Unbeknownst to me prior to today, Eddie Bauer has a Vimeo channel complete with impressive adventure videos – including climbing shots. I happened upon the above video, which features climbers scaling walls in Thailand. The rock is jagged, steep and bolts out of the ocean. Oceanside climbing seems to be a bonus for these climbers, though. Part of this video shows the climbers falling, intentionally or unintentionally, into the teal waters beneath their climbing spots. I’m a little bit ashamed to say that I haven’t tried rock climbing yet. There are many purportedly excellent climbing locations in and around Austin. After watching this video, I think I’ll have to try it out. Next stop: Thailand!
Asia
Travel through Asia by country:
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Travel through Asia by popular city:
Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo
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Travel through Asia with our writers:
Infiltrating North Korea, Keyhole Into Burma, Band on the Run ... in China, Chinese Buffet, A Canadian in Beijing, Volunteer Vacation: Tajikistan
Five Things You Can Do On Earth Day To Save Natural Resources
Earth Day is upon us, and even if you’re not planning to celebrate our planet’s making it through another year (what global warming?), there are still some simple measures you can take to show your gratitude. Love your Mother, you know?
Whether you’re on the road or at home, the following are smart rules to implement every day of the year:
- Do laundry at night, after peak electricity usage hours and only wash full loads.
- Use a travel mug when you purchase your morning coffee and carry a reusble water bottle.
- Stash reusable shopping bags in your car, purse or backpack and desk.
- Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth, washing your face, doing dishes or shaving.
- Switch to e-tickets, e-pay, and other paperless forms of commerce; add your name to no junk mail and catalog lists.
[Photo credit: Flickr user kevin dooley]
Video: Scooters In Shanghai
Every time I watch a video that features people, usually teenaged or young adult men, doing tricks on some device – skateboards, bikes, scooters or something of the like – I can’t help but notice the film’s location. For what I imagine are various reasons, a lot of these kinds of videos are shot in neat locations whether tropical, intensely urban or just far away. I like these videos because they offer me relatively accidental insightful viewing. There’s a keen sense of a place I get when watching these films. While the camera often focuses on the forefront action, the background and peripheral action is also recorded. During these times, I feel I see the respective destinations and their citizens candidly. This video features, of all things, scooters in Shanghai bending their way around the streets.
Photos Of Cool Cliff Castles
Nobody minds seeing photos of dreamy castles, especially if the photos are of cool cliff castles. Towering over steep slated valleys and crashing waves, Woman’s Day has a great roundup of these kinds of castles on their website here. Featuring castles in Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Tibet, Yemen, USA and India, these photos are the thread with which fantasies are sewn. Knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, drawbridges and dragons, anyone? I’m pretty sure these castles were the backdrops behind the stories surrounding all of those things. For that, these are places worth visiting. And you know what they (by ‘they’, I mean ‘me’) say: if you can’t visit, look at photos online.
British Woman Prepares To Row Across The Pacific
Last April we posted a story about Sarah Outen, an adventurous 26-year-old from the U.K. who had set out to circumnavigate the globe using nothing but her own power. Sarah called her journey the London2London expedition and over the past 12 months she has traveled by kayak and bike across Europe and Asia. Now she is preparing to embark on the next stage of her journey, a solo row across the Pacific Ocean.
Sarah is currently in Choshi, Japan, where she is busy making the final preparations to her 21-foot rowboat named Gulliver. That boat will be her home for the next seven months as she undertakes the physically and mentally demanding task of crossing the Pacific. If all goes as planned, and the weather is right, she’ll set out tomorrow on a 5179-mile row that will eventually end in Vancouver, Canada.
This isn’t Sarah’s first ocean crossing under her own power. Back in 2009 she rowed solo across the Indian Ocean as well. That expedition took more than four months to complete and covered approximately 3100 miles of open ocean. The Pacific will provide a similar experience, albeit on a much grander scale.
After setting out from London last year, Outen paddled down the Thames River and crossed the English Channel in a kayak. Arriving on the shores of France, she climbed aboard a bike and began peddling east, crossing through numerous countries in Europe and Asia along the way. She arrived in Japan last October, but the Pacific is unforgiving in the autumn and winter so she has waited until now to start this stage of the journey.
After she completes her row across the Pacific, Sarah will once again return to her bike and continue her round-the-world adventure. The next stage will involve riding across Canada and the U.S. Finally, she intends to cap the journey by rowing across the North Atlantic and back up the Thames River, finishing where she started under the London Bridge.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
[Photo courtesy Sarah Outen]