Stephen Greenwood is a designer and filmmaker currently living in California. He loves talking to strangers, taking pictures, and bargaining in street markets.
Transmongolia: Part Five. Click above to watch video after the jump
*After an extended hiatus (we blame the whole getting lost in the desert thing) Transmongolia is back to offer even more coverage of the 2011 Mongol Rally.
The Mongol Rally isn't a race, at least not in the official and common sense. There are no prizes for first place except bragging rights. More than anything, it's about who makes it to the finish line and who doesn't. It's about arriving at the finish line and scanning a large wall-sized poster that lists who has retired [RET] and who has completed the journey in their original automobile, no matter the condition.
After crossing through the fabled Mongolia Steppe, our team finally reached the end of their 10,000 mile long journey. Emotions ran high; we experienced excitement at the thought of being stationary for a long period of time and trepidation over knowing that everyone would be heading separate ways in just a matter of days. We had made it to Ulaanbaatar, victors of the Mongol Rally.
Transmongolia: Part Four - Click above to watch video after the jump
*After an extended hiatus (we blame the whole getting lost in the desert thing) Transmongolia is back. Click here for our previous coverage of the 2011 Mongol Rally.
Other than a complete break down or having to wait days for a spare part to arrive, there are few things as disheartening on the Mongol Rally as driving in the completely wrong direction for hundreds of kilometers. After recovering from a near-disastrous rendezvous with the Chinese-Mongolia border, our humble ambulance regained its eventual path toward Ulaanbaatar.
With a scheduled welcome party arranged in Mongolia's capital just a few days away, we hurried to get back on track as fast as possible; while gradually losing more members of our convoy with every deep pit and poorly spotted rock in the road.
The end was in sight, but the final sprint across the steppe would still test the endurance of our newly formed friendships and our overworked engine.
When Anousheh Ansari boarded the International Space Station on September 20th, 2006, she became the first self-funded female, the first Iranian citizen, and the fourth human overall to enter the Earth's orbit as a coveted 'space tourist'.
After building and selling a large telecom business, Ansari had decided that she would pay over $20 million USD to take a ride on the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 and orbit Earth as a crew member of the International Space Station for 8 days. While training as a backup for Daisuke Enomoto, who failed to meet the required medical qualifications, Ansari was notified that her lifelong dream would be fulfilled - with only one month remaining before liftoff.
Meanwhile, without Ansari's knowledge, a charismatic Swiss filmmaker had begun to collect material for a documentary that explored the peculiar circumstances of the Russian space tourism industry. Gathering footage at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia and at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (the Soyuz's launch facility), filmmaker Christian Frei began to lay the foundation for what would become the first documentary to uncover a highly exclusive and secretive world.
The finished product, Space Tourists, debuted in the US at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Thought it never had an overwhelming reception in North America, it is arguably one of the most fascinating travel-themed documentaries to have been produced in recent years and a must-see for anyone with a sense of adventure or a distant dream of venturing to space.
The Sermilik Fjord is a long, steep-walled waterway in southeast Greenland where hundreds of icebergs calve from Greenland's enormous ice sheets every year. Those looking to sail through the stunning fjord for a closer view of the icebergs depart from Ammassalik Island, where Greenland's seventh-largest town, Tasiilaq, is located.
If you have imagery of a beautiful winter wonderland, we'd like to share it! Post a link in the comments below or submit photos to our Flickr Group - it could be our next Photo/Video of the Day!
The Yi Peng festival is a special event in Northern Thailand that occurs on the 12th full moon of every year. Coinciding with Loi Krathong (a festival celebrated throughout Thailand) it is observed by lighting sky lanterns and letting them float into the sky, resulting in what appears to be large flocks of giant jellyfish floating through the air.
There have been many fantastic videos and pictures that capture this event, but today's Video of the Day is especially stunning for one reason: it was completely shot on an iPhone 4S. Produced by Vimeo user Tada Archawong, it shows just how far a little color grading (with Magic Bullet Looks) and a great mobile camera can go.
