Travel myths – true or false?

You’ve got your travel insurance, spent countless hours at work reading travel blogs, and are counting down the days until you embark on your next world adventure. If you’ve read up on everything there is to know about medical insurance, airlines in different countries, customs and what kinds of food to avoid, you might be wondering which are legitimate. Here, we’ve investigated the truth of some of the more quirky and strange myths and urban legends from around the globe.

-There is one slot machine in Las Vegas for every eight inhabitants.
False. According to our calculations, it’s actually closer to one slot machine per 3.3 inhabitants. Still a heck of a lot of slot machines… Think twice about getting married in Vegas too (300 weddings happen in Vegas every day!). It costs $35 for a marriage license, while it costs $450 to file for divorce.

-Tipping at a restaurant in Iceland is considered an insult.
False. You won’t offend anybody by leaving some extra change on the table after dinner, but the price of things in Iceland is typically considered to include the full service, and tipping is not a common practice.

-It’s illegal to put coins in your ears in Hawaii.
Supposedly true. Some say it’s because some of Hawaii’s coins are so rare. Either way, we could think of a few better places to stash your cash. A wallet perhaps?

-Mt. Everest is still growing.
True – The world’s highest mountain is still growing at around 4mm every year, according to Lonely Planet. The two tectonic plates which formed the mountain in the first place are still moving towards each other, pushing the mountain up even higher.

-The Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure to be seen from space.
False. Despite being over 6,000 km long, the Great Wall of China is no more visible than any other man-made structure. Not only that, but you’d need binoculars or some other sort of magnifying device to see anything clearly from space.

Before booking your international flights, make sure to debunk some travel myths on your own. Otherwise you’ll find yourself apologising unnecessarily for giving someone some coins, or getting arrested for having money in your ears…

Hope you enjoyed reading this post!

love,

My Week in Pictures

I know I haven't been posting many pictures lately, so I came up with a new way to share them: My Week in Pictures. :)

All the pretty things that I've seen/got/done this week. I hope to post every Sunday.

This post is picture heavy but there are some pretty things in here, do have a look.

Everything posted in Chronological order, starting from last Sunday (20th March 2011)
On Sunday...

I got these two hats (felt bowler & paper trillby) came to me from Auckland, New Zealand. A gift from my mom's friends. I had asked them to get me some hats because there are hardly any good ones available here. Thanks A. Lygia & A Sylvina. <3

On Monday...

I got this gawjusssssssss hand-painted bag from Aarti of Art Meets Fashion. I won it in a giveaway on her blog. It really is so stunning & completely one of a kind. One photo cannot show you how beautiful it is, so I am going to dedicate a whole post on my style blog to it, really soon!

On Tuesday...

I got a new book: Truly, Madly, Deeply! by Faraaz Kazi & started reading it.

On Thursday...

I got hold of my Yamaha SHS-10, purchased when I was five! Also, I got some very happy news about it. The story is worthy of a Pixar movie, & I will post about it in the next few days. (Also, I <3 my childhood!)

On Friday...

I went shopping with mom, for food stuff mostly (Dijon mustard stock was running low! I use a lot of it for devilled eggs & honey mustard dressing too). Since my holidays have started, I am planning to bake a lot, so I bought a lot of baking supplies & ingredients. These cupcake liners & star sprinkles were the prettiest.

We then had rose falooda to reward ourselves for a successful shopping excursion.

I also got this super cute tee from my mom's friend (same one who got me the hats!) I love that red bow.
When I got back, a lot of stuff from the post & couriers was waitings for me...

