Jakarta is hot and humid all year round, but I wasn’t prepared for what Kaohsiung had in store in late September and early October. When James and I were walking along its harbor on a sunny day, I kept thinking of how sweltering this part […]
All posts tagged: urban renewal
The Inspiring Transformation of Kaohsiung
Back in my high school years, I always studied in my room from 6 to 8:30pm on weeknights because my parents told me to – they were among those stereotypical Asian parents who wanted their children to study hard to get good grades. But after […]
A Second Rendezvous with Taiwan
It was 10 years ago when I visited Taiwan for the first time. While Taipei 101 was impressive with its cool architecture evoking a Chinese pagoda, the gloomy skies and rainy weather of the country’s capital were persistent. Luckily the trip also included a short […]
New Spirit of A Grande Dame
Part 4 of 4 For the longest time, Semarang was known as a place to rekindle one’s nostalgic memories of things from the past. Having traditional snacks that had become increasingly hard to find in other big cities and dining at vintage restaurants serving Dutch […]
Kota Lama: Between Restoration and Reinvention
Part 2 of 4 Only time will tell. This cliché has been proven over and over again. We’ll never know what the future has in store, and despite our best efforts to anticipate what lies ahead, in the end we have to let time do […]
A Quiet Comeback
If you google anything about Hong Kong these days, most results will probably show the territory’s number of COVID-19 cases, although compared to the rest of the world, Hong Kong seems to have managed to flatten the curve. And if months ago you also googled […]
Bandung Part 1: Civic Spaces
The city of Bandung – Indonesia’s fourth largest with over 2.5 million residents – since 2002 has become one of the most special places for me in the country, and will remain so, thanks to the five years I spent there for college and running […]
Beirut’s Scars and Hope
“Where are you going?” “Lebanon.” “What? Why? What are there to see? Where will you stay?” “I want to see Beirut and …” “Oh, Beirut!” It appeared that to one of my friends, the Lebanese capital has a much more positive reputation than the country […]
The Mills: Revitalization with Sensibility
Companies build factories to mass-produce goods. They utilize them until they reach their maximum capacity, and then they build newer and bigger facilities to keep up with increasing demand. Or they cut down on the production capacity if they can’t stay ahead of their competitors. […]
Yangon, Three Years Later
Chapter 4, Part 21 Everything seems so familiar as I step out of the plane that takes me from Bangkok to Yangon. The clean and airy modern airport terminal looks just how I remember it, and the squiggly Burmese script is as mysterious as it […]
What an Amazing World! 