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Travel Times
Oct. 30th, 2005 06:58 amExplorer: Sakhalin: Change Comes to a Wild Island at Russia's Edge
By JAMES BROOKE, The New York Times, October 30, 2005
LAST fall, a Russian hunter emerged from the forests of southern Sakhalin with a tale of finding English words finger-painted into crumbling cement. Could it be the remains of a long-lost Japanese camp that once held American and British prisoners of war? A search party bounced off in four-wheel drive vehicles. A few days later, they returned, empty handed. Once again, it seemed, Sakhalin's wilderness had won, swallowing up an entire prison camp.
Mystery has long shrouded this dagger-shaped island on Russia's eastern edge. Until 1990, all foreigners were banned from Sakhalin, whose existence was briefly, if starkly, highlighted in 1983, when a Soviet jet took off from a base on Sakhalin and inexplicably shot down KAL 007, a South Korean commercial jet filled with passengers. But now that the island's offshore energy riches have attracted the largest foreign investments in Russian history, Sakhalin is open for tourists, and not just for the snowboarders who want to shred Bolshevik Mountain, an island draw for young thrill seekers from around the Pacific Rim.
The billions of dollars in oil and gas investments have brought the essentials of tourism to this onetime prison island, with more to come. A series of hotel openings planned for 2006 will double hotel rooms, and new direct flights from Seoul and Tokyo are making Sakhalin far more accessible than it was in the czarist and Soviet days when primary access was often by prison ship. In fact, so many Americans, Britons and Europeans now go to Sakhalin that American Express has moved beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg to open its third agency in Russia, in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the island capital with a population of 165,000.
( Read More )
Practical Traveler: With Threat of Avian Flu, Go or Stay Home?
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT, The New York Times, October 30, 2005
Chickens at a market in Hong Kong. Most of the chickens sold there are from mainland China, where bird flu outbreaks have been recorded.
BETSY McCALLUM had planned a three-week trip to China, Vietnam and Thailand next March. She and a friend looked forward to visiting a relative who worked in Beijing and then exploring some of the places that "none of the tourists go to."
But then Ms. McCallum, a retired real-estate broker from Manasota Key, Fla., heard about the bird flu threat and began having second thoughts about her vacation. "What if there's an outbreak?" she wondered. "Would I be increasing my risk of getting it by going on my trip during the peak of flu season?"
For people making vacation plans, the H5N1 avian flu strain is beginning to loom large. And while the virus may not have mutated into a human disease, at least at this point, travelers are concerned. Ms. McCallum, for example, decided to stay home after consulting with her sons, both doctors, and a friend who manages a pharmaceutical company in Taiwan. "Maybe I'm chicken," she said. "But I'd rather play it safe."
Here are some of the most common questions about bird flu and travel:
Q. What is bird flu?
A. It is an infection among birds that is transmitted through saliva, nasal secretions and feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What makes the particular strain of bird flu H5N1 so worrisome is that it can now also infect people. In 1997, the first case of bird-to-human transmission was recorded in Hong Kong, according to the C.D.C. So far, this strain of flu has not had any sustained human-to-human transmission. But scientists are concerned that the virus might adapt to more easily infect people.
( Read More )
By JAMES BROOKE, The New York Times, October 30, 2005
LAST fall, a Russian hunter emerged from the forests of southern Sakhalin with a tale of finding English words finger-painted into crumbling cement. Could it be the remains of a long-lost Japanese camp that once held American and British prisoners of war? A search party bounced off in four-wheel drive vehicles. A few days later, they returned, empty handed. Once again, it seemed, Sakhalin's wilderness had won, swallowing up an entire prison camp.
Mystery has long shrouded this dagger-shaped island on Russia's eastern edge. Until 1990, all foreigners were banned from Sakhalin, whose existence was briefly, if starkly, highlighted in 1983, when a Soviet jet took off from a base on Sakhalin and inexplicably shot down KAL 007, a South Korean commercial jet filled with passengers. But now that the island's offshore energy riches have attracted the largest foreign investments in Russian history, Sakhalin is open for tourists, and not just for the snowboarders who want to shred Bolshevik Mountain, an island draw for young thrill seekers from around the Pacific Rim.
The billions of dollars in oil and gas investments have brought the essentials of tourism to this onetime prison island, with more to come. A series of hotel openings planned for 2006 will double hotel rooms, and new direct flights from Seoul and Tokyo are making Sakhalin far more accessible than it was in the czarist and Soviet days when primary access was often by prison ship. In fact, so many Americans, Britons and Europeans now go to Sakhalin that American Express has moved beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg to open its third agency in Russia, in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the island capital with a population of 165,000.
( Read More )
Practical Traveler: With Threat of Avian Flu, Go or Stay Home?
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT, The New York Times, October 30, 2005
Chickens at a market in Hong Kong. Most of the chickens sold there are from mainland China, where bird flu outbreaks have been recorded.
BETSY McCALLUM had planned a three-week trip to China, Vietnam and Thailand next March. She and a friend looked forward to visiting a relative who worked in Beijing and then exploring some of the places that "none of the tourists go to."
But then Ms. McCallum, a retired real-estate broker from Manasota Key, Fla., heard about the bird flu threat and began having second thoughts about her vacation. "What if there's an outbreak?" she wondered. "Would I be increasing my risk of getting it by going on my trip during the peak of flu season?"
For people making vacation plans, the H5N1 avian flu strain is beginning to loom large. And while the virus may not have mutated into a human disease, at least at this point, travelers are concerned. Ms. McCallum, for example, decided to stay home after consulting with her sons, both doctors, and a friend who manages a pharmaceutical company in Taiwan. "Maybe I'm chicken," she said. "But I'd rather play it safe."
Here are some of the most common questions about bird flu and travel:
Q. What is bird flu?
A. It is an infection among birds that is transmitted through saliva, nasal secretions and feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What makes the particular strain of bird flu H5N1 so worrisome is that it can now also infect people. In 1997, the first case of bird-to-human transmission was recorded in Hong Kong, according to the C.D.C. So far, this strain of flu has not had any sustained human-to-human transmission. But scientists are concerned that the virus might adapt to more easily infect people.
( Read More )
