This gallery contains 4 photos.
So the question is this: how does one re-create something that is no longer there? The Hotel Des Indes was the oldest and the grandest of the Grand Hotels in Southeast Asia, having been opened in the 1860s. It was … Continue reading
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Jakarta was a weird one. I debated for sometime whether or not I would actually visit it – since the fundamental criteria for it being part of the Grand Tour was missing: Jakarta’s Grand Hotel – the Hotel Des Indes … Continue reading
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Emerging from Central Park and a stroll round the Reservoir, we arrive at the Upper West Side, where things are a little less buttoned-up and formal. The foliage here, too, appears in slightly more whimsical and unexpected forms, framing buildings … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
At the very heart of 92nd Street is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, in Central Park. The street itself would cut across the water, but those who walk on it may not pass. Instead, we take the winding path along … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Past 3rd Avenue, the Upper East Side begins in earnest. Here, the landscape changes abruptly, with stately mansions and colonial-era porticoed houses standing in the shadow of slightly more recent tenements and apartments. There is a period, provincial feel that … Continue reading
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Yorkville has a surfeit of towering condominium buildings, flanked by turn-of-the-century tenements and framed by tree-lined streets. Being the height of summer, the trees here had full, leafy canopies, making the entire neighborhood feel a bit like a park or … Continue reading
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“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer, and often the supreme disappointment.” – Ansel Adams 独坐幽篁里，弹琴复长啸。/ 深林人不知，明月来相照 – 唐 王维 《竹里馆》 “Sitting alone in a deserted bamboo grove, / I strum the qin (zither) and sigh long … Continue reading
This gallery contains 21 photos.
Hanoi was captured by the French in 1873, and relinquished to Ho Chi Minh in 1954. Compared to the 1000 years of Chinese rule over Vietnam, the 80 years of French Colonial rule seem like a mere afterthought. However, having … Continue reading
This gallery contains 25 photos.
The best time to visit the Old Town is at dawn, when the streets are stripped of their human detritus and the ancient facades are finally revealed in their full, crumbling glory. There is much to admire here, architecturally: quaint … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
In Hanoi, I stayed at the legendary Hotel Metropole, now known as the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel. This hotel was very special to me. Because it was here, three years ago, just past midnight on New Year’s Day 2010, that … Continue reading
Dream Of A City 