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Burning Man is only a few months away and a new doco about the massive festival is just about out too. Called Dust and Illusions, the documentry traces the history of the festival that has grown from 20 people in 1986 on a San Fransisco Beach to almost 50,000 people in the Black Rock Desert last year. If you can’t get to the festival make sure you check out the doco (the film’s trailer is above). Read the rest of this entry »

Tokyo’s Odaiba has some pretty interesting futuristic architecture and the Fuji Television building is one of the more out there which its strange grid like structure and huge golden ball lookout. The building is both offices and studios for many of Japan’s favourite television programs, one being the Iron Chef which was filmed there during the 1990’s in their Kitchen Stadium. The building was designed by Kenzo Tange who is responsible for some other interesting architecture including the Tokyo Metropolitan Offices, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the American Medical Association Headquarters Building in Chicago. The Fuji building is open to the public, visitors can go on a Japanese speaking studio tour- which can be quiet fun as some of the Japanese live television is crazy. The big golden ball is a Chinese restaurant which although fairly expensive is very popular, the ball has a viewing platform too, which costs about Y500 which is about 5 bucks for a visit and spectacular view over the Tokyo harbour.

The Stade Olympique or Montreal Olympic Stadium was built for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and still today is the worlds tallest inclined tower measuring 175 metres. The tower is recognised as one of the World Federation of Great Towers which includes some of the world’s most impressive buildings.  The structure today is used for special events, concerts and the odd sporting event.   The stadium has had a fairly chequered life, with a huge blow out in original cost . It was expected the stadium would cost in the vicinity of $770 million Canadian to pay off but some much needed modifications and repairs took the final cost to nearly 1.5 billion dollars, and took over 30 years to repay.  The stadium holds around 55000 people depending on the event and the configuration. The attendance record dates back to 1977 when Pink Floyd rocked the stadium in front of over 78000 fans, even Pope John Paul II couldn’t break that record when he visited in 1884 with around 55000 worshippers.  The stadium was planned to be roofed fro the Olympics but time and money.  After some construction problems and a fire the roof was finally put in place in 1987. The roof was retractable but had continual problems with the weight of snow and tearing. The stadium is well worth a look when visiting Montreal- for the history and interesting architecture alone, and there is a pretty good view of the surrounding city from the lookout in the tower.

Hitler's Eagles Nest

The Kehlsteinhaus or “Eagles Nest” as it is commonly known is a small building on top of the German Alps that was originally built as a retreat for Adolf Hiler. Presented to him on his 50th birthday the building sits on a ridge on top of Kehlstein Mountain near Berchtesgarden. The buildings remote location required the construction of an amazing windy 6.5klm road as well as a tunnel and elevator system in the mountain itself. It is said that Hitler rarely visited the building and its this reason the building still stands today, as most of Hitler’s other houses have been torn down since the end of the war to stop them taking on a shrine like use. Today the Kehlsteinhaus is used as a restaurant offering magnificent views of local area as well as tours of the complex. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you have ever been to New York you probably would have been to the section of Broadway known as Times Square. Times Square is one of the busiest intersection of New York if not for the several streets that cross over each over but also for the huge amount of tourist’s and New Yorkers that can be found wandering around the area each day. From now until the end of the year getting around the area on foot has become a fair bit easier as traffic has been diverted away from Broadway from between 42nd and 47th streets. The road closure is a trail with the aim of seeing if traffic improves across the whole midtown area. The video above was done by the New York Times, getting the opinion of people in the middle of the street. Read the rest of this entry »

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We have been seeing this story around a fair bit for a new US airline dedicated to pets only and we thought we would share it here. The basic story goes instead of shoving your pet in the cargo hold of the plane you can send your pet on Petairways plane where it lives it up in the normal passenger section of a plane and is cared for by a pet attendant.  The airline travels across the states from LA to New York stopping at Denver, Chicago and Washington along the way. It sounds like a good idea if your worried about the stress on fluffy in the cargo hold of a plane but we recon the stress of trying to find a pet flight to match up with a human flight and then collecting the pet will stop us ponying up the 149 bucks for fluffy’s flight. We will collect our pets from baggage carousel no 5 thanks. Read the rest of this entry »

What a Croc

Yellow Water in Australia’s remote Kakadu National Park is a huge land-locked billabong and attracts thousands of visitors every year for its unique and beautiful native flora and fauna, with many coming especially to see the salt water crocodile in its natural habitat. The park is also home to millions of migratory birds including jacana, egrets, jabiru, sea eagles, magpie geese to name a few. The best way to see the natural environment is to join one of the many boat cruises up the billabong for a close encounter with nature. Daybreak and sunset are the most spectacular times and best for seeing the wildlife. Yellow Water is close to Jabiru and is about a 3-4 hour drive east of Darwin along the Kakadu Highway. Regular tourist services operate from Darwin to the park. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been more calls for a common border between New Zealand and Australia, this time from discount airline Jetstar. By removing customs and immigration between the two countries the flights will be classed as a domestic and not an international flight, Jetstar see this is an opportunity to fly to cheaper airports like it does at Avalon outside Melbourne. The savings can run up to $60 per flight of costs that can be written off and its this that tourism body’s and even Australian Prime Minister Keven Rudd have been counting on to boost tourism between the two countries. There’s probably a few details to sort out before anything happens (both countries have learnt their lessons on quarantine with rabbits and possums)  but things are looking promising enough that one day a weekend in Sydney is as easy as a weekend in Auckland. Read the rest of this entry »

Dotonbori

Dotonbori is one of Osaka’s most exciting leisure precincts being home to a huge number of restaurants, bars, clubs, theatres and entertainment complexes.  The precinct hugs the Dotonbori-gawa Canal which is home to some of the city’s most spectacular neon signage and banks play host to many of the city’s celebrations. The area takes on an amazing atmosphere in the evenings when the neon and video screens come to life. The area is a food lovers paradise with some of the city’s best dining like Kani Doraku with its giant mechanical crab outside, Hariju a beef restaurant dating back to 924 and a Fugu restaurant serving the infamous poisonous fish Zubora-Ya. The streets are also filled with vendors selling delicious okonomiyaki and kakoyaki octopus dumplings. Dotonbori is only a five minute walk from the Nambi Station and only moments away from the 600 metre long Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade which is a must for any serious shopper. Read the rest of this entry »

Snakey

First there was the movie then there was snakes loose on an Air India plane and now its Qantas turn to have a few snakes escape in their cargo hold. Apparently four non poisonous stimson’s pythons broke fee of their container on the way from Alice Springs to Melbourne, the mishap caused some delays as the plane had to be fumigated and sadly the snakes have now gone to a better place. Tripandom’s tip for transporting your snakes is to make sure the lid is secure on you snake container or just own a kitten instead. Read the full story over at The Age

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