Singapore’s Iggy’s is Asia’s best restaurant according to the Miele Guide which made its grand debut last week. The guide is claimed to be Asia’s first truly independent regional restaurant guide.
The Miele Guide 2008/2009 edition evaluates restaurants in 16 Asian countries… Brunei, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The top 20 restaurants according to the Miele Guide 2008/2009…
Read the rest of this post »
Steve Winter from US won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 award with a picture of an elusive snow leopard on a night time prowl. The image was captured during a 13-month quest to snap the perfect photo of the endangered species in its hostile habitat high in the mountains of India’s Hemis National Park [more on BBC]
The winning photo by Steve Winter (via BBC)
The competition, now in its 44th year, is run by BBC Wildlife magazine and London’s Natural History Museum. An exhibition of the best images from the 2008 competition opens to visitors of the Natural History Museum, London, on October 31.
Chand Baori is a famous stepwell in the village Abhaneri near Jaipur in Indian state of Rajasthan. This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in ninth century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.
Read the rest of this post »
The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, according to Reuters.
A kilogramme of rat meat increased to around 5,000 riel (USD1.28) from 1,200 riel last year. It’s still cheaper than other meat though… beef for example costs about 20,000 riel a kilogramme.
Some communities in Asian and South American countries have long history of eating rats or other rodents, but food shortages and inflations have pushed others to try rat meat in recent years.
Earlier this month, a state government in eastern India encouraged its people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
Sometimes it’s hard to relate to poverty around the world. Here we are, using high tech gadgets and surfing the web while at other corners on earth people are eating rats because they can’t afford other meat… and it’s far from being the worse scenario yet. It’s kinda sad actually.
Warner Bros has filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based Mirchi Movies related to the title of its upcoming movie “Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors”, which Warners feels is a bit too similar to its “Harry Potter” franchise [more on THR]
Hari is a popular Indian name while Puttar means son in the Punjabi language. It’s said that the storyline doesn’t relate to Harry Potter at all… and judging from the poster alone, I would have ruled that Mirchi is the winner for the lawsuit.
However, I can’t deny the probability that the Indian movie maker is being opportunistic for publicity, which they managed to get it now regardless of whether it was intentional at the first place.
The third season of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) is set to premier on September 11 on AXN-Asia. The franchisee of the popular US reality TV show is growing in popularity across Asia since making its debut in late 2006 and is back for good.
Read the rest of this post »
Dayana Mendoza from Venezuela was crowned as Miss Universe 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 13.
Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008 (Image from
William)
Asians didn’t perform well in the 2008 contest with only one contestant making it into last 15. Riyo Mori from Japan was the 2007 winner, with another three Asians (India, Korea and Thailand) making it into the last 15 last year.
Musiri, a remote town in India’s Tamil Nadu state, has launched a scheme to promote hygiene in rural areas by paying residents to use public urinals.
People relieving themselves in the open is a common sight in India’s rural towns and villages, as basic sanitation still eludes millions. [Reuters]
Not really sure about the exact pay, but it’s reported that they would get close to USD1 a month for doing so. Sounds like a small sum, but it could mean something in poor areas… besides, no harm is done for using proper sanitary system.
