November | 2008 | The Travel Blog by TravelPod

Archive for November, 2008

Homeless people and poverty are everywhere

November 28, 2008

I am having mixed feelings towards homeless people this morning. As I was walking to work today, I was splashed with coffee by a man standing outside of a shelter in downtown Ottawa. Whether it was on purpose or accidental is not the issue.

The issue is much bigger than that. In a perfect world, we’d all be well provided for by fairness and justice for all. In a perfect world, the man who splashed coffee on me would not be sucking on a cigarette and gulping down coffee on the sidewalk outside the Ottawa Mission on a slushy November morning.

Poverty and desperation is all around us. You can’t get away from it no matter how far you roam. TravelPod bloggers have found the same horrible conditions around the world. Here are some intriguing photos I have found while perusing the blogs today.

Homeless Man's Hand, New Orleans

Photo by Dane

A homeless man, like many in Xinjiang, Hotan China

Photo by Koaclarck

Homeless in Budapest

Photo by Lesliemac451

Homeless man, Amman, Jordan

Photo by Mullet1l

Mumbai attacks cause apprehension among travelers

November 27, 2008

There’s quite a bit of scary violence going on in Mumbai right now. Travelers from all over have been taken hostage at 10 different sites around town, the most famous being the Taj Hotel. As the death toll rises, bloggers planning trips in India are writing about their fears and possible changes in travel plans.

The Taj Hotel in Mumbai

Mattravels81 had just left Mumbai, when he found out about the attacks.

As some of you have heard (and I just learned this only an hour ago after stepping off the train from Varanassi), there were massive terrorist attacks in the Colaba region of Mumbai, where I stayed barely two weeks ago. The Taj hotel, Mumbai’s largest luxury hotel and a place I had lunch on my first day, was one of the places under seige and as many as 15 foreign hostages were held by gunmen. Again, I am fine, and there are no signs of civil unrest on the other side of the country where I am now.

-from “I am ok! (I think)“, Kolkata, India

Andreasolo writes about her decision to continue on her trip to India.

Oh, No! Should I stay or should I go? After some- too many- frustrated conversations and finally finding some phone-call-free time to think: I should go. So, I’m going. I’m not going to be staying in those five-star hotels; I’m not eating at western restaurants or staying in western hotels … I’m looking forward to meeting other Americans or westerners in general that are headed that way, to find out what their today was like.

“Did your mom call you up and tell you that you were stabbing her in the heart with a knife, too?”

“Did your brother call to tell you that you couln’t die and leave him to deal with the knife that you stuck in your mom’s heart, too?”

“Did like, fifty of your friends call and leave messages while you were on other calls with friends telling you to check the news and where are you going and… ‘be careful’? ..Yeah?”

“Did your phone start quivering and bouncing and burning up from text messages and try to throw itself out your car window to save itself, too?”

-from “Me, 0; Universe, (too many to count)“, Portland, Oregon

2nd Annual Boston TravelPod meetup

November 26, 2008

Come one, come all, to the 2nd annual TravelPod blogger meetup in Boston.

Mingle with me and TravelPod founder, Luc Levesque, have some REAL “Boston Pizza”, pick up some TP swag, I’ll buy you some drinks. It’ll be a good time.

Santarpio's Pizza, Jan. 23 @ 7 p.m.

When: Friday, Jan. 23, 2009, 7 p.m.

Where: Santarpio’s Pizza, 111 Chelsea St., Boston.

(Take the blue line to Airport station, it’s a five minute walk, across the street from the YMCA)

RSVP: louiseb@travelpod.com

Bangkok protests have minimal effect on travelers

November 25, 2008

The world’s eyes are fixed on Bangkok once again today, as protesters descend upon the international airport. Incoming flights are currently still arriving, but all departures have been delayed.

All is not as terrible as it seems on the news, however, if you are on your way to Thailand, life continues to go on just as normal as usual. So say some of TravelPod’s bloggers.

