Vignettes of the World
My Travel Journal
After touring at the Yongqing Fang, I returned to the guesthouse to rest a bit. I was very eager to see my room. I also hoped to take a quick shower to cool down. It was rainy season in Guangzhou and literally ten minutes after …
It takes just a short walk in the neighborhood to appreciate a few rather obvious characteristics of Liwan. I have enjoyed my first walk on Baoyuan Road when I went from the metro station to the Origin Antique House and Hotel. After dropping off my …
I walked for about 8-10 minutes from the Changshou Lu Metro Station to the Origin Antique House and Hotel. Even from afar it looked delightful. It was clearly an old and a much larger structure even compared to the many old houses I saw on …
It feels very familiar in Guangzhou. The people, the streets, the structures. I have certainly been to Guangzhou before, perhaps even before the rapid economic development that took off after 1992. The trips to Guangzhou during my childhood years have not left me with any …
It was a hot day but I was keen on seeing the Gankeng Ancient Hakka Townlet in Shenzhen. From the Futian boundary crossing, I made it onto Shenzhen’s MTR and got off the Gankeng Station on Line 10. Then I walked about 8-10 minutes on …
We took a bus to Siena from Florence and arrived 1.5 hours later. Siena made a great first impression, but perhaps not as breathtaking as San Gimignano. During the Middle Ages, Siena was a rival of Florence in terms of culture, commerce, art and cityscape. …
The medieval town of San Gimignano is a kind of place that you can fall in love with at first sight. It is not of the same grand sophistication as Florence, the city of culture. Yet San Gimignano has a long history of its own. …
One must buy leather shoes in Italy, the boot-shaped country. And we did so in Lucca. And in Lucca, everybody biked. On our way to Pisa, we met some American tourists on the train. They suggested that we visit Lucca, so we bought the train …
It was quite a walk from the Pisa Centrale to the Duomo and the Leaning Tower. I would say at least 30 minutes. We stopped by a small delicatessen kind of restaurant and paid a ridiculous check for a simple pasta lunch. We paid €18 …
In Siem Reap I wake up to astounding cacophonies of insects. Their singsongs accompany my journey throughout the day, from my waking at dawn to my resting at dusk. Thousands and thousands of them, each releasing its own distinctive sounds, perhaps by stridulating. There must …