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

In China, do they go to Chinese Restaurants? Or just Restaurants?

"Eat anything with four legs except tables and eat anything that flies except airplanes"
-Ancient Confucian saying, circa 2009 A.D


Typical restaurant table - you will note that my plate is empty

Shanghai is not an easy place to be a foodie. If you eat meat, you have the problem of excess and choices to the heavens. If you are a veggie-foodie, things start getting a little dicey. But you can still manage if you plan your meals very very well, and much in advance and after a lot of research. Oh.. you should also deliberately dull your sense of smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing to just eat in a Shanghainese restaurant



Trampled byY Trip at Thursday, May 06, 2010 8 comments

The REAL World Trade Center



Ancient kingdoms fought wars over trade routes, gambled massive fortunes and bartered away women and pillaged foreign lands just to get the right trade paths and exotic spices to European consumers.Travelers from the west, our man Marco Polo included, must have wondered and gaped at the sacks of spices, bundles of gold and beautiful women of the East. They would also have seen opportunity to bring in goods, trade them for baubles and ultimately control the supplies and the lands around.


Trampled byY Trip at Sunday, April 18, 2010 3 comments

Tales of the Tulip



Legend has it, once upon a time, a lovelorn young man was sitting outside the Hagia Sophia looking quite glum. He was the veritable picture of sorrow since, he had been just turned down by the girl he was courting. He had taken a tulip to give to her and after the rejection had stuck it in his turban and completely forgotten about it.

Trampled byY Trip at Sunday, April 11, 2010 9 comments