Six years ago this month, I set foot for the first time on a land that felt foreign yet familiar at the same time. India and Indonesia are separated by the Indian Ocean, but relations among kingdoms from the subcontinent and the sprawling archipelago had […]
I don’t know about you, but I am one of those people who like to look at their old travel photos to relive the good memories that might otherwise have been forgotten. Images I took at night around Singapore’s Marina Bay remind me of the […]
Long before I finally set foot in Bhutan, I had dreamed of visiting a monastery in this Himalayan kingdom so marvelous it has become an iconic landmark of the tiny country. Its cliff-side location provides a spectacular setting and its name evokes curiosity: Tiger’s Nest. […]
Our last morning in Punakha started quite uneventfully; James and I had switched back to our pants and shirts and Kinga and Phuntsho to their gho. As usual, we left the hotel at 8.30 but this time instead of moving eastward as we’d been doing […]
On the morning of our second day in Punakha Valley, we looked up to the sky before leaving our hotel; the sun was mostly obstructed by grey clouds, although it wasn’t as windy as the day before. “There’s a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal,” […]
Once upon a time in Middle Earth, nine fellows traveled to the east to deliver a powerful ring back to its source. At one point they had to traverse the arduous pass of Caradhras, through snow-capped mountains with harsh weather and enchanted air. It was […]
“Happiness is a place.” This is the slogan of Bhutan’s tourism campaign which I saw in increasing frequency as soon as I arrived in this Himalayan kingdom. Many people travel long distances to Bhutan in search for happiness, something they can’t quite find amid the […]
The Drukair Airbus A319 which took us from Singapore began making its descent, but seated by the aisle meant the Bhutanese sky and clouds were the only things I could see from the windows on both sides of the plane. As James was kept busy […]
It was probably in the early 2010s when the small Himalayan country of Bhutan caught my attention. I remember being fascinated when I learned about what the Bhutanese government has done to preserve its unique culture while at the same time opening up to the […]
Close your eyes, and hold them for a few minutes… then slowly open them, only when you feel you’re ready. Do you see the infinite blue skies I’m looking at right now? We were in faraway Japan the last time I took you into a dream like […]
Our driver navigates the crowded, labyrinthine streets of Madurai to find our lodgings at the heart of this city of 1.5 million souls. Multi-story small hotels, shops, and restaurants are crammed into rows, a stark contrast to what we saw a few hours earlier in […]
One morning in the middle of Nepalese winter, I woke up to the sound of children singing and playing from a house a few hundred meters behind our hotel. I opened the door to the balcony, stepped outside and let the cold and crisp air […]
What an Amazing World! 