Image via OneBag.com
It seems my careful folding of individual items when packing a suitcase is completely wrong. I should be 'bundle wrapping'. This detailed guide from OneBag.com shows you how to pack your suitcase or bag more efficiently whilst reducing creasing. They've also got a useful diagram. [via]
Fogonazos has posted some photos showing the Tarim Desert Highway in China (view Google map). The total length of the highway is 552km with approximately 446km of the highway cross uninhabited areas covered by shifting sand dunes.
Built in 1995 to move oil from the Tarim Basin, China's largest inland basin, the highway has been lined with a 60-metre-wide tree belt along the route provided with a massive irrigation system which pump water for the vegetation.
The aim of the tree belt is to prevent the sand from covering the highway. It is maintained by workers who living in blue houses every 4km. Between them they plant 2 million rose willows, sacsaoul and buckthorn. It's a very lonely job that requires workers to live in the houses for at least 2 years.
There is more information as well as more photos here.
I have a feeling I've posted these photos before but if so I'm posting them again. They were taken at last year's Fleet Week in San Francisco.
I've just booked a trip to San Francisco (for a birthday celebration but I won't tell you how old;o), and it happens to coincide with the 2008 Fleet Week. Seeing as I've got similar kit to what was used to take the photos I'm hoping that I'll be able to take some great shots. If you've been to a past Fleet Week, have you got any tips on good vantage points? I'm going to be in the city for the practice shows and the air shows, are the practice shows similar to the actual air shows?
Whilst on the subject of San Francisco/California, is Santa Cruz worth a visit? I'm planning on driving further south for a few days after visiting San Francisco to visit Monterrey, Half Moon Bay and possibly Santa Cruz. Are there any other places in the area worth visiting?
Stunning! [via]
The Sunday Times article has got a really interesting article on what it's like to be a concierge in a posh London hotel. Apparently when a guest calls to ask for an extra pillow it's code for asking for a prostitute.
The diagram above shows how Antarctica would look if all the ice melted.
Ganvie (meaning: 'the collectivity of those who found peace at last') is a lake village in Benin, lying in Lake Nokoué, near Cotonou. The village has a population of around 20-30,000, contains around 3,000 stilted buildings and is probably the largest lake village in Africa.
The village dates back to the sixteenth or seventeenth century [source] and was built to save people from slavery.
When the Dan-Homey kings armies were capturing people in the countryside to sell in the Portuguese slave trade, the people of Ganvie were saved from slavery by the Dan-Homey religious traditions...they were forbidden to attack communities on the water. Link
The people in this unique fishing village live exclusively from fishing (along with a little tourism), use pirogues (canoes) and have a system of underwater plantings that form fences to trap and breed fish.
According to this site there are only 'one and a half bits' of dry land in Ganvie. The full bit of land is the site of the school and the half bit will be a cemetery once enough dry ground has been laid to start burying people in it. The site has more information as well as photos.
"Beautiful and creepy, this huge hole in the ground situated in Darvaz, Uzbekistan was once the site of a gas drilling site where 35 years ago, geologists discovered a massive cavern filled with an unknown gas. It was claimed that since there was a danger of poisonous gases in the cavern, the drilling company decided to ignite the gases before proceeding with the drilling.
The hole has been burning ever since."
The Times has listed 10 ways to get kicked off a plane such as blocking the emergency exit with a huge stuffed crocodile, wearing a 'T-Shirt From Hell' or swearing (if you are a pilot). They could add this one to the list too.
