Red Corner: Albania as the Next Great Outdoor Destination?

by Neil Woodburn on

Albania has a reputation that’s been difficult to shake. Most outsiders only know of it as a backwards, communist hermit kingdom that is dangerous and tourist-unfriendly. This is no longer the truth–at least according to a recent article in The Tirana Times.

“Off the Beaten Path in Albania” is a rather redundant headline, considering Albania itself is way off the beaten path. Nonetheless, journalist Besar Likmeta does a good job explaining how the Ministry of Tourism is trying to rebrand the country as an attractive vacation destination by focusing on the natural wonders Albania has to offer.

The country’s “unsullied mystique” is perfect for ecotourism, for example, as well as outdoor adventure sports. A recently created NGO, Outdoor Albania, is already operating with this in mind. According to their website, Outdoor Albania, “organizes nature-friendly tours in Albania, promoting the protection of landscapes, bio-habitats, traditions and monuments.” The company currently offers trekking, snow shoeing, mountain biking, white water kayaking, rafting, climbing and ski touring (ski touring because there are no ski resorts in Albania).

These are the first baby steps of an emerging travel industry. Wouldn’t it be exciting to go and check it out yourself before it becomes just another over-touristed European country?

Red Corner: Real Estate in Montenegro

by Neil Woodburn on

With Montenegro having recently gained its independence from Serbia, you can expect to see a slew of press about this new, emerging country.

The Times (UK) has jumped on board with an article about buying vacation homes on Montenegro’s beautiful Adriatic Coast as well as various locations inland. As you might imagine with an emerging country struggling with its infrastructure, there are great deals to be had. Prices are rising quickly, however. Investors are anticipating that the real estate market in this region, which is just south of Croatia, will soon boom just as Croatia has done. Predictions that Montenegro will one day join the EU will further exasperate prices.

In the meantime, deals can be had for £30,000-£200,000. And the buying process, according to The Times, is rather easy-except for the part about mortgages not existing.

Red Corner: The Aral Sea(less)

by Neil Woodburn on

Spare a moment for the fisherman of the Aral Sea.

50 years ago they pulled 50,000 tons of fish out of this body of water annually. Today, the water is all but gone and the fish replaced with camels.

Located mostly in Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once one of our planet’s largest bodies of water–until, that is, the Soviets started dabbling with Mother Nature. In the 1960s they began tapping into the rivers that fed the Aral and diverting their waters eastward to grow cotton in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. These were not natural cotton growing regions; they were mostly desert. But the Soviet decided to force the issue nonetheless.

Over the next 30 years, the sea shrank to half its size, causing the salinity of its waters to increase to the point where fish could no longer survive. By the 1970s they had all died off. Flounders–which thrive in high salinity–were eventually introduced to the waters, but this wasn’t enough. So much of the sea had disappeared that one can stand on old docks and see nothing but sand, camels, and ships marooned in the desert. In fact, many young people who live in Aral City, once a thriving fishing town on the shoreline, have never even seen the ocean it has receded so far away.

I tried visiting about ten years ago to check it out for myself, but every Uzbek I met told me how the region was rife with disease and airborne toxins blowing through the desert.

Although the Aral Sea catastrophe is truly one of mankind’s greatest ecological disasters, there is now a slim sliver of hope. The LA Times is reporting that a new dam has recently been built on the Kazak side. It has raised the water level and fishermen are starting to dream again. But a dream it will remain. There are no plans or money to increase the dam to a size which would return the waters to the levels they once were. The Aral Sea will remain dead and lifeless for many years to come and the bizarre sight of fishing vessels buried in sand dunes will continue to amaze.

Red Corner: Balkan Location Scouts

by Neil Woodburn on

You can tell a lot about a country by the stand-in work it does for other countries. For example, my first exposure to Prague was when it stood in for Vienna in the movie Amadeus.

There is a lot of money to be made for lesser known countries to stand in for more expensive locations–or simply, for these countries to be the primary location for a Hollywood shoot. This is why a contingent of representatives from the Balkans are in Cannes pitching the natural beauty and inexpensive filming opportunities that abound in and around the former Yugoslavia.

Blessed with beautiful mountains, scenic coastline and numerous islands, the countries of Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, and Slovenia all have something to offer Hollywood location scouts–and tourists, for that matter.

Robert Welkos from the LA Times article interviewed a few of the representatives in Cannes and left slightly amused at their honesty in speaking about the poor roads and distant film processing centers which would make filming a definite challenge in this part of the world. But as for the scenery, oh my!

Red Corner: Luxury Trains to Tibet, with Karaoke!

by Neil Woodburn on

There is no quicker way to destroy locale culture and customs than simply providing easy transport to the tourist masses.

Case in point: One of the more isolated, and difficult to reach areas on this planet has traditionally been Tibet. As Erik pointed out in a post last March, the Chinese government will be opening up a direct rail line to Lhasa this July. Many see this as just another dagger in the back of Tibetan culture as the Chinese continue their campaign to China-size the country they invaded in 1950. An inexpensive rail line will undoubtedly flood Tibet with even more Chinese influence in the form of trade and immigration, eventually diluting their unique culture altogether.

Politics aside, the Chinese government is acting very capitalistic with the launching of a luxury train that will whisk mostly foreign tourists from Beijing to Lhasa in 48 hours. For $1,000 a day, “adventurers” can lumber to the roof of the world with the comfort of onboard showers, folk dance shows, karaoke and pressurized cabins.

The journey itself promises to be amongst the great train trips in the world–I just don’t think I could stomach it in such kitschy opulence.