Travel Bytes - Chicago Subway - O'Hare Airport

Chicago O'Hare International Airport was in the news recently, when one of the subway trains crashed, derailed and stepped onto an elevator. The incident injured many people. The live survellaince video capturing the accident can be seen here. In the meantime, I thought I'll just post a few images of how the O'Hare subway station originally looks like.

As you see in the image, this is exactly where the train crashed. Apparently, the train driver dozed off and was actually sleeping when the incident occurred. As you see the blue color indicates that the subway's Blue line is available.

Well, if you're visiting the city, you may have to get down at the LaSalle Street station in 'The Loop" neighborhood, depending on your destination. Check out the CTA Blue line station map below. Also please check google maps and plan accordingly.

Luxury Uber launches in Mumbai

Uber - the luxury pickup company has launched its operations in Mumbai. The current car fleet will feature Audi A8 and Mercedes E-class as well.

Signup now at this link and enter the promo code UberMumbaiLaunch to avail 2 free rides, valid till March 31 '14. Make sure you own an iPhone or an Android fone.

Costs : 

Base price : INR 100

For every kilometer : INR 17

Per minute surcharge : INR 2

Mexicue - Food Truck, New York City

Just the other day while watching Eat Street, I was reminded of a food truck that I bumped into somewhere in Brooklyn some time back. The name is Mexicue.

It has a cute little orange truck which serves some great tasting burritos, enchiladas, tacos, nachos and the typical mexican fare, which is much much better than Taco Bell. Check out Mexicue's menu here. It's most popular dishes are the Brisket slider, Rice bowls, Alabama Chicken taco. It does offer classic beers like Tecate & Pork Slap.

And well, just like many other food trucks, it travels across Manhattan and Brooklyn. The truck locations can be found through Twitter updates. Checkout it's official twitter handle here.

Check out Sharon L's review and rating on Yelp.

FYI : Eat Street is a popular canadian street food based reality show, which airs on Food Network in Canada, Cooking Channel in USA and Fox Traveller in Asian regions.

New York City subway romance

New York City as you know it, is always bustling with people - the tourists, the locals, the office peeps, the hipsters, the blue collared staff, the wall street guys, the cops. No matter where you go, you'll always bump into people.

However there are some folks who prefer peace and quiet over the hustle & bustle. For instance, the newly formed couples or the just-dating teens. Sometimes even you get this urge to get away from the crowd and commotion. Thats when, you really have to scout around looking for some private spots to get cosy with your loved ones.

Check out a smooth pacifying photo which captures this emotion. A couple just getting closer and strengthening their bond.

P.S : This was taken by me at the 42nd street Bryant Park subway station on one chilly night.

Blarney Cove - New York City

Blarney Cove, one of the last remaining iconic old-school dive bars of the East Village, has closed down for good. I might have passed by that bar for many years but very occasionally did I checkin. However, during Feb of 2012, last year, the Blarney Cove was running it's last about-to-close days. I did once drop by to say goodbye.

This bar was one of the few dive bars who offered cheap $10 Budweiser pitchers and $3 beers. So yes, it used to be frequented often by locals who were on a budget, sometimes by the punk'd hipster crowd from the Alphabet village but you could hardly find visiting tourists here. During my few couple of visits to the bar, it seemed everyone around knew each other.

It also featured a cheap Internet jukebox. Check out this picture which features the Asian bartender (in white-green top) dancing like crazy.

India House - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Parts of the Bollywood film 'Kites' starring Hrithik Roshan & Barbara Mori, were shot in and around Albuquerque & Santa Fe... and from what am aware of is that the India House served as its lunch catering partner. The moment you enter the restaurant, you see pictures of the owner with actor Hrithik Roshan, film producer Rakesh Roshan & director Anurag Basu etc... Boy, Bollywood is going places and so is the Indian Empire :)

It feels nice to actually find a good Indian restaurant in a region which is surrounded mostly by desert. A city where you come across just a couple of Indian food establishments. So well, somewhere around December of 2011, we a group of 4 people went to this place. We started with paneer pakoras, tandoori chicken wings, cheese fingers for apps. Next we shared bhindi masala, paneer makhani & dal makhani with Indian breads like kashmiri naan, aloo paratha, garlic naan etc... Finally ended our stuffed dinners with desserts - gulab jamun, kheer, mango lassi etc.

Website : http://indiahousenm.com/

Address:

2501 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
Phone: (505) 471-2651   Fax: (505) 471-2162

#NYE Live Nude Music Show - New York City (NSFW)

Warning : This post contains some controversial 18+ NSFW material.

