Three Everest Climbers Die

by Erik Olsen on

Mount Everest, the granddaddy of all mountains continues to claim victims. According to recent news, it looks like three climbers have died recently (this being the beginning of the big climbing season up there). Oddly, they died while descending..OK, that’s not THAT odd, but it sure seems rather tragic that they’d make it to the summit and then die on the way down. But it’s been a busy season so far. Last week, officials said 42 climbers took advantage of improved weather to reach the summit from its Nepalese side.

Photo of the Day (5/22/06)

by Karen Walrond on

This is Luang Prabang, a Buddhist temple in Laos, as photographed by Irish Guy.  I love how this shot was taken through the leaves of the bougainvillea bush, as if not to disturb the Buddhist monk on his way to prayers.

If you’d like one of your travel photos to be featured in our Photo of the Day, be sure to visit our Flickr Pool, and upload your best shots there.  Every day we’ll pick one to be featured here on Gadling.

World Cup Cuisine

by Erik Olsen on

Oh, hey, and while I’m posting about the World Cup, let me draw your attention to a nice entry over at Slashfood about food and eating at the World Cup.

The post calls out a piece in The Guardian wherein you will find a food guide to the 12 cities that will play host to the tournament. German cuisine is pretty good. Why, just this weekend I was in Brooklyn and had myself a very tasty schnitzel.

But we’re talking here about more diverse foods than that. For example, treat yourself while there to a little brezen, buttered pretzels filled with salami or cheese. Or the more gustatorily ambitious can sample a tasty saumagen, or pig’s stomach filled with potatoes. Yummy.

World Cup Tickets on Ebay? Beware

by Erik Olsen on

We’ve done our mightiest to alert you, dear gadling reader, to the coming joy, thrill and mayhem promised with the start of the World Cup, the largest sporting event in the world. Amazingly, countries across the globe will relentlessly tune in on the Web, TV and by smoke signals to watch their favorite teams kick a little checkered ball around a big field, and fall down and flop around like girls given the slightest little kick in the shins. Well, for those interested in attending and who believe they might be able to pick up a few tickets on Ebay, think again

According to this piece, the Germans are saying that tickets for the month-long tournament starting June 9 are personalized with the buyer’s name. They will NOT be transferable, say officials, except under special circumstances. All this for security reasons.

So what that means for folks who want to pick up some tix on the Internet, you are perhaps gambling with a lot of dough. (on Ebay’s German Web site the top bid for a ticket for Brazil versus Australia on June 18 was $551). And if you think the Germans are going to be lax about their security apparatus, well, you probably don’t know much about Germany. So caveat emptor, folks. 

 

China’s Big Ferris Wheel

by Erik Olsen on

The Chinese are all about doing things bigger these days. Bigger highways, bigger buildings, bigger egos. Well, now for the amusement-minded, the Chinese are building what they say is the world’s tallest Ferris wheel in the country’s south. Personally, I hate Ferris Wheels. I think they are silly and so, oh, 19th century. But whatever. I post this for those who deign to concern themselves with such things. So, yes, here is the 525-foot-high Star of Nanchang, which opened in early May in a riverside park in Jiangxi province. 

The Ferris wheel (named for Ferris Buehler, who apparently designed the first one on one of his notorious “days off”) is a full 82 feet taller than the London Eye on the banks of the Thames in London which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the current record-holder.