Roundup: Is Ram Bahadur Bamjan the reincarnation of Buddha? Rosarito Beach mayor speaks out on violence; big AirAsia sale

Nepal | Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18,  might be the reincarnation of Buddha or he might not. Either way, thousands of devotees headed to an area 100 miles south of Katmandu to try and see or meet him after he reemerged from the jungle Monday. His followers, many of whom consider him divine, believe he has been meditating without food or water since he was spotted in the jungle in 2005. Read: Devotees flock to ‘Buddha reincarnation’ in Nepal.

Mexico | Is it safe to travel to Mexico in the midst of the drug war? Hugo Torres, mayor of Rosarito Beach, Mexico (and owner of Rosarito Beach Hotel), gives his view of the violence and falling tourism taking place in this beloved beach town across the border. Read: Rosarito Beach losing tourists to crime fears.

Budget travel | View from the Wing posted a good AirAsia sale if you can plan nearly a year in advance. Skip the fuel surcharge (just administrative fees and taxes) on your flight if you book by Nov. 16, 2008, for travel between June 22 and Oct.  24, 2009. Here’s the catch: There are no AirAsia flights out of the U.S., so the deal is best for people traveling within Asia and between Australia and Asia. Tested: I found round-trip flights within Thailand between Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Sept. 5-12, 2009) for $13, including tax. Caveat: The AirAsia website asks you to select a country and language, and the U.S. is not listed. So in my search for flights, I got confused as to whether I could go all the way through the booking process. In the end I took the sale dates I found on AirAsia and plugged them into Mobissimo, which I know takes U.S. money, and that led me to a page where I could enter a U.S. address.

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photos: top: Ram Bahadur Bamjan blesses a monk in Nepal; Binod Joshi / Associated Press; bottom: Rosarito Beach; Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 9:06 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Asia, Baja California, Deals, Good Morning, Mexico, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.