Red Corner: Hosting Mongolians

by Neil Woodburn on

Ever wanted to meet a real live Mongolian and even perhaps invite him or her home for a few days? Well, if you live near Telluride, Colorado, now’s your chance.

In celebration of this year’s Mountainfilm Festival, 70 Mongolians are traveling half way around the world to attend the event. Why, you ask? Denver’s sister city is none other than Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia.

Although Mongolians are some of this world’s last great nomads, their traditional yurts will not fit in the overhead bin so they are looking for housing while attending the film festival. Locals who volunteer their homes, will get a pass to the festival for every Mongolian they put up.

The event is next weekend, May 26-29, so if you are interested, click here ASAP for more details.

Red Corner: Parisian Cafe in Communist Vietnam

by Neil Woodburn on

Long before Vietnam turned communist and even before the Americans arrived to try and change their minds, the South East Asian country was run by the French.

In 1901, the luxurious Metropole Hotel was built in Hanoi to cater to the local French contingent as well as the many other expats frequenting the country at the time. In the last century, it has played host to Charlie Chaplin, Mick Jagger, Graham Greene and many other luminaries.

The famous sidewalk café which once graced this “little Paris of the tropics,” however, was shut down in 1911. Today, it has finally reopened. “La Terrasse du Metropole” re-injects a bit of the old country back into a Vietnam that still enjoys berets, baguettes, and now French pastries, French coffee and perhaps even rude French waiters.

Red Corner: The Joys of Croatia, Montenegro and Albania

by Neil Woodburn on

I was a bit surprised to run across the following article, “Trip Lives up to Eastern Promise: Croatia, Montenegro and Albania provide a rewarding alternative to tourist traps,” for the simple reason that those are exactly the same three countries I will be visiting shortly.

Writer Cath Bennett did somewhat of a whirlwind tour in order of the most commonly visited (Croatia) to least commonly visited (Albania). She writes most fondly of Dubrovnik where she basked in a luxury hotel and strolled the town’s 13th century city walls. Montenegro, however, presented some hotel problems (no running water) but redeemed itself with the ancient city of Budva–a “veritable maze of winding streets featuring a mix of museums, shops and bars.”

Lastly, Bennett spent time in Albania–which she describes as a fascinating country of extreme contrasts where ox carts and Mercedes share the roadway.

It’s not the most detailed article, but it still gives a flavor of what to expect when traveling through this region of the world.

Red Corner: The Joys of Soviet Hotels

by Neil Woodburn on

Part of the fun of traveling through the former Soviet Union is that so much of it remains rough around the edges. The typical tourist experience one encounters in Paris, for example is so perfectly coifed and professionally managed that it can actually be quite boring. Not so in the former Soviet Union.

Ohio University professor David Mould recently experienced this for himself when he checked into Motel Hell in Djalalabad, southern Kyrgyzstan. $10 bought him a “luxury” room and all the discomfort of mind associated with the old adage, “you get what you pay for.” His humorous account of the electricity being shut off for the night at 8:30 pm (as opposed to the 10pm time the front desk told him) and eating at the hotel’s enticing, Buffet No. 37 is well worth the read.

Mould, who has had many such experiences in the former Soviet Union, calls it Indoor Camping. I’ve been there myself and disagree; camping is much more luxurious. I’d take a tent in the mountains over a Soviet era hotel any day.

Red Corner: The Blue Danube

by Neil Woodburn on

While I’m not a big fan of big ocean going cruises, there is something entirely different about boarding a much smaller boat and cruising down a river-especially when it’s the Danube.

David Wickers of The Sunday Times (UK) recently spent a week leisurely touring the majestic river aboard a 114 passenger boat with 75 cabins.

His trip started in the Bavarian town of Passau and made its way downriver to Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava with a few shorter stops in places such as Esztergon (Hungary) to see a cathedral and Melk (Austria) to visit a monastery.

Wickers paints a pleasant picture of what it’s like to travel by boat; the leisurely pace, the relaxed lifestyle, the comfort of never having to pack yet arriving in a different city every day. “Sightseeing doesn’t come much more easygoing than this,” he confesses.

This is both good and bad. Wickers clearly laments how such mode of travel attracts a much older core of travelers. In addition, the routine is regimented on board, and the daily excursions are too short with barely enough time “to sniff the air.” But if you want to take it easy and see some truly wonderful cities with almost no effort, than this is the trip for you. Want to delve even deeper into Eastern Europe? Try a ten-day cruise that continues through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania before arriving at the Black Sea.