Global Voices » Travel

China: Motor-Powered Breakfast Crepes

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:28:50 +0000

The Presurfer shares a video where we can see how the Beijing Jianbing is made. This large breakfast crepe is made possible thanks to a very steady hand and a motorized wheel that allows a really large and thin crepe to be evenly cooked.

Costa Rica: The Circus that Saves Children's Lives

Juliana Rincón Parra — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:39:27 +0000

To the south of Costa Rica lies the town of Perez Zeledon, home to the Fantazztico Circus that is giving children and youth in the region a chance to stay out of drugs and trouble while opening doors to international travel.

In a video documentary, the story of this 12 year old project by the New Life Asociation (Asociacion Vida Nueva) takes shape. In an interview, a mother explains how young people are left to their own devices, and they end up getting in trouble or addicted to drugs due to lack of opportunities to study or work. The circus gives them a chance to learn skills, discipline and become part of a group where they become valued. It is also the story of Josue, who drifted away from the circus, and almost died from a drug overdose. As he says, he returned to the circus where he knew he'd find the support to go on, and now he tries to steer clear from peer pressure.

The Circo Fantazztico has had the opportunity to travel overseas to Europe, presenting their show and work to audiences while also discovering new cultures and places.

The Sula Batsú Cooperative of Costa Rica which works in training and skill building for cooperatives and other non-government organizations shared through their facebook page a link to the promotional video with the comment:

El viernes pasado nos visitó la agrupación Circo FantazzTico, en este proyecto social se usa la pedagogía circense como medio del trabajo preventivo con niños, niñas y jóvenes en riesgo social. La idea del proyecto es crear un lugar seguro para los niños, niñas y jóvenes que están en una situación social difícil, y que puedan aprender habilidades corporales al igual que adquirir competencias sociales…

Last Friday the Fantazztic Circus group visited us, this social project uses the circus training as a means to do preventive work with children and youth in social risk. The project's idea is to create a safe place so that boys, girls and young people in difficult social situations can learn physical movement skills while they learn social skills…

The Circus is also well received nationally: the following video shows their presentation in the National Stadium of Costa Rica in the capital city of San Jose, to an audience of 10 000 people. The presentation included aerobatics of people twisting on ropes, fabric and tumbling as well as floor exercises and pyramids.

Laos: Luang Prabang Airport

Mong Palatino — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:59:48 +0000

Sao Darly posts photos and a video clip of the new airport of Luang Prabang in Laos

India: The Best Tea Cafés

Rezwan — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:57:41 +0000

There is a new hype in India - the rise of tea cafés (tea lounges or tea bars). Charukeshi lists some of the best tea cafés in different Indian cities which you can explore.

Cuba: Bloggers Offended by Archbishop's Statements

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:02:46 +0000

As if the Archbishop of Havana hadn't sufficiently ruffled bloggers' feathers over the recent papal visit to Cuba - specifically his request to have protesters removed from a church and his lack of cooperation in facilitating a meeting between the pontiff and dissident groups - in a recent address at a Harvard University conference, Cardinal Ortega referred to those church protesters as criminals, once again raising the ire of Cuban netizens.

babalu called the comments “derisive” and “nothing less than reprehensible”:

This latest sin against God and His flock is only another example of what a truly despicable man Ortega is. Fortunately, the Good Lord has provided the objects of Ortega's sinful ridicule and scorn the opportunity to respond.

The blog then linked to a mainstream media article in which some of the protesters were interviewed and denied that they had criminal records. In a subsequent post, the blog got hold of a petition for Cardinal Ortega's retirement and encouraged readers to sign:

According to the rules established by Pope John Paul II, all bishops are required to retire when they reach the age of 75. Cardinal Ortega was born in October 1936. This means he is overdue for forced retirement, yet, he clings to his post, and the Holy Father allows him to do so.

Finally, at Translating Cuba, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada confessed that they had “no words to describe the recent statements made by his Eminence Cardinal and Archbishop of Havana Jaime Lucas Ortega Alamino during his stay last week in the United States of America”:

Despite the fact that he has spoken in a deliberate tone, the language used by the Cuban cardinal places at disadvantage the credibility of the good function of the Catholic hierarchy in the island. He has repeated in his discourse the same phrases used by the ruling class.