In my previous post about Dec 31st 2012, I was talking about how some people hang around the bars of East village and Lower east side neighborhoods of Manhattan during the New Year's Eve.

Talking of NYE's, I just remembered a controversial event that was held in New York City. Precisely on Dec 31st of 2011. It was essentially a music show by the punk rock band Kraut in one of the bars in Lower east side. I don't remember, but I think it was the-now-closed dive bar Local 269  on East Houston st. Oh yes it was Local 269 for sure.

And it was controversial because it had a live full nude show by another band as well. The lead singer, guitarist, drummer were fully nude top to bottom. I mean seriously, they had no clothes whatsoever and their dicks were like swinging to the beats. Check out the pictures for yourself. The photos have been blurred a bit to reduce the NSFW-ness.

P.S : On googling a bit, I found the band name is The Afterbirth. Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve - Columbus Circle, New York City

With 2014 less than 24 hrs away, lets rewind to the last day Dec 31st of 2012. Most people spend their money in attending various all-you-can-drink NYE parties or attending the ball drop at Times Square. However a lot of people hop around the various bars and lounges in East Village, Lower East Side or the Midtown neighborhoods.

A lot of shops and malls are thronged by locals and tourists alike. If shopping during New Year's is your way of celebrating, one of the happening places is the 5th ave stores and the shops around Columbus Circle.

'The shops at Columbus Circle' i.e the Time Warner Center is beautifully decorated with christmas trees, synchronized lighting and a host of other festivities. Check out a couple of pictures of the Time Warner Center interiors during NYE 2012 :

This mall features some popular fashion brands like Boss, Armani Exchange, Cole Haan, H&M, J.Crew, J.W.Cooper, Moleskin , Thomas Pink, True Religion, Wolford to name a few. Make sure to have an open mind and and an open wallet :) Happy shopping :)

New Year 2014 - The Countdown

Ola! Como Estas? Well well well, 2014 is just around the cornor and its time to say 2013 a goodbye forever.

So folks, what are your new year resolutions?  Any memories of 2013 you would like to share? How was 2013 for you overall - Good or Bad?

How do you plan to welcome the new year 2014? Which NYE party you going to?

Do drop by your valuable comments... Ciao

Taking pictures from a boat or ship - Photography

Taking photos from a boat or a ship can be extremely challenging.

Since the ship is always moving, you are moving as well. So it is extremely challenging to maintain a proper focus. Keeping the camera on a tripod reduces slight distortion but still since it's on an uneven surface, the resultant pictures are not so good i.e they are blurry and distorted.

Make sure the lens you're using has Vibration Reduction (VR) or Image stabilization. It reduces some blur and distortion from the pictures.

Try to use a grip hand strap instead of a neck strap for added stabilization. You can buy one online here from B& H Photo Video store in New York City.

I would recommend you experiment with the settings and try to master getting perfect photos. If you're in Manhattan, I'd suggest you take the free Staten Island Ferry and practice getting some pictures of the Manhattan skyline. First try during the day time and then try at night. However, it becomes extremely challenging to get pictures at night, due to low light conditions. I'll cover the low light condition scenario in another post for now.

Take a look at my very bad quality night time picture of the Manhattan skyline taken from a boat. You can imagine how challenging and difficult it is to get still shots from a ship. Observe the blurriness and distortion. This was taken during the 9-11 anniversary so you can see the 9-11 memorial lights.

Shawarma Factory, Mumbai

If you're in Mumbai and have some craving for Mediterranean cuisine, a quick fix is the Shawarma Factory located in the Andheri neighborhood. Just a few days back, it was getting late at night and I was damn hungry. So I quickly ordered a delivery parcel for the vegetarian Combo platter.

The platter came in a nicely packed compartmentalized box. It had the following food items:

• Paneer Shawarma
• Veg Biryani
• Fattoush Salad
• Arabic styled pickles
• 2 Falafel balls with hummus
• Pita breads
• A small piece of the semi-sweet pastry 'Baklava'

Take a look :

The Biryani (rice preparation) was decent and had a few paneer cubes (Indian cottage cheese) in it.

For the Paneer shawarma, you can see the Paneer pieces (top middle compartment) which we are supposed to put in the pita bread alongwith other veggies to form a roll.

The falafel balls were nicely cooked with a crunchy texture. Oh and the small piece of Baklava pastry was way too small. I suggest they increase the size of it by atleast an inch.

