Photo of the Day 05.18.09

by Karen Walrond on


When I’m looking for inspiration for fantasy vacations, I love finding images shot in places located on the complete opposite side of the planet from where I’m sitting in Houston, Texas. And so it’s not surprising that this amazingly serene shot shared by r0gue shad0w does the trick: it was apparently captured on Railay Beach in southern Thailand. Perfection. And the best part of this calming image? It was captured using an Olympus point-and-shoot. Told you you don’t need an expensive SLR to take an amazing shot.

If you’ve got some great travel shots you’d love to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day.

China’s first adult theme park never able to open

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The first sexually explicit theme park to be erected in China will never welcome its first guest. The park was torn down because of criticism from public officials. In particular, the artwork was a bit much for the politicians’ sensibilities.

Love Land, as the park was to be called, was scheduled to open in Chongqin in October. The park would have offered exhibits on sexual history and workshops for guests on how to improve their love lives.

The lack of subtlety, I suspect, made things difficult for Love Land. The sign at the front had a woman’s legs – with a red thong just above – straddling the park’s name. Over the weekend, city officials ordered the park’s destruction, calling it “vulgar, ill-minded and misleading.”

Click the pictures to learn about other unusual amusement parks, from a park based on the works of Charles Dickens, to a park with a ride called “Dog Fart Switchback,” to a park that’s twice the size of Disneyland.

Ten Bugs You Really Want To Avoid

by Kraig Becker on

One of the scariest things when you travel is encountering crazy insects in the places you visit. For some reason, I always seem to encounter bugs the size of my hand that look like something out of Aliens and generally pack a pretty nasty bite and/or sting.

Seems I’m not the only one, because the gang over at Environmental Graffiti have put together a list of the 10 most diabolical insects on Earth, with some down right nasty bugs making an appearance. For instance, cockroaches make the list in the number 10 spot. According to the story there are more than 4000 different species of cockroaches, many of which can grow quite large. And lets not forget the ever popular hissing cockroach that make foul noises to go along with their other foul habits.

Mosquitos earn their number 2 ranking by virute of the deadly diseases they have a propensity to spread. The article says that this tiny insect may be responsible for the death of over half the humans that have ever lived thanks to malaria and yellow fever. And that’s just the beginning of the scary mosquito facts.

The other eight bugs are just as nasty and will probably make your skin crawl. But if you like creepy crawly things, you’ll get a kick out of the list.

So, what’s the craziest bug you’ve seen while traveling?

A peek inside the North Korean courts

by Tom Johansmeyer on

There’s something chilling about journalists being detained and tried in a foreign country … a prospect made all the more uncomfortable when you throw the “Dear Leader” into the mix. But, do we really know what’s about to happen? Well, aside from the fact that they’re going to be tried “according to the indictment of the competent organ“?

Frankly, there’s little information about what Laura Ling and Euna Lee are about to experience, unsurprising considering the state of information flow to and from the reclusive Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK – also known as North Korea). Based on the nuggets available, the DPRK has never held an official trial for a foreigner. Evan Hunziker, a missionary who swam from China to North Korea in 1996 – now that’s determination! – was detained for a few months and then released only to commit suicide a little later. Hunziker did not have the benefit of legal proceedings.

Here’s what is known:

Ling and Lee will be tried in the Central Court, the top court in the DPRK. Typically, this is an appellate court, but for cases considered to be extreme – and against the country itself – it has initial jurisdiction. In a sense, this would be like to alleged criminals being tried by the Supreme Court in the United States. So, it looks like the DPRK is trying to make a point.

The judges are elected by the Supreme People’s Assembly – the North Korea’s legislative body. The trial itself will have one judge and two “people’s assessors.” The latter are essentially “lay judges.” Appeals usually warrant a panel with three actual judges.

%Gallery-11848%
%Gallery-11618%
%Gallery-11468%

Now, this next point is interesting. You do not have to have any legal education or experience to become a judge. Before going on a tirade about the injustice of it all, consider the requirements for becoming a Supreme Court justice. There is no education or experience requirement in the U.S. Constitution. And, the justice has to be confirmed by the legislative body – which sounds strangely like a legislative body’s voting to select judges. In some states, such as New York, the electorate votes for judges, many of whom not only have no legal education or experience but routinely screw up trials because their rulings are contrary to law.

