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tv   The Travel Show  BBC News  January 28, 2018 8:30pm-9:01pm GMT

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he had been arrested during a rally which was calling for the presidential elections in march to be boycotted, along with about 240 other people who were also detained by police across russia. but his lawyer is now saying that there have been no charges and he has been released from police custody, talking to the reuters news agency. how far would you go for breakfast? well, one wild elephant has been crossing the border from china to laos in search of the best snacks. music very deftly done, wasn't it? time for a look at the weather now. hello, 15 degrees in the sunshine
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but it is turning colder. there is a band of rain. it could be heavy in scotla nd band of rain. it could be heavy in scotland and northern ireland. south of that we have some blustery winds. this is where we have the mild air once again. to the north of the band of rain, the area is getting a bit chilly. the rain band continues to push its way southwards on monday. probably getting into more southern parts of england during the afternoon. here we still have temperatures of 11 or 12. the hind that the colder ed dix down. funniest guys further north and showers in the north west of scotland. —— sunniest skies. the chance of frost in the south and south—east on tuesday. a bright start some sunshine. later we will get some rain in the north—west. this is bbc news —
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our latest headlines. police have released a cctv image of a man wanted over a car crash that killed three teenage boys at a west london bus stop on friday. the prime minister has come under new pressure from her backbenchers over brexit negotiations — amid reports of a looming leadership battle. the leader of russia's main opposition party is arrested at a rally calling for a boycott of the presidential elections — along with more than 200 other protesters. his lawyer says he has now been
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released without charge. the founder of ikea, ingvar kamprad, has died at the age of 91. he started the business when he was just 17. now on bbc news, it's the travel show. this week on the show: the sinkholes left behind by the shrinking dead sea. it is devastation, but it is also quite beautiful, isn't it? travel tech you can talk to... i have packed it. can you say it again? and i'm in mexico to see one of the world's most impressive migrations. first up this week, we're in the resort of ein gedi in israel,
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on the banks of the dead sea. this vast, salty lake is one of the region's top tourist attractions, but it's one that's slowly disappearing, leaving behind a scarred landscape, which we send jo whalley to explore. this is the lowest point on earth, and people come here from all over the world to experience the surreal sensation of floating about in the hyper salty waters. but, in recent years, the dead sea has been shrinking back — at a rate of more than a metre a year. the phenomenon's being caused
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by a sharp decrease in the amount of waterflowing into it, as the countries along the river jordan, the dead sea's main source, harness the water's flow for industry and farming. 30 years ago, the dead sea came all the way up here, right up to these beach umbrellas. but now the sea's receded so much that tourists need to be passed by tractor to the waters‘ edge. it's a distance more than a mile. the tractor rides might be a fun novelty for tourists, but they're expensive to run. and the shrinking sea has caused an even bigger problem: as the waters recede, huge underground salt deposits are left behind, and when the salt
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dissolves, the ground above it can collapse without warning, causing sinkholes. yariv has seen the impact first hand. this is the main road, and the main beach, and the main touristic place that used to be... i can see how the roads just all given away. yeah, yeah. everything just collapsing, everything just falling apart. yeah. two years ago, this road, which was one of the country's major highways, was closed and rerouted, after the surface started to sink. it's now an enormous hole. it's crazy, it looks like an earthquake. it is. yeah, unfortunately, it is. yeah, that's uh... basically, that's what's going on. the ground is just falling apart. and it's all fractured, all the way down there. and it's still active. everything's collapsed into that hole.
