Penang, Muntri Street and Sun Yat Sen—Part 2
It is a joy to walk the lanes of Penang’s UNESCO area on a Sunday morning. The traffic is less. The crowd has yet to…
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Penang and Mews—Part 1
Penang has charming mews hotels like Muntri Mews and Noordin Mews inside its UNESCO heritage area. Last 31 May 2025, we had a nice brewed…
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Christmas Crackers—Part 1
Mention the words “Christmas crackers,” and the name that comes to mind is John Julius Norwich. This is because for over 50 years, he has…
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The Land of the Firebird
Pre-revolutionary Russia had produced some of the most inspiring art, literature, dance, and music the world has ever known. Why has that disappeared? Why is…
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Embassies to the Qing court—Part 3
Most people wrongly assume the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 gave the Western world its first glimpse of the secretive Middle Kingdom. In fact, there were…
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Embassies to the Qing court—Part 2
Most people wrongly assume the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 gave the Western world its first glimpse of the secretive Middle Kingdom. Why? Such an erroneous…
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Embassies to the Qing court—Part 1
Most people are familiar with the Macartney Embassy of 1792-94 for two reasons. First, the response by Emperor Qianlong to the British request to open…
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Understanding Europe’s Cultural Rebirth
Why did the Age of Renaissance begin in Italy? Why did it begin in that time period? European history can be roughly classified into the…
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Russia Engages the World
Russia Engages the World, by Cynthia Whittaker, was published in 2003 to accompany an exhibition at the New York Public Library that same year. Rereading…
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Sikhs and the Partition of India, the Raw Deal—Part 2
Two books shed some light on the questions I posed in Part 1. I had asked why the British failed to accommodate the Sikhs by…
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