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Category: History & Travel

Alle C. Hall

Angkor, My Foot, by Alle C. Hall

Behind a moat that, in the heyday of Khmer power was filled with territorial crocodiles, was Angkor. For an instant, it felt as though a thousand years had not passed, as if Khmer culture still dominated Asia from Burma to as far south as Indonesia. As if the archaeologist Louis Delaporte had not removed the finest statues in 1873 for “the cultural enrichment of France,” the United States hadn’t bombed, and the Khmer Rouge hadn’t used temples for target practice. Angkor stood.

Anniqua with her cousin

Kitchens, Prayers, and Politics

All this praying will make us thirsty, but I haven’t told anyone yet. I took the cook’s advice.  I have fasted like a bird.

Egypt Land of Magic and Mystery

Land of Magic and Mystery (excerpt)

Giza was incredible. Our driver Mustafa handed us off to some bedouins, who took us out to the pyramids on camels. Watching a camel run is one of the most awkward things I have ever seen an animal do, and riding one while it’s happening is expectedly unpleasant, but man was it worth it.

Portugal

Portugal – Its Stories and Legacy as a Historic Maritime Empire

I am particularly fascinated by a three-story high, one-meter wide, Casa Escondida (Hidden House) which stands between a Carmelite convent and the Igreja do Carmo for priests. There is nothing spectacular about the tiny house that stands between them, except for the fact that it was made to prevent fraternizing between the nuns and the priests. I want to know more.

The Poetry of Sala de Dos Hermanas (the Hall of Two Sisters)

Boabdil’s mother, Aixa, lived in the Hall of Two Sisters, Sala de Dos Hermanas, named for two marble flagstones on the floor. But it’s the ceiling that takes your breathe away.

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost: End of Glorious Muslim Rule in Spain

The surrender of Alhambra would be the final war of ‘Reconquista’, with Spain now essentially seeing itself as the guardian of Catholicism.

El Escorial: Where we Begin to Discard the Non-Essentials

The mathematically precise splendor of Monasterio Real de San Lorenzo de El Escorial pulls me through the last stretch of our uphill walk from the Phillip IItrain station. It’s exquisite.

Malaga

A lesser-known Malaga – Fascinating people on the Costas

Malaga is a vibrant cultural hub with a fusion of ancient and modern heritage spread over a 7,000 year old past since the Phoenicians.

Anniqua Rana Tillism in Spain

Getting to know Spain through books and poetry

We continued our trip and I tried to lose myself in Washington Irving’s The Alhambra: a Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards, which was published in 1832. I held on to it to force myself into the magical space that I remembered from that black and white photograph in my sixth grade reader.

One immigrant the other no more an immigrant: Mummy and me

I’m tired of being an immigrant

Does our mother’s life then become the grisaille to our own? That monochromatic grey scale underpainting to which we add the color of our lives.

Vienna

Exciting Discoveries: The Rich History Of Vienna

By Nasser Tufail Enduring splendor of Vienna I am back in one of my favorite cities, Vienna, and am fortunate to have a very dear friend from my IBM ‘Charm… Read more Exciting Discoveries: The Rich History Of Vienna

Alexander Malcolm Jacob

A stunning diamond called Jacob & the Nizam of Hyderabad

Unable to redeem his past glory and a place of honor in the history books of the Raj, Jacob would die a poor, broken man, a tragic figure who would spend his last sad years in obscurity in a modest room. His entire net worth at the time of his death was a paltry Rupees 382!!

The “Jersey Devil” Whisperer

The Jersey Devil Whisperer entertained US Secretaries of State, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, President of the US, John Quincy Adams and other politicians.

first defeat

The City That Gave an Empire its First Defeat

For it was right here in Bailen on 19th of July, 1808 that the heretofore invincible almighty military leader who had by then conquered much of Europe and was crowned “Emperor” of France just 4 years earlier, would face his first ever open field defeat of his illustrious career.

King Solomon's Wealth

Legendary Mines of Rio Tinto and King Solomon’s Wealth

King Solomon had a penchant for opulent temples/palaces, obsessively embellished with gold and silver… and a fine collection of 700 wives and 300 concubines!

the man who flew the devil

The Man Who Flew the Devil –and the Emerald-Eyed Empress

For here lie the mortal remains of the man who once flew the devil in the back seat and famously said: “the fate of the world was in my hands.”

Death in the Afternoon

Death in the Afternoon: In the Footsteps of Hemingway

By Nasser Tufail The day arrives and we both show up early at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, eager, but anxious, about our personal experience of Death in the… Read more Death in the Afternoon: In the Footsteps of Hemingway

Hemingway's fascination for bullfighting

Hemingway’s Obsolete Machismo: For Whom The Bulls Still Toil!

The Sun Also Rises, a story was inspired by Hemingway’s first bullfight experience. His graphic description of the running of the bulls at Pamplona’s Fiesta de San Fermín certainly helped popularize a local event into the world’s most recognized ‘bovine madness party’ which attracts over a million visitors every year. 

AK-47s

Spies, Hunters, & AK-47s: Reflections on the Trans-Siberian Express

“Lake Baikal near Irkutsk … holds one fifth of the total fresh water in the world and its length at 636 KM is more than the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco!
…the Mirny diamond mine in the Sakha region of Eastern Siberia. This is one of the deepest open pit diamond mines in the world where temperatures can go down to a piercing ‐57 °C.”

political turmoil

Political Turmoil: Sobering thoughts on a Trans-Siberian Rail Passage

The bodies of the Romanov family were then taken to the Koptyaki forest where they were stripped and mutilated before dumping them in an unused mine shaft.

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