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yeah. and this is one of the — and this is part — relatively small. well not so — let's say not so big. that's a small one? not so big, yeah. hah! it's not a big one, yeah. how many sinkholes are there now? around... more than 6000, 6500, let's say, around 6500. when did the first hole happen? the beginning of it was the late 80s. it was a phenomenon — a nice one, interesting — very interesting phenomenon. but itjust escalated very much and very fast. and once you bring people next to it, people who live, people who work here, and tourist places, then you just have to leave the place and then you get the biggest damage that you can get. this tourist resort used to be one of the dead sea's
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few public beaches. two years ago, it had to be evacuated when the ground became too unstable. wow. the whole building had to be abandoned. yeah. in a short — very short notice, we had to just take everything, pack our bags, stuff, equipment, and just leave. it looks like a war, so... there is a plan to reverse the fortunes of the dead sea by pumping water into it from the red sea, over 100 miles away, but that could take many years, and no one knows for sure if it will work. in the meantime, the people here are determined to rebuild,
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using satellite mapping to assess where new holes might open up. um, actually, what you see there, like a big lagoon, is a chain of sinkholes. eli raz helped develop the satellite system. he's been studying the sinkholes for the past 17 years. so is it safe to explore this area? it is quite safe to somebody who knows where to go, somebody who knows the nature of the sinkholes. for somebody who doesn't know nothing at all, it could be dangerous. eli has started taking groups out to safely view the sinkholes. he wants something positive to come out of the problem. first of all, for the awareness of people to the dead sea crisis, but also, on the other hand, to give explanations. people are willing to know what's happening.
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and then we have also the other side of the problem. people are amazed by the scenery. it is beautiful. and that's why it's very important to let the people an access the sea — a safe one. nowadays there is no safe access. and i think that we are losing something. the idea is for people to be able to see the geological wonders that have appeared as the dead sea has receded. i just want to show you my diamonds. oh, wow. oh my gosh. they are actually crystals, idiomorphic crystals of salt. can i keep this? yes, of course.
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this is, you know, a gift from... thank you very much. a giftfrom... a gift from the dead sea! that's incredible. and it isn'tjust salt diamonds that are formed along the shore. and here is the purest... oh wow. they form just on the slope. and the waves roll them up and down. so diamonds and pearls. diamonds and pearls, yes. you're spoiling me. it is amazing to grab handfuls of these pearls. they're so beautiful. is there a sinkhole near here? there are sinkholes, of course, all along the coastal plain. and can we go and look at one? yes. ok, let's go, then. 0h!
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is that it? all of that? yeah. this is one of the biggest sinkholes, yeah. it's absolutely enormous. this is about 40 metres, 50 metres in diameter. wow! it's filled with water, as well. this is the groundwater. iam a bit scared, here, eli. being tentative. not exactly sweet water, with the ability to dissolve salt. yeah. it's like a lagoon, isn't it? it's like a lagoon. such a lot to take in, because there is devastation, but it is also quite beautiful, isn't it? always better to look at the bright
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side of the problem, yes. it's the eerie beauty of this place that is hoped can be used to attract more tourists to the area and repair some of the economic damage that has been caused by the sinkholes. if you're planning a trip to the dead sea, you don't have to worry about a sinkhole opening up under the beach. the affected areas are clearly signposted, and should not be entered without guidance from an expert. still to come on the travel show... i'm in central mexico to see one of the world's greatest wildlife migrations. wow! normally we're not allowed to get this close!
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so don't go away. the travel show: your essential guide, wherever you're heading. where's the closest train station? where's the closest pizza restaurant? what's the weather going to be like later? voice—activated tech has exploded in popularity in recent years, with gadgets and apps that use speech commands becoming a big part of our lives and our homes with little little devices standing by as an in—house personal assistant. but now, smart speakers want to change the way you travel before you've even packed your bags. google home has launched a packing assistant, bb bot, that has been launched by airline klm. i'm really intrigued to give this a go. 0k, google, talk to klm. where are you going?
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tokyo. i have made a personal packing list that is perfect. let's start with travel essentials such as your passport and bank cards. i have packed it. make sure to pack enough underwear for seven days. underwear, very important. underwear. i've packed it. make sure to pack enough underwear for seven days. i've packed it. i've missed what you've said. i'm coming. pack pants for seven days. i packed it. i didn't get that. can you say it again? i've packed it. sorry for asking, are you a man 01’ a woman? woman. pack enough skirts for seven days. i'd bring my sunglasses if i were you. i've packed them. sorry, can you say that again? i've packed them. sunglasses are in the bag. just don't wear them at night — you're not the guy from the song. have a good flight.
