Long-time readers of this blog might have noticed my affinity for Hong Kong. Despite the culture shock I experienced on my first trip there in 2012 – sharing a table with strangers at restaurants and keeping up with the fast-paced locals, among others – the […]
In early 2020, James and I booked a trip for October that year in Canada, partly because I was so enamored by his old blog posts showing the beautiful autumn foliage of the country. The plan was to visit Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal in two […]
Sitting in the upper-floor dining area of a seafood restaurant in Baubau, having one of the freshest and most delicious grilled fish dishes that had ever passed my lips, I suddenly had a series of revelations. The very fish I was eating was probably, until […]
Imagine having a front-row seat to a spectacle that lasts not merely for a few hours, but for centuries. The southern tip of a hill that guards the northern side of the narrow entrance to Takao Harbor (in present-day Kaohsiung) had always been a prime […]
In July 2011, my younger and more judgmental self was walking the streets of Saigon, Vietnam’s largest city as well as its economic hub. Maybe it was the heat, or the incessant motorcycle traffic, or the fact that a few days earlier I was still […]
I must admit, before learning about the ancient Hindu temples built by the people of Champa in what is now Binh Dinh (Bình Định) province in Vietnam, I had never heard of Quy Nhon (Quy Nhơn). This city in the south-central part of the country […]
Next month, the Indonesian capital will turn 495. Its position as the business and economic hub of the nation will likely stay for many years to come, although it will soon be stripped of its special status as the country’s seat of government. The administration, […]
To my international readers the name Tegal might sound distantly foreign, but those from Indonesia would almost certainly have heard of it. It’s a city in the western part of Central Java whose residents speak a dialect of Javanese that is so distinct compared to […]
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 […]
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 […]
If you think this post is about the American South or Southern Europe, it is not since I have never been to those parts of the world. Rather, this is a story about the southern part of Jakarta, a city I have called home for […]
Rainy season has officially arrived in Jakarta, after a prolonged dry season which rendered a lot of parks and gardens in the city brown and barren. Those which received a regular watering schedule, either from the city government or from local community associations, fared slightly […]
What an Amazing World! 