The land of badly behaving Buddhists

by Josh Lew on

Cambodia’s dictator for life prime minister, Hun Sen, recently appealed to the country’s Buddhist clergy, telling them to clean up their act. The PM told a convention of top religious leaders that the actions and poor judgment of individual monks has given the whole religion a black eye.

He cited several situations including monks accepting roles as dancers in a music video and an abbot using offerings of money to buy himself a new car. Also, disputes between monks and laypeople are on the rise, according to an independent social analyst.

Hun Sen concluded his address to the holy people by saying “These are individual monks making problems. Citizens should not consider it an issue of the whole religion, but equally, we must not be careless about this issue.”

Buddhist monks have long been revered in Cambodia. Many have become involved in various forms of social work. However, it seems that the recent economic development has affected the religious world as much as the general public.

[via Phnom Penh Post]

Get more mileage out of your miles: upgrade

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Before you book your next award ticket, think about what you’re giving the airline. Yeah, you read that correctly; think about what you are giving them. In the Wall Street Journal, that font of all things financial, the secret to screwing the airlines a little harder is revealed: upgrade.

Apparently, the most common use of miles is the bland, vanilla domestic coach ticket. That’s it. While you delight in your free ticket and lament the absence of a meal, the airline truly gives you as little as possible. You get a whopping 1.2 center per mile for the basic domestic coach flight. At 30,000 miles (the average price of an upgrade in miles), which is usually the price of admission, that translates to around $360. Depending on where you want to go (and when), your $300 in “free” travel could be more expensive than just buying the ticket.

According to “experts” cited by WSJ, you can get four times as much bang for your virtual buck by upgrading instead of just cashing in. shell out the cash for the coach ticket, the Journal advises, and use those miles for the upgrade. You could pick up a few thousand dollars in value … and that’s just on the domestic side. Fly overseas, and you could shaft the airlines to the tune of almost 8 cents per mile!

Of course, the party isn’t going to last forever. Airlines are beginning to add “co-pay” fees to upgrade awards. United is planning to pull the trigger on this starting July 1, 2009. You already take it on the chin with American, which can slam you for $700 to upgrade a discount coach seat on a flight to Europe. On Continental, it can reach $1,000. Nonetheless, upgrading still delivers the most value per mile.

And, there’s one more factor that tips in your favor. If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the midst of a nasty economic climate. All those large, faceless corporations are forcing more of their employees – even those more accustomed to having a bit more legroom – to ride with the proletarians. That means more seats will be open up front, and you can cash in.

How to Travel the World: website with the nuts and bolts

by Jamie Rhein on

Although the focus of the website How to Travel the World is to help folks plan for long term travel, also known as a gap year trip, the information is useful for anyone. Whether you’re a person who is going to travel for a few days or months–years even, browsing the site is a place to start planning.

Various links provide info on everything you need to consider from how much money to budget to tips on what to pack.

Before you buy a plane ticket, the budget page can help you decide where to go on a trip in order to match your cash flow. Thailand is cheap. Australia is expensive.

Buying a plane ticket and packing are obvious details. The site also includes those items that you might forget to consider before leaving home, particularly if you’re going to be gone for a long time. The page “Pre-Trip Planning” offers a handy list that ranges from bank accounts to wills.

Anyone who has traveled for an extended period of time knows about the almost certain let down that happens once a trip is over. Reading the section “Coming Home” is one way to ease the transition. Personally, I think it’s helpful to know these details before heading out on a trip in order to be prepared ahead of time.

Another helpful page is the F.A.Q where readers submit questions and receive answers. Any travel jitters you might be having could be calmed by browsing through this one.

The How to Travel the World is written by folks who are long term travelers and edited by Matthew Kepnes who also writes the Nomadic Matt Travel Site.

