Pico Iyer once wrote that “Setting foot in Hong Kong’s new airport was the first time I felt I was stepping into the 21st century.” Others clearly agree: Hong Kong International has just been named the world’s best airport—for the seventh time—based on a passenger survey conducted by a U.K. consulting firm that collected a whopping 8 million responses. Coming in second and third: Singapore’s Changi Airport and Seoul’s Incheon Airport.

Related on World Hum:
* Travel Writers Pick Their Favorite Airports

Photo of Hong Kong International Airport by ztij0 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

A photographer caught children in Hong Kong making radish dim sum—well, at least one of them was working on it—in preparation for Chinese New Year celebrations. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Disneyland officials are boldly re-branding the year of the rat, which begins next month. In an effort to appeal to local traditions, the Wall Street Journal reports, “Disney is suiting up Mickey and Minnie in special red Chinese New Year outfits, and declaring 2008 the Year of the Mouse.” The Main Street parade features a dragon dance and an appearance by none other than the god of wealth. (No, not Robert Iger.)

The latest Ang Lee movie has been censored in mainland China, so throngs of the country’s citizens are traveling to Hong Kong specifically to see the uncut version. “Travelers have made their way to Hong Kong to see movies before, of course, but always in much smaller numbers,” reports the New York Times. “Critics and commentators here attribute the interest in Mr. Lee’s movie to a variety of factors, from word of mouth about risqué sexual content stripped from the censored version, to a sensitive political subtext rarely seen in mainland cinema, to the fame of the Academy Award-winning director.”

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The (very cool) photo below was shot in Hong Kong recently during the filming of the next Batman film, “The Dark Knight.” That’s a C-130 cargo plane. As an interesting aside, all hasn’t gone smoothly with the filming. Reports the Guardian: “The trouble began when director Christopher Nolan requested that Hong Kong’s inhabitants leave their lights burning during the film’s night-time shoots in order to present the city in its full, illuminated glory. Letters were reportedly sent to 60 companies along the city’s waterfront area, while building managers were told to ask all residents to comply with the request.” Nolan was met with a collective shrug. According to reports, 80 percent of those asked ignored the request.

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The streets of Hong Kong filled with revelers and protesters yesterday, the 10th anniversary of the date Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule. It was either a great occasion for students to meet and “have a fun day,” according to China’s People’s Daily Online, or, according to Western media reports, a day for pro-democracy advocates to once-again rally for more freedoms. World Hum contributor Daisann McLane put the situation into context in a recent story for Slate.

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The U2 singer, global activist and fly sunglasses wearer devoted his attention to Africa as guest editor of Vanity Fair. This week travelers, too, are taking great interest in the continent as well as in China, Savannah, “Glacier Girl” and the hot spot of Boise, Idaho. Here’s the Zeitgeist:

Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
10 out of 10 for Hong Kong
* The skyline (pictured) is No. 3 on the list.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in Savannah, Ga.

“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Boise, Idaho

Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Beijing: Forbidden No More
* The flood of stories about China continues.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Hut-to-Hut Hiking in New England

Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
SeatGuru.com

Most Read Feature
World Hum (this week)
Suffering and Smiling: Vanity Fair Does Africa
* The issue’s best story: Binyavanga Wainaina’s Generation Kenya.

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
‘Glacier Girl’ Set to Complete Flight Begun 65 Years Ago

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When foreign correspondents aren’t chasing down insurgents or dissidents, they’re wandering the back streets of their adopted cities, ferreting out the best croissant in Paris or bike path in Rome. A new travel blog from the International Herald Tribune—dubbed Globespotters—taps into this collective wisdom via posts from reporters in six world cities. In IHT’s words, it’s “an online resource where IHT reporters and editors (and readers too) share up-to-the-minute tips and recommendations about the cities where we live and visit.” So far, it’s a lively mix of local color and tips on things to do. My favorite: Joyce Lau’s take on the expat bacchanal that passes as Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong.

Photo by Harris Graber via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

This week travelers were drawn to roads in California, Vietnam and danger zones throughout the world. Italy, France, Hong Kong and a discount startup airline were also top of mind. Here’s the Zeitgeist.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Puglia: Italy’s Heel Has It All, Except Tourists

Most E-mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Practical Traveler: As Hotel Prices Rise, a Villa May Be a Bargain

Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
Top 5 Most Dangerous Roads of the World
* The photos will make your stomach churn.

Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
U.S. Highway 395: California’s ‘Mother Road’
* Here’s the accompanying photo gallery.

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
‘American Shaolin’: Interview with Matthew Polly

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
Fodor’s French for Travelers

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

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And airplanes and, uh, guns, too. This week the Zeitgeist takes travelers to Oklahoma, Oregon, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain and Pakistan.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
New National Historic Landmarks in 10 States
* Shown here: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Most E-mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in Portland, Ore.

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Passenger on Northwest Pilot: ‘He Was Having a Fit, Swearing Up a Storm’

Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
The Costas Turn Chic and Cheerful

Most Read Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
Italy

Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Wikitravel
* Bad publicity, good publicity and now more good publicity for the user-driven site. 

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
* This book became a movie with Diane Lane. 

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* This book will become a movie with Julia Roberts.

Top Rated “Your Pick” Video
LonelyPlanet.tv (current)
Hong Kong Guerilla Guide

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Travelers appear top of mind this week, not destinations. The journeys of Daisann McLane, Bill Bryson, Paulina Porizkova, Martin Sargent, celebrity watchers and Dora the Explorer lead off the Zeitgeist.

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Daisann McLane: ‘Learning Cantonese’ in Hong Kong

Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel Song Medley by Dora the Explorer

Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Paulina Porizkova: A Model Traveler

Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Oscars Tourism: Celebrity Sightings and a Hotel Within Gawking Distance of the Red Carpet

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* We like this book.

Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Area-Daily.com Launches

Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Farecast

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods

Most Dugg Travel Podcast
Digg (current)
Martin Sargent: Web Drifter

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Back in 2003, we noted a terrific story by Daisann McLane about studying Cantonese in New York City’s Chinatown. Many Chinese immigrants thought she was crazy to take up Cantonese. After all, Mandarin is the official language in China and is more commonly spoken. But as McLane wrote, “[W]hen I spread my Chinese homework out on restaurant and coffee shop tables, unexpected things happen. It is as if a door swings open and Chinatown invites me into the house to meet the family.” Since then, McLane, a columnist at National Geographic Traveler and the author of Cheap Hotels, has not only continued her studies, but she picked up and moved to Hong Kong. To document her experience there, she launched a blog earlier this month called Learning Cantonese. I recently traded e-mails with her about it. 

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USA Today’s Jayne Clark asks a handful of travel writers about their favorite airports in today’s edition. Among them: The Naked Tourist author Lawrence Osborne, who notes about his favorite, Wamena, Irian Jaya, on the island of New Guinea, “It’s the anti-airport. It has almost no staff. There is no glass in the windows, just naked men in pig fat jumping up and down.” Hmmm. Could be worth a trip just to see that.

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