I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part XLI - Indian Flavours In The Heart Of The Pacific...

The exciting dance performances at Port Denarau gave us quite an appetite...

And we decided to head to Indigo, an Indian restaurant located right here...

Indigo has quite a friendly and warm ambiance. The restaurant is manned by a couple of very friendly Fijian-Indians, whom I salute as they keep the flag of Indian cuisine flying high  on this distant island, far away from the country that their forefathers, the girmitiyas called their motherland. And the chef here is Jitendra Kumar Singh, who comes in from Delhi...

And we succumbed to the temptation of having a vegetarian biryani that came alongwith some salan gravy...

I must say the biryani was very good but really exceptional. What we really enjoyed was the load of coriander garnish that we so much miss in Songdo...

And a tempered vegetarian raita was the perfect complement to the biryani...

As we devour every bit of the delicately flavoured biryani with joy, we can only say "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!"...

A Lesson In Soft Power, On Board EVA Air...

And so we are finally back home in Incheon after 4 eventful, memorable and delectable days in Taiwan.

This was our first flight on EVA Air, which is one of the two Taiwanese intercontinental carriers, the other being China Airlines. Neeti and I were delighted by the service EVA Air gave us, right from check-in at Kaohsiung Airport to genuine, impeccable and friendly service on-board BR172 to Incheon. 

Moments after boarding the customary flight announcements began, starting off with safety instructions and all that spiel. And then, we heard something interesting - the flight attendant mentioned that EVA Air was pleased to have nationals of "India, Vietnam, Japan besides Koreans and Taiwanese on board!" 

"Did I hear that right?" I asked Neeti.

And she smiled. I got my answer. As we boarded, we appeared to be the only Indians on the flight. This was a sweet gesture, costing nothing, that instantly made us feel at home, on board. Little wonder, EVA Air is rated as a 4 Star airline by Skytrax. 

I bet Jet Airways or even the lousy IndiGo, back home in India, can learn a lot from these guys.

Once we were on board, an elegant, charming 50+ lady came and sat in the seat next to us. She was indeed quite a pleasing personality and smiled at us as she assumed her seat. And gradually she and Neeti got into an animated conversation.

It turned out that she was a Taiwanese headed for Seoul alongwith her husband - they intended to do a round of the Buddhist circuit of Korea. She was surprised that Taiwan is popular amongst Indians - this was the first time she saw Indian tourists in Kaohsiung!

The conversation that followed, between the lady and Neeti, was engaging. She mentioned how much she loved Bollywood. The last Hindi movie she had seen was Lunchbox. She was all praise for 3 Idiots and mentioned how similar she thought the education system in Taiwan was, putting pressure on kids. Then she asked Neeti for suggestions - among the movies Neeti suggested to her was Zindagi Milega Na Dobara.

I overheard the lady tell Neeti that her niece lived and worked in Bangalore for a couple of years, in an infotech company and added how India had grown over her. She also mentioned that she was a big fan of yoga.

The meal that we got on board was quite delicious, with generous helpings...

As their conversation continued, I drifted off into snooze mode. And as we began our approach into Incheon, the ladies were discussing the storyline of a Hollywood rom-com they had been watching on the flight's IFE.

As I am wont to, I got into "insight hunting" from this whole experience on board. This interaction between the Taiwanese lady and Neeti proved, once again, that India is sitting on an unimaginable potential that its soft power has. This conversation was particularly heartening simply because Taiwan and India do not have formal diplomatic relations, and travel between the two countries isn't that easy. Despite these hurdles, India occupies a significant part of the mindspace of Taiwanese, as we had observed during our travel in the island state.
Soft power is an intangible asset, a wealth that brute force cannot match and it makes India's rise seem comforting and not threatening to the rest of the world. And that is indeed great for India. But to leverage on this immense goodwill that India's soft power generates, policy-makers need to pay heed, which I guess they are doing under Prime Minister Modi!

As these thoughts were whirring in my mind, we landed at Incheon!

And it was time for a bit of Plane Spotting!

A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 and behind that an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dream)liner... 

As we were getting up to disembark, a Hong Kong Express Airbus A320 taxiied in...

The British Outpost At Takow... Part I

By the time we had our breakfast, the sun was shining brightly. And we wanted to make the best of the little time we had in this weather, which was rather nice.

The nearest we could go to was the historic building known as the Former British Consulate at Takow.

Located a 10 minute taxi ride away from our hotel on Daren Road, this red brick colonial building is perched atop Shaochuantou Hill in Gushan District and overlooks Xiziwan Bay and Port of Kaohsiung.

In the 1800s, Western powers were attracted to China due to its legendary riches. The Qing Dynasty, which was skeptical of these overtures denied them the rights to "free trade". Then the British pumped in opium from India (which is really sad - India also was at the receiving end - cropping patterns were changed, forcing Indian farmers to grow opium and indigo for the nefarious designs of the colonials. And Indians were forcibly made party to this carnage in the Orient, though one Indian community, the Parsis immensely profited from the ill gotten wealth from the opium trade). This is the historic grudge that China has with India, but little do they realise that at that time we were just pawns in the hands of the British. 

