Planes, trains and automobiles are what first come to mind when most people think of the act of traveling. But really, some of the best people and experiences are discovered by simply walking. This fun video, created by filmmakers Kerrin Sheldon and Gaston Blanchet, takes viewers on a long walk through 12 different – including India, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. The pair made the video over a period of eight months while shooting for their project, Humanity.TV, in which they are working to document the lives of individuals all over the world. It’s a great reminder that sometimes going back to basics and taking things in slowly is the best way to really discover places. If you agree, check out the project’s Kickstarter page.
Video Captures A Day’s Worth Of Airplane Arrivals At San Diego International
Remember that New York Magazine cover by Ryu Ho-Yeol showing the departure of a score of aircraft from a German runway? It’s actually a composite image stitching all of the aircraft together, and we’ve now the same thing in video format.
Over the Black Friday weekend, filmmaker Cy Kuckenbaker captured every single aircraft landing on one runway at San Diego International airport and merged them into one composite piece of film. It’s an impressive task when you consider the moving background and the number of clips involved. Take a look at the impressive shot above.
Russian Forest Now Features 170-Foot-Long Trampoline (VIDEO)
At Archstoyanie, an annual festival held in the forests of Nikola-Lenivets, Russia, architects from Estonian design firm Salto created a 170-foot-long trampoline. Dubbed “Fast Track,” the elongated trampoline acts similar to a people mover at an airport. Except in this case, instead of helping you get from one place to another in haste, Fast Track was designed to allow users to experience their environment in a new way. Here’s what the architects have to say about it:
‘Fast track’ is a integral part of park infrastructure, it is a road and an installation at the same time. It challenges the concept of infrastructure that only focuses on technical and functional aspects and tends to be ignorant to its surroundings. ‘Fast track’ is an attempt to create intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context. It gives the user a different experience of moving and perceiving the environment.
For the past seven years, architects and designers have been installing work in this remote region of Russia, which is about four hours from Moscow, as part of the Archstoyanie festival. Today, the creators of the festival say the park acts as a laboratory for experiments in art, architecture and socio-cultural practices.
Look through more pictures and watch a video of people bouncing along on the massive trampoline – which, according to Colossal, where we first caught glimpse of the project, is actually nearly as long as a city block – after the jump.
Watch people bounce along on the giant trampoline below in the video below:
[Photo credit: Nikita Šohov & Karli Luik (Courtesy of Salto)]
Video Of The Day: Rummaging Through Singapore’s Thieves’ Market
This short documentary film about making personal connections at Singapore‘s Thieves’ Market is a little different from Gadling’s usual Video of the Day, when we often feature time lapses and quick glimpses of cities or neighborhoods. Filmmakers John Clayton Lee and Jaspas Deck capture a place often avoided by tourists: Sungei Road, the largest and oldest flea market in Singapore.
People in Singapore come together at the market to buy and sell second-hand goods, much like a giant community yard sale. It’s known to locals as “Thieves Market” because contraband goods are also widely available, and refunds or returns from any seller are impossible because someone who peddles you an item one day may not be there the next (and its not likely you’d get a receipt in the first place).
The long look at the market and its inhabitants is a reminder that people and places aren’t always what they seem to be, and many times are best taken in slowly. Have you ever visited somewhere in your travels you were told to avoid, and ended up having a great experience?
Video Games With A Refugee
“Are you American?”
The little boy with the big brown eyes was sitting at the couch next to mine in the lobby of my hotel in Najaf, Iraq. He was dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and sneakers. He peered at me over the edge of his iPad. I looked up from my email.
“No, I’m Canadian. You Iraqi?”
“I’m Lebanese but I live in Syria. We move back to Lebanon now.”
“Your English is good.”
“I go to the international school.” He held up his iPad. “I’m looking for games.”
“You find any good ones?” I asked, smiling.
“Yeah, you want to play?”
