The Tavern

The Tavern Bar in the Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta used to be a real hot-spot but as you can see from this i-phone panoramic shot the place is now very quiet. It was famous for it's pub food, particularly the hot-stone steaks and the resident band who were invariably from Philippines. With all the new hot-spots in Jakarta it looks like the crowd has moved on leaving The Tavern more spacious but with little atmosphere now.

Slippery Senoritas

This interesting side street in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia had a row of bars and clubs but it was this one that stood out to me simply by its name. It's sometimes sad to see these old buildings being converted into trashy modern entertainment outlets but perhaps better than being left to rot and decay.

Unfortunately I didn't revisit this particular establishment later in the evening to test out the quality of their tapas or salsa .... or even more importantly to check out the slippery senoritas. Perhaps next time.

At the very least the title of this blog may cause some increased hits on my site ......

Happy Hour

This is a typical scene in Amsterdam late afternoon/early evening when people kick back and have a happy hour drink. These little corner bars and cafes are usually set up very well with outside seats so you can sit and relax in the cool evening air and watch people either heading home on their bicycles or sitting at the bar/cafe opposite you doing the exact same thing! This particular bar/cafe was on the Prinsengracht canal and very close to the hotel I was staying at so it was always an easy option to drop in for  a cleansing Dutch beer.

Restaurant and Social Club for Explorers and Mad Scientists

Jekyll and Hyde in New York City at 91 7th Avenue South (between West 4th Street and Barrow Street) is a haunted restaurant and bar where eccentric explorers and mad scientists can eat, drink among the unusual and the bizarre. It's a themed restaurant that serves typical American fare such as fajitas, nachos, buffalo wings, burgers, pastas and an array of ghoulish drinks.

Canal Lights

The canals in central Amsterdam are delightful to walk around and as evening comes many of the bridges are lit up creating a beautiful sight. With many restaurants and bars along the banks of the canal it is easy to wander for a while then stop for a drink then head on for some dinner at a canal-side restaurant. 

B. B. King Blues Club & Grill

On West 42nd Street in the heart of the Times Square area in New York City is the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, a premier supper club offering a wide array of live music in intimate surroundings.

Lucilles Grill, named “Best Great Bar That You’d Never Suspect Was a Great Bar” by the New York Press, where local acts from the New York music scene jam away with no cover price every night of the week. The mahogany framed, bi-level bar & grill offers a unique atmosphere, complete with signature saxophone beer taps. Colorful contemporary art and iconic photography of all the legendary blues masters in the rich history of this uniquely American music form adorn the restaurant walls.

El Quinto Pino

El Quinto Pino is a small tapas bar in San Sebastian, North Spain. Apparently there is an El Quinto Pino restaraunt in New York but I'm not sure if they are affiliated. The meaning of el quinto pino is "To live far away from anything,usually some place rural".

The Highlander

This small bar sits in side street in Paris right next to the River Seine on the Saint Germaine side and as I walked past the Scottish flag caught my eye first .... and then the name. 

It's probably a good time here to explain the name of my website and my blog which of course is why this bar in Paris attracted my attention (as well as being a bar .... and being a Scottish one of course!).

A few years ago .... ok many years ago ..... my wife bought me a wonderful Birthday present of a bar - a beautiful rosewood bar, hand made in Melaka, Malaysia. This bar became the centre piece of our living room and was of course a focal point for many social occasions in our home. We moved to Dubai for about 4 years and of course the bar was duly packed up and again took pride of place in our Dubai home. Many parties and unplanned gatherings took place at my bar, which because of my ancestry, became know casually as "The Highlander Bar". One Christmas we hosted a lunch and of of my good friends gave me a present of an engraved bar sign as you can see below .....

We now had an official name for my bar and the sign was quickly erected over the bar. Shortly thereafter I did some googling on "Highlander Bar" and found that there was a bar in Gran Canaria island, Spain which was called the Highlander Bar and which had the domain name www.highlanderbar.com. However the domain name www.thehighlanderbar.com was free so I bought this and set up my first website for my little bar.

Not stopping there I then used this theme to name my photography website, www.highlanderimages.com and my blog, www.highlanderimages.blogspot.com. Fairly recently I also managed to buy the www.highlander.bar domain as it had become available, I presume the bar in Gran Canaria had gone belly up.