All of us who follow the evolution of the Catholic Church in Cuba, have denounced on many occasions the so badly called relationship between Church and State, and the complicity of the Church with the silence of the true existing situation in the island related to the lack of a state of rights and also the lack of places for free religious worship.

They went on to say that the Cardinal's speech “was similar to one of the many speeches dictated by the office of the Department of Ideology of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba”:

Today’s comment does not attempt to criticize the role of the Church in Cuba, but it tries to put in its right place he who uses the Catholic Church for his own benefit and in defense of those who are sinking the nation into an increasing poverty.

We would have to ask such a Cuban Cardinal, “How could he have access to the police records of each person who occupied the Caridad Church in Havana?” We would also ask, “How could he obtain the information that such acts of civil disobedience were organized from Miami?” I understand this time, like many other times, that the Cardinal spoke more than he should, and now he has to withstand all the critics coming from different latitudes.

I never imagined to hear, from the lips of the highest pastor of the Cuban Church, so much malice for those who try to promote full respect to the basic freedom of each man. To call those who serve unfair sentences under the most terrible conditions not described by people like him “common delinquents,” at some international meeting, makes him an accomplice of a corrupt and inert government.

The thumbnail image used in this post, Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, is by RC_Fotos, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit RC_Fotos' flickr photostream.

China: A Hiker's Guide to Xinjiang

Oiwan Lam — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:30:43 +0000

Josh from Xinjiang - Far West China blogs about his hiking experience in Xinjiang. He also gives very useful tips for hikers.

Taiwan: Travel with Art

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:09:39 +0000

Blogger and artists Lovingpure(黃愛淳) uses contemporary paintings about Taiwan from distinguished painters to create this video as the ultimate travel guide for foreign tourists.

Estonia: Places to Eat Out in Tallinn

Veronica Khokhlova — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:08:41 +0000

Nami-Nami recommends places to eat out in Tallinn in Spring 2012.

Video: Mothers Around the World Share Their Different Experiences

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:04:26 +0000

In the International Museum of Women, the current online exhibit is all about mothers. MAMA: Motherhood around the Globe explores the different aspects of motherhood through video interviews to women in Nigeria, Kenya, Afghanistan, USA, Colombia, Hungary, China and Norway.

Lusina from Kenya is one of the interviewed mothers for IMOW

Mama to Be is the section on the expectations around motherhood and pregnancy, and how the different women, some not even out of their teens reacted and faced their impending motherhood.

How many women in the world actually have an opportunity to decide if, how, and when to create a family? What are the reasons that women today are choosing – or refusing to choose – motherhood?

In Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby, the stories these women share on their birthing experiences serve to illustrate how different cultures view birthing and health.

Every day, thousands of women worldwide give birth to new human life. While many of these women will have happy and successful deliveries, hundreds will die in childbirth. How do things like geography, income, and age affect your chances of a safe delivery? What is being done to improve upon the world’s maternal mortality rate, and how can you get involved?

In the Featured Voices section, stories were submitted by the audience and six stories were selected by an international jury for the Community Choice Awards. One of them is this excerpt of the hard situation in the Colombian hospital maternity wards by Jorge Caballero for Gusano Films.

In Birth Journal Maternity Excerpt, a mother of six arrives to a checkup and then to deliver a baby. During the checkup, her story comes out through the questions asked by the doctor, and his attitude towards her changes, ending up with a suggestion for a tubal ligation and a curt farewell. During delivery, there isn't even time to move the lone woman to the gurney and into the maternity room, she gives birth on her hospital bed.

One-on-one interviews in Meet the Mamas focus the conversations around the woman and her personal story, for example, it helps contrast the different situations between a teen mother in Liberia, living what she calls in Critical Condition, and a teen mother in the United States, who through family support is able to move on ahead and continue her studies.

This exhibit in the International Museum of Women aims to get more people informed on the state of Women's Maternal Health, on their Get Involved page they suggest different ways in which readers can participate in improving the statistics and raise awareness themselves on these important issues.

Kazakhstan: Borat credited with tourism increase

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:48:23 +0000

RFE/RL's Transmission blog says that despite once protesting how ‘Borat' depicted the country, Kazakhstan is now crediting the 2006 film with increasing ten-fold the number of tourists visiting the country.

Costa Rica: Climbing up Chirripó, the Country's Tallest Peak

Juliana Rincón Parra — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 21:15:31 +0000

The tallest peak in Costa Rica is the Cerro Chirripó, at 3820 meters (12,533 feet) above sea level. Throughout the years, it has drawn many locals and foreigners to climb up to the summit: these next few videos bring us two very different experiences. One of the first expeditions back in 1960, and a modern day hike to the top.

