Part 3 of 4 Jalan Pandanaran is a busy four-lane street in downtown Semarang, a city of 1.6 million people that is also the capital of Indonesia’s Central Java province. Its prime location connecting the city’s main square with a major roundabout to the west […]
The Hong Kong and Paris Trips that Never Happened
“If I get the chance to go abroad again, there are only two places that I want to see: Hong Kong and Paris.” He told me this back in April 2019 to my surprise, not only because he had never been too interested in traveling, […]
Kota Lama: Between Restoration and Reinvention
Part 2 of 4 Only time will tell. This cliché has been proven over and over again. We’ll never know what the future has in store, and despite our best efforts to anticipate what lies ahead, in the end we have to let time do […]
A Change of Heart about Semarang
Part 1 of 4 In a post I wrote about my 2018 trip to Semarang – my hometown and where my parents live – I recount the moment when I thought the city no longer excited me, for I’d visited most of its must-see places […]
Sunset Peak and 2020 In Retrospect
In December last year, my visit to Hong Kong was not much different from my previous trips to the territory: I spent those days eating a lot of good food (dim sum and Cantonese-style roast duck are always a must), checked out new and interesting […]
Batujaya: Dawn of an Era
It rises conspicuously amid green rice paddies as far as the eyes can see. Rectangular in shape and made from red bricks that are much older than other structures in its vicinity, Candi Jiwa is a low-rise ruin of a Buddhist sanctuary that was long […]
A Look at Hong Kong’s Hybridism
Hong Kong has always fascinated me since my first trip to the city back in January 2012, and since then I have returned five more times, with the most recent visit being in December 2019. I always tell people how Hong Kong’s hiking trails, white […]
A Taste of the Levant: Jordan
While Lebanon sits comfortably on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, with snow-capped mountain ranges running through the heart of the country, Jordan on the other hand is a mostly arid land with the vast Arabian desert occupying up to 75% of the kingdom’s […]
A Taste of the Levant: Lebanon
From the balmy Mediterranean Sea to the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon, the magnificent Roman ruins in Baalbek to the spectacular rock city of Petra, and the scorching heat of Jordanian desert to that of the political climate in Jerusalem – figuratively speaking – the natural and […]
Reminiscing the Old Normal
Covid-19 is continuing to take its toll. Not only has the disease claimed more than 520,000 lives, but it has also brought the world’s economy to a standstill. As countries across the globe begin to publish the latest figures of their economic indicators, it becomes […]
A Slice of Kowloon
For its relatively small size, Hong Kong has so much to offer. From some of the tallest skyscrapers in Asia to verdant hills towering over white sand beaches, opulent luxury malls to lively traditional markets, centuries-old temples to an ultramodern museum of art, and small […]
Post-Pandemic Travel Dream: Appreciating the Little Things
It has been two months since the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Indonesia was announced, seven weeks since the company I work for began implementing the work-from-home protocol, and three weeks since the government of Jakarta imposed “large-scale social restrictions”. Just like most of […]
