OK, I mentioned headhunting for the sheer exploitive sensationalism of the word. The people we met in the traditional village were charming, hospitable, gentle peaceful folks, and their English was meticulous. They had some skulls in a basket in the meeting house, but no skulls were newer than 60-70 years, as far as I could […]
This is an interesting view from our hotel; the round domes belong to the Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in front of the old pink city mosque (onion domes). This is a view towards the Sarawak River that run through the city. This is the south side of the river, so it has the Indian and the […]
These two orangutans are in the reserve near Kuching. The reserve started as a place where orphaned orang babies were to be rehabilitated so they could fend for themselves in the forest. (They were orphaned because poachers shot their mothers so they could sell them to people who wanted the babies as pets. The babies […]
It’s hard to know where to begin on our trip to Kuching, in Borneo. Maybe with basic geography; Borneo is a big island east of Singapore, that has several states in it, belonging to three different nations. There’s the Kingdom of Brunei, which used to own Kuching, the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and […]
There are quite a few of these around the campus lately. Black feathers outline their wings and tails, so they look really great when they land on a branch and settle in- very pleasingly symmetrical.
Look what I saw this morning! Another Australian import.
We went to see The King’s Speech last weekend (excellent, and with a fun audience that laughed at the jokes), and in the interminable round of advertisements before the movie began, pride of place (just before the movie itself) was given to the Singapore My Home music video. This is a full-on production with all […]
Well, the Sultan Mosque in Kampung Glam may have a bigger gold dome, but I like this mosque better: The Abdul Gafoor Mosque. Sorry about the lighting in the first picture – it shows the general detail and design. The second shows you the actual colors, but against a more typically Singaporean background of cranes […]
It’s just tobacco, nothing more exotic. The tobacco is in a reservoir under the tray at the top, on which they place burning charcoal. The temperature of the tobacco is thus maximized without its burning to a nasty stinking cigarette-like smoke. You go to a cafe and rent a hookah, for a smoking session of […]
A grandmother and her young charges. The kids are very cute at this time of year.