There is a statue in Central Park from Alice and Wonderland that is delightfully odd. It features the well-known assortment of characters from the Lewis Carroll book, but the face on the Mad Hatter is, well, mad. I sometimes walk by a find myself looking into his bronze eyes and a creepy feeling crawls up my spine. But the Mad Hatter statue is nothing compared to the pictures that this site features of delightfully odd pictures of statues from around the world. The page just goes on and on and on, but I can pretty much guarantee you will keep on scrolling because each page down offers new silliness. The one I posted here is one of my favorites.
Oceania
Travel through Oceania by country:
Australia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
Travel through Oceania by popular city:
Auckland, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Wellington
Travel through Oceania by popular things to do:
Cook Islands, Sydney Opera House
Travel through Oceania with our writers:
In the Corner of the World, Work and Play in Queensland
Cheap Sleeps in Over Water Bungalows
A dream of mine has always been to stay the night in one of those picturesque tropical bungalows that literally sits atop the water. It’s another dream of mine to be fabulously wealthy one day–at which point I’ll finally be able to afford to stay the night in a picturesque tropical bungalow that literally sits atop the water.
And so it was with great joy that I came across an article in Budget Travel detailing the places one can do so around the globe for less than the millionaire’s rate in Bora Bora.
Prices mentioned in the Budget Travel article range from $215 a night on the San Blas Islands in Panama, to $330 at the Raiatea Hawaikik Nui Hotel on the French Polynesian island of Raiatea (photo above).
Sign me up! I’m ready to go!
Photo of the Day (2/21/07)
The closer I get to my own island escape the more these types of photos just jump out at me. This one especially because I like most island lovers who have so often gone over to the less expensive Caribbean – have too often skimped out on the deep costly Pacific and places like Bora Bora featured here. I’m just happy to know one of our Gadling readers was kind enough to tuck this one inside the Gadling Flickr pool for the rest of us to drool over or get inspired about. Thanks stinger101and I hope to see more from the trip!
Karl Bushby’s Goliath Expedition
There are epic trips and then there are…well, there is Karl Bushby’s Goliath Expedition. Bushby, an ex-paratrooper is in the midst of undertaking one of those trips that truly flabbergast. He’s trying to walk around the entire globe. The self-declared stats he has on his site say it all:
12 years
36,000 miles
4 continents
25 countries
6 deserts
7 mountain ranges
But I guess those numbers don’t truly reflect the magnitude of this journey .And this being the 21st century ,you can go to Busby’s site and follow his journey in text, video, audio and photos. According to the site, Bushby, if he succeeds, will become the first person to complete an unbroken round the world walk.
The site says that Bushy is readying himself for the next leg of his journey, and he should be heading out from Russia sometime, well, I’m not sure when. He has apparently been having problems in obtaining the special permits required for the Chukotka region of Siberia. Here is the route is has taken and plans to take. Coming up from Tierra del Fuego way way up then over the Bering Sea and then all the way across Russia through Europe. The BBC has covered some of the story, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it on US media. But maybe that will happen soon.
Driving Orientation Map
Heading to another country? Going to be doing some driving? Then you might want to check out Strange Maps’ strange map of driving orientation. Plotted by whether a country engages in left-handed or right-handed driving, the map looks vaguely like a map of the former British Empire.
In addition to the excellent map is an equally excellent history of driving orientation, explaining why humans started driving on the left side of the road (think: right-handedness and swordplay), and why France helped promulgate right-handed driving (think: they didn’t just become ornery).
In short, both the map and the words are worth checking out. So check them out.