According to this news story, a 24-year-old co-pilot was flying the 'crosswind' plane that almost crashed in high-winds last weekend. The more experienced 39-year-old pilot then took over to abort the landing and take off again. Incidentally, the co-pilot was female ;o) [Thanks Waaw]
Here's a HQ photo of the plane that had a bumpy landing in Germany last weekend. [Thanks again Waaw]
More photos here (including Russian police who were queuing behind the horse)
If you saw yesterday's crazy video of plane getting caught in crosswinds in Germany, here's the damage to the plane's wings. Scary! Link [Thanks Waaw for the update]
I have a feeling there were many brown seats left on this plane when it finally landed. [via]
Chang W. Lee, a photographer for The Times, got a rare outsider's glimpse of North Korea during a trip he took as part of a contingent of journalists traveling with the New York Philharmonic for a landmark concert. Here's a slideshow of his images. [via]
A Google mashup showing the locations of ghost towns in America (with links to images of the towns). [via]
From the comments on Liveleak:
Its a BAE146 'Whisperjet' one of the only jets certified to land at London City as the runway is in the heart of the city and noise levels are super tight. Its also a very short runway and the 146 has excellent short landing stats. The landing looked very hard almost like a microburst event. I'd say the folks inside were all looking at the oxygen masks and luggage after that.
This has to be one of the most organised towns on Earth. You can view more images of these densely packed towns in a Mexico here.
In two weeks time I'm heading to Tallinn, Estonia. Like Wroclaw, Poland, which I visited last year, Estonia was booked in a pub and was chosen by going through the budget airlines websites to see what destination sounded the most interesting/obscure. Now I have to find out what there is to do (besides sampling the local beer).
Has anyone who has visited there or perhaps lives there got any tips/advice on what to expect and what's worth visiting? I'll be staying just outside the Old Town wall and will also be close to the harbour. I've been debating whether it's worth hopping over to Finland on the ferry. It doesn't take long to get there and isn't too expensive.
And most importantly, how much does the beer cost? ;o)
A band of young Ukrainian students found an unusual way to commemorate the death of one of their countries most brilliant surgeons, a doctor Pirogov, who apparently, revolutionized national medicine. They organized a funeral commemorative dinner in one of Kiev’s subway trains inviting everyone to commemorate the carrier and accomplishments of their hero.
In true Russian style, the vodka was flowing.
A neat little site that shows the the colour of the Empire State Building on a given day and why it's coloured that way. You can only view the colours a week or two either way of the current date. I wonder if it's going to be lit for St David's Day on March 1st like it has been in the past. [via]
Dubai seems intent on building the biggest and best of everything. By 2012 they will have built the world's largest arch bridge that will be 670ft tall, have 12 lanes for traffic and cost $817 million. Link
Hi-Def San Francisco has a time lapse video of east to west fog flowing through San Francisco on February 8th. [via]
This photo is not Photoshopped. Between September and December, it's possible to swim close to the edge of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe due to a natural rock pool called Devil's Pool being accessible when water levels are low. [via]
I thought the airport in St Maarten was crazy. The airport above is located in the tropical island of Saint-Barthélemy, or St Barts, in the French West Indies.
At 2,133ft, its runway is one of the shortest in the world and equivalent in length to five football pitches.
Despite the apparent dangers, there have been only two fatal accidents at the airport over the years.
Here's a short video of a similar plane landing at the airport. It shows the plane narrowly missing a truck. Link
This video is longer and gives a clearer view of a plane landing at a steep angle (skip to 55 seconds).
More videos here.
Take a tour around the cockpit of an Airbus A380.
As with everything in Dubai, even the underground is extravagant. More photos here.
An on-duty policeman provoked fury when he spent 20 minutes in a travel agents chatting to staff while his car was parked on a footpath.
A mum with a tot in a pushchair was forced to swerve around his car as he was inside discussing train journeys.
His bosses insisted he did not book a holiday but admitted he became "distracted" and will face disciplinary action.
Before his attention wandered, he was supposed to be investigating reports of a broken window at the Thomas Cook branch in Gateshead, Tyneside.
Once inside the store he seems to have decided to join customers in taking a seat in front of the travel agent's computer.
With his police car in the middle of the pavement he spent 20 minutes in the shop chatting to staff, last Friday morning. Link
The Independent has a fascinating article about Yakutsk (pop. 200,000), a Siberian city that is the coldest city on Earth. Temperatures of minus -50C are 'normal' although if it gets below -55C children can have the day off school.
The image above was taken last December (via) and shows women waiting for a bus in -40C freezing fog. The image below (via) was taken on January 9th, 2008 and shows Lenin Square. The temperature was -46C.
