After being, I think, the first blog to announce (twice) the “Stremnaya Road”, Bolivia actually the Guoliang Tunnel in China mystery solved , I am on to a new investigation.
This time declaring this Tibetan photo was not taken in Tibet:
… check my hiking blog to see where tourists are allowed to scramble this cliff.
I just posted a photo journal on my hiking blog: Paria – the best canyon walk in the world.
It links to my photos of the trip as well as a detailed description on how to organize 4 days wading in a river slot canyon. Certainly this is one of my favourite hikes anywhere.
I also recommend the famous day hike nearby, called The Wave. (I had trouble on that one.)
» this is the last travelogue post on this trip.
I’m assigning my Dubai correspondent Chris to check this out. Rumour is that the tower on the building will eventually be almost 1km high!
With two stories added every week, Burj Dubai is taking shape as the centerpiece of a 20-billion-dollar venture featuring the construction of a new district, “Downtown Burj Dubai,” that will house 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.
Launched in early 2004, the construction of the tower by South Korea’s Samsung should be completed at the end of 2008 and cost one billion dollars, according to Greg Sang, the Emaar official in charge of Burj Dubai.
Burj Dubai already has 79 stories, taking its height to more than 200 meters (656 feet). But even after having gone that far, Emaar is still not revealing the tower’s final height.
BREITBART.COM – World’s tallest tower rising in Dubai
artists drawing – on Wikipedia
I’m still shopping for a dentist in a developing country, likely Mexico.
Dental work in Canada is over-priced in my opinion. How many can afford $400 / hour for sitting in a chair?
More than 500,000 Americans traveled out of the country last year for medical or dental work, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. In those numbers are cases of heart bypasses, orthopedic surgeries and expensive dental treatments.
More on “security theatre”.
The Newark Star-Ledger reports that security screeners at Newark airport flunked 20 of 22 security tests operated by undercover federal agents last week. They failed to spot items including concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the international airport’s three terminals, according to federal officials.
Boing Boing: Airport screeners at Newark fail to find 20 of 22 “weapons”
Want to book reservations at Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Hotel?
Sorry.
The “hotel” is an empty shell that can be seen from anywhere in the capital city. Construction was stopped in 1992 due to a lack of funds and safety concerns about crooked elevator shafts and cracking concrete. Plus, no tourists.
A perfect symbol of the hubris and stupidity of totalitarian rule.
Pyongyang: Home to the Tallest Hotel in the World That Could, but Will Never Be
Locking up this guy will really make me sleep better.
Security researcher Christopher Soghoian created the Northwest Airline Boarding Pass Generator in the hope of spurring Congress to look closely at the nation’s aviation security policies, which he calls “security theater.”
The site lets anyone create a facsimile of a Northwest Airlines boarding pass, with whatever name they choose.
On Friday, Congress heard Soghoian’s message loud and clear. But instead of promising to reform broken airport security procedures, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), a member of the House Homeland Security committee known for his defenses of privacy, wants the site shut down and Soghoian arrested. …
Soghoian, a Ph.D. student at Indiana University, says he has never used one of the fake boarding passes, which are likely good enough to get someone through airport security into the “sanitized” area of the airport, but not good enough to get anyone on a plane. He was waiting for clearance from lawyers at Indiana University before attempting to test if the method worked to get through security. …
“I want Congress to see how stupid the (Transportation Security Administration)’s watch lists are,” he said. “Now even the most technically incompetent user can click and generate a boarding pass. By doing this, I’m hoping (Congress) will see how silly the security rules are. I don’t want bad guys to board airplanes but I don’t think the system we have right now works and I think it is giving us a false sense of security.”
Wired News: Boarding Pass Hacker Under Fire
Thanks George.
Like every tourist in Page, Arizona, I popped in to visit Glen Canyon Dam. I’ve really enjoyed similar tours of other large dams.
And the impact on the environment caused by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam is more controversial than most. It sounded interesting.
But I was turned off by over-zealous security officials.
After a slow line-up, turned out I was not allowed to carry anything into the facility. They rushed and flustered a bus load of French tourists too. Everyone present was painfully aware that there was zero security risk. It was an embarassment.
This going-through-the-motions has been called security theatre. Too right.
Rather than this useless song and dance, why don’t we study what the Israelis do? The security procedures of El-Al airlines, for example. El Al has has had no successful terrorist attack on board any of its aircraft for over 35 years.
Major dams are terrorist targets. They deserve the highest level of security. But hassling tourists does not help. Shut the facility down from tourism completely, if necessary. Shut down the highway, if necessary.
But don’t pretend you are preventing a serious attack by preventing me carrying in a wallet.
» next travelogue post on this trip – when did Halloween get … BIG?
Oh, any travel that’s “physically, culturally or environmentally involving.”
OK.
“In the last two or three years there’s been a major transformation from a small [adventure travel] niche market to one that’s growing,” said Trevor Saxty, president of Adventure Center, an international company offering adventure travel packages.
According to Saxty, global travel has always been more affordable than people perceived it to be, but prices have come down a little in the last few years, and the trips themselves are tailored more to the average worker with a familiy and limited vacation time.
“More travelers are getting sophisticated about what they can do around the world,” he said. “It used to be seen as elitist to go to Morocco, but now it’s one of the best deals in terms of adventure experience for the money. There’s just such a hunger for more experimental vacations, and [people’s] time is limited, so [a trip] has to be a good quality vacation with active alternatives.”
More exploring far from the tourist-filled crowds – CNN.com
Even the most expensive of the adventure travel glossy brochures have offerings down as low as US$40 / day. My price range.
(via The Adventure Blog)
Just trudged out of amazing Paria Canyon.
It was four days walking in a cathedral of stone (with flooded floors). Simply gorgeous.
Paria Canyon is much safer than I expected. It is nearly impossible to get lost on a river hemmed in by huge cliffs. (Though 62-year-old James Aalberts managed it last week.) And I cannot see how anyone could drown in Paria no matter how high the tidal wave.
On my hiking blog, for photos, check this post: Paria – best canyon walk in the world
» next travelogue post on this trip – “security theatre”
Rick McCharles 