Tsimko took a look at the protests himself, and he left just before a deadly clash.

Bangkok protests

After a week lasting political protests we went to see a demonstration so we see ourselves what was going on. In a nutshell, members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy party were demostrating to demand government resignation. I might depict Thai political situation in more details some other time. The thing is that the demostration looked very peaceful, people more resembling someone enjoying a picknick, some of them even sleeping on the street. There was basically nothing to see, so after a 10min walk we just left. However 5 hours later happened something what U2 would probably call a Monday, bloody Monday, worst violence in Bangkok for 16 years. Government supporters clashed with the protesters, leaving one person dead and 43 injured. As a reaction to the incident a state of emergency was imposed. Anyway, it does not effect city’s everyday life.

-from “Bangkok – Part 3” Bangkok, Thailand

Leahandsteven managed to have a typical backpacker vacation, complete with a “BK” burger and lots of beer on Khao San Road. Albeit, with a few less crowds around.

Steven and Burger King burger

We got chatting to the local bartenders there about Bangkok and what its like. One of the guys was telling us all about the political protests that had been going on here not long before we arrived, and how the tourist industry was starting to slack off a bit because of it. All the bars and restaurants were feeling the effect a little.

-from “First stop – BANGKOK“, Bangkok, Thailand

Richs had to take a bus from Ko Samui instead of a night train because of the protests, but other than that, he still had a great time.

Richs feeding bananas to an elephant

After a bus and another bus we had lunch in preparation for our night bus. We were supposed to be catching a night train but due to the protests the railway line had been closed which was a little disapointing. When the bus pulled up, from the outside, it looked like something out of pimp my ride. The front was covered in flashing lights. Inside it was okay but I was expecting something a little better. I thought a night bus was a bus designed for people to sleep on but the reality was that it was just a bus that travelled through the night. The only added extra was a little more leg room and seats that reclined further.

-from “Ko Samui“, Ko Samui, Thailand

What’s a Thai prison like?

November 24, 2008

Christopher Paul Neil was already in jail in Thailand for sexually abusing a young boy in Thailand. Today, he was sentenced to six more years.

What does this have to do with TravelPod? This is a pretty heinous crime, and I thought it would be worthwhile to take a candid look into what some people are saying about Thai prisons. Most Westerners found in prison in Thailand are there for drug crimes, so here are a couple of stories I found written by TravelPod bloggers.

Brokedown Palace's version of a Thai prison

Petercrowe and Lisa visited a Westerner in Bangkok, back in 2005. This is what they had to say about the experience:

We quickly realised that any prisoner in this prison had been sentenced to a minimum 30 years imprisonment. We got to meet Steve Willcox and had about 20 minutes with him before he had to go back. He had initially been given the death sentence before having his sentence reduced to life, and then again reduced to 33 years. He has been there for just 2 years. He told us about the reason he was there, which incidentally was for possession of a large amount of drugs, and then gave us the details of his website which has his full story. We were able to buy him various items from the prison shop such as shampoo and soap etc., as well as some food and water. Just two days after Christmas it was the least we could do for him. Some of you may disagree with this based on your own ideas of right and wrong and no way would I even try to justify what he had done, however when you consider that the worst rapist or murderer in the UK would only be sentenced to 25 years and would probably serve much less, it makes you think again about the guys’ plight. All in all it was a harrowing thing to see and reading about it afterwards just made everything seem even worse.

-from “Having a beach of Christmas and New Year!“, Bangkok Thailand

Stain, the self-described “biggest hobo” relates the story of a man he met while traveling in the Philippines

He had been sitting on a beach in Ko Chang six years ago sharing a spliff with his mate. The next thing he knows a plain clothes Thai policeman put a handcuff on his wrist and he was taken away in a police van. His friend was not told where he was being taken too so effectively no one knew what was going to happen to him – apart from the police of course. I only say this because the length of time this guy spent in a Thai prison was equal to the length of time it took for his friend to track him down – 2 weeks!

