Friday, October 26, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com


'World's worst airline' launches world's worst booking site

Posted: 26 Oct 2012 01:05 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

North Korea's national carrier Air Koryo, which has the lowest airline rating on Skytrax, has discovered the Internet.

The state-owned company -- regarded by some as the "world's worst airline" -- recently launched a bilingual website (www.airkoryo.com.kp) to provide travelers with "easier, quicker, reliable booking and ticketing services," according to Air Koryo.

Online booking is currently available on three routes: Pyongyang-Shengyang, Pyongyang-Beijing and Pyongyang-Vladivostok.

Based at the two-runway Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, Air Koryo is the only one-star carrier (out of five stars), among more than 681 worldwide airlines, on British aviation review site Skytrax.

According to Skytrax, the rating represents "a very poor quality performance" that falls below the industry average.

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Coolest bridge ever? Trampoline across the Seine

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:59 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

We could cross the river Seine on a regular ol' stone bridge. Or, we could dream up the most whimsical -- and consequently difficult -- way of crossing Paris' main artery, transforming the commute into something extraordinary. 

Design firm Atelier Zündel Cristea opted for the latter. They conceptualized a bridge for the river Seine made up of humungous floating trampolines.

As the design firm puts it, the bridge is "dedicated to the joyful release from gravity." 

Imagine: three donut-shaped PVC structures filled with 3,700 cubic meters of air. In the center of each of these giant life preservers is a trampoline measuring 30 meters in diameter.

Also on CNN: Insider guide: Best of Paris

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A holy trinity of Tokyo bars for Halloween

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:25 PM PDT

by Hiroko Yoda

1. Yogen Café (Café Prophecy)

Hosts: Protestant ladies
Spiritual specialty: Fortune-telling
Pride and joy: Coffee

General feel: With its coffee-only menu and discrete, easy-to-miss pile of bibles and religious CDs sitting next to the cash register, one could easily mistake this spiritual mission of sorts for a Spartan little café.

Run by the Protestant church next door, Café Prophecy lives up to its name by serving up individualized spiritual advice along with its (quite delicious) coffee.

It's open only in the afternoon and huge lines of customers build up outside every day, meaning there's easily an hour wait to get a table at peak times. 

Customers are asked to bring recorders along so that they can review their fortunes at leisure after the fact. Those without are charged an extra ¥100 (US$1.30) to receive the recordings on microcassette tapes.

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Whose bright idea? Neon Museum to hit Vegas

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:50 AM PDT

by Hiufu Wong

Flashy casinos, jackpots and showgirls; the images of Las Vegas that come to mind have one thing in common -- they are invariably lit by the hundreds of neon signs that make the city glow.

Las Vegas, a beacon to gamblers in the Nevada desert, will become even brighter when the Neon Museum opens on October 27.

Home to more than 150 neon signs dating from the 1930s to today, it took Bill Marion, the chair of the Neon Museum, 15 years to collect and plan the exhibition.

"The signs are a visual history of Las Vegas," says Marion. "Each sign has a unique story behind it -- about casino bosses and owners who built the city, about the mob figures who associated with them, about the entertainers who used to perform here."

The museum also works with the City of Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Signs Project, to restore and install vintage signs along Las Vegas Boulevard between Sahara and Washington Avenues.

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