Belgian discoveries
I thought: when I come back, I have to start rediscovering Brussels and Belgium again, with new eyes, just as if it would be another stop on my journey. And continue to Read More
Nullarbor
I woke up in the early morning, and took a sneak peak out of the window… Grey cloudy skies… Not what I had expected in the desert… It had rained overnight! The landscape? Flat as a pan, red dirt, some low bush grass. Looked like planet Mars after some terraforming project… The Nullarbor Plain is […] Read More
Cape of Good Hope
How could we not make a day trip to the Cape? After all this town is named for it. The Cape of good hope is basically just a rock formation along the long peninsula to the South of Cape Town. While many, including me, think that it is the Southern tip of Africa, it is […] Read More
Last day in India
Before flying out to South Africa, I had a last morning in Delhi. Time for a little stroll into the old part of Delhi, the ‘grown’ part, that is so distinct from New Delhi’s constructed and planned-out map. It’s pure Indian craziness in there, with the traffic, the people, shops, Bazaars… like Varanasi, maybe a […] Read More
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
India is the birthplace of Buddhism, so I am running into Buddha over and over again. One of the holy sites in Buddhism is just a bit north of Varanasi, in Sarnath. It was here, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Gomati rivers, where Buddha first taught the Dharma. Today, it is a holy site to Buddhists, with many temples from all […] Read More
The Mandarin’s House
The historic center of Macau is filled with places to visit. One of the most impressive ones was this big complex called the Mandarin’s House. It was constructed in 1869 by Zheng Guanying, an author and merchant who was read by emperors, Sun Yat Sen and Mao himself. The 60-room complex is impressive and beautifully designed […] Read More
The temple of A-Ma
On the southern tip of the peninsula, built onto and into a rock formation, you’ll find the Temple of A-Ma, which supposedly gave Macau its name (as the Portuguese tried to enunciate the sound of the name of the place). It is one of the oldest Taoist temples in Macau, built in 1488, and it […] Read More
Macau
I took the speed ferry this morning to Macau. As I could not find a place to stay on Airbnb before Friday, and hotels were way too expensive (and I’m really not into dorms and hostels anymore), I decided to take the trip to Macau now. The boat ride took about an hour, through the […] Read More
Templo mayor
I have seen the ruins of the Templo Mayor, the main Aztec temple of Tenochtitlan, from the side of the Cathedral three weeks ago, but as it was late in the day, the museum was already closed. It didn’t look that big, so I thought I could make a quick visit, walk through the ruins and then […] Read More