All in all, a quite decent platter package for a competitive price of ₹ 199. They do have a chicken shawarma platter for about ₹ 250 bucks

Check out the listing and reviews of this establishment here.

Mason Dixon - New York City

This post is dedicated to the once famous popular Manhattan hotspot - the Mason Dixon.
It was one of the most frequented bars in the Lower Eastside neighborhood since it featured a mechanical bull. Most young folks would drop by in groups, just to test each other's mettle riding the bull :) I must admit the bull must have resulted in tremendous liquor sales.

Unfortunately the bar was closed in fall 2011 for good. Probably due to the envy of other establishments.

Here are a few snaps in it's glory days

Northeast Blizzard 2010 - Part 2

Oh the memories! How wonderful!

Checkout this pic from a Manhattan LES apartment on the day of the blizzard. I believe it was Dec 26.

Northeast Blizzard 2010

Merry Christmas folks! It's already mid-December this year and its time to say 2013 a goodbye. But before welcoming 2014, I just remembered the cruel unforgiving Northeast blizzard of 2010 which happened around 25-26-27 Dec.

While sifting through my pictures, I found out some great snaps of the next day after the blizzard. On the day of snowstorm though, I remember how the transportation came to grinding halt. NJ Transit trains connecting NJ to NY were totally stopped. A state of emergency was officially declared. Everyone were sitting indoors and no one was seen outside. However I did venture out on that night and managed to grab some videos. I'll post them once I find them (They are hidden somewhere within the huge repository of memories :)

Oh and in the meantime, here are some post-blizzard pictures in and around Central New Jersey.

Debonair's Pizza - Versova, Mumbai

Just a few days ago, we wanted to try out something from the 2-month-old outlet of South African pizza chain Debonair's Pizza in Mumbai. We were kinda bored of the same old pizzas from Smokin' Joes or Dominos or Papa Johns. So we thought of checking out Debonair's Pizza unique pizza offering - the Triple Decker. Picked up the phone and ordered a large ₹645 (taxes extra) Veg Triple Decker. We were told that the delivery would take approximately 40-45 minutes.

I was quite excited to taste it since the marketing photos on the menu card looks quite tempting enough considering its a 3-layered stacked pizza with a variety of toppings. Quite a unique offering for the Indian market. Ok so in roughly about an hour, the bell rang and here came the pizza. The delivery boy asked me to check the bright red spot on the box indicating that the pizza was freshly baked and hot.

Now lets analyze the whole pizza experience.

• Packaging

The above picture of the box was clicked after feasting on the pizza, so you see the black spot on the box which means the temperature inside is cold. At the time of delivery it should be glowing RED, which was red as promised. No issues about it. Honestly it adds a certain level of WOW-ness to the package.

Note: At the time of delivery, if the round spot is Black, your pizza is FREE.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

• Visual Appearance

Lets look at the menu photo found at their Zomato listing. The picture is so visually appealing, it increases your appetite.

Now lets look at what the pizza actually looks like. The 3 layers are quite thin in thickness. Its like 3 thin crisp bases topped on each other.

Lets take a closer look from a slightly different angle. Yes the colorful oozing melting cheeses does a fine job of stimulating appetite. The yellows, reds, greens makes up a pleasing picture.

Rating : 4 / 5

• Taste

Here is the most important part - taste. At the first bite you can relish the delicious 3 cheeses if you start eating from center towards the border. After a few bites you can feel the complex symphony of tastes of toppings - mushrooms, pineapple, olives, tomatoes, onion, chillies, corn etc. The pineapple sweetness is sometimes interrupting while you feel your tomatoes and olives and corn and the blended cheeses. Otherwise its a decent tasting pizza which I could rate 3.5 on a scale of 5. Next time I'd like to try their localized Indian pizzas like Pudina Paneer and Chicken Makhani.

The whole pizza is super filling for one person - my belly was full after eating 2/3rd of the portions.
I would recommend eating the triple decker on an empty stomach or sharing it with your friends.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

• Pricing

The price tag of 645+ taxes came up to approx 750. I think the pricing is still on the costlier side. Its local competitor Joey's Pizza in the neighborhood offers same-sized delicious pizzas for half the price tag. Also there is no online ordering facility like Dominos, so you have to phone-in and order one.

I think most people would pay the premium, just to check how unique the Triple Decker is.

On the pricing front, I believe the prices have not hit the sweet spot yet, its not alluring enough to sway Joey's loyalists or attract repeat customers.

Rating : 2.5 / 5