- from “Stuck in Paradise“, Boracay, Philippines

Landmine treaty being ignored by governments, not bloggers

November 21, 2008

A new report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines says that 5,400 people died in 2007 due to landmines. It also says that countries such as Greece, Belarus and Turkey have still not destroyed their stockpile of landmines, even after signing an international treaty to destroy them.

The Landmine Monitor Report also says that 15 other countries (including Britain) will miss their clearance targets for 2009.

Here at TravelPod, we are an enlightened bunch. We know about the dangers of landmines, and many of the travel blogs on our site show awareness and condemnation of the problem.

Check them out:

Catmoj volunteered at the Landmine Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Catmoj and landmine victim Sori

She tells the story of a rare arrogant visitor to the museum:

Rarely do we have a disinterested visitor come to The Landmine Museum, though I have had a small number of men who walk in thinking they know everything there is to know about landmines.

“Oh, I read books,” one man told me dismissively.

I carefully commented that he’ll be well aware then from his extensive reading that the casualty rate around the world for mine and ordnance accident is an average of 40 casualties … every day … and Cambodia has the dubious accolade of three of those casulaties … every day…

His expression was one of shock. Then he was ready to listen.

- from “Landmine talks and Kids Stories”, Siem Riep, Cambodia

Len_20 traveled to Thailand and Burma with the charity God’s Kids. He describes one young victim of a landmine, at a camp his organization supports for refugee children.

Another landmine victim

Then we go outside to take a group photo. But one girl stays behind. She’s sitting at the front of the room against the wall. She has a bandage on her leg and her crutches lean against the wall. I look down and see that the bandage stops near the middle of her shin bone, and there’s nothing below it. She’s missing a foot and part of her leg.
After talking with her and her teacher, I find out that she’s relatively new to the camp. She’s fourteen years old, and just a few months ago she was in Burma with her parents. She went out to pick vegetables from her parent’s garden and stepped on a landmine.

-from “Outhouses, computer labs, and landmines”, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Rayandpaul visited this same landmine museum on their short trip to Cambodia back in 2003.

Big tank on display at the war museum

It is easy to forget the war once in Siem Reap, wrapped up in the temples, but the War Museum is a chilling reminder to the fighting. It costs $3 to get in, which includes a free guide. Our guide informed us of how the Khmer Rouge killed both his parents and his sister, and showed us three of his gunshot wounds. His left leg was lost below the knee to a landmine. We had so far unintentionally not spoken to any one about their loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, so it was good for us to hear his story. He was a tank driver who over the period of the fighting had suffered more than his fair share of injuries.

-from “Siem Reap”, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Santa Barbara forest fires common in California

November 19, 2008

The latest forest fire in Santa Barbara is making news worldwide. Million dollar homes are reduced to ashes as the flames sweep the countryside.

However, fires are not at all uncommon in this part of the U.S. Many TravelPod bloggers have found themselves in the midst of a wildfire in the past.

Here are a few entries from California, I found particularly interesting:

Lisartw got stuck just outside Los Angeles, as a monstrous fire took over the highway that was supposed to take her into the city. She posted some breathtaking shots of the smoke encircling the area.

California forest fire

The Interstate 5 runs right through a huge wildfire that’s been burning for a week. 24,000 acres of burning grassland and only 25% contained. The interstate was shut so we bedded down in a lovely little motel 4 miles north of the fires and the closure in a hope that the road would be back open today. Well, it was. Luckily for us …We made it through the fire, the scene was quite remarkable. The amount of grassland that was on fire was amazing and the amount that had been burned already quite shocking. All credit goes to the poor firefighters battling it. Some of them were staying in the motel we were at last night and the poor blokes could hardly talk, I’m assuming coz of the smoke.

