Fat Belly Traveler

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Join FatBellyTraveler.com as it makes a visit to the snake charmers, gets up close & personal with a few cobras, and successfully evades the onslaught of trinket sellers by using every excuse-in-the-book, which inadvertently "keeps them coming at ya." Persistence is the name of the game here and no one seems to give "up" or "in" easily.

No doubt that one's view of love, life and architecture, will ever be the same after a visit to the Taj Mahal, but outside the gates of the Taj one's view will be indelibly changed as well.

The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is such a monument of love and passion that many would agree with the romantic quote below.

"The picture of Taj Mahal does not adequately convey the legend, the poetry and the romance that shroud what Rabindranath Tagore calls "a teardrop on the cheek of time". Taj Mahal means "Crown Palace" and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tomb in the world. It is best described by the English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold, as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones." It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that’s the way to appreciate it." ----Neeraj Peswani

All in a days journey, where potential adventure lurks at every corner with FatBellyTraveler.com.

Labels: india, snakes, taj mahal, travel

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New Orleans Louisiana is known for it's World class musical events. It is after all the "Birthplace of Jazz," and on just about any given day or night of the week you can stop into the most unsuspecting place, a joint here, a tavern there, and be enchanted, moved and grooved by the most talented of musicians.

What I love about the music in New Orleans is that it is utterly unpretentious: It's cheap, it's plentiful and it comes directly form the soul - it is raw emotion in motion. Everybody who is "anybody" plays down there, and everybody who is nobody (all of us) gets "down" with it.

The French Quarter Festival, featured in this video, is but one of New Orleans' well known events. It is however lesser known than the Jazz Festival and therefore draws a smaller, more local crowd. The musicians in the French Quarter Fest are all well known local musician's (one of the criteria) and boy do they know how to get a crowd up on their feet!

The beauty of the French Quarter Fest is that you can actually roam the Quarter, and down by the river, listening to Big Band, Swing, Latin Jazz, Zydeco, Soul, Gospel and more while noshing on favorite foods from some of our Country's most notorious restaurants (Emeril's, K-Paul's, Arnaud's.....) You can break off from the crowd, breathe, spread out, come and go, and go at slower pace than the much touted and also wonderful Jazz Fest which takes place in the Fair Grounds and has a "one time entrance only policy." So, get ready to get out of your chair and up on your feet and join FatBellyTraveler for a tour of French Quarter Fest 07'.

And then pick up the phone and book your reservations for French Quarter Fest 08'!

Special Thanks to:
French Quarter Festival All Stars with Connie Jones
Leif Pedersen's Big Band
Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers
Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers
Marva White & the BMW's

Labels: French Quarter Fest, jazz, New Orleans

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Most tourists only get to Bangkok or maybe one of the beach resorts when they visit Thailand. But there is much more to this fascinating country, about the size of France, than what is commonly known.

The major city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand is rich with cultural treasures and natural wonders. Temples in the forest have a peaceful atmosphere, the night market throbs with life and a Tuk Tuk ride is always a thrill.

The custom of releasing birds, liberating them is often practiced in the grounds of Buddhist temples in Thailand. It is considered very good Karma to be liberating creatures from their confinement. It is a metaphor of what we need to do to our own spirits. The contradiction is that the birds are raised specifically for the purpose of selling their release. One wonders about the Karma of the captors - but there are worse ways to make a living.

Labels: Chiang Mai, Thailand, travel