Vegetarian Chicken

Man has always tried his best to satisfy all his needs with the things available to him. Imagine a vegetarian in a land where people eat meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ofcourse you will get some vegetarian, but how do you make him feel the taste of meat without having him cross his limits? Simple, invent vegetarian chicken!

Yes, it is vegetarian. 100%. And it is chicken. I went to this restuarant called "Bodhi" nestled cosily next to the massive St. Mary's Cathedral. The ambience was as good as any other restuarant. But what blows your mind it the menu. It reads "Vegetarian Chicken", "Vegetarian Prawn" and the list goes on. Before somebody brands me a heretic, let me tell you that it is pure vegetarian. Rather, it is vegan.

Do not be fooled that this is just a name to grab attention. I have seen some of the most hardcore meat eaters enjoy the vegetarian food here and they say the taste is just like real meat. This is however made up of "bean curd", also known as "Tofu". Generally Tofu is bland and is like chewing rubber if cooked improperly. However, the taste here is absolutely brilliant.

They say one needs to try all things in life. Well, I tried chicken and I am still a vegetarian!

Paradise!

"Let us make a deal. You guys promise to me the best crowd and we will promise to give you the best concert in the history". I am not sure if we kept our end of the bargain, but when Mr Chris Martin promised; Coldplay delivered big time!

Entering the massive Allianz Stadium at 5:00PM, we had to wait till alomst 8:30PM for Coldplay to appear. However, 'Temper Trap' had already set a good rythm and the crowd had started to come alive. Some crazy drumming and great tunes by Temper Trap had set the tempo. As the evening grew older, the lead singer of 'Temper Trap' said "you have no idea what you are in for", referring to Coldplay. He was right, we had no inkling of an idea.

The brightly lit up stadium suddenly went dark. The wristbands given to the crowds began to glow. These wristbands were given to all the spectators and the bands were controlled remotely. The lights glow in a particular sequence. So the lights went out and the bands started to glow. It was like 60000 christmas lights and Santa Claus just gave us Chris Martin! Post that, it was all Coldplay!

The Christmas Lights!

Somebody pointed out that there were no stars in the sky. Well, they were in front of us! They were truly superstars and I cannot even describe how incredible it was. They played all the favorites including Fix You, Yellow, Violet Hill, The Scientist, Paradise, Viva la Vida and so on. Glowing baloons, huge glowing dolls, laser lights and amazing lighting. I read somewhere that this concert was the first concert to use top of the line technology and to witness that was nothing short of a previlege. Like Chris mentioned, in the list of amazing things, 50000 people singing the same tune ranks right up there.

Just when we though it was amazing, Coldplay took it to another level. Chris said, "You know, we have only 4 rooms for us in the hotel. The rest of the hotel is booked by this other celebrity. He is an absolute legend. He has been very kind to us. When we were growing up, we always looked upto him. He has always been a towering presence. We love you. As a mark of respect, I will play a small tune of his". He was referring to Sir Elton John and Coldplay played "Rocket Man". Your favorite band playing the tune of your favorite artist=mind blowing!

Videos might be of a low quality:

http://youtu.be/5pwjRhFYCOk

http://youtu.be/bDKtHUirkZU 

I  cannot even describe a tiny bit of how amazing the concert was, but all I can say is Coldplay just gave me one of the greatest nights of my life!

Sydney just became a more awesome place!

Chocolate by The Bald Man

Sydney closes its shutters at 5pm. Shopping centers, cafes etc. close at 5pm. Sounds boring isn't it?

But come the weekend, these guys show you how to live life. I was talking to a friend of mine living in Australia and here is the summary of their lifestyle: "Work whole week, get wages for the week. Party the whole weekend with the money! Start again the next week". Is this how life is supposed to be lived? I don't know, I am nobody to judge.

Anyway, this time I will tell you about this amazing place. This place is all about the love story of one man. His passion, his only love and his story. This place is about Max Brenner's love story. It is about his love story with chocolate. By the looks of it, he had one hell of an affair!

Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar!

We walk towards this place, and I can smell chocolate as I enter. Te first thing I see is that this place is actually ONLY chocolate. Little chocolate truffles, chocolates filled with whiskey, white chocolate bars, pure chocolate blocks, cocoa powder..the list goes on. Savouring the ambience, I settle down and I begin to think: "maybe this is why it is called the Food of the Gods". This is a place which oozes chocolate from every corner. There was chocolate pizzas, the chocolate Tiramisu, chocolate souffle and lots more.

While I was admiring all this, I happened to notice these odd looking pipes running over head. I wondered why these pipes were externally visible, when they should have been embedded in the walls. I traced the path of the pipes and then what I realized took the meaning of "chocolate bar" to a whole new level. These were pipes carrying hot chocolate! Chocolate was being prepared right there and there were pipes carrying chocolate!

Australia continues to amaze me. The colors, the sounds and now the taste; incredible!

The Rhapsody of the Seas

I landed in Australia on the morning of the 22nd of October, 2012. From the day I boarded the cab, Sydney has enticed me. The colors of Sydney, the food, the people and everything else; they have kept me spellbound. Although I could write a book on this beautiful city, I am going to contend myself with writing about some of the truly amazing things I have seen here. Here goes!

I usually start my day at about 7:30 in the morning. But sometimes, owing to my regular schedule, I am awake at 05:30AM. During these times, I just stare out the window and there she stands, in all her beauty.The Sydney Harbor Bridge! Right behind her is the Opera House! Sometimes, I remind myself that what I am seeing is one of the most renowned monuments in the world and I sleep under her lights every single night. It is surreal to think that I can just open my curtains and look at these monuments all day long.

Anyway, let us get back to the story. I woke up one day, looked out at the mist covered bridge and after a while went back to sleep. For some reason, I wanted to have a look again. I admired her again and then went back to sleep. But suddenly I realized that this time, the view was different! I had not seen the Opera House! It was just not there!

I woke up with a start and went to the window again. And there stood a behemoth of a ship. The biggest I had ever seen in my life. It was reaching the Harbor bridge's height and was easily about 100 times larger than any ship I had seen so far. I was left wondering for a few minutes if I was actually dreaming. Then the giant started moving. It was so huge that it was covering the Opera House!

 Sydney had amazed me again!

 Still thinking about the ship, I walked into office and that was when I saw the news:"...Mega Liner sails into Sydney"

It was the Rhapsody of the Seas and she had sailed into Sydney, and right in front of our apartment.

Amazing Australia!

P.S. Notice the small vessel next to it. We thought that was big :)