- from “Universal”, Los Angeles, United States

Deb93 drove across the country with a couple of her friends in a Ford Taurus a few years ago. They also spotted a wildfire in Yosemite Park.

Yosemite wildfire

Not only is Yosemite wildly popular (there were traffic jams from every direction heading into the visitors center), it was also the 4th of July long weekend so we had NO chance! The first thing we learned upon entering Yosemite is that it’s HUGE!! It was a good 45-60 minutes between the time we actually entered the park and got to the “ranger station” and all the cool things the park is famous for.

-from “Veering from the plan”, Yosemite National Park, California, United States

Hannahandbrian also encountered a small fire on their bicycle tour of the Pacific coast.

Big Sur wildfire

We rode past a forest fire on our way to camp, and hoped that our campground would be open because of it. As we rode, we could look back and see the fire creeping closer to the road, and by that night when we checked it out it looked as if the fire had moved down from the ridge to the road.

- from “Big Sur (Day 36)”, Big Sur, United States

Coal mine flooded in Pingdingshan City, China

November 18, 2008

One miner was killed in a flood at Gaomendong Coal Mine in Pingdingshan City, China on Tuesday. This made me curious about the conditions in other mines in China.

I found a couple of bloggers writing about mining in Asia.

Lannyc worked with the machinery in a coal mine at the mining “compound” near Huhot, where he lived with about 100 other people.

He describes the shower:

The SHOWER!!!! The shower room is probably one of the most horrifying rooms I have EVER seen in my whole life! Never mind..that its a group shower..and people urinate right in front of you!..Naked. The actual room itself looks like a torture chamber!! I kid you not.. this shower room would make the best horror film maker jealous! Picture those rooms in HOSTEL, but like 10X worse! I will try to take a picture of the room..I think it will give you nightmares.

And the dining hall:

Eating. The dining hall is another..DIFFERENT experience. Everybody is assigned a metal bowl, a spoon, and a lid for the bowl that can act as a plate as well. If you’ve ever seen a chinese movie where they have dudes in jail..and you see them carrying around a bowl with a handle on it…thats what I eat with. When I walk into the seating area..all eyes are on me..and I look for a table with the LEAST amount of bones, and other discarded materials to sit down at. After the grub..I rinse out my metal bowl and place it on the cupboard.

-from “Greetings and Salutations”, Huhot, China

Last October, Stevehopkins toured a coal mine in Datong, China. He enjoyed the experience, which included a visit to a mining museum.

Stevehopkins ready to visit the mine!

You go down with the miners to 300m, then get a train for maybe 2 kms or so to a small museum they have made down there. It shows how coal mining techniques have improved over time, but the thing that was most interesting was just been in a real coal mine with real coal miners!

-from “Datong”, Datong, Shangxi, China

Williwinkle was affected by a different kind of coal mining accident on his way to Lijiang. A truck tipped right over and coal spilled all over the road! No one was hurt, but traffic was backed up for miles.

Coal spilled all over the road

The journey back started out like on the way there that is until we hit a traffic pile up. Yes a real humdinger of a pile up. We had just gone past a coal mine up on the hillside when suddenly all the traffic the small road can possibly take piled up behind a coal truck that had tipped over and needless to say a good part of its load. Three hours it took until we were able to get past the blockage. The coal company had sent out its experts to try and straighten up the truck using 3 cables each one with a winch attached at one end at the other a spike driven into the ground at the other but the ground was so soggy that they couldn’t hold. After many attempts they even strung up another cable to a telephone post down the valley some fifty meters away but that didn’t help either so they decided on another approach to the problem that is of letting the masses of vehicles buses cars tractors and whatever go past but to do that they had to widen the road, no easy task either. With the help of local farmers they piled up loads of logs into a ditch alongside the road there bye widening the road, only then was it possible to scrape by the obstacle.