Through the Gadling Lens: capturing your visit home for the holidays

by Karen Walrond on

Well, it’s the countdown to the holidays, folks — and whether or not this is your favourite time of the year, or you don’t celebrate any year-end holiday at all, chances are you’re about to get a few days off. Chances are also pretty good that you’re going to be traveling back home for the days to come; or, in the alternative, family is coming to visit you. So rather than dread the tension created by being around your family for an extended period, here’s how to capture some of the best of being back home for the holidays.
1. Snap a shot of the greeting. If you’re picking people up at the airport (or are being picked up), or are just doing the standard road-trip to the old homestead, have your camera ready to capture the hugs, the slaps on the backs, the “Wow, you’re looking great!” moments that happen as soon as you see loved ones. The greetings are often my favourite parts of trips — it’s when all the baggage tends to fall away, and the fleeting moment everyone expresses their genuine happiness to see each other. While, obviously, it would great to ensure that you’ve covered every technical aspect necessary to make a crisp perfect shot, this actually isn’t the time for posed images, or re-shots: so what if the resulting image is blurry, or slightly out-of-focus? The point is to capture the emotion of the greetings as best as you can — and even if the shots aren’t technically perfect, chances are you’ll cherish the images in years to come all the same.

2. Get portraits of the kids. If this is like most of our family gatherings, this might be the first time in a while that all the kids (i.e., all the little cousins) actually get together to play together. Let them go to it, and then, while they’re not paying attention to you, grab some shots of them enjoying each other. And grab some shots of them looking right at you as well. Not only will this capture some great holiday memories for you, but it will also mark their milestones as they grow (you’ll be able to remember when you took the picture because of the holiday associated), and likely become cherished images for them when they’re adults.

3. Capture some images of the everyday chores. Most family gatherings end up revolving around one main room in the house: the kitchen. Not only should you grab some snapshots of people hanging around the kitchen or sitting around the table, but go ahead and capture some images of Aunt Pearl making her world renowned pecan pie. Or the ingredients that are sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be turned into Cousin Brad’s famous blueberry pancakes. Or the flour-covered hands of the kids as they roll out the cookie dough. Or your dad lighting the fireplace on the first night. Even though these images might not be posed, they will capture the atmosphere of everyone as they relax into the daily routine of being family.

And if you are celebrating a holiday, be sure to capture some shots of some of the tasks related to the day: children’s hands hanging Christmas ornaments or lighting candles of the menorah, say. These shots will add some holiday meaning to your collection of images.

4. Rediscover your home town. If you’re returning to your childhood home, take some time to take a walk down memory lane: slip away from everyone, and go walk through your city’s streets, visit your favourite old haunts, marvel at how much things have changed (or how much they’ve stayed the same), and grab a few shots. There’s no reason to stick with your family 24/7 while you’re on your visit, and chances are you’re going to want some alone time. Take it — but take your camera along, as well.

5. Snap the iconic shots. If you and your family are celebrating a holiday, be sure to capture the iconic shots: the visit to Santa, the midnight wrapping of the Christmas gifts, the lit menorah or tree, whatever. It’s the holidays, after all! It’s important to capture the meaning behind why you are all getting together. And incidentally, if you’re the time that likes to send out greeting cards, as you take these iconic shots, think about which ones might make great greeting card images for next year’s holidays. That way, you won’t find yourself scrambling looking for holiday-themed images come November 30th, when you start panicking about what your cards should look like.

6. Grab a shot of everyone together. I know, I know — it’s cheesy, but this is one of those shots where it’s difficult to gather everyone together to do it at any time during the rest of the year, and besides — as silly as it seems now, these images are the ones you’re going to love 20 years from now. To make the whole experience less painful, here are a couple of tips:

a) If you use a tripod to take the shot, where you get everyone standing or sitting in place, and then you set the timer on your camera to give you time to run back into the shot and smile, then take two shots: one, where everyone is posed, and smiling and sweet, and then one where they’re not: where they all take a group family hug, or make a face, or turn their backs to the camera, or strike a ballerina pose, or a runway pose, or a whatever pose — something that will make you all laugh at the outcome.

b) To get some wonderfully natural shots, use a big mirror, situate everyone in front of it, and then snap away at your reflection as you all relate to each other in the mirror. This is actually how my husband, daughter and I take our holiday shots every year (this year’s shown above), and I’ve never failed to love the resulting shot.

