Video Of The Day: ‘Half The Sky’ Visits Cambodia’s Toul Kork Road

by Jessica Marati on

Watch Meg Ryan Visits Cambodia’s Toul Kork Road on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

“Half the Sky” is more than a four-hour PBS documentary series; it is a movement to turn oppression into opportunity for women worldwide.

The documentary, which premiered earlier this month, is the film manifestation of the best-selling book by New York Times writers Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It follows Kristof and six American actresses as they travel to different countries in the developing world to explore issues facing women, from gender-based violence in Sierra Leone to sex slavery in Cambodia (featured in this clip).

The film swings from inspirational, to horrifying, to unspeakably sad. But while watching it will undoubtedly be a heavy experience, it will also be one that hopefully impels you to action – or at the very least provides a greater awareness of the things you witness in the places you travel.

The full documentary can currently be viewed only on PBS, but selected clips are available online.

‘Crap Souvenirs’: New Book Explores Souvenirs So Bad They’re Good

by Kyle Ellison on

Admit it. We’ve all bought terrible souvenirs while traveling. Even worse, occasionally even though we know it’s tacky, inauthentic, cheap, or just plain useless, we end up buying them anyway.

Why?

Because the human mind is a really weird thing. Oftentimes, however, we are so wrapped up in the “magic of the moment” that for some beguiling reason it makes total sense to spend $19.95 on a knockoff vuvuzela, which will probably end up at a garage sale a year later.

Acting upon this strange human tendency to trade hard-earned cash for complete and utter trash, author Doug Lansky has compiled a book appropriately titled “Crap Souvenirs.” The ensuing photo gallery features a snippet of some of the items you’re bound to find in the book (miniature toilet ashtray anyone?), but we also caught up with Doug for a brief Q&A on just how the inspiration for this book originally panned out.

%Gallery-168051%So, Doug. What made you want to write this book?

It was the confluence of a few things: having my collection of funny signs (Signspotting) turned into a website and book series and getting a laugh from the kitsch stuff found in the SkyMall catalog. The SkyMall catalog showed me that photos of this stuff could be just as hilarious as the real thing and the success of the Signspotting series gave my publisher confidence to roll the dice with this project.

Do you buy souvenirs when you travel?

Not usually. I used to buy stuff, but now that I’ve “settled” here in Stockholm (wife, 3 kids, 3 cats and a tiny house), I found nearly all of the souvenirs have ended up in storage. Only one that gets regular use is the Japanese high-tech toilet seat I picked up. But while waiting for the plane, my wife and I would have a playful competition to see who could spot the most comically kitsch souvenir in the gift shop. Then I started taking photos of them and eventually became a compulsive collector. I picked up a few small items, but there’s very limited shelf and wall space at home with three kids putting up their recent art projects.

I can imagine. Is there one word for the research on this project that jumps out above the rest?

One word would have to be “entertaining,” but the feeling is somewhere between a laugh and a cringe.

From your research on this project does the concept of what makes a “good souvenir” seem to vary across nationalities/regions?

I still don’t know what a “good souvenir” is. Even just defining “souvenir” was a challenge – one I spent a page or two in the book explaining. The souvenirs in this book are, you might say, so bad they’re good. Nearly all souvenirs have an element of kitsch. That’s part of their charm. But sometimes it goes delightfully overboard. There are some places (Amsterdam, London, Las Vegas, Egypt, Florida, Australia) that seem to have mastered kitsch more than others. But it may be that these places just have such a vibrant souvenir industry that they have gotten a bit experimental looking for new niches.

Well, any final thoughts on what goes in to a “crap souvenir”?

There’s no exact formula for extreme kitsch, but there are a few basic ingredients. One is the use of animal parts, like a kangaroo back scratcher. Another is the combination of things, like a ceramic Florida alligator with a thermometer built into it. A third is when you take something sacred and make it into mundane, like putting the Pope’s face on a bottle opener or putting King Tut’s face on a toenail clipper. Then you’ve got some classic irony, like when they have a souvenir shot glass. Here you’ve got an item whose basic purpose is to help you drink so much you can’t remember a thing, so you need to own it so you can remember that which you couldn’t remember.

Two Travelers Are Making Their Way Around The World … In A Tuk Tuk?

by Jessica Festa on




In possibly the slowest form of transportation known to man, backpackers Rich Sears and Nick Gough have recently set out on an interesting journey. Their goal is to break the world record for longest ride in a tuk tuk (shown above).

Beginning in France, they’re making their way to Rio de Janeiro. According to news.com.au, the men will be catching a ferry from Turkey to Egypt then traveling across India and Singapore, to the west coast of the United States. They’ll also be going through Central and South America.

The challenge isn’t so much the distance, but the speed. With a top velocity of 34 miles per hour going downhill with a breeze, they aren’t able to move very fast.

“It’s slow. Again something you think might be obvious but the average speed is a lot slower than the speedometer has been pumping our egos with,” it says on their blog. “Uphill and it starts to get embarrassing. The dizzy heights of 5-6 mph have been hit on some of the steeper hills.”

