Museums 
Malaysia: Blue Mansion Hotel in Penang(6)
Stepping inside the cool front hall of the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion is like stepping into a bygone era. It is easy to imagine the soft padded footsteps of wives, concubines, children, relatives, servants, and hangers-on scurrying in long silk gowns through the high-ceilinged rooms, most likely whispering intrigues behind intricately carved ivory fans. [...]
China: Beijing’s Song Tang Zhai Museum, a taste of hutong history
Everywhere, including Beijing, the saying “one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure” is true. Li Songtang, now in his 60s, started collecting architectural details of houses being torn down mainly during the 70s modernisation push. He now has a collection of over 10,000 items of carved lintels, gates, screens, garden statuary, etc., of which about [...]
China: The eternal Forbidden City
As disenchanted as I was with the visit to the Great Wall, the thrill of visiting the Forbidden City for the umpteenth time is always there. For all its vastness, there is always a nook or cranny that can be discovered anew; always an around-the-corner detail that enchants the eye. Especially this time, after the [...]
Australia: Paronella Park – a Spaniard’s dream
Hearing of my Spanish (well, Argentine) roots, my friends decided that I must see how one Spaniard fulfilled his dream… Off we drove away from Innisfail, Queensland, through a landscape of alternating banana and sugar cane plantations. I commented on the many small railway tracks we were crossing: these are for the sugar cane trains [...]
More in this category
- Sydney: Museums
- Santiago: Palacio Cousiño – grand living for a grand family
- Santiago: Museum of Pre-Columbian art
- Santiago: Museo de la Moda
- Santiago: Museo Ralli Latin American art
- Santiago: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes