Awesome Asia

Forget fine dining, weird dining is the ‘IN’ thing today! Isn’t it boring to eat in the same old formal decor where you expect a boring routine and same old menu? Well, not anymore, entrepreneurs are finding ways to attract clients by creating themed restaurants that could be way beyond your imagination.

A hospital themed restaurant that recently opened in Xinzhu, Taiwan, attracts lots of diners there and mind you, none of the diners are sick. The restaurant is a complete hospital with waitresses in nurse’s apparel and the decor in pristine white, complete with x-rays and prescriptions adorning the wall. The theme is not just about the decor, you get served on the hospital beds with drinks and beverages served from a vat suspended from the ceiling.

Now that you are in it, you might as well play along being a patient, so request for a wheel chair to be wheeled around to your table by the nurse or opt for crutches and walk to your table as the nurse-waitress helps you along. At your table, request for beverages to be injected into your mouth with syringes!

Oh yes! You can rush into one of the ‘emergency rooms’ (aptly named so) in case you need a wash room.

Hopefully, you don’t fall really sick while you try ‘Sick Dining’!

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In an astonishing revelation, the archaeologists have unearthed the most ancient and long ago buried faith and spirituality. We are talking about the ‘World’s First Church’ that has been unearthed recently by the archaeologists, as reported by The Jordan Times. The excavated church dates back to as far as 33 AD i.e. nearly 2,000 years back. It was located underneath the Saint Georgeous Church, near the Jordanian border with Syria, which in itself is believed to date back to 230 AD.

It’s a place we all dream of – a remote island miles from civilization, the sun, sand and sea and all the time in the world to do just nothing! The tiny and remote Drawaqa island in the Yasawas group of Fiji is just the place to relax and unwind. The Barefoot Lodge on this island is perhaps the closest one can get to nature when on a holiday and it offers a genuine Fijian island village experience. No electricity, running water, phones or TV to distract you. The only sound you hear is the gentle lapping of the water and a soft wind blowing in the coconut palms. Accommodation is simple and the only way to reach the island is by ship or boat.

Valentine’s or not, chocolates are a way of life! While some get their fix by sipping hot-chocolate or popping exotic chocolates, Japanese get their high by soaking in hot chocolate tubs! Couples in Hakone Hot Spring Resort have their sweet melting moments in a warm bath filled with flavored chocolate bath powders.The staff pour jugs of real creamy chocolate to indulge the couples. While aphrodisiac chocolate baths works its charm on the couples, the anti-oxidant property of chocolate leaves them glowing. The resort is not off-the-limits to singles or children; every one is welcome to jump into the chocolate bandwagon. The creamy chocolate is edible, so the clients can have their chocolate and eat it too. That’s what I call calorie-free indulgence, yummm!

Now, you get your fix by watching Japanese having their sweet moments in the hot chocolate tub!

Source: 3yen

Be it any calamity, catastrophe, or hassle, life moves on even better than before. Ever since the destructive earthquake hit China in May - the biggest natural disaster to hit China since 1976 - there had been a sort of hidden fear among people about its recurrence, which is now fast disappearing. Sichuan has borne it bravely and it’s further attested by the increase in number of tourists. Penglai Resort became a witness to the fervor when thousands of swimmers capered into a pool to commemorate victory of life over nature’s devastation. Though this exhibition couldn’t last long as they weren’t able to swim for very comfortably, it’s so very indicative of the normalcy restored in the coastal province.

Source: Dailymail

I remember my dad dangling fried snacks in the rat-trap every night and showing off his prized catch to excited kids before throwing them on the roadside for the crows to savor them. Had he known that rodent dishes were in demand, he would have made a fortune by now!

If you have a taste for weird and exotic food and are bored with the regular meaty fare you get in the eateries, then you must try the exotic rat dishes served in one of the two Taiwan village restaurants. The Ho-la diner and Jiashing restaurant together dish out about 18 kg of rat fare every day. While Ho-la serves ten varieties of rat platters including rat soup and battered, black pepper-dipped, deep-fried rat, Jiashing serves 12 rat platters, focusing on one similar to the more common kung-pao chicken.

Rat meat became popular among people who could not afford poultry or meat way back in 1940’s and the flavor seems to have caught on with fervor. Wait, don’t smell a rat yet; the rats that are hunted grow up on crops from the surrounding fields and are not from the sewerage and drains. So, you can safely conclude that were hale and hearty before they reached your platter! The place is so much in demand at the meal times that you have to book table hours in advance if you don’t want to wait.

When William Blake penned down about ‘Tiger’, he did say:

Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

People can interpret those lines in any form of philosophy or psychology, but the simple matter of fact is that, probably Blake was also marveling at god’s creation by looking at this powerful and splendid creature. Not for one moment did the poet imagine it to be weak, loving or tender. It was always a symbol of force, might and all conquering raw passion and energy. So, very rightly, Blake says that it is a creature to roam with majesty ‘in the forests of the night’.

But then the ‘Tiger Temple’ in Thailand is a place where you find these mighty creatures roam with unabated freedom among human company. Tigers in this temple have been bred by the monks and have always spent their lives in the quarry that is adjacent to the temple. While the whole thing started way back in 1999 when the temple found an abandoned tiger cub, it slowly lead to the locals giving the temples a few more cubs that were found in the surrounding forests. Now the temple has nearly 35 tigers, many of them full grown and as powerful as any.

The roof of the world is back on the tourist itinerary with China reopening Tibet to foreign tourists three months after violent riots rocked this Himalayan region. A note on the tourism bureau’s web site announcing the lifting of the ban states ‘Tibet’s society is stable and harmonious, its markets bustling, and its environment beautiful.’ But there are still signs of nervousness and the Tibetan activists abroad are not a happy lot.

The Chinese government had banned foreign tourists visiting Tibet following violent anti-government riots ahead of the Olympics in Lhasa and the nearby provinces, which have a predominantly Tibetan population. The restrictions were put, according to government officials, for the safety of foreign tourists and journalists.
The Chinese reaction was swift with troops sent in to stifle the demonstration. They performed drills in town squares and set up checkpoints around sensitive areas including Buddhist monasteries, which were surrounded by security forces and closed off.

Ubud celebrated mass cremation of head of royal family of Ubud, three royal figures and 68 commoners in a rare spectacular display of their hindu tradition and culture.

It took three months of preparation for this royal funeral and last rites. Agung Suyasa died on March 28. His body was kept embalmed under vigil where family and people of Ubud came to pay their last respects and brought daily offerings. Meanwhile the stage was being set for a royal and traditional cremation according to hindu rituals. Some dead bodies had waited months, even years, for this spectacular cremation on this Hindu island.

The country best known as the hotbed of religious zealotry, the hater of the west and the sponsor for terrorism, Iran earlier known as Persia is located in the Middle East between Iraq and Pakistan. The string of controversies attached to it discourages about a 5,000 British tourists from visiting it every year amounting to a big loss for the nation in terms of foreign exchange that can be generated by tourism. The vast aesthetic architectural structures spread across Iran lures many but the fact that it is an Islamic republic and highly controversial puts it behind on the to-visit places list of travelers. However, a visit to this place of historical treasures is a must and promises to be extremely satisfying.