One of my favorite movie opening sequences begins with a scene in which a silver mug is being engraved with the words, “… my love, my friend.” The engraver pauses, waiting to be told what else the woman beside him wanted to add to the dedication.
In the waning years of the 19th century, the great powers of Europe were in the thick of their empire-building spree. The competition was often unruly.
One of the things I find so astounding about Mexico City is the multitude and variety of its museums. Due to such world-renowned archaeological establishments such as the Museo Antropologia and the Museo de Plaza Mayor, the city can justly claim to be not only the country’s political center but its cultural hub as well.
During an extended research trip to Phnom Penh, my favorite hangout was the Foreign Correspondents’ Club or the FCC.
We do not travel because we have to get from one place to another. We travel because we yearn.
Crows have always struck me as sinister creatures. Many years ago, as a young intern in Dacca, I watched a gang of these feathered ruffians obliterate the carcass of a goat in a matter of minutes.
Most students of the University of the Philippines Diliman are probably unaware that there is a mural in the main lobby of Palma Hall, the largest building in the campus.
The Metropolitan Museum in New York put up an exhibit many years ago called “Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries.”
In an effort to gather more information about the Tea Horse Trade, I drove out to the village of Shu-he. Here, a museum had been set up by a private company to commemorate the age-old exchange of horses and tea leaves between China and Tibet.
Aside from the famous Silk Road, there was another lesser known network of paths used by what is now called the Tea Horse Trade. This Trade involved the ancient exchange between China and Tibet, with tea coming from the former and horses from the latter.