Imagine a city by the sea, prone to the occasionally destructive forces of nature, be it strong gusts or crushing waves. Now picture a small…
Registan: The Jewel of the Silk Road
The taxi that took us from the train station weaved through the streets of Samarkand. We had just arrived from Tashkent on a two-hour journey…
Bibi-Khanym Mosque: Too Big for Its Own Good
When one strolls around the downtown area of Samarkand, the Registan will undoubtedly take the spotlight. It is to Uzbekistan what Machu Picchu is to…
Island Life in Cheung Chau
Hong Kong is a calm, slow, idyllic, low-rise, and bicycle-friendly place with lots of greenery and nice white-sand beaches. Sounds hard to believe? That’s because…
Eating Well in Kyoto
Carefully I clamped the round pressed sushi with my chopsticks, trying to figure out the correct way to eat these larger-than-normal rolls of rice and…
A Vermilion Dream
I have a very specific memory of October 2021. I was attending a wedding in a drafty, converted barn in upstate New York, and I…
Cholon: Saigon’s Eclectic Chinatown
The Year of the Wood Snake is just around the corner, and ethnic Chinese communities across the globe are gearing up for the festive season.…
Meet Timur the Conqueror
Conquerors must be among the most divisive figures in human history. They are often regarded as heroes by the people they represent, whose territory grows…
A Sunny Winter’s Day in Tung Lung Chau
It’s that time of the year again when I’m anticipating my annual winter holiday in Hong Kong, a tradition that only resumed in 2023 after…
Kyoto’s Pavilions of Beauty
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…