Crabby Jacks! - New Orleans

 New Orleans is known for it's creole food. Unfortunately I was too busy celebrating Mardi Gras to really go to the better food joints. Although I did have some excellent Gumbo at a corner super market run by an Asian couple! So what to eat as my last meal before I leave New Orleans... I tried to find a reasonably priced place that wasn't too far. I couldn't find a good creole place near by but I did find a local po' boy sandwich place near by called Crabby Jacks.

The place is known as a local spot and can get really crowded during lunch time. I got there right before the rush and ordered the roasted duck po' boy per recommendations on yelp.  The sandwich was pretty big but not very good! The duck was gamey and was not very big on flavor. Perhaps I have gotten spoiled from all the delicious duck dishes I used to get at the Thai places near my house. A lot of people seemed to have ordered some fried deliciousness for their po boy... Oh well just goes to show you that you can't always trust those yelp reviews.

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New Orleans! - Monday and Fat Tuesday!

The funny thing is that I didn't realize that I would be in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras. It was at Hueco while watching the end of the Super Bowl at a restaurant after a good day of climbing that I realized that Mardi Gras was going to align perfectly with my trip. I couldn't let that coincidence go to waste.
I was lucky that my friend's cousin Sidd agreed to host me for few nights!

Sidd and his friend Stacey after a long day of walking

Monday night parade!

We barely made it to see the end of the night parade and it seemed that the whole town was there to see the parade. It was a great fun vibe. Next was Bourbon St...

A glimpse into the packed mad house of the Bourbon St. experience.

Bourbon St is probably what most tourist think of when they think of Mardi Gras. The street is packed with people with beads being thrown form the balconies. There is a lot of drunkenness a fair amount of people flashing and general sense of drunken state of partying. To get plastic bead necklaces most of the time you DO NOT need to flash your breasts or do anything too embarrassing. Just make eye contact and give a big "woo hoo~!" and wave your arms. If they want you to do anything you don't want to just walk away, there are plenty of more beads just a few steps away.

A Jazz club whose name I forget...

Besides the Mardi Gras craziness there are plenty of good live music spots you can check out.

My beads! Didn't do anything too embarrassing for them... I think...

 Day Time Parade! Snagged me a Zulu Coconut!

My favorite part of Mardi Gras was actually all the cool costumes I saw! People go all out for their costumes! And the general mood of happiness and celebration was amazing too! It truly is an awesome whole town kind of party.

Crazy Fun Costumes!

The Best photo I have that shows the vibe, the energy of the streets.

Live street music, and yup, the girl on the left is playing the saw!

The Drum Cart! 3 set of drums, 1 bbq grill and one platform for a drunken satyr! Awesome!

My only problem with Mardi Gras was that it was so much fun you forget to enjoy the other goodies that the city offers. If you have a chance to go to Mardi Gras definitely go. It is a lot of fun! Oh and if you want some Mardi Gras beads, I'm coming back with a bag full :o)