Next Stellar Stop – Bohol, Philippines

Bohol is a place of unusual familiarity for me. Almost all my Pinoy and Pinay friends speak highly of the island if not above some of the other thousand islands. And I know one day I’ll be able to walk the lands and sail the seas with my brethren and sistren from my birth country, but until that day comes I’ll just have to make due with their reports and various others on the net like this Stellar feature.

Whitney Weis gives the facts on the island paradise becoming popular with nature tourists because of its eight distinctive regions. To the right you’ll find one of them pictured. Known as the Chocolate Hills visitors come year round even when the mounds aren’t so chocolate looking. For diving fanatics there are really a couple of great finds in Bohol, or should I say off of Bohol. Balicasag has some of the best diving in the entire Philippines according to her notes and Cabilao is perfect for adventurers wanting to go head-to-head with the hammerheads that frequent the waters. There’s much more to this 60-mile long Asian jewel, but you’ll need to see the Stellar piece for the rest. It wouldn’t be fair of me to tell you all here and besides I’ll have my stories to share one of these days.

More University Students Taking Part in Study Abroad

Not to rip off the Washington Post or anything today, but they’ve just got the travel news that seems worth sharing. In this article they talk about the rate at which student study abroad travel is going. I don’t know about you, but I’d say it’s booming – it has tripled in the last 20 years. Basically it used to be a time when only foreign language geeks would scurry off some place exotic like Cairo for a semester, but now more students in a wide range of majors are seeing the benefits of studying outside their mother country. Bravo, bravo!

Something like this should be a university requirement if you ask me, but it warms my heart more students are doing it anyway. I never got the chance to participate in the whole study-abroad experience in my colleges days, but I didn’t go to a traditional college and I seem to be making up fine for it these days. Kudos to the college kids out there doing it right!

Borat’s: Face of Kazakhstan?

Strangely this isn’t the first time Sacha Baron Cohen has received mention here on Gadling. Erik wrote a short blurb on the star back in November of last year when word on the streets was Kazakh government was going to sue Mister Borat / Ali G. / Cohen. According to Erik’s piece the gov officials didn’t like the way Cohen was portraying them as sexist, racist, and stupid louts. Well, I don’t know how far that lawsuit went, but Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is set for nationwide release on November 3, 2006.

After seeing the absurd previews in theaters last night I couldn’t help placing this one on my ‘to-watch’ list. What? Huh? Yup, I said it. I’m hoping to catch this one on the big screen in stadium seating, DDS surround sound – the works. Personally I find Borat disgustingly funny. Not because I feel he’s poking any sort of fun at Kazakhstan through his character, but simply pointing out the same age-old stereotypes Americans have created over time. Cohen who is Jewish makes joke about Jews, Blacks, Cowboys, and various other American folk he runs across in his great road-trip across America. Offensive and crude cinema – yes.

My only hopes for those who do know very little about the country of Kazakhstan is that they’ll go pick up a book or do some research online. It’s not that hard to learn something a little factual about the place. In fact – start by clicking here.

Gadling Audio Slideshow: Newfoundland Part III

Took a few days to pull this together, but here is the third and final installment of my Newfoundland audio slide shows. This last one takes us out sea kayaking once again in the lovely waters of Newfoundland, and in particular near the town of Trinity. The first trip out, with the good folks at Stan Cook’s, was delightful, but alas we saw no whales. This time out, however, things were different, and we not only spied a few humpbacks on the horizon, the leviathans came right up to us. Now THAT’s what sea kayaking is all about my friends.

So, I hope you take a look and once again excuse the cheesy music. And if you couldn’t tell, I am a big advocate of Newfoundland…at least in the summer. It is a lovely, culturally rich place. The perfect mix of adventuresome getaway and enriching cultural experience very close to home.

See the other audio Slide shows:
Part I
Part II
Part III

Food Sculpture

It’s nice to know that with people starving in Africa some American pastimes stay alive and well. Take competitive eating. Why, what do you suppose those poor Rwandans think when they catch ESPN3 on TV (as you know they do) and sit down with a daily bowl of rice only to see people devouring their weight in hot dogs. Yum? or What the hell?

Or better yet, take a look at this site devoted to food sculpture. A 450-pound chunk of butter sculpted to look like downtown Omaha….or a woman in repose…or a cow on a motorcycle? Folkish beauty or profligate waste?

You decide.