There was something about this kid that reminded me of my own son. Maybe it was the obsession with video games. Maybe it was because he was bilingual. Maybe it was because I was missing my son so much.
“Sure,” I said.
He came over to my couch and plopped down beside me. I logged off my email and put away my laptop. He shook my hand – an oddly adult gesture – and told me his name was Mohammad and that he was 9 years old.
“I’ve been to Syria,” I told him. “I liked it a lot. Where are you from in Syria?”
“Sayyida Zainab. Want to see it? It’s on Youtube.”
“Sure.”
Then he showed me this video – bodies wrapped in bloodstained sheets being buried in a mass grave.
“They’re dead,” he said in a low voice.
I couldn’t think of what to say. This kid was 9 and this was his reality. I’ve spent the past seven years protecting my son from the ugliness of the world. Mohammad’s dad probably did the same thing until his country fell apart. After a moment I turned the video off.
“Don’t watch that, it’s sad,” I told him.
“OK. Want to play some games?”
The speed with which his mood changed shocked me. I was still numb from what I had seen.
“Sure, Mohammad. Let’s play some games.”
Yes, Mohammad, be a kid.
He’d downloaded a bunch of free apps. We played one where Obama and Romney shoot ping pong balls at each other. I played Obama and won. It was close, though. Mohammad was obviously experienced at video games.
One of the hotel employees passed by.
“See that man?” Mohammad said. “I hate him. He do this to me to tease me.”
He crossed his eyes. Suddenly I felt protective. Some guy was teasing Mohammad? For a moment it felt like someone had teased my own son.”Can you do that?” he asked.
I crossed my eyes and wiggled my nostrils at him. He smiled.
“My brother can move his ears.”
“I can’t do that. Can you do this?” I rolled my tongue. He did the same.
We searched for more apps as the massacre at Sayyida Zainab replayed in my mind. One app took my photo and Mohammad used a razor to shave me bald. Then we played a game where a cat and dog throw bones at each other over a fence. I tried to let him win while he tried to let me win. I eventually won at letting him win. To assuage his sense of Arab hospitality he fetched me tea. Then we played a parking game.
“My father had a car but somebody take,” Mohammad said, his voice going low again.
I flashed back to the video. What else did his family lose as they fled Syria?
He wasn’t so good at parking. He kept hitting other cars. Eventually he gave up and got onto the app store to look for more games. One ad showed a woman in a bikini. He put his hand over it.
“Don’t look, it’s bad,” he told me.
“OK.”
Mohammad’s two teenaged sisters, jeans showing under their abayas, sat at another couch nearby and occasionally added to the conversation from a distance. They told me they’re on pilgrimage here. Najaf and the nearby city of Karbala are sacred to Shia Muslims. I was here seeing the same shrines.
“How long you stay in Najaf?” Mohammad asked me.
“I leave tomorrow.”
His face fell.
“Oh. Let’s play another game,” he said.
“OK, Mohammad.”
My group was already gathering to visit the local shrine of Imam Ali, which Mohammad’s family had already visited. They were soon headed off to Karbala.
“You’ll love Karbala,” I told him. “The shrine is very beautiful.” Like Syria used to be, I wanted to add.
“You not going to Karbala again?” he asked.
“No. Sorry, Mohammad.”
Everyone was boarding the bus now. Reluctantly I got up and said goodbye. Mohammad looked sad.
“Keep practicing those games, kid,” I said, forcing a smile.
Then I got on the bus and never saw him again.
Sometimes you meet people on your travels that stick with you long after you say goodbye. The 9-year-old boy who likes video games and survived a massacre is going to stick with me for a long time – that and the fact that a couple of those bodies were smaller than he is.
Don’t miss the rest of my series, “Destination: Iraq,” chronicling my 17-day journey across this strife-ridden country in search of adventure, archaeology, and AK-47s.
Coming up next: “Visiting The Sacred Sites Of Shia Islam!”