Sultanahmet : a Blast from the past

 The Blue Mosque – Sultanahmet Camii
It’s pretty easy to imagine Aladdin flying his magic carpet around the minarets of the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque in an attempt to get away from the evil Sultan. The mixture of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture and history that is almost 1500 years old makes this place and this city a  must do on your bucket list. Having been at the crossroads of culture and civilization, Istanbul IS the connection between the east and the west. And Sultanahmet is the center of it all…

Trampled byY Trip at Friday, July 23, 2010 0 comments

A picture for your thoughts

I bought my first digital camera in June 2004 at Fry's store somewhere near Palo Alto, CA. Since then I’m pretty sure that I have taken over 10,000 photographs. There have been numerous occasions where I have needed to choose the  best pictures of a particular set, either categorised by event (birthdays) or by location (Great Wall). In either circumstance, it has been pretty easy since there really is no limitation on the number of photos that I can pick and choose. Even then, it is hard to decide what stays in and what, figuratively, hits the cutting room floor. I had never even thought of my ‘5 Best Travel Pictures’.. until I saw the contest from BlogAdda for the 5 best travel photographs

Trampled byY Trip at Tuesday, June 01, 2010 12 comments

Nazar Pendants and a missed arbitrage opportunity



I know it now. I will never, ever be a shrewd, ice-cold businessman displaying the sharpest of acumen.  No, I am not talking about bottom fishing during a recession and selling out when the market hits the top. Nor am I talking about trading currency futures which was out there for everyone to see. I missed out on a very very lucrative opportunity of selling  Nazar Suraksha Kawach  that keeps coming on late night TV shopping ads all the time. The opportunity of trading these pendants would have been so fruitful that I really could have set myself up for life if I had simply followed common sense and of course, the requisite killer instinct to zoom in on a positive-only cash flow trading situation

Trampled byY Trip at Friday, May 28, 2010 4 comments

Trouble in Bangkok

Looking at @vaitor's timeline on Twitter and reading his blog took me back to the brief visit to Bangkok in early 2007. The country had just come off a coup d'état a few months and the military were still showing off their might with tanks in the main area near the Palace and armed guards. I thought of making this post to quickly write about the few things that I saw and experienced. From the rides on the long-tails to the incessant badgering of the tuk-tuks to the trips to the pearl and emarald 'museums', it was in all, quite fascinating

The Grand Palace by night

Trampled byY Trip at Friday, May 21, 2010 1 comments