On Weekends

As the fanfare of the festive season has died down, it is easy to feel the need to get away from the cold British winter and experience some sun. For a luxury holiday offering the requisite sunrays as well as excellent cuisine, views and different festivals throughout the year, look no further than Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka, officially known as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island nation in South Asia, located about 19 miles off the southern coast of India. With a population of around 20 million, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic, with nearly a third of the population following faiths other than Buddhism, most notably Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. This multiculturalism can in part be attributed to the different rules of Sri Lanka, including colonisation by Portugal, the Netherlands and finally Great Britain. After peaceful negotiations with the British, the island nation became independent in 1948, and in 1972, the nation, then-known as Ceylon, changed its name to Sri Lanka, meaning “Resplendent Land”.

As a result of the multi-religious background, Sri Lanka is renowned for its many religious festivals. Sri Lanka offers at least one festival each month as Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims celebrate both religious and national occasions. This month, for example, the full-moon festival of Dututhu commemorates the visit of Lord Buddha to Kelankya, the temple of Kelania. The Hindu community meanwhile celebrates the harvest festival of Thai Pongal, where homes are cleaned and decorated, farm animals bathed and sometimes adorned, and special dishes prepared. The sizeable Muslim community celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, roughly every 11 months, with prayers in mosques, distribution of alms, family-oriented celebrations and the enjoyment of traditional dishes. In addition, there are several national holidays, such as the Sri Lankan New Year, celebrated every year between 12-14 April, to ensure good fortune in the coming year. Amongst the traditional rituals undertaken, houses are spring cleaned, new clothes worn and newly harvested rice cooked in milk in new pots. Traditional games and music are enjoyed, and passing visitors are invariably invited to join in the celebrations. These are merely some of the many festivals held throughout the year, with further information being available from the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. Read the rest of this entry »

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When it comes to food, most would agree that the more — the better. When it comes to fine dining, sometimes you need glasses to be able to spot what was served to you on the plate. One of my friends use to say that ordering an expensive meal in a French restaurant would mean you’ll get a mushroom’s head on a mountain of salad. Rest assured you will leave the restaurant more hungry than you were before because all these smells and pictures in the menu will tease your stomach but won’t actually feed you.

French food in general is pretty taste, take for instance their traditional bakery - baguettes and chartres and many other tasty edible thing. I am not a big fan of French kitchen, I’d never ever be able to eat a turtle or a frog, but can’t deny they have some delicious desserts. Unfortunately, as said in the title, French kitchen i all about serving little food on a huge white plate. Take a big white plate, which normally used to serve a turkey, place a few strips of semi-raw meat, chaotically spread a bit sauce and place a few stripes of baked carrot in beacon’s oil. You just made a typical French meal from a typical overpriced Paris restaurant. It’s all about minimalistic design, not about leaving the human stomach happy.

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People visit Australia for different reasons - the country has lively cities, spectacular scenery and a fascinating Aborigine culture. And many people go there to experience the country’s unique wildlife, animals that cannot be seen anywhere else, such as the koala bear, kangaroo, dingo and wallaby.

Australia’s diverse conditions and landscapes have contributed to the evolution of creatures with rare or unique characteristics. Millions of years of isolation from other land-masses have also given rise to flora and fauna that is unique to the country. Australia boasts an amazing 450 species of mammals, 2,000 species of fish and even an estimated 2,000 species of fly.

The kangaroo is perhaps the most instantly recognizable of Australia’s animals - well known to anyone who has flown the country’s airline QANTAS, as the airline’s striking logo. Surprisingly, there are actually over 60 species of kangaroo and most of them are found only in Australia - they can be seen all over the country, from tropical rain forests to hot deserts. The kangaroo is the largest marsupial in the world - it is not unusual for them to reach seven feet high.

Australia’s cuddly koala bear is almost as well known as the kangaroo, although it isn’t actually a bear - it’s a distant relation of the wombat. Koalas are definitely cuddly - in fact, they are probably one of the most docile animals in the world. If you come across a koala bear, chances are that it’s asleep - koalas spend around 80% of their lives asleep and the rest of their time eating.

If you have ever heard the cry of the Kookaburra, you will understand why the bird is also known as the laughing jackass. The bird actually belongs to the kingfisher family although it eats insects and small reptiles, rather than fish; the reason for its strange laugh? Some people claim the bird is laughing with man, others say it is the bird’s way of warning of bad weather.

The dingo is a wild dog, which was probably introduced to the continent from South East Asia. Despite their somewhat ferocious reputation, Dingoes are no more dangerous than any other domestic breed of dog. Dingoes cannot bark although they make up for it by yelping and howling. Unfortunately, the dingo is dying out due to man encroaching on the wilderness and the practice of interbreeding.

Wallabies are often mistaken for kangaroos - just like kangaroos they can hop and jump. They range in size from just a few inches to almost six feet long. They can be found all over the country in every kind of habitat - desert, forest and swamp. Wallabies can go a long time without drinking - in fact they can actually dig their own wells to locate water.

And perhaps the oddest of Australia’s wondrous creatures is the Emu - the bird that can run fast but cannot fly. Emus are enormous, often standing up to six feet above the ground; they are also a very old species, having been around for about 80 million years. The Emu has always been important to the Aborigines as it provides them with the
two things most important for them to survive, food and clothing. Read the rest of this entry »

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Normally, when we go abroad, there are 3 categories of things we buy.

1. Things we need here and now, but forgot / couldn’t bring from home.
2. Things we can purchase much cheaper, compared to our homeland.
3. Souvenirs we can’t buy anywhere else.

