Travel Blog
Driving the Silk Road—in a New $7,000 Chinese Car
by Michael Yessis | 08.30.07 | 11:21 AM ET
The Wall Street Journal’s Gordon Fairclough took the old-China-meets-new-China story on the road, driving 1,700 miles along the ancient Silk Road in a Chery A1, a compact car developed by a government-owned automaker. He and three friends spent a week driving through Western China from Urumqi to Kashgar, a route that crosses the harsh Taklimakan Desert. The trip poses challenges, among them errant sheep and sandstorms—check out picture five in the accompanying slide show. In the end, Fairclough emerges with a great portrait of a China on the verge of developing a road-tripping culture.
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Yahoo! BuzzIn Washington D.C. and Paris, Seduced by a Night View
by Julia Ross | 08.29.07 | 3:57 PM ET
Two recent stories on Paris and Washington D.C. after dark are a good reminder that taking in cityscapes by night can yield an entirely different travel experience than tromping around at mid-day. A Washington Post article and slide show on the patchwork system used to illuminate the monuments lining the National Mall nicely conveys the city’s nocturnal alter-ego, while a New York Times piece on ascending the Eiffel Tower at night actually made me want to brave the interminable line to try it.
Ethical Traveler Takes On Child Sex Trafficking in Cambodia
by Jim Benning | 08.29.07 | 3:30 PM ET
Ethical Traveler and partnering organizations recently announced a campaign against child sex trafficking in Cambodia, urging supporters to sign a letter to the nation’s tourism minister. “As many as 100,000 women and children may be at risk,” the organization states. “Cambodia’s efforts to eliminate this slave trade have been hindered by corruption, poor law enforcement, and a weak judiciary system.” To learn more, I traded e-mails with travel writer and Ethical Traveler Executive Director Jeff Greenwald.
World Hum: How optimistic are you that the Cambodian government will take appropriate action?
What Happens When the Burning Man Burns Too Soon?
by Jim Benning | 08.29.07 | 2:53 PM ET
Apparently, he must burn again. At the annual Burning Man arts festival in the Nevada desert, the 40-foot-tall wooden Burning Man effigy went up in flames early Tuesday morning, four days before the traditional bonfire was scheduled to occur. A San Francisco man is facing felony arson charges in connection with the fire.
Three Travel Tips: Fly Like a Professional Dancer
by Michael Yessis | 08.29.07 | 12:38 PM ET
Travel tips are easy to find on the Internet, but some are better than others. Each week, we’ll bring you World Hum-approved travel tips from around the Web.
For professional dancers, Mark Morris Dance Group member David Leventhal writes in the New York Times, “air travel is a bitter enemy.” Their jobs require movement, and being on a long flight means feeling “like caged tigers.”
Macau vs. Las Vegas: The Battle to be the ‘Capital of Excess’
by Michael Yessis | 08.29.07 | 11:36 AM ET
The gargantuan Venetian Macao Resort (pictured) opened yesterday with celebrations and excessive media coverage about the excesses of the new venture. It’s the largest casino in the world and it cost $2.4 billion to build. It’s the second-largest building in the world, after the Boeing manufacturing plant in Washington, according to the AP. If the Venetian Macao succeeds, Reuters reports, the annual gambling income of Macau—or Macao, if you’re so inclined—will rise to approximately $13.7 billion by 2010. That’s a staggering figure for a place that, as we posted earlier this year, surpassed Las Vegas in annual gambling revenue in 2006, $6.95 billion to $6.5 billion.
Is Tourism Development Behind Fires in Greece?
by Jim Benning | 08.28.07 | 2:18 PM ET
Fires raging in the Peloponnese (pictured) and on the island of Evia have killed more than 60 people and led to the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency in Greece. In Olympia, fires “licked the edges of the original Olympic stadium and scorched the yard of the museum, home to one of Greece’s greatest archaeological collections,” according to the BBC. Now, some are suggesting that a number of fires could have been set by arsonists “as a way of getting around Greek law which forbids development on areas designated as forest land.”