On paper, at least, the two systems aren’t all that different.

The Central Court’s rulings can’t be appealed. If I remember correctly (and it’s been a while since high school civics class), you can’t appeal a Supreme Court ruling. To whom would you appeal it?

Here’s where it get’s a little creepy.

In North Korea, the accused does not have the right to defend herself (or, of course, himself) and does not have the right to be represented by a lawyer. A defense attorney can be selected, according to DPRK law, by the defendant, the defendant’s family or her “organizational representatives” – probably Current TV, in this case. Neither Ling nor Lee has had any legal access, so it seems unlikely that they’ll get to pick a lawyer. I doubt Current TV or the families will have much of a say.

Even if they could choose lawyers, pickings are slim. The U.S. State Department states that there is “no indication that independent, nongovernmental defense lawyers [are available].”

The trial will be conducted in Korean, but the defendants will be able to use their own languages during the trial – a trial that is open to the public, unless there is concern that state secrets may be exposed. Defector testimony suggests that trials are usually closed.

Depending on the exact nature of the charges, the two journalists could spend more than a decade each in a labor camp. Death is not on the table, as this punishment has been reserved for four crimes since 2004: trying to overthrow the government, terrorism (though I don’t think it counts if it’s terrorism against a capitalist devil), treason and “suppressing the people’s movement for national liberation [huh?].” Yep, nice and broad … and you don’t even need to go to court to be executed.

Bowermaster’s Adventures — Bluepeace

by Jon Bowermaster on

Saffah Faroog sips a mango juice and continues explaining the history of the Maldives oldest environmental group, Bluepeace, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. He is its communications director, a volunteer like the rest of its staff, and has a great story to share – the organization has a great web presence and a long history of doing the right thing in the Maldives by keeping environmental stories in the news. There’s no lack of subject matter with beach erosion, species loss, the impact of climate change and rising sea levels and the still lingering after effects of the 2004-tsunami still daily stories.

“Perhaps the most impressive thing for us here in the Maldives,” he says, “is that just two years ago I would never had a conversation in public with you like this, not about these subjects. We had to be very careful about everything we wrote, anything we said in public or private, because almost anything could be construed as a potential criticism of the government, thus possibly resulting in recrimination.

“You have to remember that our new president was a journalist turned civil rights activist who was jailed and tortured and once held in solitary confinement for 18 months for criticizing the government. And that wasn’t so long ago.”Faroog is from one of the southern atolls but has lived in Male most of his life. A writer and editor, he’s traveled outside of the Maldives a few times, has even seen snow, in Bhutan. He volunteered fulltime for six months last year to help get the new president elected. His take on the new administration is “so far, so good,” but he admits that as well as a handful of serious environmental issues – which President Mohammed Nasheed has already taken on directly, especially in the court of world opinion – there are other serious issues that need immediate attention.

“Here where we sit, the capital island of Male is one of the most crowded places on earth. One hundred thousand people live on an island just one square mile. In the last few years we have serious problems of drugs and gangs. One third of everyone under twenty-five uses heroin; we have stabbings and murders on the street every week. The drugs manage to sneak through the airport or the seaport. It’s becoming a dangerous place to live and the president has to do something about that.”

My experience in island nations is that it’s hard to talk with locals about long-term environmental issues like climate change and rising seas since their temperament is to look only as far as tomorrow or next week, not decades into the future, a kind of island version of manana. Faroog agrees that it can be tricky here too. “The impacts of climate change seem very far away to them, which I understand. But we have to keep having those conversations.

“In Male we are just one meter above the sea; they are already building a new island that is two meters above sea level, which should be sufficient. But when those on the outer islands hear the new president talk about creating a fund from tourist revenues to use to buy land to move us one day from the islands … they think that sounds crazy.

“Of course rising seas are our major concern. But so are warming seas, which impact our coral, lead to more erosion, harm the fish life and impact daily life. Everything here is simple … and everything is connected.”