So, adventurers; it may just be time to kiss your DSLR goodbye. If you've already said goodbye to traditional cameras in favor of mobile devices, we want to see what youv'e captured! Paste a link in the comments section below, or post pictures to our Flickr Pool - it could just be our next Photo/Video of the Day.
Transmongolia: Part Three - Click above to watch video after the jump
As soon as dawn broke, I could hear rustling coming from the other tents scattered around the convoy of rally cars. Bitter cold winds whipping across the open desert prevented me from moving or making any attempt to unzip my sleeping bag, but we needed to get moving in order to cover as much ground as possible.
The night before had been an impromptu birthday celebration for a rallyer named Andrew; now 25 years old. We sat around a campfire, listening to iPod playlists blasting from one car's deceivingly powerful sound system, sipping on flasks of Russian-made vodka to keep warm. Under the most vivid blanket of stars I've seen in my life, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I was getting to celebrate a stranger's birthday with a group of new friends, hours away from any familiar form of civilization.
As we set off, I began to accept and adapt to my new environment for the next week; the ambulance's olive colored walls, coated with dust that seemed to stream in from all directions, shuddering relentlessly - it was everything I had ever hoped my Mongol Rally experience would be.
If you haven't seen this video since its emergence on the internet in the past two days, stop whatever you're doing, plug in your best headphones, quit your other applications (so you can watch in silky smooth HD), and full-screen this amazing compilation of moving images.
Edited by Michael König, this time-lapse was created by stitching together a series of still images shot by astronauts Ron Garan, Satoshi Furukawa, and the crews of expeditions 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station. Shot from an altitude of 350km between August and October 2011, the images were captured at 4K resolution with NASA's Super-Sensitive High Definition TV system.
The imaging system picks up much more light than a normal HD camera is capable of, thus capturing a vivid look at the surface of the Earth and aurora borealis that's unlike anything humanity has seen before.
Assuming that you don't have $1 million to book an entire Virgin Galactic flight exclusively for your family, this video should be a pleasant placeholder until you get your finances in order. Until then, leave us a comment with a link to your favorite shots from the ground! It could be our next Photo/Video of the Day.
Why do you travel? For adventure? To know the unknown? To get lost? To find something?
Today's Video of the Day is an ad for a company called G Adventures that encourages viewers to get out and see "why Earth is the universe's #1 travel destination". The short piece does a beautiful job of illustrating some of the moments that beg us to travel, tailored to pull at the heartstrings of the crowd that doesn't want to be part of the crowd.
Have you found a photo or video that captures why you like to travel? Share it with us! Post a comment below or upload to our Flickr Pool and it could be our next Photo/Video of the Day.
Believe it or not, this isn't a leaked scene from the set of Lethal Weapon 5; it's just another day at the office for a few heroic members of the Brazilian Federal Police.
In what is sure to be the highlight of these officers' careers, a video uploaded to YouTube yesterday shows police in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil chasing down a group of smugglers attempting to take off in a small aircraft.
After gaining enough speed to catch up with the aircraft, the driver decides that the best course of action is to ram straight through the plane's wing, disabling the craft and allowing officers to arrest five suspects after a month-long investigation.
We're still wondering if there's a Federal Police policy for this sort of thing, or if the officers were just... winging it.
Today's battle? An incredible video from Russian YouTube user Paravoffka, captured as he was paragliding high above the Indian Himalayas. Midway through his flight, a Himalayan Griffon Vulture became entangled in the slings of the main chute, causing Paravoffka to drop through the air like a rock (with an eagle clawing at it).
Luckily, Paravoffka deployed the emergency chute, which allowed him to regain enough control to crash land in a tree, breaking his fall and eventually allowing him to free the vulture. Incredible footage and a great example of another extreme situation handled well under pressure.
Have you battled any forces of nature recently? We want proof! Submit pictures to our Gadling Flickr Pool and leave video links in the comments section below. It could be our next Photo/Video of the Day!