GadlingTV’s Travel Talk – Thailand Part 1: The First 48 Hours

by Stephen Greenwood on

Gadling TV’s Travel Talk, episode 31 – Click above to watch video after the jump

Travel Talk is back! After our fall hiatus we are excited to bring you our greatest adventure yet: Thailand.

From the vibrant heart of Bangkok to the remote countryside, we traveled by foot, car, boat, motorbike, ox cart and elephant to savor the the splendor of ancient temples, the energy of the muay thai ring, the serenity of rural life, and every single spicy bite of Thai cuisine. We’ll be bringing it all to you in the coming weeks as part of our special 12-part feature: Travel Talk Thailand.

In this first episode, we start off our odyssey at full throttle: going a full 48 hours on nothing but jet engine addled sleep as we travel from LAX to BKK, settle into thai life, prepare for our dinner with the Prime Minister and get our first full dose of Bangkok nightlife.

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.


Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Travel Talk feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

Hosts: Stephen Greenwood & Aaron Murphy-Crews
Special guest: Joom!
Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood & Aaron Murphy-Crews
Special thanks: Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Air, Conrad Bangkok

Travel Talk took Thailand by storm on invitation from the Tourism Authority of Thailand. No editorial content was guaranteed and Aaron & Stephen were free to openly share all adventures that they embarked upon.

Habitat for Humanity building an eco-tourism village in Indonesia

by Annie Scott on


Habitat for Humanity has partnered with Asia Pulp & Paper, one of the world’s largest paper producers, to bring a struggling village in Indonesia out of poverty in an unusual way: by making it into an eco-tourism destination where visitors can stay with families.

This controversial conversion will take place in Soran, a village where 60 percent of the resident families live below the poverty line, despite their long traditions of creating crafts and music, and their location near to one of Indonesia’s most precious attractions, Prambanan Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Central Java region.

The Soran project will improve living quarters for most families by adding guest accommodations, expanding kitchens for the preparation of guest meals, earthquake proofing and adding laundry facilities. Furthermore, the project will train-to-employ over 250 villagers as laundry management workers (50), cooks of traditional foods (100) and performers and marketers of the village’s traditional arts (100 families). Over 100 villagers will also be trained in “disaster risk mitigation.”

You can watch Habitat for Humanity coordinator Johannes Sigit P. talk about this first-of-its-kind for HfH project in the video above. What do you think?
%Poll-59081%

Surely you can’t be serious? Airplane! returns to the big screen!

by Scott Carmichael on

First of all – yes, we are serious. And stop calling us Shirley! AMC Theaters is bringing the best aviation slapstick comedy back to the big screen – but only for two days!

On Saturday January 29 and Tuesday February 1, select AMC theaters will bring pilot Clarence Oveur (R.I.P), flight attendant Elaine Dickinson and Ted Striker to almost 100 different locations. Show times are listed on the special AMC Airplane! page, along with the theaters.

Oh, and if you arrive on time, you’ll be able to claim a full-size commemorative Airplane! poster at your theater. We’ll close with one of the funnier parts of the movie – and a segment I’m pretty sure wouldn’t go down to well in today’s society…

Hot Air Balloon’s Emergency Water Landing Caught on Tape

by Elizabeth Brady on

Our friends at Urlesque pointed us to this unusual video of a hot air balloon making an emergency landing in Australia today. The pilot of the balloon was attempting to land on a beach, but wind gusts pushed the craft several kilometers out over the waters of Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne. In order to bring the 10 passengers to safety, the balloon was lowered to the water where water police had arrived.

Luckily, the rescue effort went smoothly and nobody was injured — but the incident made for some very dramatic footage. Those aboard the balloon were able to put on lifejackets and easily reach the shore.

“We knew we could jump ship,” one cheerful passenger commented after getting back on dry land. “We just wanted to save our snaps from the holiday, and we didn’t want to go swimming. That’s all.”


Best Tumblr Travel Blogs to Follow

by Elizabeth Seward on

Everything changed for me when I discovered Tumblr. It was a little over a year ago. I found myself perusing blog after blog, following them, and finding myself fascinated with my own little dashboard each day. Like a mix between Twitter and Google Reader, I’d found my favorite place to hole up on the internet and it was customized specifically for me. In no time, I found myself inspired enough by the Tumblr community to hurl myself into a project for 2010–a project that involved me releasing 52 songs throughout the year; one per week.

Now that the obsessive project has come to an end… I still love Tumblr. And of all Tumblr blogs I look forward to checking in with each time I get a chance, including those featuring brooding vintage fashion models, the Tumblr Travel blogs are conclusively my favorite. If you’re into travel, namely brilliant travel photos and engaging travel stories, you’ll addict yourself to Tumblr. My favorite travel blogs are always changing–it’s easy to discover new sources of inspiration on Tumblr. But here’s my current top 5 (in the order they come to mind).

1. Landscape, Lifescape
Best for: jaw-dropping photos that’ll make you want to go everywhere and see everything.

2. Three Guys Heading West
Best for: from-the-road pictures brought to you by, you guessed it, three guys heading west.

3. Wiseash
Best for: NYC moments captured as they happen.

4. Tiny World
Best for: Cool videos highlighting cities across the globe.

5. The World We Live In
Best for: Beautiful and emotionally-charged photos from all over.

[photo by Elizabeth Seward]