Happy Fourth of July

World Hum’s Most Read: June 28-July 3

What We Loved This Week: Def Leppard in Greece, Austrian Competence and Freedom in Colombia

The LAX Theme Building, Then and Now

As a Woman, Can I Really Travel Without Much Fear for my Safety?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Inside Slum Tourism

With mixed feelings, Rob Verger recently signed on for a tour of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. He looks back on the experience—and the photos he was allowed to take.

Break Bread and Brie in France

Great cheese abounds in the land of Gaul, but dig in and you risk committing any number of faux pas. Terry Ward explains how to partake of the nation’s famed fromage with savoir faire.

10 Wanderlust-Inducing Summer Concerts

Call it world music or global pop or the sound of the world hum. Ben Keene reveals 10 acts on tour that are sure to transport you. Plus videos.

Bryan Mealer: ‘War and Deliverance in Congo’

The former AP correspondent traveled up the Congo River. Frank Bures asks the author of “All Things Must Fight to Live” about following in the wake of Joseph Conrad. 

A Journey Into ‘The Second World’

Some bureaucrats joke that they would never claim expertise about countries they had not at least flown over. In an excerpt from his new book, Parag Khanna argues that real global understanding can only come from serious travel.

‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?

Lonely Planet author Robert Reid reviews Thomas Kohnstamm’s “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” and weighs in on the controversy surrounding it

Pico Iyer in Ladakh: ‘The World’s Last Shangri-La’

If you’re in that area, Jammu & Kashmir is even more beautiful, if you can overlook the occasional odd kidnapping or bombing....

Doug Chadwick wrote a feature story and Steve Winter shot some amazing photos of the notoriously elusive snow leopards in Ladakh’s Hemis High Altitude National Park, in this month’s National Geographic, and online here:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/snow-leopards/chadwick-text

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/snow-leopards/winter-photography

Oh man, I’m excited to read this!  Thanks for the heads-up, Michael!

-TP

My heart lurches a little bit whenever I read about Ladakh. I’m one of those “I was there when...” people and as much as I try to not be “that way” I can’t help it when it comes to Ladakh.

But I love Pico Iyer so I’m looking forward to the read almost as much as I’m afraid to see what he says about the place that is the most exotic in my memory…