Adam Smith Statue in Edinburgh, Scotland

1776 saw the publication of two great articles. The first is "The United States Declaration of Independence" and the second is "Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith. Adam Smith is a Scottish economist and philosopher, who is widely known as father of modern economics and often credited as founder of free market economics. However, free market economics existed centuries before Adam Smith, in Egypt, Rome and India."Wealth of Nations" could have laid the foundation of modern economic theory and may mark the beginning of classical economics, but Kautilya's Arthashasthra, published in 4th century BC will always remain as the pre-cursor to classical economics.

Sunset at Giza Pyramids & Laser Light Show

We returned back from Khan el Khalili just in time for watching the sunset and Laser Light show. We bought the tickets for the show and within walking distance we found a roof top cafe. It was the most beautiful sunset I ever saw, sipping Egyptian coffee. Soon after, we hurried to the show and made our way through the crowd, in order to get the best seats. We could have gotten the best seats in the house, but would have missed the beautiful sunset view. In no time, it became dark and the show started. The story was narrated by Omar Shariff as Sphinx reciting the story of Egypt. The powerful green laser lights were projected on the pyramid. Colorful changing lights illuminated the pyramid and Sphinx with dazzle. The breathtaking show lasted for an hour. It was time to call it a night, so we returned back to our hotel roof top for dinner.

Vegetarian Haggis

Haggis is a national dish of Scotland. Traditional Haggis is made by mincing the left over sheep's meat and stuffing them in sheeps stomach and cooking for several hours. It is usually served with neeps and tatties. We were sitting inside The White Hart Inn in Edinburgh, ready to order our lunch, and to our surprise we saw vegetarian haggis on the menu. Yes, vegetarian. I guess they have it for tourists like me, I suppose. They make it out of carrots, onions, oats, lentils, mushrooms and spices. The scotts consider it as a sin to eat vegetarian haggis. Oh well, I guess I can add one more.

Pyramids of Giza

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in October, in the sprawling city of Cairo, with temperature around 75F. After some delay at the hotel waiting for the hired car, we finally drove south west, weaving through the bustling streets, heading towards Giza plateau. Like any big city in a developing world, the roads were packed with old cars, motorcyles, cyclists and pedestrians. Although, occasional glimpses of donkey carts on streets came as a somewhat surprise, but we did anticipate such sights .

Our first stop was Giza pyramids, which was about 45 - 60 min ride from our luxurious Marriott Omar Khayam Hotel & Casino. We were ready with our cameras, as we approached, eagerly waiting to see the world's oldest and most beautiful man made structure, that still defies time. The great pyramid of Khufo with its stunning magnificence rose 450 feet above ground. For the past almost 4500 yrs, it held the record for the world's tallest structure, until Washington monument in D.C surpassed it.

There are two ways to see the pyramid. The first is to waltz through the main gate, like hundreds of tourists, get a ticket and go straight to the Spinx and the Khufo pyramid. We took the second. The driver took us straight to camel and horse rentals. Along the way, the sights of kids cleaning the camels / horses and feeding the emaciated animals and getting ready for another day filled with camel and horse tours are common. After some negotiation with the camel / horse wrangler, we rented two camels and two horses. The gates to the pyramids for the camel and horse tours opened at 9 in the morning and there were few more early tourist enthusiasts just like us, waiting to get in. We were more excited to be on the camel and horse, so the waiting didnt seem to matter to us, as we were engaged in taking photos. Camel and horse riding was the most thrilling experience, being the first time, at least for me. I am glad I mustered enough courage to go horse galloping with the tour guide. The tour guide knew all the great photo vantage points. We stopped at every one of them to take photos. We even climbed one of the section of a smaller pyramid, which is not permitted. The so called giza securities who patroled the place to prevent such mis behaving by tourists and also as a protection for them, seemed to look for tips, rather than fulfilling their duties.

As we continued our camel / horse tour, we saw the area around the pyramids littered with trash. It was sad to see how a monument with such a long history has been neglected by the local government. We finally arrived at the front, near the Sphinx where we spent some time enjoying the beautiful and often photographed view of the Sphinx and the pyramid.

After thanking with generous tips, we bid good bye to our tour guide and drove off to Khan el Khalili, knowing well, that we will be back in few hours, for the sunset and Laser light show.

I survived Oktoberfest ( Wiesn)

If you like beer, then there is no place like Oktoberfest in Munich. It is hard to describe Oktoberfest to those who haven’t been there. Simply said, it’s an ultimate beer festival (actually one of the biggest public festivals in the world, according to Guiness World Record) held in the ultimate beer-drinking destination, Munich (..my friend from Milwaukee still thinks Milwaukee is the beer capital of the world). The celebration begins mid September and ends on first Sunday in October spanning almost 2 wks. The first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese. Although the festival used to be celebrated in October, they moved it up to September to allow for better weather conditions. Some 6 million people drink 6 million litres of beer each year inside 14 humongous tents that can hold 5000 – 6000 people, drinking, singing and dancing to folk/polka tunes. There are also other things like rides (Olympic circle ride, try that after couple of liters of beer in your body, interesting experience), games, sing-alongs etc., Men dressed in Lederhosen and women in their traditional Bavarian outfit are a common site. Since this festival is all about beer, as expected people tend to drink in excess and as always things get out of hand, fist fights and 1 liter beer glass breaking. I did not witness any of those, may be the police are so efficient in quickly suppressing such incidents or I was not in a position to observe such minor ruckus.

All in all, Oktoberfest is something that everyone should experience in his or her life, at least once. As far me, I would definitely go there, for a third time, given a chance.

“Bitte Ein Beer”

Betel nut booths: Taiwan an over populated little country has myriad of these betel nut glass booths. Betel nut booths in Taichung, Taiwan came as a surprise to me. Scantily clad girls attract truck drivers and other betel nut enthusiasts. Lights on top of the glass booth are meant to draw in customers. If the lights are flashier, chances are you will find better looking women. They say betel nuts have mild stimulating property, hence truck drivers make frequent stops at these booths. In India betel nut is usually chewed with betel leaf and lime. When all the three are mixed, Arecoline is released, which is a stimulant that can keep you awake for hours and increase your respiration. Not only does the consumption of betel nut stain your teeth, long term chewing weakens sexual potency.

Tallest building in the world: Taipei 101

Jan 2005: I took the world’s fastest elevator to go to the observatory of the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The building opened to public on December 31^st 2004 with limited visitors. It rises 509 m above ground with most advanced 900 ton tuned mass dampening system located in the center of the building, which can sway up to 8 inches or so. Building swaying? Yes, these days tall buildings are designed to sway. The building can withstand once in a century super Typhoon and earth quake of magnitude 7 in the Richter scale. Impressive feat huh?

My fascination for tall buildings has allowed me see all the top 10 tallest buildings in the world? 6 of the 11 are located in China and Hong Kong. I have also been on the observatory deck of the tallest free standing structure in the world, CN Tower in Toronto.

Lets wait and see who will surpass Taipei 101, Burj Dubai or Shanghai World Financial Center?

Lobster, the king of shellfish is No.2 in "BBC's top 50 foods to eat before you die". Go figure. The lobster you see is from a Chinese restaurant in Suzhou. Live sushi, yes they first devour the slippery tail treat that is still fresh till the last minute, while the lobster is still alive. The eyeballs constantly roll while the antenna is clipped to prevent it from moving. After the tail treat, they steam the lobster and bring it back, so that they can eat the rest of it. This graphic act is a delicacy in China among other things.