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Posts from the ‘ASIA-PACIFIC’ Category

Aug 21

18 Comments

On Assignment in Kaohsiung

It must have been in 2017 or 2018 when I first got wind of the dramatic changes happening in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s biggest port city. While scouring the internet to research potential story ideas one afternoon, I learned about an ambitious project to transform its once walled-off waterfront from a neglected industrial wasteland to a vibrant arts and culture precinct, with ultramodern buildings designed by big-name architects from abroad. Someday, I told myself, I would go and write a full-length feature article for work. Read more

Jun 11

15 Comments

Siem Reap on a Plate

“Are you running the marathon tomorrow?”

Risa, the kind young woman at the front desk of our Siem Reap hotel, is not being ironic.

Bama and I want to laugh. Our near-instantaneous answer, a polite “no,” dispels any notion that we will be needing a 3 a.m. wake-up call. By pure coincidence, the two of us have arrived the day before the Angkor Wat International Half-Marathon, and the French guests booked into the room next door are taking part. Depending on where we travel, itineraries sometimes involve hiking excursions, snorkeling, or even a bit of ocean kayaking. But running? The point of this holiday in Siem Reap was to explore the area’s incredible trove of ancient temples and to eat. Read more

Feb 19

20 Comments

A Long-Awaited Journey to Angkor Wat

Squeezed into the middle seat in the back row of a Singapore Airlines jet, between Bama and a cheerful Indian doctor vacationing from the U.S., I look out the window at a jungle-shrouded Malaysian island rising from the South China Sea. The moving map on my PTV screen identifies this as Tioman: from the air we spot a pair of sharp, near-vertical granite monoliths known as the Dragon Horns. It’s barely 30 minutes into a two-hour-plus flight when our plane climbs above layers of cloud, the earth’s surface gradually disappearing from view. Read more

Jan 14

18 Comments

An Island Apart: Tung Lung Chau, Hong Kong

There are two sides to Hong Kong: a vertical city of frenetic streets and heaving metro stations where commuters run between platforms to catch the next train, and an astonishing wonderland of hiking trails, secluded beaches, and more than 250 outlying islands. One of the highlights of my recent trip back was a half-day excursion with my father to Tung Lung Chau. Literally “East Dragon Island,” the 242-hectare outcrop of volcanic rock – about 70 percent the size of New York’s Central Park – guards the eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour. Read more

Dec 18

30 Comments

Eighteen Days in Hong Kong

I don’t recall the last time I saw the waters of Victoria Harbour gleaming in such a radiant blue-green hue. The summery conditions and flawless blue skies are wholly unexpected on this late October morning. Several days into my first trip back to Hong Kong after almost three years of Covid-induced separation from my parents and extended family, I’ve boarded a ferry to eastern Kowloon for an 8:15 appointment to renew my local ID card. I’m more than a little envious of the dozen or so other passengers on the ship – no commute in traffic-clogged Jakarta is as scenic and relaxing as this. Read more

Sep 27

19 Comments

Prambanan and the Cursed Princess

Long ago, on the lush, volcano-studded island of Java, there lived a princess by the name of Roro Jonggrang. Not only was she ravishingly beautiful; legend has it that the young maiden had a sharp intellect. Roro Jonggrang happened to be the daughter of the fearsome king Prabu Boko, a man so tall and powerfully built many believed him to be descended from giants; some say he was a fierce warrior who had a reputation for cannibalism. Not content with the territory and riches he already had, Papa Prabu declared war on the neighboring kingdom of Pengging and promptly launched an invasion. Read more

Aug 3

32 Comments

A Foray into Bali’s Green Heart

If only more Wednesday mornings began like this. Wide awake, I soak up the passing scenery and perfect blue skies from the leathered interior of a 1961 vintage jeep. I’ve temporarily swapped the traffic-clogged streets of Jakarta for quiet Balinese village roads lined with penjor – tall, drooping bamboo poles that sport decorations woven from dried coconut fronds and young palm leaves. It’s just a few days before Kuningan, the end of a major local holiday when the gods and spirits of the ancestors are believed to descend to earth. Read more

Jun 30

39 Comments

Head for the Hills: Journeys in Puncak

The rain starts off as a drizzle, pattering on the terracotta roof tiles directly overhead. Standing on the wooden balcony of our upstairs room at Novus Giri Puncak Resort & Spa, above a lush ravine some 1,040 meters (3,400 feet) above sea level, I take a deep breath and savor the cool mountain air. Then it hits me — an intensely familiar scent of wet earth mixed with a subtle pine-and-floral fragrance, a half-forgotten aroma from my childhood I can’t quite place. Was it the whiff of a summer’s outing in Canada? Or a foggy spring hike in the country parks of Hong Kong? Read more

Jan 5

44 Comments

A Jakarta Christmas

It’s been a little over two years since I’ve returned to Hong Kong to see my parents or my maternal grandmother, who is well into her 90s. The prospect of going through 21 days of hotel quarantine—on top of the likelihood of a sudden flight ban—means a family reunion in my hometown will not be happening for the foreseeable future. But I’m generally a glass-half-full kind of person; after joining Bama on a weeklong vacation in mid-December with his mom, I can’t deny that part of me was excited to spend the holidays in Jakarta for the very first time. Read more

Oct 15

22 Comments

Hiking the Cisadon Trail

The idea had been bubbling away in Bama’s mind ever since the start of the pandemic, but it only really developed as fellow Canadian blogger Caroline recounted her recent trekking trips in her home province. Eventually, a plan spontaneously surfaced one Friday at lunch break while both of us were working from home. “Why don’t we go hiking tomorrow?” Bama excitedly said. The weather forecast predicted clear blue skies; he’d already done his research on Sentul, an area south of Jakarta where tightly packed suburban subdivisions give way to a soothing landscape of fields and mountains threaded with walking trails. Read more

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