-from “Lijiang and back towards Kunming”, Lijiang, China

Singapore Local Expert

November 17, 2008

TravelPod’s newest Local Expert is a travel enthusiast living in Singapore. She’s very proud of her hometown, and she’s quite knowledgeable about all kinds of things happening in the area. I asked her a few questions about living and traveling in Asia.

Why did you become a Local Expert?

To get to know more people and do some networking. I’d like to learn about their life and culture and tells travelers what they want to know about Singapore. I’m also looking for opportunity to start my own business.

What are the best and worst things about living in Singapore?

Best:

Everything you need, you can find in Singapore. It is a shopping haven and a food paradise. If you have no budget; you can eat and shop all you want. As Singapore is a cosmopolitan country we have different types of cuisine from different countries. We even have fusion food!

Worst:

Sometimes it gets very hot and humid. The MRT is so crowded during peak hours, you get to smell everybody’s body odours. Especially those workers who sweat. There is not much natural resources in Singapore. We have to depend on importing most things from other countries.

What are the top things for travelers to do in Singapore?

1. Go shopping wherever you want. Many places to choose from.

2. Try as many famous Singapore food as possible.

3. Take the Flyer.

4. Go to the tree top walk at MacRitchie Reservoir

5. Visit the Night Safari and the Zoo

6. Visit the Jurong Bird Park.

7. Go to the Botanical garden for a picnic.

8. Take the Duck tour and take a stroll at Boat Quay and Clark Quay

9. Go to Sentosa and visit the pink dolphins and underwater world.

10. Take a city tour, see all the new buildings old buildings , etc.

What are some of your best and worst travel experiences?

Best:

Visiting Taiwan and seeing the most beautiful scenery there like mountains, Taroko Gorge and Kenting Seaside. I also liked skiing and tobogganing in Korea. I have eaten and slept at some wonderful hotels when traveling.

Worst:

I dropped my camera in Korea and spoiled all my pictures! When I am urgent and have to wait for toilet stop.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

Giving birth to two beautiful children and bringing them up on my own with little support from my ex-husband.

Where are you planning on traveling in the future?

China, Hong kong, Europe and the USA if possible

What do you do with most of your time?

Presently trying to find something to sell in the internet which will generate good income to support me and my family until somebody can support me. Haha. Trying to start and make a blog shop.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Wake up, check email, cooks or lunch out, see what is happening in the internet and the world. Watching TV at the same time. Checking out my fav websites which depends on what I wanted to do at the period.

Pte. Ralph Tupper Ferns: missing Canadian veteran buried in France

November 14, 2008

A Canadian veteran from WWII was re-buried today after his body was missing for more than 50 years.

Pte. Ralph Tupper Ferns died at Falaise Gap in Normandy in 1944. His family thought he was missing ever since. He was found in 2005, identified and reburied today in the Bretteville-sur-Laize cemetery to much pageantry.

A couple of TravelPodders visited the cemetery in the past. They visited the cemetery where Ferns is now buried, bringing back some poignant memories.

Mshulist aka Devon visited the site just a few weeks ago, and it affected him quite strongly

Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian Cemetery

At every memorial I got a lump in my throat, because it reminded me what our country, and others did to protect their (and our) freedom. We went to two Canadian Cemeteries: Beny-sur-Mer, 2049 Canadian graves, and Bretteville-sur-Laize 2872 Canadian graves. It was really sad walking in between row by row of graves. It was really hard to look at the names, and ages of these men. Most of the men were in their early twenties. It was incredibly sad to see how young these men were when they died.

-from Thoughts of Normandy-Devon, Bayeux, Normandy, France

Stevelegassick traveled to the famous cemetary back in 2004, saying he was most impressed by the sheer number of graves in the area.

Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian Cemetery

Elaborate WW2 Museum at Caen, but the most impressive and unmissable sights are the countless British Commonweath cemetaries and memorials throughout Normandy…as well as French, Polish and others….even German. You see the signs, or just bump into small cemetaries in the middle of fieds, wherever, because unlike Americans, who mostly choose to return the bodies home, the British tradition is to bury the dead where the battle occurred.

