Uncornered Market
That was a pretty fabulous meal. Simple, fresh ingredients. So good!
Street beets were new to us as well. Guess they are pretty commonplace in that area as everyone thought we were crazy to take photos of them :) The Iranian version of doogh was a bit thinner and used more herbs than what we had in Kashgar (which I'm assuming would be similar to the style in Ürümqi). Both were good though!
I tried to get all the information into one post that I was looking for when I researched our Ladakh trip. I'm sure I missed something along the way, but I tried to be comprehensive :)
You're welcome! Had no idea that 70% of the world's soccer balls/footballs came from Pakistan. Fascinating story and well written.
Hi Ellen,
Glad you enjoyed the story. Was quite an eye-opening experience for us.
Thanks for your questions. Regarding the logistics how we ended up in Tanzania and who paid for what here's the background. We are part of the Wanderers in Residence program with G Adventures. We had taken tours with them in Ethiopia and Uganda and added on a couple of days in Tanzania to visit two Planeterra Foundation projects. The main goal of this was for us to see a Planeterra project firsthand and also provide photos for the organization to use. As this article focused more on the issue of clean stoves and this Planeterra Foundation & the Maasai Clean Stove and Solar project instead of G Adventures tours we did not originally include our standard disclosure that we use when writing about experiences that were on a G tour. We have added this in so that there is no confusion in the future for transparency of transport and other costs.
Hope this helps answer your questions. If not just let me know.
Thanks, Matthew. I'm in the process of adding "daft and unadvisable" to the list.I like your point about the Age of Discovery.Thats the trouble with nostalgia it sometimes tricks us into setting an unfairly high bar.We may never adventure quite like the adventurers of yore, but were going to adventure in ways that they couldnt even see coming.
Thanks, Hannah. That's what I was hoping to do with the piece: to put the term in perspective regarding not only pushing boundaries, but how we define those boundaries in the first place. I think maybe that's why #4 on the list was my personal favorite (and maybe the one I struggle with the most). It speaks to what I'm going to do in life -- particularly with respect to making a real difference -- applying all that I learned by adventuring in travel.
Agreed, placing too much importance on what others believe you should do is dangerous regardless of how much adventure is involved.
Thanks, John. I didn't really address the risk perception thing very much in this piece, but after reading your thoughts, maybe I should have. Your story of walking through neighborhoods reminds me of the end of our trip to Iran a couple years back. Someone in our audience said, "stay safe", to which I replied, "Now that I'm headed to Washington DC, I'll try." Risk, like adventure, is in the eye of the beholder.
Ellen, just to add to what Jodi wrote here. (Disclosure: I'm also part of WIR)
Regarding the posts on our site that are connected to an experience we had on a G Adventures trip, I believe that the first goal for all of us is to create quality and useful content for our readers. For example, when we wrote our Gorilla Trekking in Uganda Beginner's Guide we do say that we went with G Adventures, but we also provided information for independent travelers to organize their own trip by providing links out to authorized Ugandan tour operators who could organize gorilla trekking permits. Like Jodi said, whether we're traveling on a G tour or independently we're always looking for angles to write about and provide quality information for our readers. We do disclose our relationship with G in all of these posts.
As for affiliates, we do have an account with Commission Junction which is the same as anyone else. We opened it moons ago after our first G trip (pre-WIR, that we paid for ourselves) and have kept it since.
I think G will comment on this further as they have the fuller picture of data & analytics. But, I wanted to just comment here as well. Disclosure: Dan & I are part of the WIR program.
Data from our sites and the Looptail is collected and can be used to show a certain level of conversion. However, we know from experience that the analytics does not always tell the full story. We heard from a G employee who was on a recent tour in Iran where 7 Americans on her trip had never heard of G Adventures until they found our articles on Iran (esp. this article that provides details on how US citizens can get a visa, not only through G but through other Iranian agencies). I can tell you that these people who booked this G Adventures Iran tour connected to something they saw on our site did not show up in our affiliate sales or gs stats. The reality is that people take a long time to make travel purchasing decisions and they purchase in different ways - online, phone, through agents, etc. - and you cant always track where that decision process first started. Gary recently had a woman on Instagram tell him that she booked an Antarctica/South Georgia tour last year with G because of his photos from his earlier G trip there, but that wasnt able to be tracked either.
Honestly, I wish it was easier to do so as it would tell a fuller and more complete story. Thoughts on how to practically track these long purchasing cycles would be great. Would make our lives easier :)
Thanks, Sonja, for sharing our article here! I just wanted to provide context on the point that we made on "don't ask people to pose." The idea is don't ask people to pose in a way that you think they "should" look or be. The story that is connected to that piece of advice is in the article - that we once saw a professional photographer make a Burmese woman pose with her scales to get a "natural" shot, which was not how she normally would have posed if she had had her choice. In my opinion, if someone gives you permission to take a portrait shot, you should shoot the image in the way they want instead of the way you "think" it should be.
Like Ron said, we've had so many great experiences engaging with people that started from us asking if we can take a photo of them (or their food stand), sharing the images and then discussing other topics.
Thanks for sharing our piece here, Matthew!
John, we recently spoke on a panel with the directors of Gringo Trails so I definitely see your point. And I almost didn't include it in there for that reason, but the reality is that the Salar is one of the more incredible places we've ever seen. We spent almost two months in Bolivia and there are many more reasons to visit than just the Salar, so I will add a few of those other destinations. Thanks for your comment.
Yay! We'll be publishing our "Beginner's Guide" to Haiti next week and a food guide shortly afterwards. Stay tuned!
