Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir called Western tourists in Indonesia “maggots, snakes and worms,” and he urged his followers not to tolerate them in a sermon captured on video by Australian university student Nathan Franklin. 

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When writer Stephen Brookes told friends he planned to visit Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in July—the height of monsoon season—they said he was crazy. “You’re certain to get stranded in your hotel, swatting at mosquitoes and hoping you don’t come down with malaria,” came the general response. Well, Brookes and his wife proved them wrong. In a story for the Washington Post, Brookes recounts a lovely trip to Angkor in the off-season, when costs are low, tourists are sparse, and visitors can take in the temples at their leisure. 

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We recently noted the flying corpse on a British Airways flight. Now comes news that a dead man spent hours on an Indonesian train before he was discovered in a locked lavatory. Understandably, the man’s daugther isn’t happy with the train company.

Including Garuda. But don’t take our word for it. An audit by Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry has found that “none of 20 major Indonesian passenger and cargo airlines fully met national safety regulations,” the Los Angeles Times reports. The audit follows two fatal crashes this year alone. Australian officials have warned citizens to consider the findings when planning trips.

The Silk Road, Mexican beach towns, Chiang Mai and those poor passengers stuck on the tarmac at JFK were on travelers’ minds this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist:

World’s Best Travel Value: Island
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Bali, Indonesia
* The rest of the top five: Phuket, Thailand; Ko Samui, Thailand; Langkawi, Malaysia; and Borneo.

World’s Best Travel Value: City
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Chiang Mai, Thailand
* The rest of the top five: Kathmandu; Mendoza, Argentina; Hanoi; and Bangkok.

Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Armrest Seating, Anyone?
* Perhaps those stranded JetBlue passengers can relate.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Viewing Two Chinas From a Stop on the Silk Road

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Check Out Under-the-Radar Mexican Cities and Beach Towns

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

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List

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

Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
* It makes this seem not so far fetched. 

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Anyone who surfs or knows people who do realized years ago that the sport had shed its dirtbag image—that doctors and attorneys now eagerly lay claim to the title “surfer” (even if they don’t much surf) and that big bucks are spent on travel to remote, uncrowded breaks in places like Central America and Indonesia. Now, the New York Times is on the case. In a front-page story yesterday, the Times breathlessly reported: “For $10,000 a day, you can have the ultimate surfing sojourn in Indonesia aboard the 110-foot Indies Trader IV, a sort of floating hotel with 15 cabins, a helipad and three-course meals with wine. A motorized tender takes you to the waves.” And about today’s surfers: “This new species of surfer contributes to a booming market for vacation packages, instruction, equipment and real estate near some of the world’s best surf breaks. Like golf, surfing has become an ideal activity around which to discuss business.”

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A little hungry this week, are we? A little impatient, too, it seems. So let’s get right to it. This week’s Zeitgeist takes us through Italy, Indonesia, India, New York City, Mexico City, the Riviera Maya, Russia, Austin and all the way across the United States.

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 E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
The Global Gourmet
* This is the last story ever filed for the New York Times by the late R.W. Apple.

Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Michael Hess: The “On the Road” Google Maps Mashup

Most Popular Food and Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt Opens In NYC

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Coordinates: 7 32 S 110 36 E
Elevation: 9,550 feet (2,911 m)
To call volcano tourism a hot trend would not only be a bad pun, but also somewhat of an exaggeration; yes it exists, but it isn’t for everybody. For those climbers and thrill seekers with summer plans to visit the slopes of Mount Merapi, the youngest and most active volcanic peak in Indonesia: Start looking elsewhere. Ash and gas have been issuing from the cone for several weeks and authorities monitoring Merapi’s activity have encouraged the local population to evacuate the area, warning that a major eruption is increasingly likely. Located on the island of Java where the Australian tectonic plate meets the larger Eurasian plate, this menacing mountain last erupted in 1994.

-- is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.

Rachel Donadio has a great piece in the New York Times Sunday Book Review this week chronicling the popularity of the oft-derided genre known as chick lit in countries around the world. It’s taken hold in India and throughout Eastern Europe. In Scandinavia, it’s marked by a “certain existential angst.” In Indonesia, it has inspired a related genre known as “fragrant literature.”

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More than 20 new frog species, a rare tree kangaroo never before seen in Indonesia, four new butterfly species and five new types of palms are some of the astonishing findings reported by scientists during an expedition to a remote mountain jungle in the west of New Guinea. Predictably, it’s being likened to heaven on Earth. “It’s as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth,” said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the U.S., Indonesian, and Australian expedition, according to a Reuters report on CNN.com. Beehler said they “just scratched the surface.” Sounds like further evidence that undiscovered locales still await intrepid souls (or, at the very least, heavily funded scientists) in the world’s most far flung corners. Note to intrepid backpackers and Starbucks developers: According to the story, the area is now “off limits to most visitors.”

They took over the island of Mengkudu in the Indonesian archipelago after villagers on a neighboring island claimed the Australian running a surf camp there wouldn’t allow them to visit. According to a news report, David Wylie, 54, had obtained permits to run the camp, which has been open since 2001. But an army colonel involved in the operation said Wylie had yet to obtain other necessary permits. “My troops raised the Indonesian flag when they arrived on Mengkudu,” the colonel said. “It is ours.” The camp’s future wasn’t clear, but the colonel said of Wylie, “[W]e do not want to kick him off the island.”

We recently pointed to a USA Today story noting that terrorist attacks don’t have the crippling economic effects they once did. So what will come of Saturday’s bombings in Bali, which killed 26 people? An article in Forbes online suggests tourism will rebound relatively quickly. “Although Saturday’s blasts will mean a sharp fall in Bali’s tourist arrivals, analysts said the experiences of other target cities suggest its beaches will be packed again within a year or two,” the article states. That’s good news for Bali and bad news for terrorists.