The Mid-Autumn Festival is widely celebrated in Chinese culture. It is a traditional Chinese festival that is celebrated in China and in parts of Southeast Asia. Japan and Korea have similar holidays as well. It is also celebrated in places where there is a significant number of people of Chinese heritage, particularly in New York City.

It is a festival where people moon gaze, give thanks to the divinity, celebrate a bountiful harvest, and reunite with family and friends.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake festival, is the second-largest holiday in China after the Chinese Lunar New Year. It is celebrated every year on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. This year it is on Friday, the 29th of September.

Popularly known as the land of Gross National Happiness, Bhutan faces a number of socio-economic challenges. Poverty and youth unemployment remain high.

Bhutan raised its “Sustainable Development Fee” to $200 per visitor per night, from $65, when it ended two years of COVID restrictions in September last year saying the money would go to off-set the carbon generated by visitors.

The new rate of $100 per night would come into effect from September and last for four years, the government said in a statement late on Friday.

Bhutan has always been wary of the impact of mass tourism and it bans mountain climbing to preserve the sanctity of its peaks.

The festival honors deceased family members; celebrations reflect ambivalent nature of human life “a flamboyant show of joy, mirth, and laughter, in the shadows of pain, heartbreak and even death”.

In Nepal Bhasa, “Gaijatra” is called “Saparu”. The streets are ablaze with cows, cow-disguises, and jhankis with various masks. In Gaijatra, various funny conversations, jokes, sarcasm, and even stand-up comedy are performed.

The Gaijatra festival is an example of cultural significance. This pilgrimage is very important especially for the family members who lost their loved ones in the last year as it is a special place of remembrance, affection, and closeness of the deceased.

Gaijatra was started in the 17th century by King Pratap Malla.

Photo credit: Mr. Susheel Shrestha

—at a time when international airfares are soaring.

Robin Hayes, JetBlue CEO said: “JetBlue’s transatlantic service has proven to lower fares and benefit customers in markets that have suffered from high fares by legacy carriers.”

The nonstop transatlantic service from New York’s JFK to Schiphol (AMS) operate daily on Airbus A321 aircraft. Aircraft have 24 redesigned Mint Suite seats. Customers have unlimited, free high-speed wi-fi on every plane. Located only 10 miles from Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport handles over 71 million passengers per year. Service from Boston Logan to Amsterdam is set to launch on September 20.

France wants to impose a minimum ticket price to end ultra cheap airfares

JFK to AMS Nonstop

JetBlue has expanded to a third transatlantic destination.

On August 30, the new JFK to Amsterdam route follows the successful launch of JetBlue’s first transatlantic flights between JFK and London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports in 2021, and its inaugural flight from New York to Paris on June 29, 2023. It is part of the airline’s growing effort to disrupt transatlantic air travel by offering lower airfares on narrow-body aircraft

China Airlines operates more than 85 aircraft, including 23 freighter jets. The airlines 10 777-300ERs average about 8.3 years in age. It also flies the Airbus A350-900.

While the fleet is yet to enter the second half of its useful life, with limited delivery slots for the A350-1000 and 777X in the near-term future, the airline presumably wants to jump ahead of the foreseeable retirement of the 10 aircraft.

China Airlines Ltd. is choosing between Boeing Co.’s yet-to-be certified 777X and the largest variant of Airbus SE’s A350-1000 as it looks to retire existing long-haul jets, its president Kao Shing-Hwang says.