Travel Read: The Weight of Silence, Invisible Children of India

by Sean McLachlan on

If you’ve been to India you’ve seen them–they beg at the train stations, or collect plastic from the side of the road, or sell candy and tissues on the buses. They’re India’s 25 million abandoned children, and the ones you see count themselves lucky. Millions more are worked to death in sweatshops or brothels, or simply left in the wilderness to die.

The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India, a new book by Dog’s Eye View Media, explores the struggles of India’s homeless or orphaned children. Author Shelley Seale’s discovery of this human tragedy led her life in a whole new direction, and it is this that gives the book its impetus. Not only do we learn about the struggles of India’s children, and the living saints who dedicate their lives to helping them, but we watch Seale’s personal transformation from a Yuppie into something much more real.

Besides her personal story, two things really set this book apart from the “see the horrible things happening in the Third World” genre. Firstly, it takes a mostly positive spin. While Seale doesn’t flinch from the uglier side of Indian life, she focuses on the children’s resilience and dreams. They don’t come off as poor victims waiting for rich peoples’ help. Her main point is that these kids aren’t in need of handouts, but the basic human right of a childhood.

The second strong point is that the book is well grounded in fact, skillfully interwoven with the narrative so that it never slows down the writing. We learn such nasty tidbits such as that rural doctors give their patients the wrong medicine 50% of the time, or that only one in three rural medical practitioners know how to make rehydration solutions to treat diarrhea, and horrible statistics about child prostitution. All of these are carefully annotated.

The Weight of Silence is part travelogue, part expose, and gripping reading. The fact that this book shows deep respect for India’s people while not ignoring their faults sets this book apart. Even people who have traveled extensively in India will learn a lot.

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Spring Airlines gets international approval

by Stephen Greenwood on

Remember that story about China’s Spring Airlines considering standing-room only tickets?

Well, if they ever get around to realizing that glorious dream, standing-room only could be slowly making it’s way closer to you.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) ruled on Thursday that the airline will be able to operate specific international routes. Spring Airlines is the second private firm that has received this approval by the CAAC.

This will initially open up short-distance routes, such as flights to Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea and Russia. The airline was founded in 2005 and currently has 13 Airbus 320 passenger jets, with 30 domestic air routes.

Any volunteers for when Spring Airlines decides to take standing room to trans-Pacific flights?

High-tech bridge to connect Singapore’s Sentosa Island

by Stephen Greenwood on

Construction began Tuesday on a 620 meter boardwalk that will connect Sentosa Island with Singapore’s mainland.

The resort’s annual 5 million guests will be able to access the island on foot come November 2010. A series of covered travelators will be capable of transporting an estimated 8,000 guests per hour in each direction.

The boardwalk will be lined with retail, food and beverage outlets and be divided into five garden theme areas – mangrove, rock garden, terrain / hill, coastal flora and rainforest.

The development is expected to cost USD $48.6 million, and will accomodate a surge in visitors next year when Resorts World at Sentosa opens. The island currently features two five-star hotels, two golf courses, and will be home to Universal Studios Singapore when it opens in early 2010.

And if all that isn’t enough to pique your interest, then maybe our list of Summer festivals in Singapore will.

More tech specs can be viewed via the Sentosa Leisure Group’s official press release.

Bruce Lee’s former home may become a museum

by Katie Hammel on

The former home of actor and martial arts master Bruce Lee may eventually become a museum dedicated to the deceased star. Officials in Hong Kong have launched a competition to design the museum, and the owner of the home has offered to donate it and the HK$100,000 ($13,000) in prize money for the winner.

The home is currently a Hong Kong “love hotel” that rents rooms by the hour, but would be transformed into a memorial hall, kung fu studio, library and film archive that showcases the life and work of Lee. According to Hong Kong officials, Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, will be on the panel of judges that also includes architects and town planners. In preparation for the museum, the government has begun collecting Lee’s personal items and has commissioned documentaries about the creation of the museum and the life of Lee, who died in 1972 at age 32 from swelling in his brain.

The winner of the contest will be announced by the end of the year, but there’s no word on when construction of the museum would begin.

Traveling the globe with Nat Geo Student Expeditions

by Kraig Becker on

In the summer of 2008, National Geographic launched a fascinating and inspiring project called Student Expeditions, which aimed to send high school students to a variety of exotic locals around the globe, immersing them in that location through unique, special projects that give them the opportunity to experience the culture and landscapes of the place, while learning something special in the process. The program is now in its second year, and even more students are getting the opportunity to take part in this amazing travel experience.

The students can choose to travel to Australia, Belize, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Galápagos, Iceland, India, Mexico’s Yucatan, Peru, Rome and Greece, Spain and Tanzania. Each of the trips is three weeks in length, and along the way, the students, and their trip leaders, are joined by National Geographic experts, who share their insights and unique perspectives on each of the countries. These experts are generally writers, photographers, explorers, and so on, and they typically spend between four to eight days traveling with the high schoolers.

While traveling in their selected country, each of the students adopts an On Assignment Project, which are specially designed to teach them something about the country, while offering an experience that only National Geographic can deliver. The projects focus on photography, filmmaking, wildlife and conservation, and more. The trip leaders and experts work closely with the young travelers to help complete the assignments, and create a lasting travel experience unlike any other.

Many of the studens have been blogging their travels all summer long, and you can read all about the Student Expedtioins experience by clicking here. You’ll find thoughts on trekking glaciers in Iceland, exploring Inca culture in Peru, and visiting the sites of ancient empires in Rome and Greece, amongst many others.

And if there are any students out there that are interested in joining future Student Expeditions, click here to begin the application process.