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right! i'm all packed and good to go! so, overall, i'd say bb is pretty helpful in making sure you pack the essentials and you don't forget anything. but the entire process felt longwinded, you can't interrupt her when she's speaking, i couldn't find a way to go back, and after joke four or five, it got a little bit annoying. it's very cool that it uses artificial intelligence, it all feels very futuristic, but for now, i don't think i'm ready to give up a good old fashioned list. 0ther smart speakers are getting in on the travel act, too. matt's popped around to show me how amazon's alexa can help with flight and hotel searches. welcome back. what would you like to do? alexa, speak to kayak, search for flights to paris. please tell me when you want to fly out. in one week. when do you want to fly back to london? return in two weeks. and off we go. the least expensive flight from london to paris is a nonstop flight on easyjet for £75. so it's a great way to get a kind of rough ballpark on the kind
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of figures you'll be paying to go on holiday, which is quite handy. delivering that through voice, rather than having to type it out and play with calendars and all of that stuff. yeah, makes it effortless as well, it? absolutely. in the us right now, you can actually book your hotel. i don't know how i feel about that! i need to see what i'm going to stay in. don't people want to look at what they're investing in before they go on holiday? i guess if you've been somewhere before, or feeling adventurous... ..if you like taking a few risks! yeah, if you've ever done a bit of travelling, you just turn up to a random hotel or hostel and, you know, go on a local's word, maybe... so would you book your hotel through alexa ? i'm definitely going to try it. and here's a speech—activated gadget you can try out anywhere — the gopro hero 6 black. when you're using your hands to, let's say, cycle or drive, or can't reach to touch the buttons on your camera, being able to bark commands at it in order to control it is an absolute godsend.
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all i have to say is "gopro, start recording." so there are loads of commands at your disposal — you can get it to take photos, you can set it to shoot in burst mode, and you can even record a time—lapse. if you think you've filmed something that's particularly standout, you can get it to mark the clip at that exact moment by saying "gopro highlight" or, if you're a bit down with the kids, "that was sick!" when you want to stop filming, all you have to say is "gopro, stop recording." you wouldn't know it to look at, but these hills are just a couple of hours‘ drives from mexico city, one of the world's biggest urban conurbations. this is the transatlantic volcanic
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belt, but it's not volcanoes we've come to see. i'm almost at summit of bald peak, and you can tell — i'm quite out of breath. we are about 3,000m above sea level. the air‘s thin, it's quite cold, but we are beginning to see monarch butterflies. every winter, millions of butterflies fly for around two months from canada and the us to a few patches of high—altitude forest here in mexico. most are located in the state of michoacan, but this place is slightly east of there, in mexico state. cerro pelon is the least touristy site, and somewhere you can truly be alone with these creatures. wow! normally we're not allowed to get this close but, from this distance, i hope you can see there are millions of monarchs
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clustered in black clumps on these fir trees. what i find absolutely amazing about this insect is they travel 4,000km from canada, the united states, down to this particular forest. it's the longest migration undertaken by any insect. scientists only recently discovered that they use the sun to navigate to the same reserves every year, where they rest, feed, and then find a mate. in recent years, the populations have dwindled, thanks to the destruction of habitats in the us and canada, and deforestation here in mexico. one study says the numbers have gone down by 84% in the last 20 years. the fear is this — one more bad winter, and the entire colony could be gone. it's been really bad, you know?