Let’s skip the first two categories because they are boring and not very interesting. Assuming you are planning to spend your hard-earnt cash for something unique and exotic, how can you know WHAT to buy? First off, you can go to the very center of the city or your hotel’s mini-shop (most hotels do have one inside or close-by) and just see what do they offer. Most likely there will be souvenirs with pictures of the place, mugs, post cards, books, magnets and jewelery. The problem with such stores is that they are initially targeted for tourists, tourists who are not very familiar with local prices or even the exchange rate, hence prices there are likely to be doubled. To avoid overpaying, you can do a little research at home as to what’s the most commonly spread national souvenir, or ask in your hotel, where can you buy souvenirs outside the center. Many times passing a few streets away from the center can save you a lot of money.

Of course I am not going to send you to the outskirts to buy postcards, but if you are planning to mass-purchase souvenirs for your family, friends, yourself, uncles, sisters, neighbors and dogs, it would be wiser (and healthier) to travel some more, once you are there.

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Coffee, a drink cherished by many; a drink avoided by others. Tea, its main rival, seems to offer a bounty of better health benefits; a drink for the New Agers and those who want to escape the decadence of the brown, caffeinated drink. The fact stands that tea can only be as beneficial as its preparation, which in some cases may have as much sugar as a can of soda. To understand coffee, one must understand the core value of tea: that the brewed leaf itself is the only healthful component. Everything else is decadence.

To that, the coffee bean itself contains a number of benefits to health. But the culture of coffee, like the tao of tea, contains a lot of excess trimmings. Espresso machines, for example, produce a highly concentrated form of ordinary coffee. And then the all-consuming vice: sugar. Along with cream, sugar waters down the benefits of coffee, where it turns the brew into drinkable candy. But all of this remains unchanged from tea. The bean is the important part.

Caffeine can wreak havoc on the nervous system, but that does not make it synonymous with coffee. Different kinds of coffee (all prepared differently) will yield varied levels of caffeine content. Serving size also comes into play. To those sensitive to caffeine, the obvious alternative can be found in decaffeinated coffee. But such an alternative could downplay the positive affects of the drink. Coffee is rich in the B vitamin niacin; and in recent studies has been shown to have antioxidant-like effects on the body by eliminating free radicals. As a caution, these benefits only arise with a balanced drinking habit. Too much cream and sugar can prove to be detrimental, while too much coffee poses many long-term hazards. While coffee may provide the B vitamin niacin, it in turn restricts the body from other vitamins. And depending on the brew, coffee contains acids that have been linked to stomach ulcers. Symptoms like these may sound off-putting, but they exist only in the long run for an abusive drinker. A daily cup poses no threat to the average person.
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Employers are increasingly inclined to allow employees of long standing to take a sabbatical over and above the annual holiday allowance. This can amount to a year’s unpaid leave but is often less. Some companies would offer paid leave but typically they would want something in return; perhaps an understanding that at least some of the time would be spent doing something with a direct relevance to the day job. The willingness on the part of employers to offer this opportunity (even if is not always well publicised) is driven by an increasing tendency to take a career break at some point anyway: this way experienced staff are retained.

Broadly, there are three options for those planning some time out. The simplest idea, and the one that comes most readily to most people, is to travel the world. The options here are boundless and hinge wholly on the traveller’s preferences. Some providers of gap year travel arrange whole itineraries. Others simply put the traveller in touch with third party providers of travel services. Online, gap year travel sites can offer advice through articles and forums (as well as the opportunity to meet up with fellow travellers).

Secondly, some people want to use their time away to learn something new. Typically projects might involve learning Spanish in South America. Others might want to develop a passion for a sport like scuba diving. Travel blogs are full of interesting stories in this direction and can be a source of inspiration for those wanting to take the plunge. Anything is possible: one person went out on a limb in Thailand and spent a year training intensively at kick-boxing.

Finally there are those who want to use their gap year to work on a charitable project. Restoration projects of one type or another are well favoured. Suitability generally depends on the particular skills the applicant can bring to bear but there are enough options to ensure that nobody willing need be excluded

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There is nothing like the rich Italian food and be surprised, it’s not only abut pizza and pasta. There is more, and you can cook it all at home, no need to go to the restaurant. So, if this weekend you are home…

Ingredients
Carrots, Beans, Peas & Mushrooms, (one can also add veggies of their choice except for Tomatoes, Brinjals and Onions).
Boil all these till they are cooked and keep aside.

For White Sauce • ½ liter milk
• Maida (all purpose flour) • Butter, 100 gms
• Add black pepper powder to taste. Read the rest of this entry »

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The erotic shop windows are just one aspect to the Red Light District, but there are also countless sex shops, peep shows and many brothels throughout this pretty district.

It could be said that this debauchery on display is one of the reasons Amsterdam is so famous, and its definitely fair to say this part of the city really does leave nothing to the imagination. However, despite the seedy connotations the Red Light District may conjure, the District is beautiful, clean and extremely safe.

One of the most talked about aspects to the Red Light District is the peep shows. If you’ve heard stories about what happens in the peep shows, the likelihood is they are true. There are various clubs which have shows, entry is not cheap, but it usually comes with drinks. The show consists of 4 different scenes which rotate throughout the night. What are these erotic scenes? There is a heterosexual scene, a lesbian scene, a dominatrix scene and a woman performing an erotic dance while doing various tricks (like smoking from her vagina).

The question on your tongue, do they actually have sex on the stage? Yes. The performers have full blown sex right in front of your very eyes. The heterosexual pair does not just have missionary sex, but doggie style, they perform the 69er, and the lesbian scene fulfils every man’s fantasy. The dominatrix scene even involves member from the audience (no sex, don’t worry!) There is nothing left to the imagination in these shows. Read the rest of this entry »

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