The intense sweet and faintly zesty redolence of lush forest instantly permeated the air as I opened the car window. The deep, earthy scent of the dirt road augmented the complex chemicals in the air, evoking my childhood memories of playing out in nature. I […]
All posts tagged: travel
An Unlikely Urban Sanctuary
Tiny palm-sized winged creatures hopped gleefully among curious visitors. Each bearing a navy blue mask around the eyes, a contrasting ribbon amid its cotton white feathers. Bedazzled eyes followed them as they tweeted and then flew away to nearby branches where cut pineapples, papayas and […]
Paris of Java, Past and Present
Asia, late 19th century. The long-contending British and Dutch colonial forces have by now settled on their respective colonies. The British realm in this part of the world was unrivaled, straddling vast swathes of land from the entire Indian subcontinent (modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and […]
An Epic Love Story, Retold
The sun starts to slip into the horizon, slowly giving way for night to crawl in. The blue skies turn orange, then red, and purple before darkness takes over. Meanwhile under the velvet sky a grotesque-looking character lights up dried coconut husks, encircling a lone […]
Building A Multicultural Singapore
Multi-tiered pastel-colored shophouses lined the narrow alleys of Singapore’s Chinatown. Every turn revealed a lively street culinary scene with food carts and restaurants serving a wide array of Chinese dishes, occupying the muggy pedestrian-only walkways crisscrossing under bright red and yellow lanterns. Curiously, at one turn […]
Tastes of the Island of Gods
Bali lures people from all over the world to come and see its prolific rice terraces, turquoise beaches, rich marine life, and active volcanoes. Also for its unique cultural scenes mostly exclusive to this island – with a land area a little larger than Connecticut […]
Behind the Scenes at What an Amazing World!
Last week marked the fifth anniversary of my blog, and over the years this blog has evolved in many ways, most notably its visual appearance and writing style. Many of you, dear readers, have been very kind in leaving comments, thoughts, even emails allowing me […]
Pura Singapadu: Beauty in Details
We only had 3 hours left before we had to be at the airport in Bali to catch the flight back to Jakarta. But after watching the Barong performance at Batubulan and having visited some of eastern Bali’s most picturesque palaces, gardens and temples we […]
A Day of Retreat at Stanley
From Hong Kong Island’s heavily-indented southern coastline a sleepy town called us in on a chilly winter night. The double-decker bus that we took meandered through winding, narrow roads, dimly lit by street lamps, while houses and apartments were occasionally sighted from the bus’ window. […]
2014, A Year of Islands
Tempus fugit, where has the time gone? It feels to me that my second trip to Hong Kong was just a month ago. But the truth is it was back in late January, the first of a series of trips this year. Quitting my old […]
Revitalizing A Haunted Building
A woman with long black hair wearing plain, white long cloth appeared, but her eyes looked menacing, her skin so pale, and her feet not visible. A man waved to the infrared camera, signaling his defeat to the challenge and a call for help. A […]
Colonial Splendor of the Lion City
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 […]
What an Amazing World! 