First, this Criminal Minds coffee mug. You guys know how upset I've been that Prentiss is no longer going to be a part of this awesome once awesome show. I can go on ranting about the shitty decisions that CBS executives make, but I'd rather not. So I ordered this mug to cheer me up. In case you're wondering this is not official merchandise. I'm not sure about the availability of official merchandise, besides, it would be insane to get something like that shipped from USA (and make those evil CBS execs rich). So I just found a high-red image off the internet (fun fact: this is also my current desktop picture) & used a very popular photo printing website to get this printed on a coffee mug. I love it to bits, because this is the team at my favorite stage: Season 5, while JJ & Prentiss were still a part of the show.
I dedicate this awesome mug to qtfan & little_chuckle my two awesome twitter buddies with whom I discuss Criminal Minds, week after week. None of my family or friends watch the show, so i enjoy discussing the show with them so much! And they have made watching the show that much better!! <3

Second, this E25 Blending Brush (travel size) from Sigma arrived. The shipping was very quick! The brush feels heavenly on my skin, expect a review of it on my style blog within a few days.

Third, this LipIce sheer color might just be one of the most amazing & reasonably priced lip products out there (possible exaggeration there. But i really think it's magical!) Expect a review of this too on my style blog.

On Saturday...

Some more childhood nostalgia! (If you're curious about what this is, don't fret. A blog post is coming up soon in which this will feature extensively!)

Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies, for the first time ever (with mom's help). And guess what? They turned out awesome! I am so happy. :) Baking is magical, I tell you.
If you guys are interested in the recipe let me know!

I had an awesome & fulfilling week, how about you?
And lots of super exciting things are going to be happening this coming week.

love,

Jokes in the midst of Tragedy

It's been a while since the tragic earthquakes & tsunami in Japan. And I know I haven't blogged about it, because though I'm so shocked in real life, I didn't see how I could help by blogging about it. Till I saw this image:

And this isn't the only one of it's type circling around, there are a whole lot more. I really don't understand it. I'm not saying that everybody on the internet has to show solidarity & sympathy towards Japan. But images like this? People have lost their loved ones, their homes & all their belongings. The survivors are in danger due to the nuclear threat. And some people actually find it funny? How low can some people stoop? Are they even humans? I am beyond disgusted.

Smelly Cat

After the really depressing turn of events on Criminal Minds (that I blogged about here), I really needed something to cheer my up. So I came across this:

I've always liked FRIENDS (though I was never a huge fan). Among the women, Monica's control freak nature & OCD was annoying, & Rachel just seemed too shallow. I always loved Phoebe, ever since I was a little kid (my mom knows I always love the quirky ones).
So this video was just too much fun. I miss the 90s.

love,

Goodbye Prentiss

I know I haven't blogged lately & am really upset at the moment because Emily Prentiss (a character in Criminal Minds played by Paget Brewster) has been written off. I am very passionate about a few tv shows, & Criminal Minds is one of them.  So obviously there was a lot of crying. :'(
I know all the fans feel the same way. Nobody wanted to see her go!
So here's a little tribute. Bear with my grief.

 She will be missed. Even if she's just a fictional character.

And I don't care what you say, it's not just a show! Why does everyone write off strong female characters? Are television executives threatened by them as well?

Sad,



PS- It was so awesome that Prentiss was a trending topic world wide on twitter last night!

PPS- Most of these screenshots are taken off tumblr. So many sad people. :(

Google Doodle: Alam Ara

Have you guys seen today's google doodle? Well, if you haven't, here it is:

Today's Google doodle is in honor of 80 years of Alam Ara, India's first talkie film (i.e. film with sound)
Tragically, the last prints of the film were lost in a fire at Pune's National Archives eight years ago.
Still India's first talkie finds it's voice again in the digital world thanks to this Google Doodle.

love,

A Chocolate Affair

So... yesterday I did a post on Mezbaan, a restaurant at Carter Road, Bandra. Today I'm doing a post on A Chocolate Affair, a chocolate themed place at Pali Naka, Bandra.

It's been quite a while since it opened & I have been dying to go there for months! (especially after seeing this review on Mumbai boss) It finally happened. I was very excited (what could be more exciting than chocolate?!) And because of the Mumbai boss review, I was very eager to try out the hot chocolate. I definitely wasn’t thinking about losing weight when I indulged myself in chocolate for 2 hours. The hot chocolate has some completely weird name (I had to confirm with the waiter that it was actually the hot chocolate!) The cost was 99 & it was available in three different flavors: dark, milk & white. So since we were three of us we decided to order one of each type. The waiter kept telling us with a sour expression that the dark chocolate would be too bitter & the white too sweet. Hence we decided we would get two milk chocolates but I still wanted to try the white. Again he frowned & said that it was too sweet so we got all three milk ones. Thinking about it later I really feel I should have stuck to my decision of getting white & seen where that would have gone because I suspect they didn't have the other two in stock.

