TIME: Traveler's Advisory

	TRAVELER'S ADVISORY	JULY 27, 1998 NO. 30
Traveler's Advisory By SIMON ROBINSON NORTH AMERICA LOS ANGELES During the last Ice Age, 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, animals living in what is now central Los Angeles became stuck in natural asphalt deposits and died. A few fossilized bones were discovered in 1901 and since then scientists studying the La Brea tar pits, as the area is called, have uncovered the fossils of millions of Pleistocene-era plants and extinct animals including native horses, mammoths and mastodons, giant ground sloths, long-horned bison and saber-toothed cats; many of the fossilized plants found are identical to those which still grow in California. The annual dig at the pits (they are excavated only in summer, when the asphalt is softest) started last week and will run through Sept. 13. Amateur paleontologists can watch the latest finds being uncovered, cleaned and cataloged at the pits and the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, on Wilshire Boulevard. EUROPE LONDON Statues of 10 Christian martyrs of the 20th century have been placed alongside those of the traditional saints that adorn Westminster Abbey. The statues, whose subjects were chosen by a church committee, fill niches above the west door which have lain empty since the Middle Ages. The martyrs include Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, who was murdered by Bolsheviks during the 1917 revolution; Polish priest Maximilian Kolbe, who voluntarily took the place of another man in the gas chambers of Auschwitz; Rev. Martin Luther King, the U.S. civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968; and Archbishop Oscar Romero, a critic of the San Salvador regime who was assassinated while saying Mass in 1980. ASIA SINGAPORE Call it Air Vegas. With little fanfare, Singapore Airlines recently began offering gambling on flights from Singapore to Tokyo, Taipei and Hong Kong. Betting between 25[cents] and $3 at a time with a swipe of their credit cards, passengers on these routes can now play blackjack, poker or slots. Winnings, up to a maximum of $3,500, are credited to the player's card. SIA is the third airline to offer high-altitude gambling (after Swissair and Lauda Air) and plans eventually to install such games on all its routes. ISLANDS LAKE TAUPO Trout have flourished in New Zealand's predator-free waterways since they were introduced from North America late last century. Lake Taupo, in central North Island, offers some of the best trout fishing in the world. Three years ago, when nearby Mt. Ruapehu erupted, conservation experts feared rainbow trout numbers would decline. But to the delight of anglers, numbers have remained steady; in fact the fish this season are bigger than ever: average weight is up by about 500 g, to 2.6 kg, and 5-kg fish are more common. Scientists suspect ash from the eruption killed the lake's normal species of phytoplankton, allowing another, more buoyant type to take hold. Young trout have gobbled up this food and outgrown their parents.
time-webmaster@pathfinder.com

TRAVELER'S ADVISORY

JULY 27, 1998 NO. 30

Traveler's Advisory

By SIMON ROBINSON

NORTH AMERICA

LOS ANGELES

During the last Ice Age, 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, animals living in what is now central Los Angeles became stuck in natural asphalt deposits and died. A few fossilized bones were discovered in 1901 and since then scientists studying the La Brea tar pits, as the area is called, have uncovered the fossils of millions of Pleistocene-era plants and extinct animals including

native horses, mammoths and mastodons, giant ground sloths, long-horned bison and saber-toothed cats; many of the fossilized plants found are identical to those which still grow in California. The annual dig at the pits (they are excavated only in summer, when the asphalt is softest) started last week and will run through Sept. 13. Amateur paleontologists can watch the latest finds being uncovered, cleaned and cataloged at the pits and the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, on Wilshire Boulevard.

EUROPE

LONDON

Statues of 10 Christian martyrs of the 20th century have been placed alongside those of the traditional saints that adorn Westminster Abbey. The statues, whose subjects were chosen by a church committee, fill niches above the west door which have lain empty since the Middle Ages. The martyrs include Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, who was murdered by Bolsheviks during the 1917 revolution; Polish priest Maximilian Kolbe, who voluntarily took the place of another man in the gas chambers of Auschwitz; Rev. Martin Luther King, the U.S. civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968; and Archbishop Oscar Romero, a critic of the San Salvador regime who was assassinated while saying Mass in 1980.

ASIA

SINGAPORE

Call it Air Vegas. With little fanfare, Singapore Airlines recently began offering gambling on flights from Singapore to Tokyo, Taipei and Hong Kong. Betting between 25[cents] and $3 at a time with a swipe of their credit cards, passengers on these routes can now play blackjack, poker or slots. Winnings, up to a maximum of $3,500, are credited to the player's card. SIA is the third airline to offer high-altitude gambling (after Swissair and Lauda Air) and plans eventually to install such games on all its routes.

ISLANDS

LAKE TAUPO

Trout have flourished in New Zealand's predator-free waterways since they were introduced from North America late last century. Lake Taupo, in central North Island, offers some of the best trout fishing in the world. Three years ago, when nearby Mt. Ruapehu erupted, conservation experts feared rainbow trout numbers would decline. But to the delight of anglers, numbers have remained steady; in fact the fish this season are bigger than ever: average weight is up by about 500 g, to 2.6 kg, and 5-kg fish are more common. Scientists suspect ash from the eruption killed the lake's normal species of phytoplankton, allowing another, more buoyant type to take hold. Young trout have gobbled up this food and outgrown their parents.

time-webmaster@pathfinder.com