Throughout the history of humanity, we have been attracted to and fascinated by higher ground. Some regard these sites as the abode of gods, while others see more practical reasons to favor such locations. Their prominence would afford anyone who holds a grip on the […]
All posts tagged: traditional architecture
Deoksugung for a Brief Layover
Business trips are inherently stressful, at least for me. The ones I’ve taken usually involved a lot of meetings, dinner events, and all sorts of commitments that often resulted in sleep deprivation. Last September, I was sent to Busan, South Korea with some of my […]
Baubau: At the Confluence of Cultures
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 […]
A Serendipitous Rendezvous with Pura Taman Ayun
We were on a mission. A few months prior to our visit to Bali in June 2024, James went on a business trip to this island and had a local delicacy that he raved about when he came back to Jakarta. Called oret in Balinese, […]
Taking It Easy in Bangli
I first tasted loloh cemcem at a Balinese restaurant in Jakarta days after its opening in June 2022. When we saw it on the menu, James and I decided to give it a try out of curiosity, thanks to the green elixir’s color and unfamiliar […]
How Good Meals Saved the Day – A Kintamani Story
In November 2022, when the skies of Bali were mostly gray, I found myself standing in the courtyard of a large Hindu temple complex I had never been to before. The island’s tourism industry was still recovering from the nightmare that was the Covid pandemic, […]
Bali is (Still) a Good Idea
Imagine waking up to a view of fiery skies with silhouettes of volcanic peaks. And when the sun has risen higher on the eastern horizon, its soft rays cast a gentle warmth that brings the forests and rice terraces on nearby hills to life. The […]
A Morning with Javanese Jesus
The hamlet of Bambanglipuro is an archetypal village in the heartland of Java; rows of traditional houses and small mosques interspersed with patches of paddy fields line both sides of the country road we take from the city of Yogyakarta, or Jogja for short. Our […]
What an Amazing World! 