Just wanted to do another shout-out for one of my friends who truly has a travel adventure every day. His name is Brett and on his website, Amtrekker.com, he has a list of 50 things he’s crossing off and isn’t going home until he does every item on the list! Friends, family and online viewers can follow his trip through his weekly podcasts, daily blogs, and almost hourly twittering. After giving up his job to achieve his list of 50 things, Brett is inspiring people from across the states to stop putting off their own dreams.
Brett and I met in Boston through couchsurfing friends and I usually get to see him when he’s in town which it’s always awesome to hear his latest adventures. My mom even helped him with his item #24, to be in a stage illusion, in my hometown in Pigeon Forge, TN! Check out this youtube clip to hear him cross off item #21, Tell Donald Trump “You’re Fired.” And for more of his adventures, check out his website too!
Last night I got into a great conversation about art with a friend who works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which triggered a tangent on surreal travel moments. There’s one of these moments that stands out in my mind from this past summer that I’d like to share.
While traveling through Cambodia with The World by Road Expedition we passed miles and miles of rubber tree farms. These farms have trees lined in perfect rows and alone, make for beautiful road-side scenery. The surreal travel moment came when they made me think of Van Gogh’s Undergrowth with Two Figures painting. The original is housed in Cincinnati’s Art Museum of which I wrote a reflection of the painting for an Art and Theology class while at Xavier.
I was in awe of the fact that half a world away, 117 years after Van Gogh painted Undergrowth, I’m in Cambodia reflecting on how the rubber tree farms relate to his work. Not knowing what inspired Van Gogh’s work, the resemblance of the trees in Cambodia, a place Van Gogh would never have been exposed to, amazes me.
What a surreal feeling to see something I once described as Van Gogh’s fictional world come to life in Southeast Asia!
Check it out for yourself:
Cambodia Rubber Tree Farm
Vincent Van Gogh Undergrowth with Two Figures, 1890
This China Advisory Report was handed down from our study abroad program director. Thought I would pass it along if anyone wants to be even more worried about me while I’m in China . Like The World by Road guys, I take these things with a grain of salt.
In this month’s edition of the Emerson Today, one of my college’s newspapers, a story highlights Paul Niwa, one of my Sports Journalism professors. I had no idea before this class that a influencial Japanese-American would be teaching and going to Beijing with me! Not only was Paul on a team that launched NBC Asia, he’s also been granted exclusive interviews with such nobel peace prize winners as Aung San Suu Kyi. It is such an amazing learning environment to have Paul’s experience and insights brought into the classroom! Because of Paul and activities outside of the classroom, I’ve shed a little of my Western perspective of China. This is opening up a fantastic exploration and awareness of a culture that’s complexities and richness is absolutely fascinating. I can’t wait to dive head first into the middle of it all in Beijing this summer and piece together more about the elusive China.
Here’s the article:
Niwa is part of delegation to Japan
V.I.P. VISIT. Assistant Professor of Journalism Paul Niwa (left) recently traveled to Japan as part of the 2008 Japanese American Leadership Delegation Program. He was one of 13 influential Japanese-Americans from across the country chosen to participate in the program by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other groups.
The purpose of the visit was to improve understanding and strengthen relations between Japanese-Americans and Japan and to develop ongoing strategies to enhance the role of Japanese-Americans in advancing U.S.-Japan relations.
Highlights of Niwa’s trip included meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (right) at Japan’s equivalent of the White House, giving a speech on workplace diversity to Japan’s next generation of CEOs and traveling throughout the country learning about Japanese culture and history. “If I were to go to Japan on my own, I would have never experienced these things,” said Niwa.
I’m a big Fung Wah Bus fan myself. I’ve taken 3-4 roundtrips on the Fung Wah from Boston to New York, each only $30! It’s always an adventure knowing that wikipedia reports that “the company has also become known for its high rate of accidents” and further outlines all of its safety-related incidences! I’ve never experienced anything foul, except for some other passengers’ body odor. The convienance is great. You can book online or just show up at South Station in Boston and get a ticket. The bus leaves every hour, if not more frequent. If you miss one bus, you can hop on another. I once bought a ticket online, showed up an hour early and was ushered on the bus leaving then! As long as you have a ticket and there’s an open seat, you can get on.
.
But word from a couchsurfing post has even better news for those travelers looking to save a little on transporation: discount buses are coming to boston! The two big ones are Megabus and BoltBus, both owned by Greyhound. The business model is similar to the discount airlines in Europe like RyanAir which offer customers incredibly cheap seats, like a penny before taxes cheap! To grab such bargains customers have to book at least 2 weeks in advance. I flew roundtrip from London to Dublin for 60 USD on RyanAir back in 2005 – that’s not even a tank of gas here!
Seats on these new discount buses are as cheap as $1 a seat! What will happen to the beloved Fung Wah? I guess time will tell as the price war begins.
Here’s an article from the Globe on one of Fung Wah’s biggest competitors, Lucky Star, and how it’s gearing up for the price war as the corporate discount buses move in:
Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe Assistant Sunday EditorApril 3, 2008 01:46 PM
.
Bargain bus riders don’t need to wait until BoltBus launches service April 24 with its Boston-New York $1 fare deal. Lucky Star said that starting today it, too, will offer one seat per bus for just a buck.
The family-owned Chinatown bus company is facing tough new competition from corporate giants Greyhound Lines, which runs BoltBus in several East Coast cities, and Coach USA, which on May 30 will add the Boston-New York route and the $1 fare to its MegaBus subsidiary’s 30-city empire.
Lucky Star said it isn’t sure how long it will be able to maintain this price war — especially with rising gas prices — but it’s trying to hang on to customers.
Lucky Star already matches pioneering competitor Fung Wah Bus in pricing each seat on the 57-passenger bus at $15 one-way. Now, weekday one-way tickets purchased online will go for $1 to $15 each, plus a 50-cent transaction fee. The walk-up fare will still be $15.
. Like 
V.I.P. VISIT. Assistant Professor of Journalism Paul Niwa (left) recently traveled to Japan as part of the 2008 Japanese American Leadership Delegation Program. He was one of 13 influential Japanese-Americans from across the country chosen to participate in the program by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other groups.