Four Travel and Food Books: Paul Richardson’s Picks
by Emily Stone | 08.28.07 | 1:17 PM ET
Today we published our review of Paul Richardson’s new book, “A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain.” We asked Richardson to recommend a few books that inspired him. Here are his picks:
Food in History by Reay Tannahill
Richardson says: “This book is permanently interesting and superbly written with enormous wit and erudition—a classic that is never far from my writing desk.”
Hawaii Superferry Hits Troubled Legal Waters
by Jim Benning | 08.28.07 | 12:48 PM ET
We noted that surfers protesting the new Hawaii Superferry blocked the giant catamaran from entering Kauai’s harbor for more than an hour Sunday. That was just the beginning of the ferry’s troubles. On Monday, according to Honolulu Advertiser, more than 50 surfers, swimmers and kayakers forced the ferry to turn back from Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor without docking. What’s more, a judge blocked the Superferry from using Maui’s Kahului Harbor, prompting the company to suspend trips to and from Maui.
Seats on First A380 Flight Up For Bid on eBay
by Michael Yessis | 08.28.07 | 11:31 AM ET
The eBay auction for tickets on the Airbus A380’s first commercial flight—from Singapore to Sydney, on Singapore Air—is only a day old, and already prices are skyrocketing. That’s bad news for airline geeks, who will have to spend a lot to gain a coveted spot on the Oct. 25 flight. It’s good news, though, for the four charities that will get the proceeds.
Airlines Make ‘Last Call’ For Paper Tickets
by Michael Yessis | 08.28.07 | 10:30 AM ET
So long paper airline tickets. By June 2008, you will be a collector’s item. So says the International Air Transportation Association. The group, which represents more than 200 airlines around the world, reported Monday that it placed its final order for 16.5 million paper tickets on behalf of its clients.
Environmentalists Protest Launch of Hawaii Superferry
by Jim Benning | 08.27.07 | 4:54 PM ET
Island-hopping Hawaii visitors now have a new way to get from Oahu to Maui or Kauai besides flying: the Hawaii Superferry Alakai, a giant catamaran that can haul 866 people and 282 cars. But not everyone is overjoyed with the new travel option. Hundreds protested the launch of the Superferry yesterday, including surfers who paddled out into the water, blocking the ferry from entering Lihue harbor in Kauai for more than an hour.
‘Paris is a Nasty City’ and Other Classic Travel Insults
by Jim Benning | 08.27.07 | 2:08 PM ET
The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn offered up his favorite critiques and insults of various places from a range of writers on Sunday. A sampling: “The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.”—Paul Theroux; “America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.”—Georges Clemenceau; and “In England there are 60 different religions but only one sauce.”—Voltaire. It was D.H. Lawrence who suggested Paris was nasty. This photo notwithstanding, we respectfully disagree.
Photo by gillesklein via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Thomas Swick’s Seven Wonders of South Florida
by Jim Benning | 08.27.07 | 1:50 PM ET
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel recently named its readers’ picks for the seven wonders of the region. They included, predictably, the Florida Everglades, Walt Disney World and the Florida Keys. On Sunday, travel editor Thomas Swick named seven other wonders, and his was just the kind of quirky list we like.
‘Into the Wild’: Has the Truth About Christopher McCandless Been Lost?
by Michael Yessis | 08.27.07 | 12:57 PM ET
As the hype for Sean Penn’s movie adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” grows, and Outside revisits one of its most famous stories, Men’s Journal has weighed in with a less-reverent take on the life of Christopher McCandless. Matthew Power asks: “Was his death a Shakespearean tragedy or a pitch-black comedy of errors? What impact has the tale and its renown had on our perception of Alaska? And perhaps most tantalizingly: Did Krakauer, and now Penn, get key parts of the story wrong?”
