China, 1946. The World War II ended just a few months earlier, ending the brutal Japanese occupation on China. For decades the armed forces of the Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party fought against a common enemy. But as soon as the Japanese […]
A big family were walking down the outer courtyard, each donning bright-colored traditional costume with some of the family members carrying ceremonial paraphernalia: small umbrellas with very long wooden handles and baskets made from woven palm fronts. As they walked further away from the candi […]
Palm trees fill both sides of Bali’s eastern coast road, with small puras – Balinese Hindu temples – occasionally popping out amid modest houses, a scenic setting for a juxtaposition of bucolic scenes and modern twists. It bears little resemblance to the raunchy atmosphere of […]
China and India today are two of the most populous countries on Earth with a combined population of more than two billion people. In a planet where people live in more than 200 countries and scattered across six continents, the two Asian giants account for […]
Protecting the southwestern coast of one of Asia’s foremost financial centers from the occasional violent gusts of the South China Sea, Lamma Island with its heavily indented coasts boasts a life pace so different from the constant haste in downtown Hong Kong. A part of […]
Since the dawn of mankind on Earth the planet has changed so dramatically, caused both by Mother Nature’s relentless energy to twist, turn and flip the world’s tectonic plates, volcanoes, skies and oceans, and humans’ insatiable demand for resources. So often we hear that the […]
The grand monument stood before us, awe-inspiring in a bright white-washed facade with touches of light grey under the midday sun. The mid-19th century British colonial building was capped with a silverish tiles-clad dome, accentuating its regal appearance. The National Museum of Singapore was our […]
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 […]
The morning’s silence was broken by unrelenting squeaks, penetrating the wooden walls of our cabin. It sounded like hundreds of rats, or birds, I was not sure. I got up from my bed, took my camera and went to the deck upstairs. The sound became […]
Dry, hot, flat. As soon as we left the endless verdant hills of Manggarai, a vast expanse of flat plains scorching under the midday sun welcomed us. No more snaking roads with sharp turns along steep slopes. Instead, Dino sped the car on a long […]
Amid the woods just outside the town of Ruteng in western Flores, a village was hidden from plain sight where dirt trails provided the sole telltale of a settlement behind the trees. Children were playing at the village entrance as we drew closer and walked down […]
Leaving Ende with its mountains and blue pebble beaches we continued our journey westward to Bajawa, the capital of Ngada Regency on the island of Flores. Situated on the slopes of Mount Inerie with its near-perfect cone, the temperate climate of the town made it […]
What an Amazing World! 