Here's a video from 2003 (temp - -44C).
Whilst Yakutsk holds the title of coldest city on Earth, Oimyakon/Oymyakon (pop. 800) holds the record for coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth. Temperatures in this small village have reached −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F). Today's temperature is a 'balmy' -23C, although it feels like -48C.
More images:-
Note: Images taken by Bolot Bochkarev. Visit YakutiaToday.com for lots more information about Yakutsk and to view more photos.
Large quantities of water from melting ice have created what researchers are calling a "sensational" grotto under one of Norway's major glaciers. The grotto was found under the Nigard Glacier in November.
Its opening is around five metres high and inside is the grotto, which measures about eight metres high, 20-30 metres deep and around 20 metres wide.
The grotto is believed to have been created by rising temperatures. Link
This must be one of the scariest parts of being a pilot - putting your faith in the ILS and hoping that when you get through the fog you reach the runway. See also this video.
This site has graded all* of the world's flags based on their design. Coming out on top is the Gambia (left) which scored 90/100 for it's "great design and colour choice" and because it "also represents the geography of the country (without being a map)".
Ranking at the bottom with just 2/100 was the Northern Marianas Islands (right) with a "truly awfu" flag that "appears to have been constructed from clip art". [via]
*If they had included the Welsh flag I'm sure it would have ranked well.
Male belly dancing is making a comeback in Egypt. I didn't realise that there were male belly dancers but according to the book - "The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians" by Edward William Lane, an Englishman who lived in 19th-century Cairo, male belly dancers were more popular than female belly dancers and between 1834 to 1849, women dancers, known as ghawazee, were banned from the city.
Farid Mesbaah (above) has been dancing since a child and despite his craft being associated with homosexuality - a taboo in Egypt - he has been performing at gigs across the city. Link
Anyone up for petitioning a change of uniform at Ryanair? Gadling has more photos from their 2008 charity calendar.
Amateur footage of a Boeing 737 hitting a utility car left on the running on Henri Coanda Airport in Bucharest during freezing fog. The plane veered off the runway, banked powerfully on one side, and came to rest on a field 150 m from the runway. No injuries were reported.
Gadling's guide to renting an apartment in Tokyo. It's not cheap!
Insanely detailed isometric pixel map of Hong Kong. [via]
A new $1.1 billion Jurassic theme park called Restless Planet, is being built in Dubai. The park will feature 109 animatronic dinosaurs of over 40 different species in a 500,000 square foot (46,000 square metre) space.
Restless Planet will mix entertainment with educational content. Managing director Mustafa Galadari promises an “Extremely realistic and scary” but also “scientifically accurate environment.” Palaeontologist Jack Horner, best known as the technical advisor on Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, and the inspiration for the character of Alan Grant in Michael Crichton’s original book, is also on board advising the designers of the park.
[via]
This very cool rooftop swimming pool can be found at the Hotel Elan on Main Street, Dallas TX. [via]
Check out the view from the world's tallest building - the Burj Dubai.
During engine testing in the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France, this Airbus A340-600 jumped the chocks and smashed into a blast wall. The engines worked. More photos. [via]
25 bizarre insurance claims such as a claim for 2 lost coconuts, a guitar made from a pumpkin and a claim from a man who walked through a glass bus shelter whilst looking at two bikini-clad girls.
A company is planning on building a year-round skiing resort in Texas! Bearfire Resort will consist of a 250ft artificial mountain and 650,000sq/ft of skiing area.
As it gets very hot in Texas, Bearfire Resort won't be built from regular snow. Instead, the creators of Bearfire plan to introduce an entirely different type of snow that is actually made from a patented, lubricated plastic known as Snowflex. Link
Children attend class at the Dongzhong (literally meaning "in cave") primary school at a Miao village in Ziyun county, southwest China's Guizhou province. The school is built in a huge, aircraft hanger-sized natural cave, carved out of a mountain over thousands of years by wind, water and seismic shifts. More images here.
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