Planes, trains and automobiles are what first come to mind when most people think of the act of traveling. But really, some of the best people and experiences are discovered by simply walking. This fun video, created by filmmakers Kerrin Sheldon and Gaston Blanchet, takes viewers on a long walk through 12 different – including India, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. The pair made the video over a period of eight months while shooting for their project, Humanity.TV, in which they are working to document the lives of individuals all over the world. It’s a great reminder that sometimes going back to basics and taking things in slowly is the best way to really discover places. If you agree, check out the project’s Kickstarter page.
Photo Of The Day: Pigeons Of Jaipur
Pigeons are odd birds. Common all over the world, especially in cities, they can be considered tourist attractions like in Venice‘s St. Marks Square, or considered a nuisance to city dwellers (myself included) who see them as flying rats. Still, any large flight of birds can make for a spectacular photo, such as today’s Photo of the Day from Jaipur, Rajasthan in India. The added pops of color from the building tiles, piles of spices, and ladies’ saris make a nice contrast to the grey birds, and the movement of the many wings puts you right in the action, though you might be happy to be viewing them from a distance.
Share your best travel photos in the Gadling Flickr pool for another Photo of the Day.
[Photo credit: Flickr user arunchs]
Today Hindus Celebrate Diwali, The Festival Of Lights (PHOTOS)
Across the world today, Hindus are celebrating Diwali, one of the religion’s most important holidays. Popularly known as the “festival of lights,” Hindus mark the occasion by decorating their homes with flowers, paper lanterns, powders and earthen oil lamps called Diyas, which signify the triumph of good over evil. Other traditions associated with the holiday include cleaning your house, wearing new clothes, sharing sweets with your family and lighting off firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.
Officially, the holiday celebrates the homecoming of the God Ram after vanquishing the demon king Ravana. That’s the abridged version of the story, as it took the God Ram 14 years to do so. The holiday also honors the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi.
In India, the festival also marks the end of the harvest season, so many people give thanks for the year gone by and pray for a good harvest in the year to come. However, the festival is celebrated across the globe – from Nepal to New Zealand, and also in Fiji, Britain, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.
Interested in seeing more of Diwali? Click through the gallery below to see how the festival is being celebrated in various countries, including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
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Tiger Tourism Ban In India Lifted
In July of this year, India’s Supreme Court took the bold, and controversial, step of banning “tiger tourism” throughout the country. The move was made to protect the increasingly rare big cats and to force state governments to come up with conservation plans for habitats in which the creatures live. Now the court has reversed its decision, opening the outer 20 percent of 41 national and local parks to visitors, while also giving the states just six months to comply with government mandates for protecting the nation’s tiger population.
When first announced, the original ban was met with widespread disapproval amongst conservationists and members of India’s travel industry. The country is one of the few places on the planet where visitors have the opportunity to see a tiger in the wild and as a result, many people will pay for that experience. According to the Washington Post, bookings had been down prior to the lifting of the ban, which meant less revenue generated from tourism. Quoting government sources, the Post also says that about 15% of India’s tourism is wildlife related.
Perhaps the biggest argument in favor of lifting the ban came from conservationists who reminded the Supreme Court that tourists aren’t a threat to tigers. They also noted that poachers were more likely to prey on the big cats when there were fewer people around and by banning tourism, the government had in fact made it easier for those hunters. With an estimated 1700 tigers still in the wild in India, their numbers are now a fraction of what they once were.
I’m a big proponent of using tourism dollars to support animal conservation, so I was happy to hear that India had lifted this ban. When done properly, tourism cannot just fund conservation efforts, but can also help revitalize endangered species. This has been used to great effect in Africa, where travelers pay a high fee to visit gorilla sanctuaries. But those fees go directly to helping fund protection efforts and as a result, we’ve begun to see a rise in gorilla populations. India could do something similar and help bring their tigers back from the edge of extinction too.
[Photo credit: B_cool via WikiMedia]
Mental Math: Easy Rules Of Thumb For Converting Currency
Being in a new country is full of enough culture shock – trying to remember how many dollars to the krona doesn’t need to be part of it.
After all, constantly whipping out a calculator (well, a cellphone) and spending five minutes trying to figure out if that sandwich is really a good price is a waste of your valuable vacation time.
To make things easier on you, here are some basic rules of thumb to help you guesstimate the exchange rates in a sampling of different countries.
It’s important to note that currencies fluctuate all the time, so these rules of thumb should not be used as actual foundations for financial transactions. They were based off the most recent exchange rates as of midweek on the week of November 5, 2012. If you actually want to know what the exchange rate is for a given country, look it up. And if you want to know again a week later, look it up again.
These rules of thumb are intended to help you quickly do the mental math required to figure out if, yes, that sandwich is a good deal. Or, when you withdraw 400 pesos from the ATM, roughly how much you’re taking out in US dollars.
Disclaimer: this post is admittedly America-centric, but the reality is that’s my perspective as a traveler. I hope this will help others as it’s helped me.
Asia
China: Divide all prices quoted in yuan by about 6 for a dollar estimate.
Japan: Divide all prices quoted in yen by 100 and then tack on about 25% for a dollar estimate.
India: It’s slightly more than 50 rupees to the dollar.
Thailand: Roughly, divide the prices you see in bahts by about 30 and you’ll get the dollar value.
South Korea: Divide Korean prices by about 1,000 for the USD estimate.
Europe
Eurozone: Add a 25% premium to all the prices you see.
UK: Multiply pound prices by 1.5 and then round up to guesstimate the dollar amount.
Switzerland: Roughly 1-to-1 with the US dollar.
Russia: Divide prices by about 30.
South and Central America
Mexico: Divide the prices you see by 13 for a sense of the USD price.
Guatemala: Divide prices by 8.
Belize: Cut the prices you see in half.
Colombia: This one’s a little tricky. First, divide the Colombian price you see by half. Then divide by 1,000. If you’re lazy and on the go, that’s very rough. For a slightly cleaner conversion, do that and then add back 20%.
Argentina: Divide Argentine prices by about 5.
Ecuador: Trick question. Ecuador uses the USD as its currency, so no conversion needed.
Dominican Republic: Divide prices in the D.R. by 40 for a sense of US equivalents.
Jamaica: Divide prices by 100 and then add back about 10%.
Africa & Mideast
South Africa: Divide prices by a little less than 9 for the US equivalent.
Kenya: Divide by 100, and then add back about 15%.
Morocco: Like for South Africa, divide by a little less than 9.
Israel: Divide by about 4 to estimate the US price.
Turkey: Divide by 2 and then add back 25%.
Egypt: Divide by about 6.
Oceania
Australia: For estimating purposes, roughly 1-to-1.
New Zealand: Take a 20% discount on the prices you see.
[Image credit: Flickr user Images_of_Money]
Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said to “divide by half” rather than the correct “divide in half” or “cut in half,” and has been amended.