Life and Death Under the Volcano for the Bali Aga

Asia Pacific, Culture, Travel

North of the market town of Ubud, Bali’s tourist resorts and handicraft markets give way to small villages like Trunyan, pop. 300, that belong to a mountain people called the Bali Aga. Unlike Balinese Hindus elsewhere, the Bali Aga do not memorialize the dead with elaborate cremations. Instead, they place their deceased kinsmen beneath a large tree and let nature reclaim the bodies. In my imagination, Trunyan seemed both dreadful and exotic at the same time.

New Zealand’s Maori of Ohinemutu Offer Visitors Hot Tea and Ears of Corn 

Asia Pacific, Travel

Many Western texts say Dutch East India Company explorer Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand in 1642. In fact, the islands’ first inhabitants were Polynesian Maori who arrived in successive waves 300 years before. Today the Maori comprise about 850,000 of New Zealand’s population of just over five million. About 86% live on the north island in places like Ohinemutu, a colorful neighborhood adjacent to the popular resort town of Rotorua.

Shanghai – Head of the Dragon

Asia, Asia Pacific, Travel

By David DeVoss When California architect Robert Steinberg opened an office in Shanghai twelve years ago, he felt as if he had arrived at the leading edge of the Chinese Century. Unlike America, where architects were being laid off and signature buildings scaled back, the biggest city in the world’s most populous country was developing…

Daughter of Burma discovers her past amid the Buddhist charms of Modern Myanmar

Asia, Asia Pacific, Travel

For the Burmese, the Irrawaddy River is a laundry, bath, source of food, and major transportation route. Like the Salween and the Chindwin rivers, it starts high in the mountains, meandering south through teak and mahogany forests, and around mines producing jade, sapphires and world famous ‘pigeon’s blood’ rubies. In terms of per capita income, Myanmar is the poorest country in Southeast Asia, but its population supports – and daily feeds – more than half a million Buddhist monks as well as nearly 100,000 nuns. The majority of males in the country spend some time in a Buddhist monastery, often starting as young as age six.

Getting Up Close to the Great Indian One-Horned Rhino

Asia, Asia Pacific, Travel

Driving slowly down the narrow road bordering the Kaziranga Wildlife Preserve in north eastern India, my guide promised me a rhino sighting early the following morning. Elephant, endangered Wild Buffalo and deer roam this area, 25 miles long and eight miles wide, marked by tall grasses, marshes and the mighty Brahmaputra river. But the prize sight is the rare Indian one-horned rhino, brought back from near extinction in the last century.

Yangzhou – A Perfect Portal into China’s History, Culture and Cuisine

Asia, Asia Pacific, Culture, History, Travel

Travelers wishing to truly understand China’s rich history must venture beyond the opulent gateways into the real China, a land shaped by wealth and war, to the city of Yangzhou. Located just north of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou offers modern comfort, exotic beauty, distinctive cuisine and historic sites that reflect the grandeur of the past and the promise of the present. Yangzhou is a city of 6,000,000 that sits in the middle of China’s richest province. The city is famous for feminine beauty, imaginative gardens and artistic handicrafts that include lacquer and stoneware, bamboo carving, cutlery and block printing. Knives and cleavers made in the city are so finely honed that cooks can slice a 1-cm-thick bean curd into 30 paper-thin shreds without breaking a single one.

Because of its fertile soil, abundant water and temperate climate, Jiangsu Province is known as China’s “Land of Fish and Rice.” In Yangzhou, the ancient Southern capital, the riches of Jiangsu are expressed in the design, construction and careful maintenance of magnificent urban gardens…

Yangzhou’s Gardens of Delight

Asia, Asia Pacific, Culture, History, Travel

Because of its fertile soil, abundant water and temperate climate, Jiangsu Province is known as China’s “Land of Fish and Rice.” In Yangzhou, the ancient Southern capital, the riches of Jiangsu are expressed in the design, construction and careful maintenance of magnificent urban gardens built by rich merchants centuries ago. Yangzhou gardens are designed to inspire, painting, poetry and calligraphy as well as friendly conversation and reflective thought…