At midday in Kyoto James and I were enjoying a quirky Japanese TV show – a miscellany of over-excited hosts, cartoonish animation, and video game-ish sound – sitting cross-legged on the comfortable tatami mat inside our hotel room. At the same time on our laptops […]
In the final weeks toward the first ever use of an atomic bomb in warfare, a list of Japanese cities was compiled by the US military and scientists as potential targets to bring down the Asian superpower. Each city was carefully selected based on the […]
For centuries, the mountainous region of modern-day central Vietnam was a natural border separating the land of the Cham people in the south from that of Dai Viet to the north. With towering peaks that soar from the country’s interior all the way to the […]
Anyone who has explored big cities in Japan might notice the endless rows of incongruous concrete buildings dominating their skylines. Despite the elegance and restrained beauty the Japanese are famous for, I wondered why they built those ugly boxes of uninspiring edifices. Japan’s ambition to […]
In Ancient Egypt, the heron was believed to be the creator of light, while the double-headed heron symbolized prosperity. Halfway across the world in Ancient China, the bird was regarded as a symbol of strength, purity, patience and long life. However in Japan, an egret […]
Chapter 4, Part 2 At the turn of the 16th century, the Portuguese significantly increased their presence around the Indian Ocean by conquering strategic ports in the region. It was Afonso de Albuquerque, by the order of King Manuel I of Portugal, who led naval […]
In 1884 the British colonial government in Hong Kong built a Victorian-style building in Kowloon as the headquarters of the Marine Police, directly facing the Victoria Harbor on Hong Kong Island across the strait. A signal tower was added to the compound to indicate the […]
A whitewashed spire emerged from the greenery amid a bevy of sleek and modern skyscrapers. Its Gothic-inspired windows were each fitted with wooden shutters, letting just enough tropical sun light penetrate into its nave. As the church of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore, also the […]
The MTR train moved at a steady pace leaving the ever-bustling Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon. On the ground above the train station dozens of skyscrapers scrambled for space in this constantly developing part of Hong Kong, just across the harbor where one of […]
If you think this is a post about food or culinary thing, this is not. You can stop reading now. No, I’m kidding. Please continue reading but when I said that this is not a post about food, I mean it (I thought some of […]
What an Amazing World! 