This ended up corrupting and wasting Chinese youth of that age. The Qings resisted and battles erupted between the Western powers and China. At the end of it, the British won, getting concessions to a number of Chinese ports - Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Canton and ports in Taiwan - Takau (Takow).  

But in a little more than century, the tables have turned. China and India have become the economic centre of gravity. And they day isn't far when Britain could have an Indian prime minister, a fact that was acknowledged by David Cameron recently.

The consulate here was nothing more than a trading outpost from where the British supervised their trading activities. Now was it bona fide trade or was it a plunder? That's a question that you could answer for yourself.

A view of Xiziwan Bay...

Robert Swinhoe was appointed as the first British vice-consul in 1861, in the consulate which was housed out of Tamsui, shifting to Kaohsiung (Takow, as it was known then) in 1864. This building was built in 1879 with supplies and materials brought over from Amoy (present day Xiamen) on the Mainland. The building was rented by the British in 1867 and then Swinhoe was appointed as the first Consul General in Formosa and held office until his retirement in 1873.

Our fogged out camera lens...

Oops... there's so much moisture in the air...

A pano view...

It seemed the sun and the clouds were playing hide and seek. It was sunny and cloudy in parts....

A view of downtown Kaohsiung from the rear of the building...

Kaohsiung Port - this is a major naval base...

The iconic symbol of Kaohsiung - the 82-sorey Tuntex Sky Tower right ahead on the horizon...

The building itself wasn't anything fancy, though the views from here were amazing...

Palais des Nations - Where Nations Meet... Part III

And from the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room, we continued on the original section of the Palais, the one constructed in the 1920s...

A view of the main building, Building A...

The passageway leading into Building A...

Another artwork...

Hanuk leading the way...

Patek Philippe is the official timekeeper of the UN!

A view of the Armillary Sphere in the Arianna Park. More on the Sphere:

This gold-plated bronze sphere is the symbol of the UN Office at Geneva. It illustrates the different constellations of the universe: its 65 constellations are gold-plated and its 840 stars are silvered, reflecting the world’s cultures existing in harmony.

It is the centrepiece of the Cour d’Honneur, south-east of the Salle des Pas Perdus.

Also known as The Celestial Sphere, it was designed by the American sculptor Paul Manship, then cast and plated in Italy by Bruno Bearzy.

In its early years, the sphere would slowly rotate. But its prolonged exposure to the elements has damaged the internal motor – and any attempts to repair it would mean completely disassembling an original masterpiece of art deco sculpture.

It was donated in 1939 by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation to commemorate the US President’s work for the creation of the League of Nations. 

(Source: United Nations Office at Geneva website http://www.unog.ch/virtual_tour/palais_des_nations.html)

The Conquest of Space monument. More on the imposing monument:

This two-part monument, a gift from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is dedicated to human success in the conquest of space.

The slender, arrow-shaped plinth is 28 metres high and formed from Ukrainian stone covered with a thin layer of titanium (the heat-resistant element used to protect spacecraft).

A few metres away, the bronze statue of a cosmonaut in a spacesuit with arms reaching to the skies symbolises mankind’s wish to explore outer space.

The work’s major creator was the Russian sculptor Youri Neroda, who was unable to attend the monument’s inauguration in 1971 because of the tragic deaths of three Russian cosmonauts. 

(Source: United Nations Office at Geneva website http://www.unog.ch/virtual_tour/palais_des_nations.html)

Unfortunately the statue of the cosmonaut isn't visible from up here and access to grounds is prohibited!

Members of our group passing through the Salle des Pas Perdus...

More artwork, these ones in the Salle des Pas Perdus...

That's Lake Geneva in the distance...

What a stately building...

Meetings in progress...

A vase shaped like a globe...

A porcelain vase (The Blue Planet of Life) by Yasuhiko Shirakata, given by Japan to mark the UN’s 50 th anniversary in 1995. The vase, deep indigo blue on a white enamelled base, symbolises a world living in peace and respecting the environment.
Shirakata, born in Tobe, a town famous for it pottery and ceramics for more than 200 years, involved schoolchildren in the concept and design of the vase, which is two metres high, including its stand. 

(Source: United Nations Office at Geneva website http://www.unog.ch/virtual_tour/palais_des_nations.html)

Passing by the Lobby of the Council Chamber...

The Lobby’s largest feature is a massive and evocative bas-relief in marble above the main entrance to the Chamber entitled The Creation of Man. The work is by the English sculptor Eric Gill and was donated to the League of Nations by the United Kingdom in 1938. The sculpture is a triptych, with the central panel (2.3m x 9.28m) being inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco. The left panel shows Man’s Gifts to God, the right panel shows God’s Gifts to Man.

(Source: United Nations Office at Geneva website http://www.unog.ch/virtual_tour/palais_des_nations.html)