NOLA

Breakfast at Modern Hotel Cafe. They added a 20% surcharge "for my convenience" that I wasn't aware of,  so it turned out to be the most expensive breakfast of all time after I tipped another 20% on top of it.

Cool Louis XIV painting inside of the Modern Hotel lobby.

Some kind of Easter procession outside of our hotel window.

View of Lee Circle outside of Modern Hotel Cafe.

Flamingoes at Auduban Zoo

 

Outside of Les Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street.

First Po Boy of the vacation at Guys on Magazine Street. I got the small 6 inch that was bigger than a subway 12 inch.

Day drinking at Henry's Uptown Pub on Magazine.

Slutty trees...

Inside of Les Bon Temps Roule...

Award-winning oyster shucker dude at Casamento's...

You have to walk through the kitchen at Casamento's to get to the bathroom. They also had old slave quarters in the back.

Sidewalk view on St. Charles in Uptown.

Dude in the pink shirt just got yelled at for sticking his head outside the trolley window...

After narrowly escaping Bourbon street, we found our way to Frenchmen Street.

20's-30's era Swing Jazz music at The Spotted Cat. The saxophonist sang like Louis Armstrong. Down the street was as Japanese bar called Yuki. I ordered my drink in Japanese and the lady goes, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhh?"

Dude with a cat on his hat on Bourbon Street.

Steak and eggs at Atchafalaya's.

Jazz brunch music at Atchafalaya's.

Bloody mary bar at Atchafalaya's. I had to drive 5 hours back to Houston so no Vodka for me.

Bday Brunch

Back in India on a business trip, and took my homeboys Siddesh and Nick to heavily trafficked Bangalore on a fabulous weekend getaway.

I asked our local station chief if we needed our passports before leaving, to which he emphatically replied "No!". Fixing a puzzled look on his face, he seemed to suggest that I needn't ask such a ridiculous question in the first place.

His actions proved not so clairvoyant however, as the hotel staff where we were checking in noticed we were two foreigners, and I could distinctly hear what sounded like "passport" while they were arguing with our guide, Siddesh.

After unsuccessfully booking a room, we decided to go drinking instead at a nearby microbrewery called "Biere Court". The first stop proved the best as we left for what were supposed to be greener pastures, but instead suffered a vain attempt at getting into Sky Bar as we were a 4-stag party.

Forced to regale ourselves at a less-posh establishment, we proceeded to drink until the early hours of 11:30 PM, the time we were told that all the bars in Bangalore shut down. Still feeling a bit frisky, we drove down some back streets until we found a suspicious looking guy on the street. We stopped in front and our driver rolled down the window. He began shouting orders for beer and nips of liquor, and in a few minutes the suspicious looking guy brought out a bulky black plastic bag filled with the contents of our order.

We sulked back to our hotel, fell asleep, and woke the next day to treat ourselves to an amazing brunch, the photos of which are provided below.

Lamb brains

Cold Appetizer 1 (grilled scampi, steamed mussel, braised duck, tuna tartar, salmon tartar, smoked salmon, octopus salad, piece of wheat bread)

Cold Appetizer #2 (roast ham, gorgonzola with berries, sushi, egg flan with fig, mozzarella, tomato and basil)

Break... whew... also had all you can drink sparkling wine.

Cheese Plate (brie, swiss, bleu, goat, parmesean, gruyere)

Entree 1 (eggplant lasagna, grilled chicken and veggies, shepherd's pie)

Entree 2 (beef tenderloin w/ mustard seed glaze)

Entree 3 (grilled chicken, grilled shrimp)

...dirty martinis...

Kiran, the other birthday boy after I guessed that he was 50. He turned 49.

Desert 1 (non-chocolates)

Dessert 2 (chocolates w/ fruit)

Siddesh always giving the staff a hard time where ever we go. Caption: "Where is the design in my foam?"

almost done... fried bananas with raspberry sauce.

Cafe latte to wash everything down.

Our hosts, thrilled to see us finally leaving.

McDonald's in Asia

The food is actually delicious. Probably what the founders of the big fast food chains envisioned when they created them, not the temples of condescending bad service and sarcasm they've evolved into in America.

If You See Any Suspicious...

Let's get something straight. Singapore has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world. The only thing suspicious about this bell-bottom clad dude is his bowl-cut. He seems to be approaching this old lady what looks like a brush, presumably to brush her to death and then steal her old lady groceries and the $12 she probably has in her purse.

Gangsta Leannn

Maybe this is how Singapore gangs show off their colors, but here's some dude on Mass Rapid Transit trying (and succeeding!) in creeping out every other passenger on the train by wrapping a scarf around his head. After a closer look, he does have that gangsta lean going on.

It's common etiquette here to give your seat for old people who look ungainly or for pregnant women, but I'm guessing this guy is having none of it! I'm sure whatever he did today, he worked his ass off, and no one is gonna make him feel guilty by not giving up his seat. Anyone who wants that seat is gonna have to nudge this guy with a piece of cloth tied around his head out of sleep, wait for him to untie it, and then deal with god knows whatever kind of face of dissatisfaction he's got under there.

Don't bother asking yourself how many pictures I took of this guy, or whether or not that cloth is see-through. Just know that I'm filing this away into the 'Ways I Can Get Out of Giving Up My Seat on the Subway to the Old, Disabled, and Pregnant' file.

I'm Not Retarded

In Mysore, India, one of our incubation offices was on the campus of the most politically-correct name for a school I've seen.

From this name, you would think some of the students here had special mutant powers, like the ability to transform into any character from Saved By the Bell. Or more realistically, to be able to make any food give you explosive diarrhea.

Orgo

The camera on my cell phone doesn't take the best night shots unfortunately, but its still a pretty good view from Orgo, a restaurant on the roof of the Esplanade Theatre.

We probably should've looked at a map before leaving work to get there, and could've possibly written down the name of the spot as well. Asking several people on the way how to get to Olga, or Orca, or Ergo wasn't that successful. Nevertheless we found the spot, and a good time was had by all.

Sorry for Any Inconvenience Caused

You'll see this sign usually on your way to work in place of where there used to be a working elevator, escalator, or convenient footpath.

However inconvenient the situation might be, this sincere apology totally makes up for it!

Singapore PSA: Don't Hit Your Mother

No matter how many times she poops the bed...

National Day and Such

Another internship over and a final celebration with lots of beer and food. I previously inducted everyone into the Buffalo Club, but it was Jimmy (4th from right) who proved to be the only ruthless competitor after breaking my 3-year streak. After much pleading I was coerced into summarily chugging 3 or 4 beers for drinking with my right hand.

Walking around Clark Quay and saw this doozie of a sign. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture in Japan, known for its hot balls.

Some stupid kids photo-bombing what otherwise would've been a pretty cool picture.

Here's a bar where the price of beer fluctuates on something resembling a stock exchange. If I were an Analyst I would let all my clients know that Carlsberg Green is heavily overvalued, and would suggest buying put options and leveraged ETFs in the short term.

At some hooka bar called Magic Carpet, replete with mediocre belly dancers. Nick trying to handle that Egyptian Musk flava.

Auzzie Mark clearly having some trouble...

Me showing everyone else how it's done.

GET SOME!!!