Tuesday, May 22, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com

With Skytree tickets rarer than hens' teeth, we scout out the top photo ops

Posted: 21 May 2012 08:13 PM PDT

by Gail Nakada

So, now that May 22 is upon us, Tokyo Skytree is finally open and all the cool people have visited, what are the options for getting vertical and grabbing some air at the city's newest landmark? Whoa -- not so fast ...

While the ubiquitous Lady Gaga was able to scale the 634-meter tower before it opened, it's not going to be so easy for the rest of us to get hold of one of Tokyo's rarest ¥2,000 (US$25) hot tickets.

Most visitors won't even be able to get off the ground until the middle of summer. Unless you're a celebrity of Gaga's stature, individual tickets are pretty much (more on that later) sold out until July 11.

Starting back in March, tickets for the first deck were available solely through online drawings, with the day and time specified by the Skytree Internet gods, plus payment could only be made with a Japanese credit card.

That effectively cut out foreign visitors right at the start. Sadly, not unusual in Japan.

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Gallery: The unseen face of Pyongyang

Posted: 21 May 2012 07:59 PM PDT

by Frances Cha

What could be more fascinating and ironic than a detailed tourist guide you'll never use -- a guide to the world's most secretive and neurotic state?    Drawing from his multiple trips to North Korea and his perspective in his field of expertise, German architect Philip Meuser has put together a two-volume "guide" to Pyongyang titled "Architectural and Cultural Guide Pyongyang" (Dom Publishers).   The guide was published in English and German in March and will be published in Korean in June by Damdi Publishers.    Showing it like it is  "I didn't want to criticize politics or society by publishing this book, but rather show the city as it is," said Meuser in an interview with Harper's Bazaar Korea. "But that led naturally to exposing the city's dictatorial rule, intellectual poverty and loss of creativity."   The first volume is abundant with images of various venues and vistas in Pyongyang, including those of the subway, the city square, monuments, residential areas, stadiums and hotels.    The second is composed of Meuser's first-person critical account of traveling throughout the city and essays by various contributors.    Valuable images  Differing from other books on North Korea, the images in the book are not propaganda photographs, but were taken from Russian and U.S. archives. Meuser also collected travel photographs from others who had visited the country.    "The most important fact about this book is that all the images and content have not been censored in any way, and are completely independent," said Meuser.    Also on CNNGo: DMZ: Road trip to the world's most heavily armed border    But why publish a guidebook to a place that most people will never visit?   "I wanted it to be an awakening for people in the outside world, and also wanted to provide strange material for the travel news articles on North Korea." (He was quite astute about that point, judging from the fact that this article is going up at all).    The allure for every type of traveler For the most part, as USA TODAY Travel pointed out in their review, the guide is primarily geared toward "armchair travelers" who will love the fascinating look at "this very strange and isolated capital city."   But for an increasing number of travelers, North Korea holds an appeal unmatched by other destinations.    "One of the main reasons I travel is to see lifestyles that are different from my own, and North Korea is about as different as it gets, despite the fact they're also Korean," said Soon Ho Lee, 31, a partner at a hedge fund in Hong Kong who plans to travel to North Korea in the near future.   "I want to visit soon mainly because there's a limited window of how long the North Korean regime in its current format will last. Within 20 years or less we will see dramatic changes to, if not the complete extinction of, North Korea as we know it today. I'd like to see it -- or at least a sterilized version of it -- before everything changes," said Lee.     Also on CNNGo: The happiest place in North Korea 

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World's tallest tower, Tokyo Skytree, opens

Posted: 21 May 2012 03:24 PM PDT

Approximately twice the height of the Eiffel Tower, the 634-meter, ¥65 billion (US$806 million) Tokyo Skytree opened to the public on Tuesday.

Tickets to climb the Tokyo Skytree are hard to come by -- individual tickets are sold out through mid-July, leaving visitors keen to ride up the capital's newest landmark waiting until summer at least.

Alternatively, for those wanting their own vantage points of the Tokyo Skytree, here's our guide to getting a classic photo of the structure.

With gray skies and rain across Tokyo on Tuesday, it might be best to wait awhile anyway -- local TV news spent much of the morning rolling shots of the first Skytree visitors getting little but cloud for their money.

Worth the wait

Tokyo Skytree's construction was delayed after the March 2011 earthquake affected the delivery of supplies to the building site. The structure was completed two months late, on February 29, 2012.

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On the trail of the King of Mangoes in Ratnagiri

Posted: 21 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT

by Anuradha Sengupta

Alphonso mangoSeasonal bestseller: The mango and cream bowl made with Alphonso mango at Mumbai's Haji Ali Juice Centre.

Alphonso mango"Have you come about mangoes?" asks a man before I am fully out of my car. It's uncanny how everyone in this town seems to anticipate that my presence has something to do with the fruit.

I am in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, home to the Alphonso mango -- also known as the King of Indian mangoes.

From March to July, India produces more than 1,000 varieties of mango. But none of them are as desirable as the Alphonso. Loyalists swear by its rich creaminess. The flesh is saffron-colored and without a hint of fiber. The taste is exquisitely sweet, with none of the tartness or coyness of its cousins.

Every summer, before the monsoon season, India goes mad for the Alphonso. The national obsession is on par with Bollywood and cricket. Hot afternoons are punctuated by cries of "Haaapuuus!" floating through open windows. "Hapus," pronounced with a silent "h," is how the mango is locally known.

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The problems with Thailand's tiger tourism trade

Posted: 21 May 2012 11:43 AM PDT

by Byron Perry

So you want to come to Thailand and see tigers? 

You could of course visit one of the many tiger zoos, or the tiger temple in Kanchanaburi, where monks have trained the animals to lay still while tourists pose for photos with them. 

The problem is that there are multiple reports of alleged animal mistreatment and trafficking connected to some of these places. 

If the idea of docile caged tigers forced to pose for photos all day doesn't bother you, perhaps that many zoos are suspected of selling tiger meat out the back door to be butchered for the exotic wildlife trade will.

Spending your money at one of these places will only perpetuate these problems.  

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Flip-Flop Report: Which nationality loves nude sunbathing the most?

Posted: 21 May 2012 10:43 AM PDT

by Hiufu Wong

If your next trip is to a beach with travelers from Germany, be prepared to see a little more flesh than usual.

According to the first "Flip-Flop Report" by travel website Expedia, Germans are the most likely to sunbathe nude. 

The report, conducted from February 14-March 21, 2012 among 8,599 adults from 21 countries, looks at global beachgoers' behaviors and preferences. 

Germans love the beach the most -- 49 percent of them prefer it to any other holiday, compared to 48 percent for Mexicans, who came second.

But it's with their beachwear, or lack of it, where Germans really outstrip the rest of us.

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at 9:11 AM