The Big Race
Watching two women’s eights, one women’s sixteen, and a mighty war canoe paddled by thirty-two men powering their way up the Balui River in the...
Tagged: Family
The Vanishing Forest
Some things, simply, look too big, too plentiful to ever be used up. The herds of bison that clouded the American plains; the trees of...
The City Slicker
Asun and Mimi sit in a cafe off the waterfront in Belaga, a town of 2500 souls and the major trading hub of great swathes...
Women of the Woods
The Malay name orang utan means “man of the forest”, and, after a visit to the Semanggoh Orang Utan Centre, it’s easy to see why....
Orangutans and Betel Juice
They say you learn something new every day. And today I learn that gambier, AKA catechu, is a common ingredient used by Asians in chewing...
The Man who Mistook his Capital for a Cat
This is Astana, the little place which James Brooke, the first “White Rajah” of Sarawak, built for himself in his capital, Kuching (“Cat”). A Victorian...
In Which the Family Dines in Considerable Style
It was my Dad who said it first. “That singer,” he whispered, over the sound of a particularly special Malaysian band. “Is she actually a...
Sign Language
One of my spawn’s many endearing qualities is that he generally, as here with his new friend Solène, looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in...
The Rockefeller of the East
This is one wing of the Georgetown mansion of Cheong Fatt Tze, the last great mandarin of China, known in New York, where he did...
Smells Like Drains, Tastes Like Syllabub
Ahhh… The sweet scent of durian. Known across South-East Asia as “the king of fruits”. Celebrated at festivals across Malaysia and Indonesia. Freighted cross-continents by...