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. […]
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 […]
In the former imperial capital of the Land of the Rising Sun, the native Japanese religion of Shinto as well as Buddhism, which found its way from India to the Far East, occupies a special position not only in the local community, but also in […]
Chapter 4, Part 19 On a clear Monday morning in the town of Nyaung Shwe in Central Myanmar, James and I walked to the north along a country road with Tharzi Pond to its right and paddy fields to the left. Just out of town, […]
Chapter 1, Part 10 Pramodhawardhani, the daughter of Samaratungga of the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty, as well as the wife of Rakai Pikatan, the new Hindu king of Medang, ruled the kingdom in a conciliatory period between the two religions in the mid-ninth century AD. During […]
Chapter 1, Part 3 One morning in Yangon James and I walked from our hotel on 33rd Street to Shwedagon Pagoda, some three kilometers away. The sun was shining brightly, but to the east layers upon layers of clouds rolled on the horizon. I raised […]
Chapter 1, Part 1 Some people say what comes to you in life depends on what you choose to do with your life. Today you may choose to stay at home and end up feeling inspired to write, or you may choose to go out […]
We step out of Diamond Hill MTR station in Kowloon, walking towards a walled area surrounded by tall housing estates and bordered by overlapping flyovers. A gilded pavilion emerges behind the walled enclosure, standing on a small island in a pond, glowing under the midday […]
What an Amazing World! 