In the Hikes of Courage: Climbing Chirripó in 1960[es] documentary, a team of young men and women set out on a lengthy expedition to reach Costa Rica's tallest peak. We follow their progress in car, ox-carts and horseback until they start their week long trek up to the summit.

This expedition was special because it was only the second time reaching the summit was documented through signatures on a mailbox left at the top: those signatures would be evidence for the next mountaineers that the previous team made it to the top. Also, it was the first time women were documented reaching the summit. Narrated by one of the expeditionaries, meteorologist Rodrigo de la Ossa, the story is full of anecdotes on the journey which is now done through another, shorter, path.

Cerro Chirripo summit image CCBySA Peter Andersen

Currently, the hike up Chirripó is about 19.5 Km long (12.1 miles), with a mandatory overnight stay near the summit at a lodging station. This next subtitled documentary uploaded by tetsuo1337 shows their experience climbing up to the summit in 2010.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3 includes a sunrise at the summit, where on a clear day both the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea can be seen. In this case, they also get to see the smokestack blowing out of the top of the Turrialba Volcano.

Part 4 and 5.

Singapore: Train Breakdowns Becoming Part of Life

Kirsten Han — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:50:11 +0000

Once a symbol of pride and development, Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) trains now come with a warning: ride at your own risk. Four breakdowns and assorted delays over the past week have left many commuters stranded, late for work and exams.

Lucky Tan describes getting stuck in the Circle Line breakdown:

I was on a Circle Line train when it broke down. My train which was very crowded stopped at one of the stations and there was an announcement saying that the train was delayed. 20-30 minutes later we were told the Circle Line was down and everyone scrambled out. I took a bus (not the emergency one but normal service) to a satellite town where I tried to get a cab at a taxi stand. Waited more than half an hour before I was able to get one. The train failed and the effects cascaded into the taxi system because everyone would be trying to dial for a cab and the availability falls to zero- I tried calling Comfort-Delgro but the system wasn't able to allocate a taxi after 20 minutes. Got to work about 1 hour 15 minutes late.

Overcrowding in a train station. Picture by Kirsten Han from The Online Citizen website

So many people have been affected by delays that SMRT has begun to issue train delay chits:

@sochris: LOL #SMRT issues timeslips for commuters caught in train disruptions! where else in the world will you find this?

@FakeSMRTCEO, a satirical Twitter account, compared riding the trains to current blockbuster The Hunger Games:

@smrtceo: I've decided to change #SMRT's motto from “Moving People, Enhancing Lives” to “May the odds be ever in your favour”

Some Singaporeans have also begun to crack jokes, making a pun out of the name of Land Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew:

@TheJohnnyBoy: Lui Stuck Yew #circlelinedown #smrt

The Minister has also announced that there will be weekend disruptions to train services from now on so that maintenance work can be carried out. Although the authorities have promised that measures will be taken to deal with these scheduled shutdowns, Alex Au thinks that we should look into alternative solutions:

I am not going to say that temporary closures should not happen. Experience in other cities shows us they are essential. Nor am I saying that bridging services aren’t part of the solution: they certainly must be. However, I am cautioning against an over-reliance on bridging services because it is user-unfriendly, and will still not be able to cope with heavy passenger loads.

He goes on to propose that there should be more duplication of routes between the buses and trains:

…the most natural way to obtain such redundancy, yet balanced with reasonable attention to cost and profitability, would be to have different companies run bus and train services. Let the bus company judge how much to duplicate the train routes, and therefore compete for the same traffic. The worst outcome would be for the same company to run both the train and bus routes through the same corridor. The result will tend to be a determination to maintain high load levels on the train by cutting away bus services. This may increase the company’s profitability, but it also increases social vulnerability.

The latest occurrences of train breakdowns are happening at a time when the bidding for the Certificates of Entitlement (COE) allowing people to purchase cars hits an all-time high: S$92,000. For many middle class Singaporean families, this makes buying a car simply too expensive to be an option.