We had a similar Antarctica experience to Pam. In addition to the focus on "environmentally friendly" fuel and other environmental considerations of the boat, I was incredibly impressed on the education focus of the trip. Not only did we learn about the wildlife and nature around us from bird, whale and glacier experts, but we also had lectures on the history of Antarctica research and the environmental challenges faced today. It made me appreciate the fragility of our whole planet -- not just Antarctica -- in a whole new light.
On our boat we had an Antarctica veteran working for IAATO. He had been visiting Antarctica for 30 years and mentioned how some of the areas we went to would not have been passable earlier because there would have been glaciers everywhere. So we asked the same question about whether tourism to Antarctica should stop. His response was very similar to what Jane Rumble said: "The real threat to Antarctica comes from what you're doing at home that's affecting the planet, not the number of tourists coming through here."
Given the earlier discussion here on "mend not end volunteering" I thought this photo contest and discussion on ethical global service might be of interest. There's also a good series of links to ethical photography related articles - some good food for thought on respectful, responsible photography and use its use in social media and other mediums.
Disclosure: we were asked to be judges.
Thanks for sharing our piece we did for BBC Travel! The Gheralta Mountains and treks in this area of northern Ethiopia are just incredible for the nature and also history/culture. Would love to return to explore more of this region.
@hitriddle Thanks for your kind words about our work and what we advocate for on respectful, responsible travel. You bring up a really important point regarding going beyond consumer behavior to government policy and industry practice. No easy answers here.
To address industry practices, I believe that if we can increase consumer demand for tourism services and experiences grounded in sustainability (all three pillars: culture, environment, economy) then the tourism industry will need to incorporate sustainability as a standard practice for mainstream consumers. There will of course be different grades of sustainability, but at least the demand for such practices would move from the niche to mainstream and that would raise the bar from what we have today.
As for the role of governments, that's a more challenging one to tackle. Changing consumer demands and behaviors have less of a role here. This is where industry, with bigger companies taking a leadership role, can perhaps influence governments by evaluating long-term environmental and economic consequences of policy decisions and putting their business/money behind a more sustainable option. But that's a tough sell, especially in countries where increasing populations put greater demands on resources and land. So unless there is another economic option then it's hard for governments to say no to increasing farmland allocations in the area.
So this is a long way of saying yes, all parts of the equation -- government, industry and consumers -- should be looked at when thinking about the potential of "tourism as a force for good."
Thank you for sharing our interview here! What might also be of interest to the community is an article series we wrote for WTTC under the theme of "travel as a force for good." This isn't to say that there is a lot that's wrong with the tourism industry and the potential harm that it can do, but the series highlight the potential for positive impact on people's lives from tourism development with the goal of making consumers aware that their travel purchasing decisions do have consequences and can impact people's lives around the world.
1. Faces of Tourism, a look at the impact of people employed in the tourism sector through telling the stories of four individuals: https://medium.com/@WTTC/the-faces-of-tourism-9c57c5bbe49a
2. Social Enterprise & Community Impact, a look at the potential positive impact on tourism on communities through the stories of four examples of social enterprises and CBT projects: https://medium.com/@WTTC/travel-as-a-force-for-good-social-enterprise-and-community-impact-7140dd40fa57
The third in the series will be coming out later this week (or next), focused on the impact that travel can have on individuals...and ultimately in creating greater understanding and empathy across cultures and borders.
@SonjaSwissLife Thanks for sharing this article here! As with anything in life that you really care about, it's not always unicorns and rainbows. But the reward for working through those challenges and difficult times for something you believe in is so worth it.
@eurapart Ha! It is true that G Adventures/Planeterra Foundation appear in Gary and our interviews, but if you read the others in the series you'll find they are G-free :) We and Gary have a lot of experience on G Adventures tours -- both sponsored and those we have paid for -- and know the company well as we've partnered with them for a few years. We mention them because of the social enterprise model they are developing together with Planeterra Foundation which we've been watching mature and grow these last years. I think it's pretty unique for a company of that size and scope (e.g., mostly mainstream travelers, not niche ecotourists) and we've seen this at work in Bali and Tanzania. Recently, they worked with a Inter-American Development Bank project to develop social enterprises in Latin America and have plans to try and incorporate these sorts of experiences in many other G trips. So, there's scale to the work they are trying to do in communities, especially remote ones that usually see tourist traffic, but don't often benefit from it.
@mcallisterjeff Also found the subject matter fascinating, and the photography was great. During our visit to Bangladesh in 2011, we saw a few Hijras in trains and in the streets, but didn't know the full story back then. Rather surprising how accepted they are considering the relatively conservative nature of Bangladeshi culture.
Interesting to see how the relationships between Nat Geo Traveler (and the Digital Nomad) and destinations are becoming more formalized and getting greater in scale. Even with Nat Geo's editorial control, disclosure and transparency about the funding for the project are still important.
Wonder if other destinations will follow.
Thanks much for sharing this! As the #MendNotEnd discussion here showed, volunteering/voluntourism has a lots of complex issues to take into consideration. And you want to encourage people's urge to give of themselves, but also to be aware of the ethical issues so they can make a decision aligned with values.
Should be an interesting week ahead at the Leading Change Institute event on the topic of ethical volunteering and service we're facilitating in Kansas: http://www.k-state.edu/leadership/events/leadingchangeinstitute/index.html
If you're interested in the discussion and taking part we'll be using #LeadChange on Twitter.
Our Chinese friend in Berlin makes these! Didn't believe her at first that the actually uses Coke in the recipe. Delicious.