Instagramers. They’re everywhere. They visit the most exotic places in the world just to show off that they’ve been there, turning many a backpackers’ paradise into some crowded selfie platform. There are no more secrets. No more peace and tranquility even in the remotest parts of Indonesia. These women (and a few men) and their […]
The NDP – National Day Pendaki has succeeded in reaching the summit of Gunung Lawu, a 3265m extinct volcano on 9th August 2019. This was my first climb after my bunion surgery in January. Below is an embedded Facebook post of my first day. I flew to Jakarta, then took a domestic flight to Solo […]
It has been almost 6 months after my bunion surgery and even though I started exercising as early as 1 month post-op, they were very light workouts compared to what I’ve been doing regularly. Initial recovery from the surgery was rapid, but subsequently, the residual swelling and stiffness took several months to resolve. If there […]
When I first started my business back in 1991, I had to tighten my belt – really tight. Deep in debt, I only managed to take home some $700 after paying the rent, the lease on the equipment and my staff. I did not step into a restaurant and I did not buy a new […]
I’m often intrigued by Javanese antiquities. Constructed out of precisely formed stones stacked several stories high without the use of cement, these monuments are testimony to the skill of these ancient builders. Over the eons, the faith of Javanese has changed. The ruins of these shrines are the ghostly remains of an era long gone. […]
Yangon looks very different now compared to the time I visited it some 15 years ago. There were much fewer shops and cars. Everything looked grey, sooty and gloomy. Back then, most of the shops looked like they only stocked up once every 10 years. The goods were mostly old and dusty. Books and magazines […]
31 May 2019. Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia erupted. It’s not a real concern as the initial report of pyroclastic flows turned out to be fake news. The exclusion zone remains at 4km (12km in September 2017) and flights are not affected. For its size, Bali has many mountains, the highest of which is Gunung Agung […]
I enjoyed Bali very much on my first trip back in 1993. I’ll try to find and share the photos I took back then. The negatives are still there, but the prints are either missing or not in good condition. I was travelling solo then and I’ll never forget an elderly couple from Norway I […]
This was my second trip to Guangxi (first was in 2010 and documented in my book Knapsack Notes). Unlike the adventurous Sino-Vietnam crossover in 2010, this was not exactly an adventure trip. The video below shows some of the street scenes and street food in Nanning. On the morning after the day I arrived, I […]
I was visiting my friend at his shop in Bedok on a weekend. While waiting for him to be free, I sat outside and was practically stunned by a sweet fragrance coming from a rather nondescript line of bushes fencing the upper edge of a grassy slope that rolled down to a footpath running alongside […]