Other concerns are extreme noise, disease and weather conditions. We wish them luck, as the journey is raising money for The Tuk Tuk Educational Trust, a registered UK charity that aims to “promote and advance education worldwide.”

Sears and Gough hope to complete the journey by the end of next year. You can check out their website or follow them on Twitter to keep up with their travels or get involved.

Infographic: How Your Travel Habits Influence Your Social Media Persona

by McLean Robbins on

We love this new infographic from Expedia Media Solutions that shows what types of social media you’re most likely to use based on your travel personality. Are you a “Sunset Explorer” who barely uses social media or an “Elitist” who updates frequently with every device under the sun? After taking the quiz ourselves, we’re inclined to say that the graphic is fairly accurate, but would love to know your thoughts.

Travel Troubles: What To Do When You Lose Your Passport Abroad

by Rachel Friedman on

Some people are accident-prone. Others attract bad relationships. Me, I get into travel trouble. I once broke a piece off a plane mid flight – luckily not one crucial for flying. I’ve been robbed and swindled – in Bolivia, both in the same morning. There are friends of mine who joke that the only sure thing when traveling with me is that our flight will be canceled. I confess to you that I have even been deported.

Amazingly, I’ve never actually lost my passport. (Just a moment, please, while I race around knocking on every available wood surface in my apartment.) However, being embarrassingly prone to travel troubles, I’ve gone ahead and prepared for the highly likely possibility that this will one day occur. Here’s what to do when you lose that prized official ID, according to various subjective (me) and objective (the government) sources.

Panic
What? You’re not panicking? You’ve lost your PASSPORT. You might be stuck in a place that is not America FOREVER. I’m kidding. Do not panic. Definitely don’t. Do you know what happens when you panic? Well, it has something to do with the shift of blood flow and “fight or flight” and sweating and, see, it’s all very scientific so let me simplify things by saying that it’s the reason all those big-breasted, short-skirted girls run up the stairs in horror movies. In your case, it’s the reason you are currently braced against the nearest wall, starting to breath funny, and wondering if 25-year-olds ever have heart attacks. This will keep you from taking the necessary steps to remedy this unfortunate situation. So stay calm, guy. Everything is going to okay.If You See Something, Say Something
Of course, you might not have actually seen anything at all. When I was robbed in La Paz, the culprits set up an elaborate spit-on-the-target-and-abscond-with-her-stuff-while-she-is-wiping-disgusting-goo-off-her-neck ruse. I had no clue who these ninjas were. (Side note: referring to the people who rob you as “ninjas” makes you feel better than admitting they were probably not particularly gifted 12-year-olds.) Still, I filed a police report and you should, too. It’s important for making claims with travel insurance, at the very least. And you can rest a little easier that night knowing you’ve done your small citizen part to fight crime in Gotham City (or wherever you are).

Get thee to an Embassy
Turns out you’re not spending a lazy morning sucking down espressos at that quaint little bakery in rural France. Nope, you’re on the next train back to far less friendly Paris to visit your embassy. Here’s what will happen when you get there, according to the Bureau of Consular Affairs website: “You will need to speak to the American Citizens Services unit of the Consular Section … You will need to complete a new passport application. The consular officer taking an application for replacement of a lost, stolen, or misplaced passport must be reasonably satisfied as to your identity and citizenship before issuing the replacement. In virtually all cases this can be done through examination of whatever citizenship and identity documents are available, conversations with the applicant, close observation of demeanor and replies to questions asked, and discussions with the applicant’s travelling companions or contacts in the United States.” My unsolicited advice: don’t make any jokes about being a double agent or respond “Jason Bourne” when asked your name. I understand the embassy has a terrible sense of humor.

Ask for Help
Before traveling to any foreign country, I make sure to learn a few key phrases. How much does this cost? Where is the nearest restroom? Is what I’m eating right now technically food or are you just hazing unsuspecting tourists? Useful things like that. Another helpful sentence would go something like this: Help, please, I’ve just been robbed and I need to use your Internet/phone/bottle of tequila. (If you lost your passport over-indulging in the local wine, say, I recommend neglecting the specifics of how you ended up ID-less and only wearing one shoe and concocting a more sympathetic storyline. The travel gods will forgive you the white lie.) Losing a passport sucks, no doubt about it. But you might look at it as an opportunity, albeit an unwanted one, to witness for yourself the kindness of strangers. In any given place, even New York City, I promise you, there are compassionate locals ready to offer help. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find them.

Back it Up, Back it Up, Back it Up
This is more of a post (or ideally pre) passport loss piece of advice – common sense but often ignored, as is the way with much common sense. You should have copies of all your important documents: passport and driver’s license, boarding passes, traveler’s checks. If you’re a real overachiever, you’ve stashed copies with a loved one back home and somewhere in your luggage – not to mention scanned the stuff and saved copies in your email. I’ve heard that getting new passport photos taken abroad can by a royal pain in the embassy so you might consider bringing these along for the journey, too.

[Flickr image via Howdy, I’m H. Michael Karshis]