Sorry that the photo is blurry, it's the only one I have. Anyway, getting back to the actual hot chocolate. The mug had quite a lot of tiny cracks. But forget about the mug, let's talk about the hot chocolate itself: There was absolutely nothing special about it, it was nothing more than your standard drinking chocolate with a very measly amount of melted chocolate that wasn't even blended properly. It just stauck to the sides & bottom. I think even the McDonalds hot chocolate is better, it's been a few months since I last had it but I know for fact it wasn't more than 30.

Next we ordered the chocolate fondue (I don't remember what exactly it was called on the menu). They had many different ingredients you could try with the fondue like brownies, strawberries, bananas, turkish delight & a few more that I can't remember. We chose two brownies & two strawberry.

The fondue was 280. It was definitely not bad. My only complaint was with the way it was served. Fondue it supposed to be served in a fondue pot with a little flame or source of heat below so the dip (traditionally molten cheese but in this case chocolate) remains warm. This chocolate sauce was tasty but very very thick. This posed a huge problem because the brownies kept breaking in the chocolate & the strawberry kept slipping off. This problem kept getting much worse as the sauce cooled & became thicker because our arms actually started to hurt. We had to make sure that the brownies/strawberries weren't slipping off the fondue fork & then we had to haul it out! But other than this I really liked the fondue. Useful tip: If you're already stuffed with a hearty lunch & are just here for desserts like we were, then order strawberries on bananas with the fondue because the strawberries were light & yummy (everybody knows what a great combination strawberries & chocolate are!) The brownies were tasty but a tad heavy.
I was quite disappointed after this visit but I have faith in Chocolate Affair. *sigh*

love,

Mezbaan

A week ago I visited Mezbaan, a little restaurant/hookah bar at Carter Road Bandra.
Some photos-

 The water was served in these copper tumblers.

This is the Shawarma we ordered first. It came with pickled beetroot & some dip

And both of the pictures don't do it any justice. A tad more expensive that other Shawarmas I have eaten but hands down the tastiest. I also found it very filling & I didn't have place for anything else.

We next ordered the Dum Murg (Chicken) Biryani. I was just too stuffed to even have a bite, but both my parents said it was very authentic & yummy!
I went to this place with no special expectations, I thought it would just be some random place where the wannabees from the area came for hookah (and I was right about this!) But the food was just too yummy. I absolutely loved the shwarma & I am definitely gonna go back!
Tomorrow I am going to write about A Chocolate Affair where we went for dessert.
Have you been to Mezbaan? What was your experience like? I'd love to know.

love,

Conversation Snippet: Casualties of the fire

As all you Bombayities already know, a fire broke out at the slum areas in Bandra East yesterday & it soon spread towards the station too...

Photo Credit

When I saw photos of the fire on twitter it did look seriously frightful, but thankfully there were no deaths! Just a few injuries...
I go to college in Bandra so I saw the sight this morning from the over-bridge. Residents just stood around on the ashes. Some were trying to sift through, but most were just standing around, staring at the ashes where their homes once stood. It was really heartbreaking.
Anyway I was at college soon waiting to meet my friends when I overheard some people talking about the fire. They were mainly speaking of how tv news channels love sensationalizing things, case in point: Very early on some channel reported that 2000 hutments were burnt, an hour later they said it was just 500. And then they continued talking about the fire for a while.

Boy #1: And in the end, it wasn't so bad, man. There were only like 20 causalities.
Boy #2: Yaa?
Boy #1: Ya man. And most of those casualties were minor burns!

So who's gonna tell these people that casualties mean death & major injuries only? *sigh*