Good luck getting all your great holiday shots! As always, if you have any questions on how to improve your travel photographs, don’t hesitate to e-mail me directly at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com — I’m happy to address them in upcoming posts. In the meantime, happy holidays, everyone, and safe travels!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Four paper and pencil travel games with a holiday twist

by Jamie Rhein on

After reading the news about people being stuck in various airports and bus stations where hours have led to days because of the bad weather we’re having, I thought of travel games they might want to play in order to pass the time.

All a person needs is someone to play with, paper and a writing implement. A crayon will do–or a small nub of a pencil. If a piece of paper isn’t available, look to napkins.

These games would also work at a family or friends get together and can be adapted for any age group. You can make them as hard or as easy as you want. Each can be played by more than two people, but you’ll need at least two, except for the last one.

Each of the four games are games I’ve played at various times. To see what I envision this group playing, keep reading.

Game 1:. Hangman Santa- This is a version of regular Hangman, but you can see where I’ve added a Santa hat and sack.

  • To play this game, draw a rough sketch of a gallows as shown in the finished picture. One person thinks of a word and draws short horizontal lines, one for each letter of the word. I thought of the word “travel.”
  • The other person calls out letters.
  • If the letter is in the word, the player who thought of the word, writes the letter on the appropriate line. If the letter is not there, the player draws part of a person, starting with the head.
  • With each wrong guess, a body part is added. If the opponent guesses the word before the entire person and the Santa hat and sack are drawn, that person gets a point.
  • If the entire Santa is drawn, the person loses and the point goes to the opponent.
  • Then you switch roles, and it’s the other person’s turn.
  • I can see where hanging Santa might seem grim, so you could draw a sleigh instead, although the name of the game is Hangman. I don’t know why–it just is.

Game 2: Categories (with a holiday twist)– To play this game, give each player a piece of paper and a writing implement.

  • Players divide the paper into at least five columns.
  • Across the top of each column, write the names of categories like “names,” “cities,” “countries,” “holiday songs” and “food.” The last column is “total.”
  • Then one person starts saying the alphabet to him or herself until one of the players tells him or her to stop. Whatever letter the person stops at is the letter for that round. The person tells the players that letter and each person thinks of a word that fits the category that starts with that letter. The players write the words they come up with on their own paper.
  • For example, if the letter is “J”, my answers might be “Jerry,” “Jackson,” “Jordan,” “Joy to the World” and “jello.”
  • Whoever finishes first says “Stop.” At that point, everyone must stop writing.
  • Then you calculate points by sharing answers. Each answer no one else has equals 15 points. If one person has the answer, it’s worth 10 points. If more than one person has the answer, it’s worth 5 points.
  • Add up your points for each column and write that in total.
  • Keep playing rounds until you’re tired of the game. Whoever has the most points wins.

By the way, if the same letter is picked, pick again, or any of the repeat answers don’t count. To make harder, add categories. To make easier, remove categories, and think of easier topics.

Game 3: Dots (To make this one have a holiday theme, use green and red pens, pencils or crayons.)

  • Draw dots in rows. 10 dots across and 10 dots down as shown in the picture.
  • Each person takes turns connecting two dots with a straight line, either horizontal or vertical.
  • The object is to eventually start making boxes. If you can make a box by drawing one line, write you initial in that box.
  • Sometimes you’ll be able to draw more than one box. You can only connect two dots at a time, however, but if you end up drawing a line to connect two dots and then you only need to draw one more line to make another box, you can do that one too.

Whoever has the most boxes by the time all dots are used, wins. To make the game harder and take longer, add rows of dots. In the pictured game, the other person is winning. (O = other person)

Game 4: Word Creation

  • Write the word “Happy Holidays” on a piece of paper. See how many words you can make with the letters in Happy Holidays.
  • You can only use the number of letters that are in the word. For example, there are only two a’s so your word can only have two a’s.
  • You can use letters more than once with each new word.
  • Words have to be at least three letters, (if playing with small children, don’t use this rule.
  • Whoever has the most words by the time limit you decide on wins.

Here are three words to get you started.” happy ” “holidays” and “play.”