Photo Of The Day: Moroccan Leather Tannery

by Adam Hodge on


You can smell the tanneries in Fez, Morocco, long before you can see them. The stench comes from the diluted bird excrement used to soften animal hides as they’re turned into leather. The soft leather is then dyed in these large vats by men working hours at a time on each hide in harsh summer heat. Then the hides are hung to dry on the roofs around the old quarter.

Flickr user Mark Fischer captured this image of a tannery worker in the dyeing vats from the balconies surrounding the tannery. It’s basically an assembly line at ground level, so tourists aren’t allowed in, but the smell is often enough to keep most people at bay.

Do you have a great travel photo you’d like to share? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr Pool, and we could feature it as our Photo of the Day. Or submit it via Instagram, mentioning @GadlingTravel and using the hashtag #gadling.

Photo Of The Day: Javanese Graffiti

by Anna Brones on

Barcelona and Berlin might be known for their guerilla street art, but graffiti isn’t reserved for these cosmopolitan capitals alone. Instagram user laurenirons snapped this shot while in Jogja, Indonesia. Also known as Yogakarta, Jogja is a city known for its classical Javanese fine art and culture, and it’s a place to discover the iconic local art forms of batik, poetry and puppet shows. But it’s also known for its street art. On this wall, we see old meeting modern, in a graffiti version of the Ramayana story.

Do you have a photo that captures the spirit of travel? Submit it to our Gadling Flickr pool, or by mentioning @gadlingtravel on Instagram and tagging your photo with #gadling.

[Photo Credit: laurenirons]

Photo Of The Day: Spot Of White

by Chris Owen on

This interesting Photo of the Day, titled “Spot of White,” comes from Gadling Flickr pool member Mark Fischer and was captured in Bangkok’s Siam Square using a Nikon D90.

Mark captions the image:

“On Sunday, May 8th, 2011, an estimated 100,000 people attended a ceremony to give alms to 12,600 monks in front of CentralWorld in downtown Bangkok. Almsgiving is a daily event in Thailand and is a way for lay people to support the monks and to gain merit. This ceremony was organized as a symnbolic and practical gesture of support for 286 temples in Southern Thailand. Monks at those temples are unable to collect alms due to the risk of being shot and killed. The food and other items collected here will be sent to support the temples in the South.”

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

Tips for being featured: add a caption describing the image and (better yet) your personal experience when capturing it, details of the photography gear used and any tips you might have for others wanting to emulate your work.

Now, you can also submit photos through Instagram; just mention @GadlingTravel and use the hashtag #gadling when posting your images.

[Photo Credit Gadling Flickr pool member Mark Fischer]

FCC Wants More Wi-Fi In The Sky

by Adam Hodge on

The convenience of sky-high connectivity has not been lost on the broadband overlords at the FCC, who have moved to open up new frequencies for in-air data use. Current offerings use around 3 MHz of bandwidth, but the FCC envisions opening up 500 MHz of bandwidth to provide passengers much faster speeds and better connection consistency.

This has been, obviously, a long time coming. The current speed, quality and price of Wi-Fi connections on planes are reminiscent of the dial-up days. To boot, most in-flight Wi-Fi is only available over the continental US, with only a few services running very expensive satellite-based signals that provide Wi-Fi over the oceans. Only a few people have really cottoned on to the service. Virgin says only 12 percent to 15 percent of its passengers use Wi-Fi, which is probably higher than the industry average. More than the spotty, lag-heavy service, it’s the cost of it ($14 per flight with Gogo, a service provider) that puts off most consumers, who have had ubiquitous free Wi-Fi for so long that paying for it seems like a rip-off at any price point.

Well, what consumer wants, consumer gets. We’re not turning our devices off like we’re supposed to anyway. 500 MHz of bandwidth will allow higher-quality service, and more importantly room for competition. And the free market will do the rest, maybe. At the very least we will be able to Instagram our in-flight meals with no lag before long, even if it’s costing us $14 to do it.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Daquella manera]

#OnTheRoad On Instagram: Destination Austria And Germany

by Pam Mandel on

The meadows are green, the tulips are in full flower and it’s a lovely time of year to explore central Europe. While I’ve got the shutter for the Gadling Travel Instagram feed, you’ll see pictures of the Rhine, probably more than a few cows, several plates of pastries (the Austrians are famous for that) and no shortage of gorgeous landscape. You’ll see a lot of small town stuff – I’ll be spending most of my time admiring what’s left of the snow covering the tops of the surrounding alpine peaks, but if time permits, you might see a little Graz and Vienna as well. Austria was my former temporary home during my expat days and while there’s plenty to see, there’s also family to visit.

Springtime along the rivers of Europe. The Rhine, the Moselle, the Enns, the Danube … let’s hope the weather holds and these palace skies stay full of sunshine.