· March, 2007

Stories about Travel from March, 2007

Russia: Photos of Grozny

  30 March 2007

Earlier this week, I linked to LJ user kunstkamera‘s photos from Grozny, Chechnya. (Warning: bandwidth intensive.) Below are some of the comments and kunstkamera‘s own remarks, translated from Russian. gematogen: Was it scary? kunstkamera: It was scary to fly the [YaK-42] plane. […] i_grappa: It's interesting, thank you! In general,...

Ukraine, Belarus: Chernobyl

  30 March 2007

MoldovAnn attends the opening of a photo exhibition of Belarus-based American photographer Kristina Brendel, held at the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv; she discovers that the Belarusian government's treatment of the Chernobyl catastrophe differs drastically from that of the Ukrainian government: “…there is total denial by the Belarussian government that there...

Russia: Lenin, A Collector's Item

  30 March 2007

“Thus, what is so fascinating about the cult of Lenin is the efforts of an atheist regime to create a kind of religion for political control,” writes Darkness at Noon in a lengthy post about his own very impressive collection of the Soviet busts of Lenin and a recent ordeal...

Americans in Moldova; Moldovans in Italy…

  29 March 2007

Alexandru Culiuc's weblog is one of the best in the Moldovan blogosphere – probably the one I enjoy reading the most, and happily it has an owner and readership that don't seem to mind my mostly English-language comments. Last year, Alex had an interesting post about foreigners’ impressions of Moldova...

Ukraine: Book on Chernobyl

  29 March 2007

MoldovAnn reads Piers Paul Read's 1993 book on Chernobyl (Ablaze: The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl) and discovers that she has been to a few Ukrainian towns mentioned in it: “Sometimes I forget what my colleagues lived through, that they themselves are first-hand witnesses to the Chornobyl...

China: Iron dragon

  28 March 2007

Tim Beckenham from Shanghaiist reported that a Henan-based investor group is constructing a 21-kilometre (13 mile) long metal Chinese dragon as a tourist attraction. There is also suggestion that the dragon structure could help minimise the impact of sand storms on the nearby capital. Chris O'Brien from Beijing Newspeak has...

Haiti, India: Becoming a local

  28 March 2007

Haitian blogger Pascale Doresca reflects [Fr] on the ways she is settling into life in India: “For while now I have not found the time to write, to be moved or to be shocked by India. Maybe it finally happened. Although I didn't see it coming, I am now from...

Russia: Thaw

  27 March 2007

White Sun of the Desert reports on the beginning of the springtime thaw in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: “Bereft of any kind of drainage system, the melting snow first forms a brown slush which lies ankle-deep on every pavement, and later turns to lakes of dirty water which straddle entire roads and covers...

Lebanon: Spring, Art and Dilemmas

In Lebanon spring officially begins on March 21. This is why March 21st is celebrated as Mother’s Day here. Bloggers tend to post more about love, nature and sunshine, reflecting the general upbeat mood. Even the political post tend to be plans, strategies or analysis about how to make things...

Barbados: Tourism Growth or Inflation?

  26 March 2007

Barbados Free Press wonders if Barbados’ tourism industry has actually grown or whether “visitors are spending more, simply because virtually everything is costing more, so there has not been any real growth at all.”

Thailand: Farang Beggars in Bangkok

  26 March 2007

Metroblogging Bangkok points to a video interview with a professional foreign beggar in Bangkok. “You know those farang who sit on the overpasses with signs begging for Baht to help them buy a plane ticket or something? They usually look like backpackers, and honestly they usually make me pretty sick....