Lucky Tan feels that the bidding system for the COE is tilted in favour of the rich:

The main problem with the COE system it allocates a scarce resource based on a person's ability to pay rather than his needs. A middle income parent who has to ferry his children to school and take his parents to hospital can be out-bidded by a multi-millionaires's son who uses the car for dates and clubbing. The disadvantage of such a system is it causes an ever widening gap of unfulfilled demand among those with the greatest need for a car. In Singapore, where the income gap is so wide, over time more and more COEs will just go the rich rather than people who need it.

In his letter to the Straits Times forum, Chan Tau Chou agrees, and suggests that a balloting system be adopted instead:

The number of cars sold can at most match the number of COEs available, regardless of the COE price. This means it is unnecessary to have a price beyond an administrative fee required to run the system, which is meant to control car ownership and not generate revenue.

If important aspects like housing and education can be subject to balloting, surely a system can be designed to ballot for cars.

Thailand: Free Apps for Tourists

Mong Palatino — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:20:01 +0000

Thailand's tourism authority has launched a website where visitors can download apps for a wide range of smartphones to help them plan their stay in the country

Tracking the Location of Singaporeans in the World

Mong Palatino — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:57:24 +0000

Where Are We SG is a website which maps the location of Singaporeans around the world.

Internet Campaigns Invite Tourists to Visit Latin America

Jon Lindsay Miles — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:43:16 +0000

The people of Latin America boast of their land's fine and varied geography, with its beaches, forests and mountains; they are proud of the inheritance left them by the peoples who inhabited these lands in pre-Hispanic times, and which are standing today in the form of its archeological remains, the wonders of which are scattered all across the continent; and then there is the rich mixture of races and cultures that make up the modern cities of the region.

But if this part of the world is so magical, why isn't it also the most visited?

According to statistics of the most visited countries in 2010, Mexico has the highest ranking among Latin American nations, in tenth place on the list, followed by Argentina, which is at number 43. And if we take into account that France, which heads the list, receives 79.3 million tourists, compared with the 22.6 million that put Mexico in tenth place, and the 5.2 million that visit Argentina, it becomes clear that Latin America is not chosen by large numbers of people as a tourist destination.

However, if we look at these statistics from a historical perspective, tourism to Latin America has increased, and, even if not dramatically so, certainly enough to provide governments with reason to grant more importance to the sector. As mentioned [es] in a statement on EnlaRedRadio, there are various challenges for the region when it comes to increasing tourism:

Marco Antonio Serrato, director general de Educación Ejecutiva en el TEC de Monterrey en México, comenta que entre los temas que determinan el debate actual sobre el turismo en la región, destacan “el rol que la industria juega como motor del desarrollo económico y social en los países de América Latina; la puesta en valor de los activos, sean naturales, culturales, arqueológicos o humanos, con los que nuestros países cuentan para posicionar la actividad turística y las marcas país a nivel internacional; y la diversificación del turismo en variantes no solo de playa, sino de naturaleza, cultura, negocios, salud y congresos”.

Serrato añade que “el desarrollo de estrategias e infraestructuras que promuevan y faciliten un turismo sostenible y la mejora de servicios complementarios como los gastronómicos, telefonía móvil, renta de vehículos y hospitalarios, además de la profesionalización de los trabajadores que atienden a los usuarios, al igual que garantizar la seguridad de los turistas y reforzar la percepción de esta, son tareas que vienen aparejadas con los lineamientos de desarrollo más generales”.

Marco Antonio Serrato, Executive Director General of Education at the Monterrey TEC in Mexico, notes that key issues that shape the current debate about tourism in the region include, “the role the industry plays as the engine of economic and social development in the countries of Latin America; attaching a true value to the assets our countries possess, whether these be natural, cultural, archeological or in terms of its people, and which will allow us to locate our tourist activity and national brands at an international level; and the diversification of tourism into activities that move beyond simple beach holidays into offering the experience of our natural environment, and other activities related to culture, business, health and the staging of conferences”.

Serrato adds that, “the development of strategies and infrastructures that stimulate sustainable tourism, the improvement of complementary services in gastronomy, in the mobile telephone network, vehicle rental and hospitality services, as well as the professional training of the workforce that deals with tourists, guaranteeing their safety and security and increasing their perception of the same - all these are tasks that are entailed in the development of the most general of plans.”

