel Blog
Drunken Bullfighting in Colombia: Don’t Try This at Home
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.30.08 | 12:28 PM ET
What happens to the untrained and often inebriated matadors involved in corraleja, Colombia’s amateur form of bullfighting, when they take on pissed-off bulls? New York Times writer Simon Romero likened their wounds to those in a Hieronymus Bosch painting: “intestines peeking out of a belly, bone protruding from a fractured shin, blood spurting from a gash in the buttocks.” Yeouch.
Related on World Hum:
* Is Colombia the New New Zealand?
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Yahoo! BuzzIconic Hollywood Tower Records Building Faces Wrecking Ball
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 11:40 AM ET
Photo by Alan Light via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
We recently noted the end of the rock ‘n’ roll balconies at Hollywood’s Hyatt “Riot House”—the very balconies where Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant once declared, “I’m a golden god!” Clearly, nothing is sacred in Hollywood.
Searching for the Perfect Cup of Chai
by Eva Holland | 01.30.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Last week’s post about eating patatas bravas in Washington D.C. made my mouth water—and it also got me thinking about those meals that I’ll always associate with a particular place and time. I inevitably come back from a trip with a new favorite food or drink, and just as inevitably my attempts to re-create it at home, whether in a local restaurant or my own kitchen, fail miserably. Case in point: my search for the perfect cup of chai.
Huntington Beach, Thy Name Should Not be ‘Surf City USA’
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 7:41 AM ET
We’ve been writing about nation branding quite a bit, but here’s a ridiculous story involving tourism and city branding. Thanks to a settlement, the city of Huntington Beach can officially call itself “Surf City USA.”
Chinese PM to Train Passengers Through Bullhorn: ‘I Apologize’
by Jim Benning | 01.29.08 | 1:35 PM ET
That’s right. In what reporters are terming a rare move, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited a Hunan train station and apologized for the travel chaos caused by historic winter storms and power outages around the nation. He used a bullhorn.
German Nudists Ready to Fly Naked
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.08 | 12:39 PM ET
For only 499 euros you, too, can book a spot on the July 5 flight from Erfurt to the Baltic Sea resort Usedom. Passengers can strip down once on board; the crew will remain clothed for safety reasons. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. It’s not that we’re starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that,” Enrico Hess, the managing director of the travel agency taking the bookings, told Reuters. “We’re a perfectly normal holiday company.”
Nation Branding for Laughs
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.08 | 11:11 AM ET
The winning entry in the Times of London’s contest to find a motto for Britain—“No motto please, we’re British”—is equally as funny as the winning slogan in the Washington Post’s Style Invitational competition to create mottoes for countries around the world—“England: Lie Back and Think of Us.” If you’re not an Englishwoman from the Victorian Era, you may be wondering why that’s funny. Try this.
Is Nepal Embracing Sex Tourism?
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.08 | 11:05 AM ET
As unlikely as it sounds, signs abound, according to a story in the latest issue of The Economist. The Nepal Tourism board has encouraged travel for stag weekends and put “beautiful Nepali belles” at the center of at least one campaign.
In Dubai, a Little Lyon in the Desert?
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.29.08 | 7:07 AM ET
Ah, what love (and oil money) can do. They’re fueling the so-called “Lyon-Dubai City” project, which aims to create a mini version of France’s third-largest city in the desert of the United Arab Emirates.
Britain, Brand That Nation!
by Eva Holland | 01.28.08 | 3:17 PM ET
For the first time in the history of Brand That Nation! we focus on a country that is actively seeking to re-brand itself. Reuters has reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seeking a national motto, five or six words long, to appear on passports, public buildings, and birth certificates—and heck, why not tourism brochures, too? The New York Times chimed in this weekend, too. The venerable Times of London has been collecting suggestions, and as Kate Kelland writes, “cynicism and subversion are emerging as the most prominent national characteristics.”
Official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Population: 60,776,238
Capital: London
Motto: To be determined
The Critics: ‘Rambo’ and the Plight of the Burmese People
by Eva Holland | 01.28.08 | 10:30 AM ET
A few months back I wrote about Sylvester Stallone’s latest addition to the “Rambo” series. Sly had wrapped up filming on the Thai-Burmese border right around the time that the military junta began cracking down on protesting monks, and he told the media that he wanted his new flick to help expose the cruelty of the ruling generals. “It would be a whitewashing not to show what’s over there,” he said at the time. “I think there is a story that needs to be told.”
Milwaukee Bronzes the Fonz
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.28.08 | 9:37 AM ET
“Happy Days” locale Milwaukee will debut a life-sized, $85,000 statue of leather-clad Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli this fall, the AP reports. Thumbs up cookies for all! Some gallerists were down on the idea, saying the bronze Fonz would perpetuate “low-brow stereotypes about Wisconsin.” Lighten up, people! Tune in for potential eye-rolling, however, if Brooklyn goes for a monument to a pregnant Chachi.
Photo by swanksalot via Flickr (Creative Commons).
What we Loved This Week: Ricardo Arjona, Sylvia Poggioli and Beer
by Michael Yessis | 01.25.08 | 4:03 PM ET
World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Jim Benning
I’ve been listening to a lot of Ricardo Arjona, a Guatemalan-born singer-songwriter who puts out smart narrative pop songs with a good dose of social commentary. I got turned on to him in Central America. Listening to his stuff helps me keep my Spanish skills fresh.
World Hum’s Most Read: Jan. 19-25
by Michael Yessis | 01.25.08 | 3:23 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) The (Full Moon) Party’s Over
2) Thai Airways Flight Attendants Cry, Stop ‘The Air Hostess War’!*
3) Italian Officials Consider Moving Michelangelo’s David (pictured)
4) The Trouble With ‘Smile When You’re Lying’
5) Engines at Fault in Heathrow Crash
Fire Breaks Out at Monte Carlo in Las Vegas*
by Michael Yessis | 01.25.08 | 1:46 PM ET
The three-alarm fire started on the roof of the hotel and casino around 11 a.m. Las Vegas time, according to an early report from the AP.