-from Normandy – Caen, France, Caen, France

White tigers attack zoo worker in Singapore

November 13, 2008

A worker at the Singapore zoo was attacked by three white tigers and died on the way to the hospital today.

The Singapore Zoo is a magnificent place, and the white tigers were one of the main attractions at the zoo. A couple of TravelPod bloggers snapped some photos of the magnificent animals on previous trips.

Christosp was fascinated by the tigers and took some beautiful photos this past July.

Singapore Zoo's white tigers

Visited the Zoological gardens today. Best zoo I’ve ever been too, very few cages so the animals roam around relatively freely in their enclosures surrounded by water moats. My favourite animal of the day had to be the white tiger, such a majestic and powerful creature. The zoo is set in a beautiful landscape surrounded by water and forest. A great Zoo and defiantly worth a visit.

-from Singapore-Day 145-147, Singapore, Singapore

Dobby enjoyed the elephants and the orangutans

Dobby with the elephants at the Singapore Zoo

Had an awesome time at the zoo, saw some really awesome stuff, like an opening a coconut race between 7 humans and 1 orangutan, no prizes for guessing who won, or what won i should say.

-from Singapore Zoo!, Singapore, Singapore

Guykb and his family traveled to the Singapore Zoo last November and they also loved the open feeling the zoo provides.

More white tigers

The zoo is in a lovely setting and there are no bars between you and the animals. Sometimes there are glass walls, but when it comes to the taipan I have no problem with that.

-from The Singapore zoo…at last, Singapore, Singapore

Vote for TravelPod at Mashable’s Open Web Awards

November 12, 2008

Legendary Internet news blog, Mashable is now accepting nominations for their annual Open Web Awards competition.

TravelPod needs your help!

Vote for us in the travel category

5 ways to promote your travel blog

November 11, 2008

Once you’ve written up all your travel stories, the next step is getting people to read about them.

Here are some foolproof ways to get more people to come to your blog.

1. Fill your address book

On TravelPod, you can import all your contacts from MSN, Gmail and more into your address book. Make sure all the emails you are adding are recent and that the people you are adding know that they should expect blog updates from you as you add to your blog. Everytime you make a post, send out a notification so that everyone knows what you’ve been up to.

2. Facebook it!

Add the TravelPod application to your Facebook profile. Everytime you choose to notify all your friends on Facebook, they will receive a notification that you have updated your blog. Lots of people find out about my travels this way.

3. Add it to ggberry.com, and other blog listing services

Ggberry.com is a cool new site that organizes travel blogs by destination and activity. You can also participate in blog “carnivals”, such as this one I entered last year on http://www.travel-rants.com.

4. Participate in travel discussion

This one takes time and patience, but it can really pay off in the end. Join travel groups, such as the TravelPod forum, and talk with other people about writing and traveling. The more you get your name out there, the more likely people will be interested in your writing. By putting your blog URL in your forum signature, you are simultaneously inviting like-minded people to check out your site.

5. Comment on other blogs

Similar to participating in forum discussions, commenting on other blogs is a great way to get noticed by others. If you are interested in someone else’s blog, leave them a message, chances are they are also interested in you, and they will start following your blog!

Any other ideas? Post them in the comments below…

Montreal meetup, Nov. 29

November 10, 2008

Skylab, his girlfriend and I will be meeting up in Montreal at the end of November.

Dieu du Ciel, 29 Laurier Ave. Ouest

Everyone’s invited to come out and drink some microbrew with us.

There are also rumours circulating that travellingjon may also grace us with his presence. He has just come back from a whirlwind tour of Europe.

Where? Dieu du Ciel, click for Google map

When? Saturday, November 29, 8 p.m.

Why? Because we are all awesome!

RSVP: Send me an email at my profile if you plan on attending: http://www.travelpod.com/members/starlagurl

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