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two years ago, we had a snowstorm that killed a lot of butterflies, you know? it was — it was really, really sad to see, like, these clusters — the way we saw they are... mm—hmm. ..but those butterflies were like, dead. and they still like — the looked like they were hibernating, but they were not hibernating anymore. they werejust dead. they were frozen? yeah, frozen, ‘cause of the weather. and what happens if there's another terrible winter like that? well, i hope it will not be the end of the butterflies. the population went down a lot. the village at the foot of the hill depends largely on the butterflies for its existence. it's tiny, though the people
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are instantly welcoming. there isjust one b&b, run byjoel and his american wife, ellen, which they set up in an effort to make day—trippers stay here for a little bit longer. and wouldn't you know it — the one local restaurant is run byjoel‘s mum, rosea. and why do you guys love the butterflies? why are you here, doing...? well, you know, that's how i met ellen. that's how we met. we met in a storm of butterflies. but anyway, you know, like, my dad, he was a forest ranger he retired from being in those
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mountains for over 30 years. when we met, there was nothing here. people came on day trips, people came from far away, they paid outside operators to come here, and none of the money stayed in the community. so really what we wanted to do, starting our busines, was have more people come here, stay in the community, stay longer. and the numbers are much lower than they used to be in the area, with the butterflies? you'd see them on the roads flying in a river. sometimes we see that in some places, but not as often as i think older people talk about, seeing that. i've only been here for four seasons, so in four seasons, it's kind of... it's actually gotten better, the numbers have gotten slightly better in the last four seasons, but it's still dramatically lower than what it was. ..than it used to be. yeah. this is lusher and greener than you might expect from mexico — a peaceful place to see the migration. and here's a glimmer of hope for the people of macheros. while numbers are still critically low, the signs from this year
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and the last is that the worrying decline appears to be stabilising. that's all for now. join us next time, when... rajan's at the sports festival in abu dhabi, trying to get to the top of one of the world's highest sand hills, the moreeb dune, which means "terrifying mountain". wow! that was fantastic! you know what? i've been looking at one of the world's highest and steepest
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sand dunes for a while now. i really want to reach the top! luckily, i've got myself a lift. woah! woo! in the meantime, make sure tojoin our adventures on the road by following us on social media. from myself, and the travel team here in mexico, it's adios. hello, good evening. a mild weekend will give way to something chilly over the weekend. this band of rain will be pushing its way southwards overnight. some heavy rain for a while across scotland and northern ireland and later coming into north—west england and north wales. to the south, a bit cloudy with blustery winds. very mild to the north of the band of rain, we have some chilly air. the band of rain continues to push southwards on monday. the last of the mild air
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getting squeezed into the near continent and something milder will follow on behind. we head into the mild a the morning. i'll start once again across southern parts of england and wales, across to lincolnshire where it will probably be dry for the most part. mid north wales beginning to see some rain coming in. some heavy rain at over the hills of north—west england. the hind that, we are into the chilly air where there are some showers around. it is just about cold enough to give some snow over the higher ground in scotland. this band of rain continues to push southwards through the day. in the afternoon there will be some gusty winds for a while. we will get some late sunshine in the midlands. sunnier skies in the north—west. a range of temperatures on monday. still mild in the south. as the rain clears away, skies clear as well and it will be chilly on early tuesday. it is across southern and south—eastern
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areas where in the countryside there may be a frost around. here, a bright start with some sunshine on tuesday. through the day, while for many of us the winds are light, we will see cloud start into increase. we have some rain later on in the day. the rain in the south—west is a bit half—hearted. the more significant rain comes back into scotla nd significant rain comes back into scotland and northern ireland. the weather front sweeps its way across the whole of the country overnight, pushing down another plunge of cold air. the winds coming away from the north—west. this is colder air than we will see on monday. it is turning colder from around mid week onwards. it will feel cold in the wind. there could be someone tree showers. —— is there could be some wintry showers. this is bbc world news today, i'm geeta guru—murthy. our top stories: thousands demonstrate across russia in support of calls
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by the opposition leader for a boycott of presidential elections in march. alexei navalny is himself briefly detained. alexei navalny is russia's most prominent opposition figure and vladimir putin's most vocal critic. he has been barred from running in the presidential election, he is now being arrested by police. ingvar kamprad, the brains behind the ikea furniture empire, dies at the age of 91. and a dramatic rescue for a french climber from a deadly himalayan mountain. but the search for her polish climbing partner is called off. also coming up, a tearful roger federer wins a record—breaking 20th grand slam with a five—set victory over croatia's marin cilic
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