Photo of the Day: Chinese lanterns on Penang, Malaysia

by Catherine Bodry on

The Chinese New Year celebrations are still in full swing here in Asia. As it’s the continent’s version of spring break crossed with Christmas, folks are on holiday and many shops and restaurants are closed for the week. It’s easy for travelers to feel like outsiders when traveling to China or Chinese communities during this holiday (imagine how a tourist might feel if they came to the States on Christmas day), but this photo reflects the intimacy and energy of Chinese temples everywhere during the holiday. Fickr user LadyExpat shot this in Georgetown on Penang, Malaysia, which has a large Chinese community.

Have any photos from our holidays you’d like to share with the world? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool, and we just might choose one for our Photo of the Day feature.

Photo of the day – Charles de Gaulle departure board

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Today’s Photo of the Day, snapped by Gadling’s good friend Paul Brady, depicts an enormous Charles de Gaulle departure board. Perhaps nothing excites a frequent traveler like a departure board at a major international hub of an airport, with its long tallies of destinations both relatively close-by and intercontinental. This one, with its dramatic goldenrod, is especially exciting.

Mr. Brady snapped this photograph on Monday. Careful observers will note that flights to Cairo and Oslo were cancelled that day.

Have any images around that call to mind transit on a global scale? Upload them to the Gadling group on Flickr and we might just select one as a future Photo of the Day.

Video of the Day – Tarp surfing

by Stephen Greenwood on


Some surfers travel to the ends of the Earth in search of the perfect barrel. When the swell isn’t picking up, others get creative and only have to go as far as their front yards. Today’s Video of the Day from Kordoruy.tv is a look at a few groms from San Juan Capistrano, California that started the unique sport of “tarp surfing”.

Avid surfers Dodge Wyrath and Wyatt Brady came up with the idea after a gust of wind blew a tarp off of the family boat, and they wondered what it would be like to surf through a “barrel” created by pulling the tarp over a skateboard. The result is visually captivating and makes for a great video segment.

Have you found any wild improvisations of extreme sports during your travels? Share them with us! Leave a comment below and it could be our next Video of the Day.

Video of the Day – Man swarmed by monkeys

by Mike Barish on

I wish I could share more information about this video. The description on YouTube is in Portuguese but loosely translates to “Subject feeds monkeys that advance and take all the food by jumping on top of each other.” While not terribly informative, it is inarguably very accurate. The man – er, subject – appears to get a container of food with the purpose of luring over some monkeys, only to be overcome by a barrage of the hungry animals.

I like monkeys. Heck, I once wanted a pet monkey. However, I have no desire to be at the bottom of a monkey pile-on. Do you have any idea where this monkey mash took place? Please let us know.

And if you have a great travel video that you think we mighr enjoy, share the link in a comment below. We could feature it as our next Video of the Day!

[Via Gawker]

Photo of the Day – Sea turtle in action

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Snorkeling is one of my favorite travel activities, especially because it’s such a visual feast. Simply grab a mask and some fins, stick your head underwater and suddenly you’re staring at an alien world: bright neon-striped fish, strange wispy corals and of course, the graceful sea turtle. Flickr user kumukulanui snapped this beautiful specimen in action just off the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii. Of all the spots I’ve been snorkeling, the Big Island has to be one of the best, particularly to get up close with these amazing, beautiful creatures.

Taken any great travel photos recently? Why not share them with us by adding them to the Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.