Jorge Gobbi, Global Voices author and blogger specialising in tourist matters, wrote [es] in early 2012 about this growth trend in tourism in Latin America in his Blog de Viajes (Travel Blog) [es]:

se pueden señalar al menos dos cosas. La primera, las cifras de crecimiento de las naciones sudamericanas se ubica entre el 8 al 14%, dos a tres veces más que la tasa de crecimiento mundial. Segundo, buena parte de ese crecimiento se está dando gracias al aumento del turismo regional. Lo que es una muy buena consecuencia de la mejor situación económica y del aumento del consumo en nuestros países.

Con esas perspectivas, es de esperar que para este 2012 los organismos de turismo sudamericanos se van a concentrar en incrementar su promoción en otros países de la región, sin apuntar tanto a América del Norte y Europa. Esperemos que 2012 sea la consolidación de una tendencia de crecimiento económico a mediano y largo plazo en América del Sur, ya que las perspectivas globales no parecen demasiado positivas.

at least two points can be identified. First, growth figures of between 8% and 14% among South American nations, which are between two and three times the rate for the world as a whole. Second, a good part of this growth is due to tourism within the region itself. This is one very positive consequence of the improved economic situation and the growth in consumption within our countries.

From this perspective, it is to be hoped that tourist organisations across South America are going to focus in 2012 on increasing their promotional activities in other countries in the region, and not give so much attention to the North American and European markets. Let's hope that 2012 will be the year of consolidation towards both a medium and long term trend in economic growth in South America, particularly as the global picture isn't particularly positive.

A question follows: What concrete actions are governments or businesses taking to increase the flow of tourists into their countries? Apart from the infrastructure works and service sector training that needs to be carried out, one of the most common strategies is that of the publicity campaign.

Colombia is host to one of the most well-known tourist promotion campaigns, with its slogan, “Colombia, the danger is you'll want to stay“, which was preceded by the establishment of the country brand: “Colombia is passion” [es]. There is an official travel guide to accompany the campaign, which has produced various promotional videos:

Neighbouring Venezuela is also attempting to attract tourists through its Venezuela Turismo, since the country possesses many interesting [es] destinations.

Another Colombian neighbour, Panama, has recently launched [es] its “Disfruta Panamá” or “Enjoy Panama” campaign, which makes use of a YouTube channel and Facebook pages in both Spanish and English, as well as Twitter accounts, also in Spanish and English. The website Visit Panama provides an additional resource.

As for Central America, although there is a regional campaign to promote tourism within the region, several of its countries have their own campaigns, as in the case of Guatemala with its “Corazón del Mundo Maya” [Heart of the Mayan World], or Costa Rica's “Sin Ingredientes Artificiales” (No Artificial Ingredients).

Mexico is running several campaigns, one of which, Mundo Maya 2012 [Mayan World 2012, es], places the same emphasis as Guatemala on the ancient Mayan civilisation. Another is Visit Mexico. The Federal Executive Authority in this country has its own Ministry of Tourism, which initiates the development of tourist destinations and activities at the same time as promoting these among both Mexicans and those from abroad. And then there is the Mexican Tourist Board (also an arm of the Federal Government), which coordinates, designs and develops both national strategies and those targeting the overseas market.

Moving south, we find “Chile es tuyo” [Chile belongs to you, es], a campaign mainly targeted at the internal tourist market. Something similar can be found in Argentina's “Viajá por tu país” [Travel your own land, es]. But we also come across local initiatives here, as in the case of that of the Tourist Secretariat of Santa Cruz Patagonia [es] or that of Mendoza [es].

In neighbouring Uruguay there are several websites that promote tourism in the country, including Tourists Club Uruguay, Viaje a Uruguay [Journey to Uruguay, es] and Turismo en Uruguay [es].

Several campaigns have been put into motion in Peru as part of the activity that takes place within its country brand, with the launch of a new campaign [es] in the coming days. One of its previous campaigns, “Perú: Vive la leyenda” [Peru: Live the Legend] was a prizewinner in Brazil last year. This is the video:

I had the opportunity earlier this year to speak with the Argentinian journalist and blogger previously cited in this article, Jorge Gobbi, and we recorded a short podcast [es] about tourism in Latin America today.

Although the above is not an exhaustive survey, it does give a rough idea of how the promotion of tourism is currently taking place in a region with an infinite number of attractions to offer to both local and international visitors.

Thanks to our Latin American collegues at Global Voices for the information and links they provided.

Post originally [es] published in Juan Arellano's personal blog.

The small image of Machu Picchu is from the Flickr account of Benjamin Dumas, used under license Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 2.0 Genérica (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)