Baklandet Trondheim

An icy cold day in the old streets of Baklandet, Trondheim. The Baklandet Skydsstation is a restaurant bar in one of the old traditional wooden houses.

Rex Hotel

Built in 1927 for M. Bainier during French colonial rule in Vietnam, the building started out as a two story auto dealership/garage complex called Bainier Auto Hall. The building showcased Citroen and other European cars. From 1959 to 1975, Mr. and Mrs.Ung Thi renovated the building into a 100 room Rex Complex hotel with three cinemas, a cafeteria, a dance hall and a library.

The very first guests in the Rex Hotel in December 1961, while it was still in its final construction phase, were the 400 U.S.Army soldiers, 200 each of the 57th Transportation Company from Fort Lewis, Tacoma, Wa. and of the 8th Transportation Company from Fort Bragg, N.C.They were the first company strength units to arrive in Saigon, each with 20 H-21 twin rotor "Shawnee" helicopters, on the USNS 'CORE" on December 11, 1961. They were billeted at the Rex for a week or so while their tents were being set up, at Tan Son Nhut, Saigon for the 57th and in Qui Nhon for the 8th. The Thanksgiving dinner, a few weeks after the actual holiday, was cooked in the field kitchens of the men on the roof top of the Rex.

It was made famous and popular by American troops during the Vietnam War when its conference room hosted a daily press conference, by the MACV, derisively named The Five O'Clock Follies by cynical journalists who found the optimism of leading US military officers to be misguided. Its rooftop bar was a well known hangout spot for military officials and war correspondents.

Cosy Bar at the Hotel De Tuilerlieen

Hotel De Tuilerlieen is located in a central location in Brugge right next to the canal so was a great base from which to explore the medieval city of Brugge. The hotel is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World which has always been a great recommendation in my experience .... and this was certainly no exception. A very comfortable, spacious and well appointed room overlooking the canal and the cosy bar as shown here was a welcome refuge after a hard day of tourism.
I'm not sure who the people were in the two paintings on the wall .... the barmaid in the bar didn't seem to know .... but they sure don't look too happy for whatever reason..... I was however .... as I supped on a large gin and tonic!

Hotel De Tuilerieen

This is the bar at Hotel de Tuilerieen in Brugge, Belgium and was always a welcome relaxing and rehydration spot after a hard day's tourism and prior to evening dinner. The hotel is wonderfully situated in central Brugge right on the canal so it's easy to walk out and see all the sights or take one of the canal cruises. It belongs to the exclusive group of hotels called "Small Luxury Hotels of the World".

I was wondering who the characters were in the paintings but unfortunately the barmaid didn't know. Whoever they were, they didn't exactly look very happy!

The Markt

The Markt ("Market Square") of Bruges is located in the heart of the city and covers an area of about 1 hectare. Some historical highlights around the square include the 12th-century belfry and the Provincial Court (originally the Waterhall, which in 1787 was demolished and replaced by a classicist building that from 1850 served as provincial court and after a fire in 1878 was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style in 1887. In the center of the market stands the statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck.

In 1995 the market was completely renovated. Parking in the square was removed and the area became mostly traffic-free, thus being more celebration friendly. The renovated market was reopened in 1996 with a concert by Helmut Lotti.

Around the Markt are numerous restaurants, cafes and bars where you can sit and take in the sights of the many historic medieval buildings and sample some of the Belgian food and beer.

Streets of Madrid

Seeing all the reports and photos describing the celebrations through the streets of Madrid following the World Cup victory by Spain reminded me of my visit there last year. It was a wonderful city to wander through the back streets where you could find countless bars and restaurants tucked away amongst the interesting architecture.

Taberna La Fontanilla

This beautiful little Irish style bar can be found close to La Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain. Early evening in Spain is a great time to find yourself a little bar like this and sit out to enjoy a cool drink, watch the sun go down, people watch and consider what eating establishment you will then move onto later.

Black Bull

The Black Bull pub sits right in the heart of the Grassmarket area in Edinburgh and takes me back to my student days in Edinburgh where we used to frequent many of these fine establishments on the route to inebriation! The Black Bull is a traditional pub selling many fine ales and the frontage onto the street is rather deceiving as the bar is extremely long and runs for a long way inside. The bar can be very busy at weekends so you need to get there early and during the summer many people sit outside.