GADLING'S TAKE FIVE: Week of February 21

by Erik Olsen on

It’s that time again, time to highlight some of the more
interesting Gadling posts from this last week. And it was a rather rich week, I’d say, especially when you consider
that we put up another podcast for your ear budding pleasure. But let me start at the beginning with this week’s
list:

5. Blimp Travel: This was a post I
found over at Popular Science and it really fired me up. I’ve long been puzzled why we haven’t been able to ply the
skies slowly in a dirigible. I mean, the technology has been around for a while, and yet, no blimp rides. Did the
tragedy of the Hindenburg ruin blimp travel? Well, perhaps not. Looks like someone may be building blimps for us after
all.

4. Tiki Mania: To be honest, I had only
heard of this whole Tiki business through Neil, whose post on Tiki Mania made it clear that the current Tiki revival
(revival? When was the last great Tiki boom, again? Oh, the 60s) is something to pay attention to, at the very least
for the promise of delicious fruity drinks.  But seriously, little did I know that the Tiki craze has its own magazine, blog, and, a band called Ape.

3. Calypso:
Adrienne, you might have read, is spending some fine time in Trinidad, and are we jealous! Well, she’s somehow found a
nice connection down there and is sending some excellent dispatches on life in a place most of us have never been. They
are really superb, and we are grateful. I’d like, in fact, to direct you to this wonderful post on Calypso and Soca
music. I read it last night, and then the daylight come and me wanna go home.

2. Tunisian Star Wars Locations: Sorry, I’m,
about a big a Star Wars geek as they get. I’ll not get into the details, but trust me, I’m out there in a galaxy far far
away. And so that is why I enjoyed Neil’s post on Tunisian Star Wars locations. What can I say? I’d go there just to
stand in the sand and say: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

1. Gadling Podcast: Joshua Davis: I really
enjoyed chatting with author Josh Davis about his new book Underdog: How I survived the World’s Most Outlandish
Competitions (not to mention the forthcoming film on his sumo exploits). The podcast here is our first since we spoke
with Fabien Cousteau about his shark submarine, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Josh is a great guy, and his story
will make you shake you head in wonder. 

Paddling Greece

by Erik Olsen on

Woo
hoo! Another paddling story, this one from one of my
favorite kayak/canoe magazines. The trip, written by Larry Rice, takes us to the cerulean waters of the Greek
Mediterranean.

Oh, baby does that sound like a place I want to be right now. The article is enough to whet
your kayaking appetite, as Rice ventures into Pollack-splattered sea caves and waddles ashore Sarakiniko Beach, a
"sublime cove" with "sinkholes of pure white pumice rock".

Rice squats down for lunch,
prepared by his beneficent Kiwi guide, and takes in the loveliness of his surroundings, the blissful white noise of the
Aegean Sea, and then tops it all off with a round of Mythos beer in a beachside café.

Normally, I’m
not one to seethe with jealousy…usually it just turns me an off shade of teal, but reading Rice’s account has got me
supremely fired up. This must, MUST be a long, wonderful Spring/Summer of paddling. Of that I am certain.

Weirdest Foods on the Planet

by Neil Woodburn on

It
shouldn’t come as a great surprise that some of the most bizarre meals I’ve had on this planet occurred in
foreign lands.  That’s because foreign food, by definition, is indeed very foreign.  That
is why food and travel are always so intricately linked. 

Journalist Alan Richman must certainly agree.  He decided to tour the more culturally diverse restaurants of
New York City in search of the most
bizarre ethnic foods.  And boy, did he find them. 

His only guidelines were that the food had to be prepared in a restaurant (not someone’s house) and, it
had to be legal.  He also limited the number of Chinese restaurants visited because “they offer virtually
everything.”

Richman boiled down his iron-stomach tour to a top ten list of truly bizarre food items that spanned the
globe.  A few themes emerged such as appendages (tongue, penis, testicles) and innards (chitlins, kidneys). 
Others fell into indistinguishable categories, such as the ever popular chicken anus.  A visual image of Cheerios
popped into my head when reading about this last entrée.  Ugh.  Apparently this Korean delicacy is
coated with sesame seeds and garlic.  Richman reports the bite-size pieces as being, “a little chewy and a
little crunchy.”

Another equally stomach turning item on Richman’s list, and the one he described as “possibly the
weirdest dish on earth” is balut.  Balut is sort
of like eating a raw duck egg, except the duck egg is fertilized and allowed to develop for two weeks.  The result
is a crunchy, partially developed embryo that is believed to be an aphrodisiac in the Philippines.  This might
explain why I’ve never fallen in love in Manila. 

When you have a moment, check out Richman’s very fine (and hilarious) article detailing these fine dishes and
others.  His reporting is indeed adventure journalism at its finest.  Hats off for taking us to places I, and
my stomach, would never go. 

 

Kiddie Carnival

by Erik Olsen on

Years ago I did the carnival celebration in
Bahia, and I can tell you that it was one of the most
exhilarating, phantasmagoric experiences of my life. I wrote a long piece about it which was supposed to be part of a book about my travels through Latin America,
but it stands alone nicely now as a description of the event. I know most people rave about Rio as the place to be for
Carnival, but let me tell you, Bahia is the place. But there is one thing about it: it
is mostly for adults.

Which brings me to this post over at sister site Blogging Baby. Writer Karen Walrond wants you to give some thought to
Carnival in a completely different place: Trinidad & Tobago. She says, and I believe her, that the party in T&T
is consistently rated one of the best Carnivals in the world.  The standard Carnival fare takes place: dancing,
scantily-clad women, pounding drums, and of course ample amounts of rum. But she also points out that in the week
before the adult-bacchanalia explodes, Trinidad hosts a Children’s Carnival. During
the pre-event, children dress is colorful costumes and boogie as best babies can. There’s just much less rum.

Florida Strawberry Festival

by Adrienne Wilson on

Looks like
I’ll be missing a good portion of the famed Florida
Strawberry Festival taking place in Plant City, Florida this March 2-12, 2006. Anyone who shares the same kind of
passion for the fruit like myself might want to pack the family up in the car for a special road trip down yonder to
feast on delicious, sugary shortcake, milkshakes, and chocolate covered berries. While a visit to the festival may
break every diet rule you’ve been on, there’s so much more to it than gobbling down the yummy in-season fruit. Live
entertainment will be provided by Dennis Lee, JoAnn Castle,%uFFFD Stars of the Peking Acrobats, Southern Star
Bluegrass, racing pigs in addition to daily BMX competitions. Big name performers at the fair include Dierks Bentley,
Jo Dee Messina, Rhonda Vincent, Trace Adkins and Big & Rich. For a full festival schedule and admission prices click here. Overall a day at the Florida Strawberry
Festival is fun for the entire family if not filling.