Top Travel Leads

Under the British Raj you could had ridden a train into India from Lahore in present day Pakistan. Since India’s independence you have to walk across the Wagha border between Pakistan and India, take bus to Amritsar and ride all over India from there. But now, Indian Railways has announced that it plans to establish rail links with Nepal, Bhutan and apparently concrete plans have been also drawn to connect the Indian rail network all the way with the Chinese railways.
With trade and tourism having reached large scale proportions in Kunming and Yunnan province of south-western China, the Chinese have already connected its rail system with that of Myanmar and plans are underway to extend it from there to Bangladesh with Dhaka being only a step from Kolkata, the eastern gateway to India. Once the network is fully in place and operational you’ll be able to tour Assam and Meghalaya from Kolkata and continue all the way to tour Yunnan in China.

With now being able to ride the iron rooster across China to Lhasa in Tibet, Chinese already started on extending the line across the High Himalaya down to Kathmandu in Nepal. Thus obviously after China you’ll be able to tour Nepal and then hop on a train and ride down into the plains of India. Of course this line will cost pretty penny as the road down from Kathmandu to Indian border is not an easy ride but the Chinese engineers have already blasted their way through much worse in Sichuan.

The third route in the works is to link southern Xinjiang Province of Western China with Pakistan. There is indeed another major obstacle in the way there and that’s the Karakoram. But never mind, just imagine, you could ride a train along the legendary Silk Road from Beijing via Kashgar over Kunjerab Pass, and along Karakoram Highway all the way to Deli and Mumbai!

Few years ago this Italian tourist asked me if I could arrange for her to take a taxi from Kathmandu to Mount Everest Base Camp! Now I wonder how soon will this really become possible.

On June 28th President Zelaya was expelled from the country by the Honduran military, backed by the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court. Congress President, Roberto Micheletti, has been sworn in as the interim President. Military personnel have been deployed on the streets of Tegucigalpa, and a temporary curfew is currently in place running from 10:00pm – 5:00am, though this may change at short notice. Demonstrations continue to occur throughout the country, and have been accompanied by sporadic incidents of violence and roadblocks.

The US government issued a Travel Alert on June 29th, recommending that American citizens defer all non-essential travel to Honduras until further notice.

The British government is not advising against travel to Honduras, but is advising all British nationals in Honduras to exercise extreme caution, to stay away from large gatherings and places of public protest.

Roatan, La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula Airports remain open and flights are operating normally. Tegucigalpa’s Toncontin Airport is closed for 48 hours effective today Monday, July 6th. Those travelers with flights scheduled with American Airlines may wish to call +(504) 216-4800 (Honduras) or 1-800-433-7300 (United States). Those traveling with Delta Airlines may wish to call 1-800-791-9000 (United States and Central America) or +(504) 550-1616 (San Pedro Sula). Those with flights scheduled with Continental Airlines may wish to call +(504) 220-0999 (Tegucigalpa), +(504) 557-4141 (San Pedro Sula), or 1-800-231-0856 (United States). Taca Airlines and its affiliates have cancelled domestic flights for the past week for reasons unrelated to the political unrest.

Our contacts in Honduras assure us that all tourist services in destinations outside Tegucigalpa continue to operate normally and remain unaffected by the political situation. The borders remain open.

At this time our partners have not taken the decision to cancel tour services in Honduras, but are leaving the decision to each traveler.

Canceled in 2008 because of protests and calls for Tibetan independence the previous year, the annual Lithang horse-racing festival may not happen once again this year if the situation in Tibet and much of the Tibetan-populated areas will turn for the worse in coming days. Tensions have been reported as high ahead of the 50th anniversary on March 10 of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing into exile in India. As last year, once again this February and March the towns across the Tibetan plateau are being sealed off from visitors with armed Chinese troops on heightened alert to prevent any repeat of last year’s explosion of discontent.

The annual Lithang festival, scheduled once again to be held in Mola Grassland in vicinity of Lithang from August 1 to August 8, a grand gathering of Tibetans to race, compete in acrobatic stunt riding and archery, is an experience to add to your list of places and events to must-see in your lifetime. To witness thousands of Kampa Tibetans gather decked in striking traditional garb and ornaments singing and dancing in an ambiance of nomadic atmosphere is one of those cultural celebrations that should not only be allowed to be staged every year but encouraged as well as protected as mankind’s cultural heritage. Unfortunately as individual tourists as well as tour operators have been banned from bringing their clients to Tibet, Westerns Sichuan and Gansu, and to make sure no uninvited visitor slips through troops block approach roads, more of the same hardline treatment dished out by the Bejing regime breeds more resentments worldwide, the crackdown induces a thouoght that China’s Tibet policy, they themselves, one could only hope, should finally realize is indeed in need of an overhaul.

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