Month: August 2018

Travel

Tribute to train travel

The first time I ever took a train was in my 20s when I visited East Asia before my final year of university. Since then, I’ve taken trains across China, Japan, Taiwan, and several other countries in Asia, as well as Western Europe. Taking the train, whether high-speed or regular or sleeper, is to me […]

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Cities
Singapore travel
Southeast Asia travel
Travel

Singapore- first impressions

Singapore is one of Asia’s great success stories. Tiny and lacking natural resources, the city state managed to raise itself from an impoverished reject (it was briefly part of Malaysia before being kicked out) in 1965 to become one of the world’s richest nations and major financial hubs. Singapore manages to punch well above its […]

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Europe travel
Italy travel
Travel

City travel- magnificent Milano

While Rome was the highlight of my visit to Italy during my Europe trip, Milan was actually my first stop. The Italian financial and fashion center is not as popular as the likes of Venice or Florence for travelling but I thought Milan was a fine city to visit. It is one of Italy’s most […]

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Cities
Europe travel
Italy travel
Travel

Exploring Rome’s Roman glories

It might be long gone but the glory of the Roman Empire still lives on in Rome. Mostly in the form of the city’s most famous attraction, the mighty Colosseum, where gladiators and wild animals fought each other, and the Forum, where Roman senators and leaders used to meet to run their empire, but also […]

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Europe travel
France travel
Travel

Paris travel- Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe

The most recognizable symbol in Paris is probably the Eiffel Tower, with the Arc de Triomphe second. Previously, my mother and I had appreciated the Eiffel Tower from afar, atop the Montparnasse Tower, but on our third day in the city we went right up to the tower. But before that, we had coffee at […]

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Lord of Formosa book cover
Book reviews
Books
Taiwan

Book review-Lord of Formosa

Lord of Formosa is a historical novel about Taiwan I read earlier this year. The lord is Zheng Chenggong or Koxinga, a Chinese nobleman-warlord who seized Taiwan from the Dutch in the early 17th century. Often overlooked, this was a period of time covering several decades when the VOC (Dutch East India Company, a Dutch trading […]

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Taipei
Travel

Getting started

I’ve been blogging for a long time about different things, but this is my first travel blog. I figured I would set this up since I enjoy traveling and taking photos, and I really want to spotlight the countries, cities and places I’ve been to. In particular, I enjoy exploring cities, visiting famous landmarks and […]

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