Gadling Take FIVE: Week of September 20-26

by Jamie Rhein on

In the ever changing scene of world travel, this week Gadling pointed to some of the highlights of change.

  • If you want to see Angkor Wat before it goes totally upscale, you’d better hurry. It might be too late. Josh wrote about how high end development is going on all around the complex.
  • In the world of gadgets that make travel easier, Scott posted about the new T-Mobile G1 which should make several aspects of staying in touch while on the road easier and cheaper.
  • In Jerry’s Talking Travel conversation with Snake Charmer author Jamie James, part of the talk was about how James’s interest in China changed after he wrote about Shanghai in 2001. As he points out, one’s interest in a particular can changed based on exposure. For James, China has lost his attention.
  • Jeremy’s latest addition to his New York series is a lush piece on the changes in Staten Island’s landscape over the years–more specifically, the section of Staten Island where old boats and ships are put to rest.
  • When it comes to politics, Grant has his attention on the changing of the communist guard due to the absence of Kim Jong Il and Fidel Castro. He imagines them sitting on a beach somewhere chatting it up while drinking out of coconuts. Grant is a little weird that way.

What I hope isn’t changing is people’s ability to have a grand experience, even if it’s one they find in their own neighborhoods.

The Monitor’s guide to understanding Alaska

by Jerry Guo on

Only in America will you find need a “guide” to understanding one of our own states. But Alaska is weird.

In this insightful Monitor story, the reporter opens with some peculiar relics of life in the 50th state: “The Alaskan Independence Party? Sourdoughs and cheechakos? Boomers and greenies facing off in the “Mad-Zoo?” A moon at noon?”

Now that Sarah Palin is the Republican vice-presidential candidate, I bet a lot more people are googling Alaska, and in particular, Wasilla, her hometown, an exurb of Anchorage.

While much has been said about the bizarre politics and lifestyle of this state, I’ve yet to come across any great travel pieces or dispatches. In fact, I’m tempted to jet up there myself and do the gig. Where should I go though? (Yes, I’ll be the first to admit I need a guide to Alaska).

Obama’s plane clips another aircraft at Midway Airport

by Grant Martin on

This year’s hectic campaign schedule is tough on the politicians and their campaign staff alike. Moving quickly from caucus to primary throughout the country teams are worked to exhaustion, leaving one state after a late rally to speak first thing in the morning five states over. I heard John Edwards on the phone with NPR the morning after the Iowa caucus (from New Hampshire) and he sounded like he had just been run over by a truck.

It’s difficult to function on so little sleep, let alone fly a Gulfstream II over the nation’s skies, so perhaps I should be less critical of Barack Obama’s pilot who early last Saturday morning clipped a stationary aircraft on the grounds of Chicago‘s Midway airport. Apparently the damage was minimal and Obama’s plans were only gently disrupted, but being a pilot and all, one should definitely be aware of surrounding aircraft (especially those that aren’t moving) when taxiing around the airport.

I suppose senator Obama is lucky that the incident wasn’t more severe. A sharper turn by the pilot could have resulted in serious injury to some valuable staffers.

Interestingly enough, airplane geeks can’t seem to find note of the incident on any of the airport logs for Midway. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

This is a bar, no profanities please

by Abha Malpani on

While the world is banning smoking in bars, restaurants are banning children, the city of St. Charles in St. Louis is planning to ban swearing, table-dancing, drinking drinking contests, or profane music in bars.

Although I appreciate its efforts to keep the pub environment as “clean” and orderly as possible, how do you stop people from swearing? Will they put a sign outside? Will they have undercover spies walking around eavesdropping on conversations and snitching about who they heard swearing? How bad must things get in this place to have to impose such a “Hitler” law? Aren’t they stepping on the basic civil-right of being able to say what you want?

The logic of some bans are just beyond me. I remember in Mumbai a few years ago, when an influential politician banned any nightclub to be open after 11pm! As a result, many nightclubs had secret back doors and as long as they weren’t too loud, they got away with being open until the wee-hours of the morning.

Although unfortunate for the respective cities, it’s good to know that these sort of absurd bans will never see the light of day outside a very limited area.

Beauty queen in Belgium gets a royal booing by the audience for not knowing Dutch

by Jamie Rhein on

Neil wrote a post about Miss South Carolina who hopelessly and sadly botched a geography related question in a beauty contest. Just imagine what this would have been like if she would have had to say her answer in another language spoken in the U.S.–say Spanish. That’s what happened in a beauty contest in Belgium. It wasn’t geography that created a problem, it was not knowing how to speak Dutch.

When one Miss Belgium 2008 contestant was asked a question in Dutch and couldn’t answer because she doesn’t know Dutch, the audience booed. She does know Czech, but in this case, that didn’t earn her admiration. The contestant is from the French speaking part of the country. The questioner, who seemed sorry for the audience upheavel must have gotten them to calm down since the contestant won and got the crown in the end.

The reason for the language upset is because the Belgium government hasn’t totally been pulled together after the election six months ago. The two languages mean that there are two different Belgian communities with different ideas about what should happen in the government. That’s my guess. Evidently, politics and beauty are supposed to go together. The Reuters video pf the incident with a commentary voice-over in English is on Videologist.