Category Archives: Architecture It’s a different world out there… In this day and age where travel is relatively quick and easy, and when communication is virtually instantaneous, it is amazing to me how much diversity still exists. Some ethnic groups have managed to resist the influences around them and to preserve their age-old traditions. Sumatra is just one of the […]  They say you are a long time dead and buried – Well, unless you are buried in Switzerland, where your plot is reclaimed after 25 years to recycle available land. Or, unless you are in a traditional Chinese cemetery, where your bones should be taken out and washed annually… In India, honouring the dead can take many varied […]  Some time ago – last April, to be exact – I wrote about the breathtakingly awesome experience of meeting Sumatran orangutans in their wild jungle habitat (Ursula’s Weekly Wanders: Meet the Locals). Truly, it was a memorable encounter – one not easily matched. It was hard to leave the Gunung Leuser National Park, but our itinerary called for us to […]  A castle, cheese, wine and chocolate: what’s not to love about Gruyères? We were meant to be hiking around Leysin in the Swiss Alps, but it was raining, and had been for days. We went through the guide books and asked locals about alternative amusements (q.v.: A Trip to the Salt Mines). The medieval town of Gruyères was three train-hops away […] It is pretty impressive: the world’s tallest brick minaret, set in a complex of archaeological ruins dating back to 1193 AD, on a site that is much older than that. The stories behind it are quite something as well. Qutb Minar, sometimes spelled Qutub or Qutab, was started in 1192 by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi and ruler of North India from 1206 to […] |
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