Friday, May 25, 2012

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Hong Kong: An art hub minus grassroots buzz

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT

by Hiufu Wong

Hong Kong is a place that makes art dealers giddy. 

At last weekend's Hong Kong International Art Fair (ART HK), notable sales include "No. 313, 1969" by Chinese artist Chu Teh-Chun that sold for more than US$3 million and Alighiero Boetti's "Mappa" (1984) that sold for €1 million. 

These headlining sales are a regular phenomenon in Hong Kong, the world's third-largest art auction house after London and New York.

But why are Hong Kong artists and art critics still frowning?

Hong Kong artists inhabit a third space in the global art scene, that is not the West nor China.

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Business traveler's guide to surviving a Korean drinking session

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT

by Christopher Cha

In Korea, it's said that the success of your business roughly correlates to how well you can drink ... and how respectful you are to your companions while downing bomb shots by the bucketful. 

Most companies in Korea have hoesik (literally, dinner with coworkers; figuratively, official eating/drinking fests involving multiple rounds at multiple venues) at least once a month and sometimes every week. 

For the foreign business traveler, using your foreignness as an excuse to bow out will get you only so far. 

Rules of the game

"Drinking etiquette is the first thing you teach foreign guests," says Bryan Do, a Korean-American director at the Korean branch of a U.S. company.

"It was shocking when I first arrived in Korea. My boss was a graduate of Korea University [renowned known for its hardy drinking culture] and at my first hoesik, we started out with everyone filling a beer glass with soju, and downing it on the spot. That was just the beginning." 

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United first U.S. airline for 787 Dreamliner

Posted: 24 May 2012 02:55 PM PDT

Tickets to ride on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner have gone on sale at a U.S. airline for the first time, after United announced its Denver-to-Tokyo service this week.

Seats are available now for flights starting some months ahead -- the first is scheduled to take off from Denver International Airport on March 31, 2013, and return from Tokyo Narita the following day.

United CEO Jeff Smisek was enthusiastic about his company's getting its hands on the new Boeing, calling the Dreamliner "the coolest airplane in the sky."

Long and thin

The Denver-Tokyo route is one of those low-traffic flights sometimes described as "long and thin," meaning it's intercontinental, but not in particularly high demand, due to the size of one or both cities it connects.

That makes the Dreamliner suitable for profit-squeezed airlines, as with a little over 200 seats it's both smaller than other long-haul craft and fuel-efficient.

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iReport: My favorite Chinese meals

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:57 PM PDT

"Food is the sky for people," runs an ancient Chinese proverb. 

Peking duck, hot pot, xiaolongbao, fried noodles … travelers in China often find themselves stuck between choices of what to eat, rather than where to visit.

In a recent iReport assignment, we asked foodies to share the stories and pictures of their favorite Chinese meals and we heard from all over the world.

"After visiting 50 countries so far, China is my favorite for food," says Tehran-based British iReporter Adam Amir Smith, whose most memorable Chinese food is the spicy and numbing Chongqing hot pot.

"It's dangerous and delicious," adds Smith.

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5 conversation topics for travelers afraid of awkward silences

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:02 AM PDT

by Patricia Chui

You know the scene. You're in a new town, you're assiduously scoping out every bar within walking distance of your hotel and suddenly there's an eerie pause in the chatter between you and your local friends. 

You've exhausted your stories from the time(s) you nearly died in Bolivia, they've tired of telling you where to go tomorrow while they have to work. And so as inevitably as an Icelandic volcano erupting the day you jet off to Europe, the fallback conversation topics make their appearance. 

But which fallback topics exactly are they?

The problem is, they're different in every city.

Sure the weather crops up a lot, as do modes of transportation, but listen long enough, and eventually you'll realize you don't need to open your eyes to know where you are.

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at 9:30 AM