Photo of the Day: Singapore’s unusual theme park

by Meg Nesterov on

This fellow is from one of Singapore‘s more unusual attractions – the Haw Par Villa theme park, also called Tiger Balm Gardens. Originally built in the 1930s by the creators of Tiger Balm to showcase Chinese folklore and mythology, the park is known for its bizarre and gruesome Ten Courts of Hell with such creepy statues and dioramas as a human-faced crab and bloody dismembered torsos (apparently it all makes sense if you know your Chinese mythology). It’s been relatively deserted in recent years, making it all the more bizarre. You can see more photos of the park in Flickr user SingaPaulie‘s photostream. The MRT metro line was extended this fall and you can now ride the Circle Line train to the park.

Capture any odd attractions on your travels? Add your shots to the Gadling Flickr pool for a future Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day: Paris bakery run

by Meg Nesterov on


You might have been able to guess the location of today’s Photo of the Day without a title. Advanced use of scarves? Check. Frou-frou dogs? Check. Delicious-looking loaf of bread? Mais oui, it is Paris. The French have a closer relationship to their bakers than most Americans can understand, picking up a fresh baguette daily. Even with the advent of baguette vending machines, you can be sure that the le pain quotidien (daily bread) remains a major part of French life.

Thanks to Flickr user wintkat812 for the great shot. Add your favorite travel photos to the Gadling Flickr pool for a future Photo of the Day.

Video of the Day: A tour of 1955 San Francisco

by Jessica Marati on

Today’s featured video offers a rare glimpse at the city of San Francisco as it looked in 1955. Filmed by amateur filmmaker Tullio Pellegrini, the video provides a narrated tour of the city and its surroundings, complete with a gloriously vintage soundtrack. Pellegrini was also an inventor and tinkerer, and the video’s quality is due to his merging of a 16mm Bell & Howell Cinemascope lens with Kodachrome film. This gem was recently discovered in the Prelinger Archives‘ collection of more than 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films. Watch and wait as the nostalgia hits you.

[via StreetsBlog]

Video of the Day: Brussels to Bruges in two minutes

by Mike Barish on

Road trips seem to be a very American activity. Driving cross-country, family vacations to national parks and the like. However, road trips are popular around the world. Caravanning (what we would call RVing) is quite popular in the UK. Also, because European countries are so much smaller than the United States, driving within a country or to neighboring nations is pretty simple. This video shows off the 96km drive from Brussels to Bruges. It’s oddly comforting to know that highway driving in Belgium is pretty similar to interstate driving in the United States.

Photo of the Day: Lake Louise from above

by Chris Owen on

Tonight’s Photo of the Day depicts the stuff dreams are made of for hikers.

Flickr member AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker brings this shot from Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, in the Lake Louise and Icefields area of Banff National Park. In what is also known as the “hiking capital of Canada” this photo was taken with a Canon PowerShot S50.

Adam tells us “I’ve gone hiking in a lot of gorgeous places, but nothing else compares.”

Upload your best shots to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. Several times a week we choose our favorite images from the pool as Photos of the Day.