The Spanish-built Afrosiyob high-speed train whisked us through a landscape that gradually changed from one filled with endless cotton fields at the peak of harvest season, to vast steppes, before eventually giving way to barren hills. We left the wonders of Samarkand behind and arrived […]
All posts tagged: heritage building
A Silent Witness of Kaohsiung’s Upheavals
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 […]
Sarinah: A Compelling Restoration
Until three weeks ago, if you asked me if I would ever write a blog post about a mall, I would have certainly said no, or highly unlikely at best. That was also what I had in mind when I decided to revisit a decades-old […]
Why Tegal?
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 […]
Ngawen & Losari: Temples on the Outskirts of Jogja
A pair of big round eyeballs are staring at mine with a curly mane accentuating the creature’s fierce face. Standing on its hind legs, with mouth agape and chest puffed up above its forelegs, one of the prancing lions of Candi Ngawen stands before me, […]
Nijo-jo: From the Hollyhock to the Chrysanthemum
When I was planning a trip to Kyoto, the wooden pillars of Kiyomizu-dera, the golden pavilion of Kinkaku-ji, and the endless vermilion torii of Fushimi Inari-taisha were among the things I thought of visiting the most as countless photos of them always seemed to appear […]
What an Amazing World! 