The Top 100 Hotels in the World

by Justin Glow on

As odd as it was to have some of the most extreme poverty I’d ever witnessed co-existing with the most grandiose luxury, it was no coincidence that the nicest hotel I’d ever been to was in India. I didn’t have the privilege of staying at the JW Marriot on Mumbai’s Juhu Beach (I was there for a wedding reception), but I did spend plenty of time getting lost in the lavishly decorated hallways leading to the pool and deck area. While the hotel guests were served fantastic, Indian-flavored hors d’oeuvres on one side of the massive, guarded concrete pillar, thousands of Mumbai’s poorest combed the beach for broken bottles, and peddled their wares to the tourists on the other.

And this hotel wasn’t even one of the “nice” ones. Udaipur, India’s Oberoi Udavilas (pictured right) scored the number one spot in Travel and Leisures 2007 World’s Best Hotels award. This is the first time an Indian hotel as scored first. Here are the top ten hotels in the world:

  1. Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India
  2. Singita Sabi Sand/Kruger National Park, South Africa
  3. The Oriental, Bangkok
  4. Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, Turkey
  5. The Milestone, London
  6. Relais Il Falconiere, Cortona, Italy
  7. Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa
  8. Mandarin Oriental, Munich
  9. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Hawaii
  10. Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, India

For the rest of the list, visit Travel +Leisure. [via]

Indian Airline Billboard Wars Continue… Maybe.

by Justin Glow on

Remember when I posted about the billboard wars between Indian airlines Kingfisher and Jet Airways? Jet Airways had erected a billboard saying “We’ve changed” and Kingfisher responded with a billboard of their own directly above the Jet Airways message saying “We made you change.”

The story isn’t over — a third Indian airlines, GoAir, responded to both of them with a third billboard saying, “We’ve not changed. We’re still the smartest way to fly.”

This is getting a bit ridiculous. With roughly 18 airlines in India, the billboards might reach the moon by the time the battle is over. I do have a sneaking suspicion that the GoAir billboard is Photoshopped, though. If you look at the original article I wrote, the bottom billboard doesn’t have “DesignersMind.com Creative Showcase” written on it like in the photo above. Someone’s been messing around.

What do you think? Can anyone verify that this third billboard actually exists? [via]

Previously: Kingfisher to Jet Airways: We Changed You!

Indian Villages Rattled…Shaken…but More Satisfied

by Iva Skoch on

Sorry to scoop Willy on this one, but more news from the world of latex. Strangely, India, the land of the Kama Sutra, bans pornography and sex toys (but not condoms).

Now, according to the BBC, an Indian company and the Indian government have teamed up to bring to market a condom that vibrates. At about $3 for a pack of 3, this product has stirred up more than it’s users. Problem is: if it waddles–or vibrates, in this case–like a duck, is it a duck?

The government backed the launch to promote condoms to be used to slow the spread of AIDS. (A huge problem in India, as they have the world’s largest population of people with AIDS.)

So far, the company says the condom has been well received, but an outcry from more conservative Indians has spewed forth, particularly in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Opponents argue it’s a banned sex toy masquerading as a condom. A particularly outspoken critic is that state’s minister for roads and energy, who, presumably, must want folks to focus on the use of cars for driving, rather than using the backseats.

The only thing I can think of is that he was concerned after reading my post on the ranking of the best cars to have sex in. Either that, or he’s afraid the vibrations could adversely impact the performance of India’s favorite car, the Ambassador, thereby damaging roads and leading to unnecessary energy usage? Hard to say, I’m just trying to make sense of it all.

Kingfisher to Jet Airways: We Changed You!!

by Justin Glow on

This is cool.

Kingfisher, a lovely Indian beer and airline, took note of a competing airline’s billboard and responded to it with their own. “We’ve changed,” the Jet Airways billboard says. Kingfisher responds with a billboard of their own reading, “We made them change!!” And a guy in a green shirt on another billboard looks away as if nothing happened. [via]

Driver Shot For Honking at Green Light

by Justin Glow on

This story came up in my RSS feeds this morning, and I couldn’t help but think of my recent trip to India. What’s getting shot in the abdomen for honking at someone at a green light got to do with India?

Well, if you’ve been to the subcontinent — or most other places in Asia for that matter — you’ve no doubt noticed the differences between the way we, Americans, use our car horns, and Asians use theirs. In India, the car horn is a tool, a way to alert the (millions of) other drivers (on the same road as you at one time) that — hey! — I’m creeping up on you, or I’m about to pull out in front of you, or I’m carrying a rather large load of chickens. A trip through any major Asian city accompanied by a consistent hum of car horns; as you finally lay down to rest in your hostel or hotel bed for the night, you can still hear the faint buzz of a million horns going off at once.

So what’s different with America (and much of the Western world?)

Sure, shooting someone for honking at a green light is an isolated case…. but even so, a horn is not a tool in America. More often than not it’s an audible flip of the middle finger, a beep to let someone know they’ve just done something really stupid while driving. Or maybe it’s a way to keep from having to get out of the car when picking up a friend. On the rare occasion it’s used to actually avoid an accident.

After spending a month in India, I returned to the States, and was thrown off balance by the absence of horn noise. What a strange feeling — seeing cars but not hearing horns.

Unfortunately sometimes that beep of the horn isn’t an audible middle finger, but an actual warning, or a friendly reminder that the light has turned green. Sadly, the moral of the story for America: be careful who you honk at. [via]