For years, to reach the spectacular Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve, you had to fly to the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu, and then take an eight-hour bus ride north. But in 2003, Jiuhuang Airport opened 90 minutes from the reserve; flights from Chengdu and a few smaller cities followed….
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In the harsh light and dry wind of an August afternoon, I stepped ahead of my wife and children, crossing a field of pine needles to two cylinders of bronze rising 26 feet high. A taxi driver had brought us to this place, atop a ridge in the Judean Hills, along a twisting back road long ago supplanted by the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. He had told me there was a monument here called Megillat Ha’esh, the Scroll of Fire, and it was a place few Israelis, much less tourists, had ever seen. Indeed, we had the site to ourselves, and the ground, undisturbed by rain for months, did not reveal any other footprints. …
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Max and Courtney Kieba first met in southern New Jersey at a high school roller-skating outing, which ended with a friendly parking-lot snowball fight. The couple began dating soon thereafter, and stayed together through college–Max at the University of Pennsylvania, Courtney at the University of…
Andrea Ross of Journeys Within, which offers tours of Southeast Asia, answers our questions about travel safety and day-to-day life in Bangkok since military leaders took seized control of the government on September 19
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Singapore native Chang Yang Fa, an engineering consultant, still has his first toy, a Matchbox 73 RAF refueling truck he bought when he was 6. This month, at age 57, Chang officially opens the Mint Museum of Toys to hold the 50,000 pieces he’s acquired since then. He believes his five-story glass building is the first purpose-built toy museum ever. Among the rarest objects in the collection is a water pistol from the 1950s based on the English sci-fi comic book hero, Dan Dare (”It’s the only one known to exist in the world,” says Chang). The toys, many in their original packaging, are arranged by theme, rather than by country of origin. “Toys from Brazil and Japan are next to each other to provoke visitors to ask: Why are they so similar?” says Chang. “The world of toys is universal.” 26 Seah St., 011-65/6339-0660, emint.com, $6.50….
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On my first morning in Dubai, I sat beside a stone fireplace, sipping hot chocolate and watching a video loop of a roaring fire. The fireplace was inside the St. Moritz, a re-creation of an alpine ski lodge, which is located beside a ski slope, which is located inside the Mall of the Emirates, one…
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Everything I had heard about Laos–that it’s beautiful, friendly, and not yet overrun with Westerners–stirred my sense of wanderlust. But the prospect of planning a trip there was intimidating. I was nervous about being overwhelmed, making the wrong decisions, and feeling like a slave to my…
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When the Communists took power in China, Beijing’s once-famous city walls were knocked down for construction material. In their place now runs a traffic-clogged road. In the center of the magnificent Forbidden City, just beyond the last colossal door before the emperor’s private quarters, a…
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I was fascinated by the egg shops too, where fresh duck and chicken eggs were on offer alongside dried egg yolks and 100- (or1000-) year-old eggs. These preserved duck eggs were prepared by soaking them in strong tea then rolling them in a coating of wood ash, salt and lime. They were then stored…
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Australia: Simpson Desert Lonely Planet now sells more than 6 million guidebooks annually. With all that success, it’s no wonder that Tony Wheeler–who founded the company in 1973–spends six months of the year searching for new regions to report on. “I like places that are on the edge even if…
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