This gallery contains 2 photos.
Today, Dream Of A City is a year old. Today also, most coincidentally, my journeying is done, for now. We’ve moved in to the new place. The bed and couch are in. The plants and garden table are on the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Touched down in Singapore on Saturday and I got to experience, first-hand, YET AGAIN, the process of moving to and making a new home in a “new” country – “new” being in quotations since Singapore is not exactly a new … Continue reading
This gallery contains 2 photos.
So this is it then. In two days time, I leave New York for good, and my nomadic life well and truly comes to an end. I mean I will still continue with my Grand Tour of Southeast Asia, and … Continue reading
This gallery contains 28 photos.
Across the Kali Mas (Mas River), East of the Jembatan Merah (or Red Bridge), sits a different world altogether from the one the Dutch lived and worked in. Here, there is a sort of dignified stillness and anonymity, associated with … Continue reading
This gallery contains 25 photos.
The colonial is everywhere in Surabaya, even as it lies buried underneath a layer of outwardly nationalistic symbols and slogans. Behind the banners in Bahasa, and past the hordes of chugging motorcycles and cars, the Dutch East Indies still lurks, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Paradise on Earth If it weren’t for the Hotel Majapahit, I would have had trouble remembering that Surabaya even existed, so entirely overshadowed has the city been by the Indonesian capital Jakarta, and by other tourist hotspots like Bali, Lombok … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
“ ‘What do you think of that?’ asked Rienkie’s mother, pointing at the painting. ‘A real Indies sky, don’t you think?’ And only a few people could reproduce an Indies sky, she went on to say. To do that you … Continue reading
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Finally, after an epic journey through Hell and four circles of Purgatory, the Pilgrim has arrived at the West Bank: a quiet sanctuary at the edge of the water, plied by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. Beyond the water, Paradise … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
Past Hudson Street sits Far West Village, or Sodom and Gomorrah – the final circle of Purgatory. Along this short expanse of street reside homosexuals, Sufis, artists, Turks and Frenchmen, five races known for less than stalwart mores and blasphemous … Continue reading
This gallery contains 14 photos.
Past Greenwich Avenue, 11th Street makes a 45-degree turn and veers off into what looks like a completely different city altogether. This is West Village, where the Goddess – Jane Jacobs – holds sway. It is a fantasy garden-world with … Continue reading
Dream Of A City 